A few notes on this site before I move into the essay proper. First, this site was created first and foremost to hold Pokémon SS. It's linked to primarily from the PokéGym, a site that's obsessed with never even linking to anything that's not "family friendly." This is partially understandable, as the 'Gym has traffic from the under-10 crowd. That said, this is taken to ridiculous extremes.

As anyone who's read Pokémon SS will tell you, the main pairing is a pair of gay guys. There are a couple of straight tertiary pairings and a notably bisexual secondary character (which is an odd rarity in fiction). It's also notable for the more realistic violence level it has over the games and animé. One of these I can take to an acceptable level. One of these I have to dance around at every opportunity. Three guesses which one's which.

That's right—I can announce PG-13 level violence, but if our resident gay guys do anything more than hold hands, it's icky-sticky disgusting.

On one level, this kind of makes sense. Violence pervades the media, little kids' imaginations, and as long as it's not too gory, people don't mind it in their entertainment. However, sexuality is seen as being immoral by the mainly-Christian mentality of North America. If you're going entirely by cultural norms, it makes a lot of sense that I can skirt the violence line to the point of showing people get shot onscreen, as well as bloody fights where neither side can stand at the end. Thankfully, however, I'm past just taking a look at what the standard is and accepting it out of hand.

Let's take the most tap-danced around example in all of SS. I won't mince words: Marril once walked in on Alex and Tschel having sex. This involved, due to the nature of censorship, a lot of dancing around the word "sex." I had to keep implying what went on, which involved a lot of usage of the word "that." I never actually said what "that" is; it could easily have just been the two fully clothed and making out. But I won't patronize my readers in this regard: the two were happily fucking. It was hot male-on-male action.

My (rhetorical) question is this: What precisely is wrong with showing a loving couple (straight or otherwise) that isn't wrong with showing two people killing each other?

My answer: There is no good answer. This is why, whenever I get around to writing the final five SS chapters, I'm not going to concern myself with ratings as long as I stay below R. It's the only thing that will be respectful to my readers.