Homoromantic is the least we can say about this relationship, imo. Homosexual, maybe. The only real question mark for me is Fritz's evidently low sex drive
So, it's been bugging me that I've been overloading the term "homosexual" in the discussion about Fritz, and I wanted to clarify. It is perfectly possible to be homosexual, or to have a homosexual relationship, without being sexually active. The societal tendency to oversexualize homosexuality in a way we don't heterosexuality is a pernicious one.
But for me, in the context of Fritz's sexuality, the relevant distinction is not between homosexuality and heterosexuality or bisexuality*, it's between homosexuality and asexuality. Those are the two major contenders, as far as I'm concerned. (With obviously a continuum linking the two called "strength of his sex drive"--there's graysexual, for example, which might fit him well.)
So if, say, Fritz and Katte were attracted to each other and interested in pursuing a relationship, I will call that homosexual even if they never got further than hugging in the time they had. But if, say, Fritz liked looking at Algarotti and/or Fredersdorf and flirting, but was all "eww no" about ever having sex, then I will call that homoerotic.
* I don't take the bisexuality theory seriously. If he had sexual experiences with women, and he may well have, my view is that they were either him experimenting and deciding against, or fulfilling his marital duties the bare minimum number of times he could get away with (I really hope it was zero, poor guy).
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Re: Algarotti
Date: 2019-09-18 04:28 pm (UTC)So, it's been bugging me that I've been overloading the term "homosexual" in the discussion about Fritz, and I wanted to clarify. It is perfectly possible to be homosexual, or to have a homosexual relationship, without being sexually active. The societal tendency to oversexualize homosexuality in a way we don't heterosexuality is a pernicious one.
But for me, in the context of Fritz's sexuality, the relevant distinction is not between homosexuality and heterosexuality or bisexuality*, it's between homosexuality and asexuality. Those are the two major contenders, as far as I'm concerned. (With obviously a continuum linking the two called "strength of his sex drive"--there's graysexual, for example, which might fit him well.)
So if, say, Fritz and Katte were attracted to each other and interested in pursuing a relationship, I will call that homosexual even if they never got further than hugging in the time they had. But if, say, Fritz liked looking at Algarotti and/or Fredersdorf and flirting, but was all "eww no" about ever having sex, then I will call that homoerotic.
* I don't take the bisexuality theory seriously. If he had sexual experiences with women, and he may well have, my view is that they were either him experimenting and deciding against, or fulfilling his marital duties the bare minimum number of times he could get away with (I really hope it was zero, poor guy).