I think that's a somewhat prejudicial description of a healthy (though, granted, non-engaged) attitude towards one's sexuality.
Well, I did call it refreshing. :) I did find it a little frustrating because it's different from how I relate to those parts of myself, and I wanted the characters to do so too. I guess you could argue that's selfish, but I didn't mean to imply that your attitude was in any way wrong. (Mostly I worry that for me, disregarding norms doesn't actually liberate me --- of course I'm unconvinced that challenging them liberates me either. It may be that liberation itself is a red herring...)
To be convincing is a higher goal in writing than to be realistic.
I 110% agree with you here. I think with Mosley, I wasn't always convinced. Winterson's character, ungendered or not, was a real person to me; Max and Elizabeth in Hopeful Monsters sometimes felt like devices.
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Well, I did call it refreshing. :) I did find it a little frustrating because it's different from how I relate to those parts of myself, and I wanted the characters to do so too. I guess you could argue that's selfish, but I didn't mean to imply that your attitude was in any way wrong. (Mostly I worry that for me, disregarding norms doesn't actually liberate me --- of course I'm unconvinced that challenging them liberates me either. It may be that liberation itself is a red herring...)
To be convincing is a higher goal in writing than to be realistic.
I 110% agree with you here. I think with Mosley, I wasn't always convinced. Winterson's character, ungendered or not, was a real person to me; Max and Elizabeth in Hopeful Monsters sometimes felt like devices.