Poll Result

[cdybedahl]

Almost two weeks ago, I posted a poll about various fictional characters' sexual orientations. What I was curious about wasn't so much the actual answers (I already know what I think about that), but the variation in the answers. How similarly (or not) people see the characters.

The character with the least variation of opinion on was Buffy Summers, and by and large you people seem to think that that girl is pretty much straight. She got an average Kinsey number of 0.95 with a standard deviation of 0.59.
Second least variation had Vala Mal Doran, who consensus thinks is pretty much bisexual at an average of 2.64.
In third place is Tara McClay, who at an average of 5.25 is even gayer than Buffy is straight.

I think the variation here matches my interpretations of the source material quite well, actually.

The three characters with the least consensus were Sam Carter, Callisto and Gabrielle, in that order. They get averages of 2.07, 3.6 and 4.18 with standard deviations of 1.65, 1.62 and 1.38, respectively. Callisto I can understand. She doesn't really fit on this scale, since Hudson Leick quite convincingly played her as not mentally healthy. Callisto is obsessed with Xena, and nobody else is interesting to her (this, by the way, makes it fairly hard to write convincing Callisto slash). For the other two, I'm surprised that Sam got such a high average, and I wonder if the people who think that Gabrielle is even a little bit straight were watching the same show I was.

The three least gay characters according to the poll are Rose Tyler (0.89 average), Buffy Summers (0.95) and Laura Roslin (1.71). The three gayest ones were Tara McClay (5.25), Gabrielle (4.18) and Willow (4.05).

Comments

[watervole.livejournal.com]

My theory on Sam Carter (and this can apply to any major female lead where there is a major m/m pairing in the show) is that she is totally heterosexual. However, the main pairing is Jack/Daniel. Thus, fan writers have to deal with the inconvenient fact of Sam/Jack attraction being canonical.

If you, as a female writer, tell yourself Sam is bi/gay, then it's much easier to kid yourself that she's only pretending where Jack is concerned.

That's my tuppence worth. (Me, I like Sam with Harry Maybourne!)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of this - my feeling on Sam is that she is straight but simply doesn't give her emotional and sexual life much priority, which makes it difficult for others to guage her accurately.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I agree. The show (from what I watched of it - I bailed at season 5) put the emphasis on Sam's working life, not her romantic interests, so who knows? Personally, I have so many friends with bisexual leanings, I tend not to assume anyone is 100% anything unless they tell me they are.

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the people who think that Gabrielle is even a little bit straight were watching the same show I was.
It really depends on how you view the Perdicus affair. My personal interpretation of this was that it is yet another example of the way that Gabrielle blindly and unquestioningly follows social norms. There didn't seem to be that much passion in it to me. The result of this interpretation though is that Gabrielle actually scores higher than Xena - as she did in your poll, which seemed to bother some people.

[floetcist.livejournal.com]

Callisto is obsessed with Xena, and nobody else is interesting to her (this, by the way, makes it fairly hard to write convincing Callisto slash).

Well, in my humble opinion...the only Callisto slash worthy of reading IS Callisto/Xena! =D