Zelda link gay

Video games are the closest you can get to trying a new body for a bit, and when I played as the androgynous Link, I felt subversive and empowered. Growing up steeped in the aggressive gender stereotypes of the s was a real trip for most queer millennials, but I think gamers had it especially hard.

Almost all video game characters were hypermasculine military men, unrealistically curvaceous fantasy women wearing barely enough armour to cover their nipples, or cartoon animals. Most of these characters catered exclusively to straight teenage boys or, I guess, furries ; overt queer representation in games was pretty much nonexistent until the mid s.

Before that, we had to take what we zelda link gay get. He wore a green tunic and a serious expression under a mop of blond hair. He is the adventurous, mostly silent hero of the Zelda games, unassuming and often vulnerable, but also resourceful, daring and handy with a sword.

He stayed androgynous, in his tunic and tights. As a kid, I would dress up like him for Halloween, carefully centre-parting my blond fringe. Link may officially be a boy, but for me he has always been a non-binary icon. As time has gone on and game graphics have evolved, Link has stayed somewhat gender-ambiguous.

Gay guys and gender-fluid types alike appreciate his ageless twink energy. As it turns out, Link appeals perhaps most of all to those of us somewhere in between.

Link A Gay Icon, No, Seriously.

Inthe zelda link gay blog io9 spoke to many transgender and non-binary people who saw something of themselves in Link: he has acquired a reputation as an egg-cracker, a fictional character who prompts a realisation about your own gender identity. Despite their outdated reputation as a pursuit for adolescent boys, video games have always been playgrounds for gender experimentation and expression.

There are legions of trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people who first started exploring their identity with customisable game characters in World of Warcraft, or gender-swapping themselves in The Sims — the digital equivalent of dressing up. Video games are the closest you can come to stepping into a new body for a bit and seeing how it feels.

It is no surprise to me that a lot of queer people are drawn to video games. It is as empowering as any world-saving quest. This article is more than 1 month old. View image in fullscreen. Meet the gaymers: why queer representation is exploding in video games. Read more.