Like, I’m not really qualified to speak about queerness, because I have no idea what I am but

the whole “they’re stereotypes” thing really bothers me, and they’re not stereotypical by “today’s standards” either- not as many things have changed in the past twenty years as we’d like, it is still incredibly rare to see a lesbian couple with a healthy relationship who are presented as role models and awesome individuals, and who are just completely confident and comfortable in their sexuality and expressing themselves, and aren’t killed off at the end of the story or anything. It’s still pretty rare to see a butch lesbian who’s not the butt of a joke, who’s presented as cool for being comfortable with her masculine side.

And by saying just because one’s butch and one’s femme, they are stereotypes and rigid to their gender roles is insulting to the fact there’s tons of real people and relationships like that.  They would be stereotypes if “butch” and “femme” was all they were, and they didn’t have individual interests and personalities or add anything to the story, if the traits they did have were just there to demonstrate how butch or femme they were and didn’t even make sense or add to their role as a character- but that’s not the case with those two, Haruka and Michiru are characters first and lesbians second, and their personas and interests all make sense for the character.

For instance, it MAKES SENSE that Haruka like running, drag racing and race car driving, because HER ELEMENT IS WIND. All her interests match up with that element, and she’s shown to be a bit of a speed demon, and she’s established as having previously had a tendency to “run away” from her problems. Those interests weren’t just thrown in there because they were considered “masculine”. These are all also very flashy, showy and high-risk interest, and Haruka is shown as a flashy showy person who likes taking risks, stubborn and conceited.

Defining Haruka as “rigidly masculine” is being kind of rigid in your gender definitions yourself. Who decided running was a “masculine” interest? Why should the fact Haruka prefers loose men’s clothing a big deal? Why is she being “rigid” just because she’s never shown cooking or sewing, would that make her more “feminine?” Why is she suddenly more fluid in her gender identity in the manga just because she wears miniskirts occasionally there? Why does she need a traditional girly interest not to be stereotypical? Haruka is never shown hating girly things. She wears earrings. She plays piano in concerto with her girlfriend. She never complains about fighting crime in a miniskirt and heels and frilly bows. She’s not afraid to be emotional. So who’s being rigid?

Michiru’s interests also match up with her element rather than her orientation. She’s calm in a “deep” sort of way, mysterious and elegant. She enjoys painting, playing the violin and swimming. Who decided those were femme interests? I wouldn’t argue that, because women were shut out of art, music and especially athletics for so long. All of these interests DO however relate to the sea and Michiru’s spirituality (heck, one of her attacks uses a violin). And she’s athletic and punches monsters in the face, I’m not sure how that can be argued as rigidly feminine. In addition to being graceful, elegant and softspoken, she’s also stubborn, bold and opinionated. She’s no less against masculine stuff than Haruka seems to be against femininity.

I really think Naoko was more thinking along the lines of their elements than any idea of what lesbians should act like when defining their personalities, and anyone arbitrarily declaring any interests or traits the characters have as exclusively the domain of one gender just seem like they’re the one stereotyping and defining rigid gender roles to me. An individual shouldn’t have to change to stop themselves from being too “butch” or too “femme” or have to explain why they identify that way just because people will choose to define them by their gender roles. As long as they’re comfortable with who they are, that’s all that matters.