Kanaya Maryam's Ashen Quadrant Through the Lens of Compulsory Heterosexuality (Replay)

Shout out to homestuckReplay on Tumblr and their discord server for inspiring me to edit my original essay to be timeline compatible with their reread of Homestuck. If you don’t care about spoilers, check out my full essay here.

This essay is about Alternia’s sexual norms, quadrants viewed through a queer lens, and how Kanaya Maryam’s ashen quadrant is a metaphor for compulsory heterosexuality.

Alternia: Bisexual, Binormative, or Something Else?

Alternia is such a bisexual society that there aren’t even words to describe gender based attraction, right?

“EB: i am not a homosexual.
CG: WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
EB: it is like, when a boy likes another boy.
EB: or i guess hates, in this case.
CG: HUMANS HAVE A WORD FOR THAT?“ (Homestuck, page 004528)

However I lean against calling Alternia a purely bisexual society because it erases all trolls who aren’t bisexual. It’d be the same as calling the United States a heterosexual society; it ignores the experiences of all the gay individuals here. Speaking as a bisexual myself, I don’t find an inherently bisexual society necessarily appealing, rather I want a society full of diverse experiences.

Another way of looking at Alternian society would be to consider it binormative. Based on the Merriam Webster definition for heteronormativity, the definition I will be using for binormative is “of, relating to, or based on the attitude that [bi]sexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality.” It’s a little closer, but still not quite accurate. To assume bisexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality, Alternia would actually have to use a gender based model of attraction- which it doesn’t. Which isn’t to say Alternia is a society lacking sexuality either. It uses quadrants. It is less that Alternia is binormative and more that it is quadnormative.

How does this definition fit Alternia? “[O]f, relating to, or based on the attitude that [quadrant based] sexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality.” It’s a pretty good fit if I say so myself. Which I do. As is evident by me typing all of this.

Would this erase all the juicy bisexual representation that so many of us love and appreciate? No. By human standards, the majority of trolls are still bisexual. Besides the more important question is this: how can a troll be queer if gender based sexuality isn’t a thing?

I posit that Kanaya is lesbian in Alternian culture. What does it mean to be lesbian in Alternian culture? The easy answer is the Word of Huss.

“I think this was pretty obvious a long time ago.
But then, homosexuality in a society where bisexuality is the norm is kind of a different thing. Rather than being a swapped preference, it is a more exacting preference. Somewhat like a fetish for a particular gender. When Karkat was talking to John about it, he indicated trolls don't even have a word for the orientation. It's not something that appears to have any cultural significance to them. Which might seem odd, but then, they're aliens. Maybe a way to view it is how we view people with more exacting preferences, like certain fetishists. We don't actually have common words to describe most people like that, and their presence doesn't have nearly the same social ramifications which homosexuality does. Humans seem to make a very big deal out of homosexuality, while treating other forms of preference as barely worth noting. When Karkat was <3< hitting on John, the reasonable human response was to say "I am not a homosexual." But the troll response would be more like "Sorry, not interested," without invoking orientation. Very much like a guy with a fat fetish isn't too likely to reject a thin girl by saying "Sorry, I am just this HUGE chubby chaser, so I must decline." (CUE FAT VRISKA JOKES AGAIN)
Not that any of this changes how we view Kanaya. From a human perspective, she's an unmistakably gay character.” (Andrew Hussie, Forumspring, March 2nd, 2011)

Obviously there is something to be said about comparing having a gender preference to a fetish. My own critique starts at “what the fuck,” meanders into “I think it’d closer to having a preference for brunettes personally,” and ends at “I don’t think this intended to be homophobic, Andrew Hussie just seems to be fascinated with fetishes.”

Whether or not trolls have humanlike sexuality labels or not, the important part here is that Kanaya, from a human perspective, is a lesbian. But that’s from a human perspective. What does it mean to be a lesbian in Alternian culture? If Word of Huss is the easy answer to Kanaya being a lesbian, what’s the hard answer? Let’s take a look at quadrants through a queer lens.

Alternian Queerness

Queering the Quadrants

I haven’t seen any in-depth discussion about how Kanaya’s ashen quadrant is specifically a metaphor for compulsory heterosexuality. And I promise we will get to that; I know you’re just as hungry for that delicious auspisticism as I am. First, we have to understand what being troll gay even means and why Kanaya being queer makes sense not only in human terms, but also in Alternian terms.

I must note that when I say a character or relationship is queer or gay in this essay, I’m not using these terms as either specific identity labels nor as slurs. I am using them as a shorthand for sexuality that transgresses against social norms, roughly inspired by the definition by Jay Stewart that’s listed on the Wikipedia page for queer theory. Yeah, I know how to read Wikipedia like the best of them! I did actually read Stewart’s chapter of the pdf that Wikipedia links, so I exerted slightly more than minimal effort here.

One great example of queering relationships in real life are queerplatonic relationships. For the unfamiliar, here’s the definition of queerplatonic from the coiner:

“Queerplatonic is a word for describing relationships where an intense emotional connection transcending what people usually think of as ‘friendship’ is present, but the relationship is not romantic in nature; people in a queerplatonic relationship may think of themselves as partners, may plan on spending their lives together, etc. The 'queer’ is a reference to the idea of queering relationships and ideas about relationships, not for describing the orientations or genders of anyone in a queerplatonic relationship. Anyone, sexual or asexual, romantic or aromantic, straight, gay, queer, bi, lesbian, poly, cis, trans, etc etc can be in a queerplatonic relationship, can have more than one such relationship, and there can be more than two people in a queerplatonic relationship; couples, triads, quads, whatever. The key feature is the idea of being deeply connected to someone, without a romantic element (though a queerplatonic relationship can be sexual).” (S. E. Smith, January 21st, 2011, link obtained via The Ace Theist).

Like the definition indicates, different people in queerplatonic relationships may define them differently, so this term is a bit malleable. The point is this is a real world example of transgressive relationship styles in human society.

In Alternian culture, one method of romantic transgression is via quadrant vacillation. Quadrant vacillation describes the “malleable” and “volatile” status of romantic troll relationships, especially so on the concupiscent side of the quadrants when trolls have mix-matched feelings for each other, i.e. one troll feeling flush while the other feels pitch, often leading to infidelity (Homestuck, page 004298). The socially acceptable fix to relationships with lots of quadrant vacillation is an auspistice coming in to mediate (Homestuck, page 004300).

Alternia generally runs on the idea that every troll will have one soulmate (or two soulmates, in the case of auspisticism) for each quadrant (Homestuck, page 004305). So an openly fluctuating relationship where two people alternate between two of your quadrants doesn’t fit within Alternian social norms.

Along with these social norms, it is legally enforced for trolls to fill, at minimum, their flush and caliginous quadrants. Based on the eugenicist Alternian propaganda that stronger concupiscent pairs produce more dominant genes and are thus more likely to result in offspring, filial drones will kill trolls who can’t produce two separate buckets worth of genetic material (Homestuck, page 004296).

As such, between the pressure from social norms and legal enforcement, quadrant vacillation can be easily identified as a queer relationship style within Alternian culture. And Alternia is full of examples of these kinds of experiences! To start, there is the First Ship.

The First Ship consists of a relationship between The Signless and The Disciple. “It was said their love went beyond the four quadrants, transcending the grid entirely” (Homestuck, page 005958). Although they are a couple made up of a man and a woman, I do still think they work as a queer metaphor. Think of them as a bisexual couple, if that helps. Just because they don’t look queer doesn’t mean they’re abiding by heteronormative, or quadnormative for our purposes, standards.

I’m also going to include an example here that might be a bit of a stretch for some of you, if only so I can say I was thorough in my search for queer expression in Alternian society. Say hello to my good old buddy Dualscar!

Here me out!

What comes to mind for me is when Mindfang pointed out in her journals that only someone as privileged as a seadweller would show disdain for the troll their kismesis sees in the flush quadrant:

“The Orphaner poses a caliginous riddle like no other I've met. I am presuming him 8othered 8y jealousy, and it would 8e sickening if it were not so marvelously amusing. 8ut then, who 8ut royalty could have the finned cheek to show disdain for the manner in which his 8lack lover conducts her red conquests? Less has acceler8ted meeker than I to homicide, and the viol8tion would hold me aghast, again, if his misgivings did not complement his so endearing arsenal of qu8nt flaws. It is impossi8le to stifle this grin even now as I write.” (Homestuck, page 005407)

Obviously, there’s a level of misogyny at play here, where Dualscar feels entitled to Mindfang’s flush quadrant despite already being her kismesis, but even Mindfang is acknowledging that only someone as rich and privileged as seadwelling royalty can get away with having feelings like this. Dualscar isn’t at risk of persecution for his queerness the way someone else, a man of lower social standing would be. By which I obviously mean The Signless. Though, when Dualscar acts on his jealousy, Mindfang does refer to having her heart broken (Homestuck, page 005408) and Dualscar still dies in the end (Homestuck, page 005414), indicating that attempting quadrant vacillation can be seen akin to a break up.

Though, to be fair, it could also just be that him killing her flush lover is what really caused the break up, rather than the vacillation itself.

So now that we know what queer quadrants look like, what’s next? Do we finally get that juicy ashen romance now? Nope! Next we have to establish what compulsory quadsexuality is.

Compulsory Quadsexuality

Compulsory heterosexuality, coined by Adrienne Rich in 1980, is a theory that states that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced by our society. How does this wrap back into what we discussed about quadnormativitiy and quadrant vacillation as queerness? Easy, compulsory quadsexuality is the theory that quadrant based sexuality is assumed and enforced by troll society.

Remember those Alternian social norms about legally enforcing by threat of death to use quadrant based methods of reproduction (Homestuck, page 004296)? Yeah, that’s not just quadnormativity, it’s compulsory quadsexuality. It’s not only assuming quadrant based sexuality is the norm, it’s enforcing it as the norm.

And that’s all you need to know about queer quadrants in order to understand how Kanaya’s relationship to auspisticism is a metaphor for compulsory heterosexuality.

Kanaya Maryam’s Quadrants

Kanaya's Troll Lesbianism'

We are so close to the auspisticism that I can smell it, but first we need to actually establish Kanaya’s lesbianism. Kanaya has a history of not keeping things to one quadrant.

Although Kanaya acts like Vriska’s moirail for a while, it’s very clear to other trolls that her feelings lean “ruddy” (Homestuck, page 004243). Later, she can also be seen auspisticizing between Vriska and Tavros, until Vriska distracts her and literally prevents her from mediating. What’s more relatable to the sapphic experience than having a crush on your childhood best friend and watching in horror as she falls for some guy you don’t really care about and crying over an imagined break up in your head? No? No one? Only me? Okay then. Moving on.

That said, while Kanaya has these varying feelings and acts in these different ways, I carefully emphasize that these are Kanaya’s feelings and behaviors rather than a formal relationship with Vriska. In Homestuck proper, Vriska and Kanaya weren’t formally in a relationship, or at least not in a matespritship.

Turning our attention to a more reciprocated relationship- that’s right, I’m about to talk about Rosemary- when it comes to flush feelings, this is what most people would assume Rose and Kanaya’s relationship is closest to in the first place. That said, there are indications of other quadrant based feelings.

When it comes to pitch feelings, Kanaya’s admiration for Rose could be of a caliginous nature. Rose and Kanaya’s early interactions (Homestuck, pages 002993, 003492, and 003838) do have a certain level of fucking with each other that could be conducive to a pitch relationship.

When it comes to pale feelings, Kanaya has a need to pacify dangerous women like Rose, but, after her experiences with Vriska, Kanaya doesn’t want someone she feels flush towards to shove her into a conciliatory quadrant despite her conciliatory behaviors (Homestuck, page 004630).

Using the lens of quadrant vacillation as queerness in Alternian society, it’s obvious that Kanaya is queer and, as evidenced by the authorial intent, specifically a lesbian.

Kanaya Just Doesn’t Like Auspisticism That Much

Kanaya is often typecasted as the “vvillage twwo wwheel devvice wwhen it comes to auspisticising” (Homestuck, page 004243). But does she even like auspisticism?

“I Dont Got To And Every Time You Take My Help For Granted I Feel Like I Got To A Little Less” (Homestuck, page 004243). Does this sound like someone itching to auspisticise for everyone around her? The reason why she doesn’t like auspisticism is because her ashen quadrant is mired in social and interpersonal pressure to mediate by those around her, i.e. compulsory quadsexuality. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at her experiences in this quadrant.

When pressured by Eridan into mediating between him and Vriska (Homestuck, page 004243), Kanaya outright refused. Is this indicative of her lesbian identity or her general disinterest in Eridan? Probably a little bit of both. It’s definitely not the successful auspisticism you would expect from someone who enjoys the quadrant.

The brief ashen stint between Kanaya, Vriska, and Tavros has already been discussed, but do the tears Kanaya cries knowing Vriska had a flush crush on Tavros the look of someone who is enjoying her role? As said before, Vriska prevented Kanaya from mediating between the two of them. Society and their friends are expecting Kanaya to mediate, but it’s only on the individual level, from Vriska, that prevents her from doing what is expected of her.

There’s also one-off visual gags about Kanaya showing ashen interest in Gamzee/Karkat (Homestuck, page 005985), but I take this more as an indication of what she feels she has to do (i.e. social pressure) than what she actually wants to do.

And, to be clear here, I’m not necessarily saying Kanaya is better off doing human romance. While Kanaya is probably one of the trolls most suited to human romance, she isn’t perfectly suited to human romance. Both human and troll systems of romance are used as tools of oppression by even bigger, shittier societal systems. One is not better than the other, and someone being queer in one system doesn’t mean they’re a perfect fit for the other. Kanaya’s sexuality must still be viewed through both a human and troll lens.

Conclusion

Give me RoseMary multi-quad drifting or give me perma-death! Kanaya is textually queer in both human and troll terms, and she is impacted by compulsory quadsexuality as a metaphor for her experiences with compulsory heterosexuality, made most obvious by surveying her ashen quadrant. Boom, essay done. Kanaya’s Relationship To The Ashen Quadrant Is A Metaphor For Compulsory Heterosexuality, Baby. That’s the thesis statement! You can go home now!

(For more, including a bunch of awesome posts I removed to avoid spoilers, please check out the full essay with post-March 2011 Homestuck references.)