Steven Universe And What It Says About Sexuality And Gender

You know, in a society that is obsessed with equality and progressive characters in our fiction, it's surprising how kids entertainment is doing more than anyone else. There's a diverse range of female characters from Mabel to Korra, but no show is being more progressive than Steven Universe. Steven Universe is the story of a young boy named Steven who is part human and part gem, the gems are an all female alien species (Though if they're all female then giving them gender signifiers is kind of a mute point). What's interesting is what roles they play amongst their own society and in our culture. The three heroes in the show are all women, and they are all very different, Pearl is graceful and tidy, Amethyst is messy and brutal while Garnet is calm and strategic, and that's just their fighting styles, they also differ in personalities, body types and roles in Steven's dysfunctional family. The big thing about the gems is that because they're all female, they don't have any social implications based on their gender or sexuality, they were never raised to be said they couldn't be a certain way or care about certain people just simply because of their gender, because they don't have a gender, they technically don't have bodies, or needs...or anything, yeah this is a weird show, so just role with it.

Though of course this is a kids show, so nothing can explicitly be said concerning the characters' sexualities, but the implications are heavy. Pearl is shown to have clear romantic feelings for Steven's deceased mother Rose, describing her as strong, smart, inspirational and beautiful, her feelings for her mirror those of a romantic relationship. Then there is the concept of fusion, in the show, fusion is where two gems fuse themselves into one being, creating a mixture of their personality traits, physical abilities and creates an entirely new person because of it. There's a lot to be said about this ability, the first one being that you can only do it with someone you're in sync with, and how do they know this? By dancing together, and when some of these dances involve sexual motions like grinding & thrusting, while others are more romantic and go for more of a ballroom style, there are clear sexual implications, and it's not just me reading too much into a kids show, watch videos of their fusions, it's pretty obvious what they were going for. Then there's probably the most important of fusions, when Steven fuses with his best friend Connie and creates a literal transsexual character, sharing both male and female characteristics. Something fascinating with this fusion is that some see the feminine traits in Stevonnie (That's what they call themself) while others see the male traits, the most noticeable time of this is when Lars (Male) and Sadie (Female) are both attracted to Stevonnie, but there's never been anything so far to indicate either is bisexual, but they have shown to be attracted to each other, signifying that they are in fact straight.

The show breaks down a lot of boundaries for both gender roles and sexual stereotypes, no one is ever told they have to behave a certain way, or the way they do behave is wrong in some form. But the cleverest thing about it, is that they never tell us all this. The show doesn't feel preachy in it's delivery and the sexual overtones could go over someone's head, they'd have to be pretty oblivious for that to happen, but it's still possible. It's because the show represents this lifestyle as something normal that makes it so powerful and the message much more effective in letting people know it's okay to be different, there's nothing wrong with that. We've sure come a long way from kids shows telling us "Don't tell white lies" to "It's okay to be transgender" talk about progress.

-Danny