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Okay, my XF peeps. We need to have a little talk about #PlatonicActivity.
I know we all like to give Chris Carter a hard time for not being overt about the MSR, for taking so long for them to get together, and then being coy about it even after they do. I get it.
But while I understand the frustration (shippers gonna ship, after all), I see a problematic narrative emerging about the values placed on sex in relationships.
X-Philes are representative of a vast spectrum of sexuality, and one benefit of the show being somewhat vague about Mulder and Scully’s relationship is that people can project onto it, often while staying within canon, and we have an amazing fanfic community because of that.
But there’s a distinct hostility toward those who, like CC, place value on the platonic side of MSR.
The truth is, not everyone experiences love in the same way, and diminishing the importance of Mulder and Scully’s pre-sexual relationship is both dismissive and damaging to already underrepresented groups.
For instance, people on the asexual spectrum have long admired Mulder and Scully’s unique bond despite their lack of sexual activity. Positive asexual representation in media has historically been lacking, and a meaningful relationship that wasn’t based on sex was refreshing.
Media, especially in the 90s, was very focused on sex and relationships. There was a constant message being drilled into our heads in nearly every sitcom that if you weren’t having sex, there was something WRONG with you.
This was harmful to allosexual people (people who experience sexual attraction) who had a hard time with relationships for any number of reasons, as well as asexual spectrum people who don’t normally experience sexual attraction or a desire for sexual relationships.
And unfortunately, people on the asexual spectrum are regularly made to feel like they& #39;re broken or shouldn& #39;t exist for not placing the same importance on sex as the rest of society. But not feeling sexual attraction is not the same as not wanting or experiencing love.
The big problem here is equating sex and love. While people who love each other do often enjoy sharing sexual experiences, one is not necessary for the other. And a lot of people saw that in Mulder and Scully--a real, deep, true love that did not depend on sex.
Which brings us back around to platonic love. What Mulder and Scully had in their early relationship was far more than a simple friendship. It was a relationship with the strength and bond that one often associates with an established relationship, just without the sex.
I don’t think we had the terminology to really define something like that back then, but within the past decade or so, the terms “quasiplatonic” or “queerplatonic” popped up to define a relationship much more intense than normal friendship, but not defined by sex or romance.
A queerplatonic relationship is defined as a relationship "which is more intense and intimate than what most people regard as a friendship, not fitting the traditional romantic couple model or the traditional bounds of friendship."
Sound familiar?
Sound familiar?
Now, none of this is to say that Mulder and Scully are asexual or that their relationship didn’t eventually evolve into a romantic or sexual one.
(Though there are potential asexual spectrum readings on the characters, but that’s another post.)
(Though there are potential asexual spectrum readings on the characters, but that’s another post.)
Their relationship did, canonically, evolve. But the addition of sex does not negate the fact that they already had an existing meaningful relationship based on powerful love and respect, even if that love was not originally romantic.
And that’s my big problem with platonic relationship bashing, the implication that sexual relationships inherently have more value than other types of loving relationships.
Sex may be important to YOU, and that’s cool! But not everyone places the same importance on sex in relationships, and that doesn’t do anything to take away from the relationship itself.
So when CC talks about their relationship being platonic, I don’t see that as any kind of insult to the relationship. He knows they’re much more than just friends. (Though I think he also just likes to troll us, too.)
Sure, the relationship didn’t stay platonic, but that was the core of it, the foundation. Sex may have eventually added a new dimension to it, but it was already built upon a love more powerful than most people experience in their lifetimes, and that shouldn’t be diminished.
Does that mean we should stop making fun of #PlatonicActivity? For the most part, I think it’s all in good fun. But this was still a love story well before sex came into the mix, and I think we can recognize the value in that, too.