im new and late here. so excuse me if it's already been discussed but i think i had to weigh in after seeing this idea of percentages and ratios popping up. which seemingly only ever pop up in conversations regarding lgbt characters.
firstly, the ratios we are aware of are not accurate. 5% or wtv @king of nowhere mentioned. where are we getting this from? our world? where lgbt populations are still stigmatized? where people are still coming out in their 50s? how can surveys possibly account for people who are in the closet? who are in denial? who are unaware of their own identities?
Vorinism is a massive empire, devoid of any stigma our world holds. even though sigzil had problems with documentation and biased cultural perspectives its clear even the Azir empire dont stigmatize it. we have people calculating and theorizing the time difference of how cultures formed in this complete fictional world which spans multiple cultures, religions, fauna, flora, magic, etc etc. yet still have myopic takes on lgbt populations?
a world that doesn't stigmatize the gay populations is NOT going to have the same ratios and populations as our world. the most unbelievable thing about the whole drehy chapter was that kaladin WASNT shocked. considering how we never see any other gay character, and there is no mass media or internet, kaladin must have had substantial interaction with gay folk over his 20ish years to be aware of them and avoid biases and stereotypes from building up. yet we dont see any of that casually in the backgrounds?
lets go further. why even 5 or 10%? why in a world where we have blue golden and carapaced people do we need to adhere to our ratios even? why is this even coming up as a talking point?
what about a planet full of epicanthic folds is statistically *right*? why is a, say, 50% gay population on a fictional planet statistically "weird" or lacking of realism to you?
I TRULY TRULY love Brandon Sanderson, i've read it all, and i'm going to be reading it when i'm in my 60s and beyond(im in 20s now). so this isn't a slight at him or anything. i understand as someone who came from a fundamentalist islamic upbringing in saudi about his feelings on the Gay. i believe he will eventually do it justice. i dont want to wait, but i am willing. my problems here are with people praising the drehy stuff for being casual even though it was pretty forced even while being tertiary. with people who think this is enough or even one or 2 more major viewpoints would be enough for a broad enough representation and to avoid stereotyping. or people just arguing against the reality of cosmere being very heteronormative.
im left handed, and lefties are not a stigmatized, and yet i'm still reminded of my handedness often.
i have a hard time believing drehy and the people around drehy would function and react the way they do in a 5% gay world. in a world where they aren't even casually sprinkled into the background. i guess there's 6 books to course correct the realistic implications of Vorinism.
edit: @Ookla the Disproportionate