#queer cassie sandsmark

[wonderbutch]

Cassie Sandsmark’s Relationship With Femininity

ok so i want to dive more into cassie sandsmarks character and her relationships.

throughout her comic appearances, gender, femininity, sexuality and lack thereof is very prominent in cassie sandsmarks character. Its shown as soon as she appears. shes 14, short haired and wears baggy clothes and overall gives off the stereotypical tomboy vibe which continues on and off throughout her young justice appearances, but she also battles deeply with what she really wants.

she also clearly shows multiple times that she wants, or thinks she wants boys, specifically superboy (kon-el) to like her, going as far as to join young justice to see him (although i have more thoughts on this which ill get to later)

she also shows jealousy towards cissie because of kons attention to her.

HOWEVER i have reason to believe that this is born of compulsive heterosexuality and a misguided attempt at displaying her need for attention and validation (often from guys because, again, comphet).

for example, here it mentions that cassie cant stop thinking about cissie “doing something romantic” with superboy.

which, i may be reaching here, but if she was truly romantically interested in kon, wouldn’t she mention him first rather than cissie? also, she mentions shes not thrilled that boys are looking at her, even though she thought thats what she used to want.

later on she becomes best friends with cissie, almost instantly after seeing her stick up for others, going as far as to literally fall asleep holding her hand. you cant tell me thats not at least a little gay.

as shown before multiple times, cassie strives for companionship and attention, its not a bad thing, in fact it further shows that cassie is kindhearted and loves those around her deeply, even if they don’t necessarily feel the same or treat her well (for example, the boys are constantly underestimating her in the early issues, especially kon who goes as far to be outwardly shocked when she takes a risk and turns out to be right)

(this isnt hate against kon, theyre all learning and figuring stuff out)

but after cissie leaves the team, which cassie doesn’t take very well, her “attraction” to kon seems to fade away, she also seems to be slightly more aware of the fact that kon doesn’t exactly take her completely seriously.

after young justice: sins of youth, cassie sheds the wig and the shorts and swaps to jeans and a leather jacket which is more “masculine”. she also refers to her old outfit, which could be seen as symbolic of her comphet, as her “what was i thinking phase”

despite seeming more sure of herself, shes still battling with who she is and how she wants to be, she gets angrier and moodier, which is touched on in issue 22

she doesn’t know what she wants, and it scares her. shes 14-15 and a superhero and people have expectations for her, she has expectations for herself too, which she often projects onto other people (which ill mention later when i get to her in teen titans) shes only sure of a few things: she wants to be a hero, she wants her best friend back, she wants to be taken seriously. between those three things though? she has no idea.

around her, everything is breaking down. cissie is struggling with her mother and cassie (for the most part) had a healthy upbringing and doesn’t know how to relate and help cissie with that. despite this, she still has unrealistic expectations of cissie. she doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want to be a hero because cassie has always wanted that, and wants cissie to want that too.

so, we get to issue 35 where everything comes to a head with cissie.

she refuses to listen to cissie even though time and time again shes told. after cissie proves a point, cassie finally starts to understand (although she still pushes it a few times in the next issue)

and then after going through a war and having tim and bart leave, and tim come back, and suddenly shes running for leader and confesses to “kon” that she loved him, or thought she loved him, and then she is leader and shes handling a full on invasion of zandia.

so needless to say, cassie doesn’t really have time to think about herself and her identity. at this point her hair has grown significantly, and she’s no longer acting entirely like herself.

so this all happens, greta betrays everyone (deserved) and then suddenly shes human and then donna dies which cassie takes very hard.

a pattern ive noticed is that the more disconnected from herself that she gets, and the more angrier, she changes her appearance to be more feminine, like she’s in denial or at least trying to hide behind femininity so she doesn’t have to admit her own emotions to herself.

as she starts a somewhat vague relationship with conner, she never really refers to him as her boyfriend, often using the word friend instead, despite conner referring to her as his girlfriend.

she also starts to project this idea of femininity and repression, specifically onto raven. when raven expresses considerable discomfort at wearing a dress, cassie counters this with a “you said you wanted to expand your wardrobe”, like she wants raven to be what she’s trying to be. feminine, happy and without fault.

later, she mentions her previous appearance, ambitions, and seems to have a sense of hatred for her previous self, despite in all accounts she was quite happy and open during that period in her life.

to me, cassie’s femininity is a way to hide her true self. its the way she can feel better and not as confused, and try to be someone shes not by just denying the way she really feels.

in conclusion cassie is a butch lesbian thank u for reading this makes absolutely no sense but idc bc the cassie brainrot is real and has taken hold

[weaverofink]

I don’t know how to explain it but the instant i saw that post i got intense kon energy from it. at least he’s trying

[grotesquelly]

The core 4 are so androgynous in my brain

[cynthia-a]

When it comes to the glorious Tim Drake (my biggest hyperfixation), i either ship him with all of his friends(preferably all at once) or with no one

The middle ground for this would be my Aroace Tim that is in a huge queer platonic relationship with the whole yj team

Hes so aroace to me guys ( im not projecting at all hahaha no sir)

[rabnerd28]

Okay, thinking about this got me weirdly very emotional. Cuz, we've all got our list of favorite queer characters, but we've also got this list of our favorite characters that we desperately wish were queer more than anything. The ones we held out hope for years and years that they would one day be confirmed queer, but never did. How many times does it actually happen that we can say that those characters made the jump to the other list?

Most of the time, queerness is established very early. Either as something that the character has already discovered, or as a coming out story within the first season or two. How often have fans been seeing queerness, and it never getting acknowledged? How often has that been ignored all because no one said it early? Fans loved Buck for so long, and have seen that he's queer, and have held onto that hope that one day it would be in the actual show. How often have fans waited to hear "you were right"?

Almost any time something queer happens it needs to be established fast, and anything straight cannot change. But this did, and honestly, the fact that I can say that Buck is now one of my favorite queer characters, makes me cry. There are so many others I hoped for over the years, but thank you 9-1-1 for being the first to let that hope not be wasted.

[dyketectivecomics]

@newtonnote OKAY OKAY HEAR ME OUT-

100% reading into things, I absolutely believe that THIS moment from YJ #6:

Was when Cassie started Respecting her. And THIS MOMENT:

Was when she Fell 👏 and yea the rest of that page kinda makes me go back n forth (mentions of mutual jealousy make it kinda murky if there’s underlying Feelings™️ that may have come even before this moment) but being able to Point at such an iconic moment just!!!! I’m gonna live in my fantasy that it wasn’t just the start of their friendship okay LET ME HAVE IT

As for Cissie then potentially falling harder well… I don’t think we need to look further than the very next issue for some evidence there 👀

I REST MY CASE. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS UR HONOR

[fakakta-art]

IM SORRY FOR THE RADIO SILENCE, THIS WIP IS ALL I HAVE TO OFFER

[burning-quesadilla]

THE CORE FOUR ARE QUEER PASS IT ON

[whoistorii]

Only thing Kons in denial of, is him being gay.

[jewishcissiekj]

DCYJ era was so insane I can't believe it's been almost a whole ass year since Issue 3

I'm so glad it's over that was hell on earth

[vveakfish]

my brain is still to covid fogged™ to make a long post abt this rn but like…

idk. There’s Something about the way that Cassie is feminized sometimes that feels almost violent. especially in comparison to how uncomfortable she was with femininity when she was created.

[kingofpeacows]

This is what happens when you let the whole friend group be queer and autistic

Kon is autistic, bisexual, non binary and uses he/they pronouns

Tim is autistic, bisexual, trans, and uses He/Him pronouns

Bart is autistic, queer, and doesn't grasp current gender constructs so she uses xenogenders to describe herself. And he uses she/her/he/him pronouns.

Cassie is autistic, lesbian, trans, and uses they/she pronouns.

[nightmareinfloral]

cassie fans 🤝 kon fans

disliking koncassie

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

Newest Jo Daily and I am immediately planing a murder. Rick you've done jack SHIT up till now so I'm sorry but you're in the way :/

"I saw him and ran over and we hugged rather than kissed. It sounds stupid that I’d rather hug my boyfriend than kiss him, but sometimes I just want familiarity and closeness rather than anything else. I gave him a peck on the cheek though and he smiled and gave me one too. Maybe we’re both just maturing, maybe this is how relationships progress." Girl... I mean don't get me wrong a romantic relationship doesn't always have to be all touchy and shit. But come on. You guys seem more friends or friends with occasional benifits than anything. I think she's mistaking familiarity and closeness for romantic attraction. It's not like she's had any real examples to go off of. Also, I'm not like, a relationship expert or anything but I don't think that's how relationships progress.

"I wouldn’t know, because Dad wasn’t around a lot with mom and most of the hunters that pass through are single or widows, so it’s not like there are great examples of long term relationships anywhere around me. I’m carving it out for myself." Image my surprise when I worked out the exact same thing from the first paragraph. And ya it's really quite saddening that romantic relationships don't really last in the hunting community. Or ever really happen. 'I'm carving it out for myself' is so raw and personal because. YA. She doesn't have any real guide to this shit and she has like zero clues rn but she isn't letting that hold her back from forming personal relationships. And as someone's who's parents are toxic and abusive and isolated her from others, it's hard goddammit it is. It's hard to tell when you should be sharing, when you share too much or too little or how to show someone you love and appreciate them in the right way. And it's hard to tell how you feel about a certain person especially with all these preconcieved notions. And it's terrifying when you feel like you need to lay yourself down and change for others. So good on you Jo for carving out your own relationships. But goddammit Jo I kinda sorta want you to carve it out with Cassie!

"It’s just sad, because I remember the butterflies I used to get when Rick came through the door and the way I’d run into his arms, all movie-like. Now that’s the feeling I get when Cassie calls me." Oh, Jo. I love you I love you I Iove you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you.

"Things are unfurling in me but I don’t want to understand them, I don’t want to let my feelings for Rick go cold, or old, or anything. He’s my boyfriend, with all his imperfections, and he’s everything he should be." I too tried to deny I was queer to myself for a while. It did not work. I definitely know Jo is gonna pull the "I'm just a really good ally" act like Dean (and me). And as for Rick, I feel like she's clinging to him because he might just be her first stable long term relationship and she's scared to let it go. Also, just because Rick is everything he should be, doesn't mean he's everything Jo wants.

"Maybe it’s not just Rick, maybe there’s something wrong with me, too." I. Ola I ligit started tearing while reading this, wandering around the cobblestone streets of Braga. Jo entering the self hatred/doubt phase of realising you're queer is gonna hurt so so much. Ola for every painful memory you unearth I'm charging you 5 euro (idk how much that's in dollars) (fuck idk if you've even American) /j.

Fuck me bro, why is it always the short Jo Daily chapters that pack the biggest emotional punch. But truly I can't wait to see Jo fully realise and accept herself because that's really what this fic is about.

Tho I must admit (even with all the angst) this is my favourite chapter yet.

[devine-fem]

I wanted to talk about Damian’s sexuality.

That comes out weird, I know but this is prompted more so because I saw someone post about how he’s always been straight and op didn’t understand how people were so surprised when he started dating Nika. Then someone took a jab at Damijon + another person who said they didn’t understand the concept of Damian not understanding queerness.

I think that Damian doesn’t understand queerness but I’ll get into it toward the end of the post.

This will be put in two parts. One for Damian and how he feels about his sexuality and Damian’s internalized homophobia.

Let’s start with his canon love interest; Flatline. Flatline unlike his other attempted love interests was supposed to be taken seriously and didn’t suck. Compared to the others on this list, we should be rejoicing at Flatline.

Then this person used panels where it suggested that Damian had a sexual interest in a woman.

Almost every single person Damian has been interested in has been treated like a joke and not taken seriously. Some women are much too old for him and just awful picks.

Katana… why… stop please. Another example of them only doing it as a joke. This is so weird considering she’s much older.

Supergirl. Another joke. And much older.

Djinn… I don’t even know why…

Cassie Sandsmark… in a Earth, nice one Tom Taylor.

He has a couple more one off ones that weren’t taken seriously as well.

I know he got a cheek kiss from Emiko. He also dated Raven in an animation but I feel it was more a plot device. Also there are a lot of sexual jokes about Damian and I hate because he’s supposed to be ten by that time… there were some weird sexual impilcations when he teamed up with steph and I don’t know why writers do that instead of exploring the potential of their characters together and relationship…

Now let’s get into how Damian personally feels about his sexuality.

He jabs at romance and the concept of it a lot.

In Robin 2021 he also was very against romance but it was more as a way to sheild himself from his feelings. The only real confirmation that Damian is attracted to woman is Nika. So thank you, Nika. Anything other than that is just comphet to me at least.

This is also why he’s hc as Aro, Ace or Demi because he literally shows no interest in romance and the only times he does it feels like the writer has forgotten his personality.

TW: SEXUAL ASSAULT.

People don’t talk about that time Damian was kind of drugged/mind controlled and sexually assaulted… I’m not sure if people don’t perceive it that way but it seemed like SA to me.

She’s much older than him. He’s a ten year old. The way she’s speaking… her being naked. Damian telling her he doesn’t like it. Him not being in his right frame of mind… it reads this way to me.

Listen, I don’t understand how you can interpret Damian as any sexuality anyway when he’s so young. Only when he’s thirteen/fourteen can it truly be explored.

Although, Damian saying he won’t/can’t feel that way also proves my case.

He’s never really shown a whole bunch of interest in anyone.

—— End of trigger.

Now for the internalized homophobia.

So, the arguement is “he’s too smart not to know about queer culture…” What? What part of not knowing about queer culture makes you stupid?

Damian grew up in a very controlled environment where he was taught how to survive, taught how to lead and how to feel. What part of his schedule would fit in learning about queerness?

Internalized homophobia is in no way a bad thing and personally, as others do as well, see it as another way to queer code because its something a lot of queer people experience. This doesn’t negate the attraction to woman by the way but that doesn’t mean Damian can’t be interpreted as some other type of queer.

There’s also people who like to negate and ignore this part of Damian’s character but… why? These moments are part of important comics with his character. Damian was young and didn’t know much about well, anything. If you’re not personally queer yourself then you have no real incentive to learn about queerness.

There’s nothing really wrong with it. Even if Damian used gay as more of an insult. I doubt he knew what being queer was outside of “When boy likes boy.”

Also, he makes some comments often that come off… not the best.

I still really don’t think its bad and can be interesting if explored.

This also coupled with his culture shock, probably adds to his confusion on certain cultures.

I mean, he doesn’t know all that much. He’s not exactly mister super genius when it comes to real life things as well.

He doesn’t know what laffy taffy is… come on.

All this evidence doesn’t even matter anyway because it’s confirmed that when he does go to pride that knows literally nothing about it and has to be EXPLAINED by a friend about how it came about and how it works but people get so upset about that.

I don’t know what Damian’s sexuality could possibly be but I just don’t personally think he knows either and that has nothing to do with Damijon or any ship, but with canon.

I wanted to go more indepth to this but yeah, internalized homophobia Damian is very close to me.

[roachesforthewin]

My Personal TIMKON Recs List

i made this for my friend recently and thought i’d share it here because you tumblr bitches love pain and little gay dudes (just like me fr)

all of these have good young justice, batfam and superfam (though sometimes it’s minimal) representation (because i don’t read them if they don’t have good rep, sue me). Plus Tim and Kon personality and character accuracy, obviously.

Also these are all Ao3 recs because i like to consider myself as not a heathen

Funk Ass

- sun kissed by merils

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48882055

beach episode, queer young justice fr fr, Kon rep is off the charts (ashgs quite possibly the conner rep of all time, just the phrases he uses /$)/ so real!!)

- Baby Talk Me Down (Take Me Out) by sage (lemontongues)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384345

ahhhsh this one is unfinished but i desperately wish it was, either way great fic and great character rep + conner civvy life insights

- Out of The Frying Pan, Into the Casserole Dish By JpegdotJpeg

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41005416

martha kent (& the superfam!) is the best person ever, plus tim is the most autistic little dude (we love him sm)

Haven’t finished but amazing rep/haven’t read yet but plan to

- Robins and other flightless birds by Ionaperidot

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15607170

ahsgshsh this one qualifies for [literally kill yourself after reading (pain)]category but i put it here just cause :-| uhh BW adopts fucked up kids good for him: JJ!tim, Catatonic!jason COA!dick etc

- Straight on ‘til morning by merils

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43401684

haven’t read this one yet but i’ve heard really good stuff about it! plus good kon character development/ exploration (from what i’ve heard)

- there you were by mindshelter

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25599205

the blorbos deserve pain, don’t you agree? (i haven’t read this one in a hot minute and have forgotten what it’s about but i remember it being good)

- Buy Back the Secrets by sundiscus

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43137879/chapters/108412977

okay no this one LITERALLY AHSGGSGS bro just read it, uhh civvy tim and superboy interactions, 5+1 things, good sibling Jason (a rarity unfortunately), funny ass dialogue

sexy times (good for them)

disclaimer! none of these fics are like solely focused on smut, but that plays a large ish role thats why they’re in this category

- take me to the airport (call me from the platform) by Hayleythewriter

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47970586/chapters/120950194

This has an idiots to lovers tag…there’s not much more to say. except for great sibling relationship portrayal of Damian and Tim that doesn’t involve murder attempts Yay!! (DC wouldn’t even dream of it)

- What happens in Vegas by Ididloveyou_once

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32850109

Stupidest bitches alive fr (mostly tim) + Cassie Sandsmark being a bitch, we love to see it! and and and it has an interesting subplot/s so woowoo, also minor Birdflash👀

- Scions by winterlive

https://archiveofourown.org/works/375897

Conner Luthor is a bitch and i love him + lex luthor is a good dad WHAT!?! oh HA and Clex which is soo good.This was honestly one of my favourites sheerly because of good character representation and BW not being a terrible father

- Trust Fall by Ididloveyou_once

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31654376

Again good sibling rep between all of the batboys, mostly Damian and Tim tho YAY! (it’s seriously a rarity do not take it for granted)

Literally kill yourself after reading these (Pain)

- when your bf hits the street and turns into meat that’s amore by CarrionCarnival

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40318824

self explanatory title, heavy gore :loved it, literally my favourite fic on this list (i adore gore what can i say)

- You are Shaking Fists and Trembling Teeth by Bored_Liege_bow

https://archiveofourown.org/works/47679967

implied TimKon, aftermath of conners death Rip timothy d-w

- my dear devoted delicate by blenderfullasarcasm

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48556555

pushing daisies au, sad af + good exploration of loss on tim’s part through his life