Ok this idea of boy-girl assigned dynamics between lesbians is pissing me off. I’m going to be straight with yall here and tell you that I am the kind of lesbian who dates girls for their femininity. Authors who feel like every lesbian is assigned a “male or female” dynamic piss me the f off and they are just stereotyping us. There are lesbians who are attracted to other “feminine” women too. Why can’t straight people realize that homosexuals are just people, not some animals at a freak show?
I am sorry I am pissed off, but the fact that the title emphasizes that one partner is “boyish” pisses me off. They are still girls. Who happen to have short hair and seem less feminine... they are not pretending to be men.
I’m not expert, but I’m pretty sure a significant cause for the prevalence of this sort of boyish x feminine pairing is a result of the Takarazuka Revue, an all female musical theatre troupe dating back to the early 1900’s in which the actresses would be split into male and female roles, Otokoyaku and Musumeyaku, and generally pair up. The otokoyaku actresses would cut their hair short and act and speak more masculinely, which is likely what formed that boyish female prince like character type.
Osamu Tezuka, aka the father of manga, grew up in Takarazuka watching their plays which inspired him to write Princess Knight which then inspired and influenced other manga such as the Rose of Versailles, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Sailor Moon.
There’s also been scandals and controversies of love letters from women being written to otokoyaku and a lesbian relationship between an otokoyaku and musumeyaku.
It’s such a huge part of Japanese cultural history (and present) that I’m not surprised it’s influences are still ingrained in manga, though there’s certainly been more subversions of that lately.