Gay characters in outlander

Posted by Delia Harrington under Feels, Gifs, Rant, Review, Television Form

Warning: this post includes discussion and gifs related to the depiction of rape and violence on the show Outlander.

Last Saturday’s Outlander episode, “Lallybroch,” brought several shocks. We saw many new things:  from more of Jamie than we ever have before and Jack Randall’s crown jewels, to Lallybroch in the display tense and Jamie admitting just how long he’s been interested in Claire. But perhaps the most intriguing discovery of all was the reveal of a previously unknown move in Randall and Jamie’s chess match: Randall having offered to linger Jamie’s second flogging in exchange for Jamie submitting to his own rape. Many contain taken this scene, as well as Randall’s insistence that Jenny turn around during his attempted rape of her, as proof that Randall is male lover. But what did Randall’s “Get out of jail free” offer to Jamie really reveal? Not his sexuality. As series creator Diana Gabaldon explains on her Facebook page, Jack Randall is not gay.

To wit, Black Jack Randall

Outlander: Casting a Homosexual Man as the Main Villain Is Garbage, Actually

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series has been widely praised for its time-traveling love affair between Claire Beauchamp and Jamie Fraser. However, the guide series -- which has also been adapted for TV via Starz -- has some glaring flaws. Perhaps most prominent is the positioning of Captain Jack Randall, a queer man, as a violent and predatory villain who haunts the characters for years.

Outlander begins in the year 1945, when former combat nurse Claire Randall touches a stone at Craigh na Dun while on a second honeymoon with her husband, Frank, and is swept through time to the year 1743. There, she encounters her husband's direct ancestor, Jack Randall -- and quickly learns that he isn't the upstanding man Frank believes him to be.

Related: Outlander: 4 Predictions for the Series Ending

In their first meeting, Jack Randall shots to rape Claire when she stumbles upon him in the woods, wearing a 1945-appropriate dress (which resembles minuscule more than a shift in 18th century fashion). He's foiled when Murtagh Fitzgibbons, an ally of the MacKenzie clan, knocks him out and takes Claire to a rebel hideaway

If you look at his conduct throughout the book (and I emphasize book, though it’s almost the same in the show), he’s shown as attacking four people: Jenny, Jamie, Claire, and another prisoner at Fort William (who we don’t hear about in the show) named Alex.

Two men, two women–he’s an equal-opportunity sadist. However, given his position (garrison commander) and the structure of the culture he’s in, he has much easier access to male prisoners, whom he can torture at leisure. But he’ll take women when he can get them–_vide_ his reaction to finding Claire wandering around by herself.

( In the Scottish Highlands, communities were small and tight and people really didn’t move around that much. Women didn’t often live on their own; they went from their fathers’ hearths to their husbands’ and pretty much remained in or near their homes and weren’t wandering around unprotected. Claire _is_, which is why she draws so much unwholesome interest.)

The Unicorn Scale: Outlander

I think of all my friends tearing through Diana Gabaldon's novel, Outlander , and its seemingly infinite sequels when I was in college. Somehow, I never got sucked into them. Many years later, I create myself browsing Netflix looking for a new demonstrate to binge-watch. My criteria were simple, I wanted beautiful people in gorgeous clothes and gratuitous sex. I saw Outlander and there was a picture of a beautiful girl spilling out of a gorgeous old-timey red dress and I knew I had found it!

I dove right into the madness... There will be spoilers from here on out. If you are unfamiliar with the story, be warned. Also, if you are unfamiliar with how the unicorn scale works, feel free to review it out here .

Outlander follows the story of Claire, a young WWII army nurse, and her insane time travel adventures. She finds herself torn between her two amazing loves, her WWII era husband and Jamie, her 18th-century Highland "laird".

I appreciate that Claire is very comfortable with the fact that she likes sex and is willing to express that. When she becomes pregnant, she also doesn't suddenly become a chaste Madonna. She has to