It's been exactly two weeks since I made this post with the promise that I would start talking about One Direction and Larry Stylinson more here and on my Youtube channel. I have yet to do that obviously, and that's mostly because I've been so occupied with other things. I also thought that I was going to do this as a video, but it looks like it's going to be a blog post. I feel as if it probably would be better as a video because I'm not entirely sure what I want to say and rambling is easier in video form. However, maybe writing this will force me to focus things down to one specific topic.
The problem is that there's so much I could say about Larry that I could rant forever. I'm going to try and narrow things down by keeping this post about why I "ship" Larry. First of all, ship is in quotations for a reason. I know a lot of people hate the idea of real people being shipped, and that's a topic for another day. However, a good deal of people who believe in Larry don't like to use the word "ship" (although it's typically convenient) because they just believe Louis and Harry are together and that's it. I personally can see the argument both for using it and not using it.
It's important to point out that there's definitely a line that some Larry shippers cross into inappropriate behavior. However, they're also often unnecessarily attacked for things themselves. For example, just stating you believe Louis and Harry are in a relationship can get you attacked because you're "hurting them" or something. That's ridiculous for so many reasons. There are tons of gossip rags out there who consistently make up rumours about Harry being with random girls, and tons of fangirls choose to believe those. For some reason that's okay and not hurting Harry, but believing he's in a relationship with Louis is. That's ridiculous on a number of levels, but this isn't what I wanted to get into. It's just something I wanted to state before moving on.
It's hard to really explain to others why I believe that Louis and Harry are in a relationship because it's a conclusion that you have to come to after observing their behavior over an extended period of time. It's also important to point out that their behavior with each other has changed a lot over the years, and while others say this is because Larry shippers "ruined their friendship," that argument is frankly ridiculous. No rumours are going to affect a friendship so strong as Louis and Harry's. All of the other boys are consistently all over each other while Louis and Harry hardly interact on stage yet they are constantly sending each other looks.
It's worth noting that a good deal of the appeal of boybands comes from girls genuinely thinking that they are going to marry one of the boys. You have no idea how many young girls I've seen ranting about how they're going to marry one of the boys and have actually meant it. Even the ones who are "smarter" and claim they know they're not going to, still hope for it. It's many fans primary reason for being a fan of them. These fans are obviously not going to be happy if the boy(s) that they hope to marry is gay and therefore unavailable. Gay boyband members aren't as marketable as straight ones, and no one in charge of the boys wants them to come out because their sole incentive is to make as much money as possible. The people who claim, "It's 2013. If one of the boys were gay, they'd come out," really needs a reality check. First of all, society may be less homophobic than before, but it's still plenty homophobic. Secondly, homophobia is only part of the problem. There may be many girls out there who have no problem with gays, but they're still primarily concerned with One Direction because they want to marry them. Whether or not these girls are homophobic, they are bound to lose at least some interest in One Direction if any of the members turn out to be gay.
Also, I think it says a lot that various people in the entertainment industry (who therefore know very well how the entertainment industry works) have hinted about Larry being real before. If you pay attention to the ages of fans, you'll also realize that the Larry shippers tend to be older. I don't say this because I think that younger fans are stupid. However, I do think older fans are more likely to look at things objectively. They're less likely to believe they really have a chance with the boys, and that makes them more able to look at things in a different light. They're not as scared of any of the boys being gay because it's not going to ruin this illusion that they've created in their heads.
There are plenty of posts on Tumblr that contain tons and tons of Larry moments, so I won't go through those here. If you want to find them, you can. I've believed Larry was real from the second I became a One Direction fan because it was so obvious to me that they were together. I've heard many people say that if either Louis or Harry were a girl, their relationship would be much more obvious to everyone. I feel as if that's completely true. If you think there's no way they're together, just look at those moments and picture on of them as a girl and see what you think. (This also shows that homophobia is still a lot more prevalent than many like to think.) And arguing that "but one of them isn't a girl so that's pointless" is idiotic. It also shows a lot of homophobia. You don't treat platonic friends like Louis and Harry treat each other. I don't care what gender either one of them is. You don't look at platonic friends the way Louis and Harry looked at each other. (Seriously though. If one of my platonic friends looked at me the way Louis and Harry looked at each other, I would think something is up. How do people find that normal platonic behavior?)
There's so much else I could say, but I'm going to leave it there for now. Hopefully this wasn't too all over the place. It feels good to get this all off my chest though. I don't think I've ever actually said most of this stuff for myself. I've just agreed with others by reblogging or retweeting. It feels nice to have actually put it in my own words for once.
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