I guess from that point of view, that is true (and I wasnt trying to imply otherwise).
I was more thinking of the fact that he is generally very lanky and has tended to have some baby-faced features in many of his depictions, rather than a more Western style "grizzled hero" look. Which makes sense due to the elf-like nature of both him and Zelda, but like you said some Western people take that in a different direction and make it into something it isnt.
That's the most tragic part about it. Link's a great model for a boy wanting to go on an adventure. The last thing that should be done is sexualizing him.
I get that, but that's not exactly the sexualization of Link. It's that he as a character has a legit romantic interest. That's not the same thing as sexualizing him as a twink.
Romantic interest implies he ever responds to them, which I don't think he has ever even acknowledged a female as a female other than in the damsel sense. But that's splitting hairs.
But having a much older woman with notable N64 giant tits give him a hug that "feels warm" and then a bottle of milk is basically setting up sexualization for the Western audience because the innuendos are screaming at you.
Its a problem with importing Japanese media in general. They find "young person gets involved in a sexual situation" fucking hilarious, its why lolishit is so rampant and half the jokes in Shin-chan involve his wiener. There isn't any malice or evil to it, its just their humor whereas that stuff is always immediately clocked as "inappropriate" or "disgusting" on this side of the ocean. Its the same with the crossdressing thing and many other staples of their media.
I guess from that point of view, that is true (and I wasnt trying to imply otherwise).
I was more thinking of the fact that he is generally very lanky and has tended to have some baby-faced features in many of his depictions, rather than a more Western style "grizzled hero" look. Which makes sense due to the elf-like nature of both him and Zelda, but like you said some Western people take that in a different direction and make it into something it isnt.
That's the most tragic part about it. Link's a great model for a boy wanting to go on an adventure. The last thing that should be done is sexualizing him.
Unfortunately, almost every game has Link being fawned over in some form by numerous cute to hot women. Sexualization is inevitable in that regard.
I get that, but that's not exactly the sexualization of Link. It's that he as a character has a legit romantic interest. That's not the same thing as sexualizing him as a twink.
Romantic interest implies he ever responds to them, which I don't think he has ever even acknowledged a female as a female other than in the damsel sense. But that's splitting hairs.
But having a much older woman with notable N64 giant tits give him a hug that "feels warm" and then a bottle of milk is basically setting up sexualization for the Western audience because the innuendos are screaming at you.
Its a problem with importing Japanese media in general. They find "young person gets involved in a sexual situation" fucking hilarious, its why lolishit is so rampant and half the jokes in Shin-chan involve his wiener. There isn't any malice or evil to it, its just their humor whereas that stuff is always immediately clocked as "inappropriate" or "disgusting" on this side of the ocean. Its the same with the crossdressing thing and many other staples of their media.