Author's Words: Long before I had even thought of the possibility of anything remotely related to yaoi, I saw Trowa Barton from Gundam Wing. My initial reaction toward such character upon seeing the way he act was that he seemed to have suffered serious abuse prior to the start of the series. Unsure of my judgment, I started to ask other gundam fans - most of who are male and had been watching Gundam chronicles since the first one came out. But when straight male fans and friends who in general did not know much about anime or yaoi agreed that Trowa looked as it he had suffered rape by a man, I realized that the chance of my imagining such a thing is very slim. Feeling a bit perturbed, I finally decided to research about this area in depth. This dissertation is the result of my year-long research.
According to one of the interviews with the producers of Gundam Wing in which a fan asked if all of the pilots had ABC experience (sexual experience in varying degrees), the producer answered, "Heero no, Duo yes, Trowa yes, Quatre no, Wufei ... conjugal relationship with his wife." Upon hearing this response, countless fans were more unhappy than glad to have such information. However, it should be noted that ABC does not necessarily mean "all the way", it can also mean varying degree of 'bases' one has gone to. In other words, it can very well be that Duo and Trowa has only gone to A (kissing phase). In spite of this, a debate of the pilots' virginity has henceforth started. Since this article is about Trowa, the focus will be on the pilot of Heavyarms.
Before I proceed, I suppose it is only fair that there should be a brief summary of Trowa's past. Trowa Barton (also known as Nanashi) lost his parents at a very young age. He was separated from his older sister (who he could not recall) and was picked up and raised by the mercenaries. Because he was young when he lost his family, he had no means of knowing his name. As a result, the mercenary men called him Nanashi - NoName. Nanashi was trained with the rest of the mercenaries to become a soldier. He could pilot mobile suits and could kill without a thought. For him, the primary goal had been following orders to fight with fellow mercenaries at battles and winning them. From observation, Trowa is the type of person who holds no interest for anything outside of his mission or fighting. At that point, he cared for no one and it was not until he met the other gundam pilots that he began to show affection and care towards others, particularly said pilots. Because of the signs exhibited by his personality, it is extremely unlikely that he would initiate anything or let anyone persuade him into doing anything against his will - unless it was pressures from someone who was older and stronger than he was.
At the age of ten, he met a girl called Midii Une - who later on turned out to be a spy. His trusting this girl as his friend eventually led to the demise of the mercenaries with whom he had stayed. After the tragedy, Nanashi joined a new mercenary and eventually made his way to space and ended up working as a mechanic for the Barton family. It was there that he met the real Trowa Barton and later on took that name for his own upon the death of the original Trowa Barton.
In one of the radio interview with the characters - interview in which the interviewer 'interview' the characters as if they're real life person while in reality it is simply the seiyuus speaking in the characters' voices, when asked of the questions about relationships, Trowa had straight-forwardedly reply, "I've never tried anything of that nature." As mentioned earlier, Trowa has been a soldier from his early childhood on, and in the Blind Target flashbacks he is depicted as very closed off even during that time. He's one who tries to keep his emotions in check, in contrast to Heero who tries to live by his feelings and embrace them to a point that they're destructive and turn against him.
Trowa seems more open towards Cathrine, in many ways she is a maternal figure to him. That indicates that he's probably never been around women much - it being one of the 'side-effects' of being a soldier, and his quote in ep 13, "If you were me, and a girl cried for you, you would still kill yourself. I admire your strength.", this indicates that he has a very noble position towards women. Again, in ep 49, he lectures Wufei on being gentle to women, because they "break more easily". He idealizes females as something you must treasure. If he had been with a man before, either willingly or not, and never with a woman, it is most likely that he might see women as something more pure and in need of protection, which is how it actually appeared in the anime. Thus, should he not be a virgin and that he lost his virginity willingly, then in all probability, Trowa lost it to an older man - possibly to one of the mercenary men.
Now, if Trowa is still a virgin (based upon the fact that ABC means stages and not necessarily all the way), then it is very likely that he has gone to the B stage (the fondling stage). As mentioned earlier, in a community consisting almost entirely of males, it is very usual that a younger member would be molested; therefore, if Trowa is still a virgin, then it is quite possible that he had been "felt-up" by fellow mercenaries. The reasons for this assumption will be presented in the arguments below with regards to rape in the military and other male-oriented societal formations.
For Trowa (this is what Nanashi will be called for the rest of this article unless specified) to lose his virginity, it would have to occur during the time he was in space. He was approximately nine years of age at the time he joined the new mercenaries whereas the average age of mercenary men ranged from sixteen to the late thirties. In other words, Trowa was physically smaller and age-wise much younger than the majority of the members of the mercenary. As seen in Episode Zero, there were no women in the mercenary unit in which Trowa joined. In the absence of the presence of women (and according to history, often when there weren't women present in war camps), it is not a rare occurrence that older men would turn to younger members of the group for sexual outlet or simply to enforce the role of dominance.
Even though this may seem unbelievable, it should be noted that the very presence of male rape is a disturbing truth in real life. Studies show that one out of six males in their early teens in the world (this is not even taking into account developing or warring countries) has suffered from male rape; but incidents such as these go unreported due to the stereotypes and biases most societies have against male rape. The fact that Trowa's age was at the pre-teen and early-teens during his stay with the mercenary men reinforces my argument in a disturbing way.
Despite the fact that one may argue that Trowa was far too bright and fast to be forced into such a situation, it should be noted that in a situation like this, it does not matter how smart or how big one may be. The target is always outnumbered (p.4, Pittman). According to recent studies, most male rapes take place in all-male settings such as the military or boarding school. Rape of males in confinement differs from male rape in the community in that it is generally open and is accepted if not condoned by the subculture. It usually involves repeated pattern of sexual assault following the initial rape. The abuse usually goes unnoticed for a non-participant since the victims in most cases keep quiet about such happenings (p.6, Donaldson).
According to psychiatrist M. Yamaguchi, male sexuality is in many ways more aggressive and primitive than that of females. In an environment such as that of the mercenaries, it is typical that the younger and smaller members would suffer the fate of being abused and assaulted by elder members. Such activities eventually stop when the victim becomes strong enough to protect himself but often by then almost relative permanent harm had already been done to the mental health of the victim.
The way Trowa acts also seem to parallel with that of a rape victim. Male rape victims usually tend to be fatalistic and have no regard for their personal safety though they may care for others without having to be too close to the person. They exhibit signs of stubbornness at times and signs of extreme passivity at others. Though these individuals may sometimes exhibit altruistic behavior toward people of whom he considered as their friends, which tends to be rare considering that it is often difficult for them to trust; they may appear to be anti-social or co-dependent and tend to place themselves behind an emotionless mask in order to separate themselves from feelings of any kind. Such acts are perceived as protective actions to avoid further vulnerability (p.1, Dimock).
One may question as to why the producers would want to create such a character. Before we dive into that question, we should realize that it is a rather common theme in Japanese anime to see characters with a dark past. When Gundam Wing was in its planning stages, it was said by the producers that Trowa had the darkest past out of all the five pilots. In anime, dark past generally refers to two things: having killed someone and or having been raped. It should also be noted that in one of the latter interviews, the producers had characterized Trowa, of all characters, as passive - of all the other vocabularies one could have used.
In some ways, Trowa's conceived vulnerability combined with the possibility of Trowa suffering such an ordeal could increase the viewer's sympathy toward the character. It is also possible that the producers' answering the ABC question was a way of promoting the Episode Zero manga since the interview was done before Endless Waltz or Episode Zero came out. When both work did come out, we see the infamous scene of the real Trowa draping his arm around Trowa's shoulders in an unusual manner. But what is more disturbing in the scene was Trowa's (Nanashi) indifference toward the advance. He had not twitched or flinched. Had there not been anything between the two, Trowa/Nanashi would almost certainly have shown at least a slight reaction of some kind. His non-reaction seems to indicate that something had indeed occurred between the two, or that he has possibly encountered numerous similar and possibly overt advances before from other males, in order for Trowa/Nanashi to be indifferent enough to such a gesture.
Since both Episode Zero and Endless Waltz came out after the interview, the scene with the real Trowa Barton seemed to indirectly reinforce the fact that Trowa, in all probability, lost his virginity to a male - though it may not necessarily have been the real Trowa Barton.
Bibliography:
1. Dimock, Peter, L.I.C.S.W. Article on Characteristics Observed in Male Sexual Abuse Victims.
2. Donaldson, Stephen, article from Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, Wayne R. Dynes, ed., 1990, NY: Garland Publications.
3. Donaldson, Stephen, The Rape of Males: A Preliminary Statistical Look at the Scope of the Problem, 2nd ed., Ft. Bragg, Caifornia: People Organized to Stop Rape of Incarcerated Persons, 1985
4. Groth, Nicholas A., Men Who Rape, New York: Plenum Press, 1979; and "Male Rape: Offenders and Victims," American Journal of Psychiatry 137 (1980), 806-10
5. Kaufman, Arthur., "Male Rape Victims: Non-institutional Assault," American Journal of Psychiatry 137 (1980), 221-223
6. McMullen, Richie., Male Rape : Breaking The Silence On The Last Taboo, London : GMP, 1990.
7. Porter, Eugene., Treating the Young Male Victim of Sexual Assault, Syracuse, NY: Safer Society Press, 1986
8. Scacco, Anthony., Male Rape: A Casebook of Sexual Agressions, New York: AMS Press, 1982.
9. Scarce, Michael., Male On Male Rape : The Hidden Toll of Stigma And Shame, New York : Insight Books, c1997
10. Wooden, Wayne. Men Behind Bars: Sexual Exploitation in Prison, New York: Plenum Press, 1982.
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