Kelsey, I’ve a question for you: everyone keeps pointing at the whole, “On your knees” —> “I’m awfully flattered” thing as an example of Dean’s bisexuality. I do believe he is bi to my core but I don’t get this one. It felt like any other snarky thing he’d say while trying to appear cocky in the face of danger. So am I the one interpreting it wrong or…?

deanswingsbothways-deactivated2:

Well, you’re half-right.

Dean has always, always use flirtation (and misinterpreting threats as come-ons intentionally) as an aggressive act. He uses the implication of homosexuality to mentally knock down his opponents. It’s a symptom of his deep-seated effemiphobia. Dean strongly believes that only the toughest survive, and it’s impossible to be tough while doing things that have traditionally been gendered as feminine.

The problem is that Dean also really enjoys “feminine” things like dressing well and cooking and childcare, and is a nurturer by nature. He’s also got a feminine cast to his features, with the cheekbones and the lips and the Disney princess eyes, which people have been pointing out in a threatening way for years. And in his line of work, that kind of weakness can literally get you killed. So he buries it under this macho persona, and uses it as a threat against others.

He clings tooth and nail to his own manliness as a talisman that he is tough enough to survive. And if you think a Kansas roughneck in his mid-thirties doesn’t code dude-on-dude sex as “feminine” in his own head, ho boy, do I have some things to tell you. 

We have been shown nine seasons of all of that being stripped away to reveal the real Dean. It’s pretty intense character development, and he’s  moved away towards a more accepting-of-himself mindset where he sees his “feminine” traits as less of a liability. He’s not all the way there yet, but he’s steadily headed in that direction.

And the “I’m awfully flattered” line is a step in that direction. It wasn’t a denial, or a turn-down, or “You’re cute but I don’t swing that way.” It was still a verbal punch, but it lacked the denial of “I don’t swing that way.” He still used flirtation aggressively, but this time he was the one flirting, not the one turning the guy down as a joke.

It wasn’t, “Wow, you’re totally gay for me, which makes you more feminine than me, which means I’m going to win this fight by virtue of being more manly than you.”

It was, “Even if I was really flattered it wouldn’t matter because I’m still gonna kick your ass because liking dick doesn’t make someone less deadly in a fight.”

Basically, you’re right, and he does use flirtation aggressively. But the way he used it in this instance was remarkably less homophobic and effemiphobic than in the past.

Because character development.