This year's Christmas mug with characters from the Moomin Valley shows Moomin himself and his beloved Snork Maiden hugging each other. Not everyone agrees with this picture of Moomin as a straight person. Stefan Ingvarsson, translator and author, claims that Moomin's true love is Snufkin, Moomin would thus be homosexual. Professor Boel Westin, who wrote her doctor's thesis on the Moomin world of Tove Jansson, does not agree. She says that although there are characters in the Moomin Valley who are certainly homosexual, such as Too-Tikky, Moomin is not.
I do not believe Moomin is gay or bi, but I certainly agree that Too-Tikky is. Too-Tikky was inspired by the life partner of Tove Jansson, graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä. Boel Westin also says in the linked article that Tove Jansson was homosexual herself.
Regardless of what the truth may be, I believe this is a storm in a tea cup. The Moomin stories are good stories, no matter what. What difference would the sexual preference of certain carachters in the stories make?
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