The intended social model of her relationship is still hierarchical and transactional in a single direction. Her higher status gem benefits from her service. She’s supposed to entertain, again without a deeper relationship.
The fact that she (queerly) experiences a deeper relationship (romantic attraction) and then realizes that those feelings are not returned (with the added slap in the face that Pink obviously returned feelings for other gems) is exactly what turned her into– yes I’m going to use the word–
One thing I love about Steven Universe is that for gems, all attraction and romance is queer attraction and romance. In gem culture there is no culturally normative model to experience, it’s all taboo.
You could theoretically argue that hierarchical relationships are considered socially appropriate gem relationships–but they are actually single direction transactional relationships only. The higher status gem benefits from the lower status gem’s service without any intended experience of deeper meaning.
The hierarchical relationships we see between the gems (Rose and Pearl, Sapphire and Ruby) are still queer and queered, because they’re experiencing a shared, romanticized relationship rather than a purely transactional one.
We see Rose (Pink) actively punished for getting too close to her first Pearl, and obviously we see Sapphire initially rejecting (and being confused by) the overzealous devotion (romance) of Ruby.
ALT
