rather incoherent soapboxing

[frith_in_thorns]

Note: the general 'you' is in use throughout this post.

I want to link to this post by phaetonschariot today.  Go read it now, because the rest of this post is going to assume that you have.  It's meta, although it's headed like a fic, but the header is what's being discussed in the meta.

I lurk around quite a few meta places on LJ, and this topic's been flying around lately, particularly on fanficrants , and side-by-side with numerous ship wars, where it usually takes the form of (as illustrated by this post) "X IS NOT GAY! YOU'RE BREAKING CANON! STOP MAKING THEM GAY" - and while that was written in that post as an over-the-top example, some people were actually agreeing with it.  (Because of course your personal opinions that everyone is straight until proven otherwise, and never ever bisexual, should dictate what everyone else is allowed to write and read.  ::eyeroll::)

From that you may be able to work out that I fully agree with phaetonschariot 's post.  Because however much to try to colour it as a 'squick', it really is offensive to demand that non-straight relationships should be warned for by others, and especially if you're then surprised that people do get offended by your reaction.  Maybe I've been reading too much SGA fic, but it does seem that this fandom has pretty bitter feelings between those who write slash and those who write het.  I recently dipped into the Criminal Minds fandom and was very surprised by the sheer amount of multishipping there - I'm honestly not sure which pairing has the majority.  Possibly Aaron/Emily or Emily/Jennifer.  (Seriously, I was quite amazed by the amount of femslash - in most fandoms those pairings tend to be shoved up on a metaphorical dusty shelf and barely ever looked at.)

Yeah, that's about all I have to say.  I know that I mostly stick to gen myself because I'm not really a romance fan in general, but when I do read pairings, I'm pretty indiscriminante about them.  I've just been stumbling across this homo- and bi-phobic attitude a lot online lately, and it's really pissing me off.

In the interests of TMI disclosure, I write this as someone who's still not entirely sure whether I identify as bisexual or asexual.  Which doesn't make much sense, I know, but yeah :P

Comments

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

I got into SGA fandom too late for most of the taking of sides, fortunately. Even so, I remember that one of the first stories I read was "Freedom's Just Another Word", and at that time I considered it slash even though the author considered it gen. I've changed my mind on that, quite probably because of the discussion around that classification; that said, if the story is gen but assumes any pairings, I prefer to know what they are. (I've tried to follow that convention in my own writing, though I can't certify I always have or will.)

As for the main post: Yes, so much.

I have a good friend who used to be into fanfiction. I was pretty sure she was a level-headed, open-minded person as well. I shared with her a story I'd quite enjoyed, but she found it weird; a few minutes later, she added that back in her day, preslash stories required warnings.

Warnings. For preslash. One-sided M/M UST, in this particular case.

I tried to convey the message that, no, it's not like that anymore. I wasn't convinced she just accepted that, but I kind of thought she at least had a sense of where I was. Then she recently asked me if the term "slash" still applied to any fic pairing (to label a het story) or "had gone dark side". And when she wanted to read fic for a much smaller fandom, after exploring the comm I tracked down for her, she complained about all the slash and gen, making an "icky" face about the former (and protesting she could see that by watching the show for the latter).

It bugs me. And I don't know what to do about it. I don't encourage the commentary, certainly, but I know that many people react to direct criticism by digging in their heels. Old-school isn't a defense, to me; if you're getting back in the game, get into it honestly and be open to changes. She seems to be into fic for only a very narrow purpose, though, rather than approaching it via fandom; that said, if she just said that she's seeking fic for het fantasies, rather than persistently putting down everything else, I'd be fine with it.

One of the reccers over at stargateficrec used to warn for slash, for slash and M3 rec categories, at least before the recent header change. Infuriating.

[frith_in_thorns]

I haven't read that story, although I think I've heard it being mentioned before. Until recently I assumed that gen stories never had any pairings in - now I'm not so surprised when I find background pairings in them. And my sky pirate AU how long will it take before people get sick of me talking about sky pirates, I wonder? will have some background pairings in, but I'm intending to keep them low-profile enough for it to be classified as gen.

Warnings for preslash? Ok, I've never come across that viewpoint before. Especially as 'preslash' seems to basically be something that's in the eye of the beholder...

I hate that defence. "This is the way we've always done it, and I don't care if it's wrong and offensive - it's tradition." Because why should anyone take responsibilty themselves to stop discrimination against gays etc? And this is one of my rant buttons, so I'm going to shut up before I start insulting people/society/religion left right and centre :P