(no subject)
May. 6th, 2003 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zana16Talked to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pashabird for a long time last night. It was nice. I miss talking about nothing on the phone.
www.sluggy.com has finally got Bun-Bun back in action! The switch-blade weilding rodent is back!
And I'm gonna talk alot about fandom now, and I know most of you guys except Sally aren't really interested, so it's behind a cut.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the vocabulary, some Smith students put together an amusing index of words here.
I realized, talking topashabird last night, that I haven't rec'd any het fic. Which is weird, cause I certainly do read het fic as much as slash fic. But I can't think of a single het fic that doesn't belong to epicyclical that I would call one of my favorites. I'm sure there's good stuff out there; I just haven't found it yet. And most of my favorite authors write slash.
So the Big Discussion in the fandom community at the moment is "Are you a homophobe if you don't like and don't read slash?" I define slash as any fic where at least one of the principle pairings is gay. Some people have a problem with that. They're missing out on good fic, but it's their perogative. They don't have to read it. There are pairing warnings on every fic. If you don't like the fact that someone out there in fandom writes about two guys romanticly involved, don't read it. If you want to go pray for their soul, be my guest. But flaming them isn't productive, isn't gonna change anything, and in general is just really immature.
So say you don't like to read slash. Does this automaticly make you homophobic? The gay community doesn't tend to like bisexuals weighing in on issues like this, but tough. I'm who I am as much as anybody is. And I'm going to say, that if you object to the idea of any two people of the same sex being romanticly involved, then you're homophobic. If you won't read stories where only minor characters happen to have a gay relationship because this offends you, yes, you are homophobic. That's your right.
However, not liking slash is a different thing.
I don't read PWPs, slash or het. For me, fanfiction isn't about two characters having sex. I want plot, characterisation, etc. I have no problem with sex scenes in the middle of a longer story if it adds to the story, but I'm not a fan of gratuitous smut. Some people are; that's their right. And other people just don't want smut, either slash or het.
There is an idea of "slash" as just being graphic sex stories. If someone's uncomfortable with graphic smut, that does not make them homophobic. Not all slash is like that, but we have to admit that much of it is.
I'm going to take my own fandom-perusing as a guide. I don't read rape-fics. I just don't. Using rape as a plot device is taken entirely too lightly in fandom. I don't deny that there are well-written, insightful rape fics out there. But having been raped myself, I object to the plot-line of character A is raped by character B. he/she cries, is destroyed; along comes friend, character C, who admits love to A, beats up B, A and C make love and it's all fine and dandy. I don't like the idea that someone's love is all it takes to get you beyond a traumatic experience. There's a lot more to recovering from rape than that, and the authors obviously have no clue. Go for the Hurt/Comfort fics if you must have one character "rescuing" another with love and good sex, but rape is extream. I only read rape-fics if they're by an author whose other stories I really like and thus am willing to forgive if the story sucks, or when someone I trust rec's one. There's two or three out there that are some of the best fanfics I've ever read. But most of it is awful, and I can't stand reading it. I don't have a problem with the idea of exploring the emotional background and complexity of the characters surviving and reacting to a rape. It's just that most of the time the way it's written is not my thing. Similarly, some people are fine with characters of the same sex having relationships, but they don't want to read graphic details cause it's not their thing. This is the reason we have the obligatory warnings on all fics, people. I don't click on any fic with a pairing of Lucius/Snape not because I'm homophobic but because the pairing doesn't interest me. Unless I happen to know that the writer is really good, in which case I'll give it a chance.
There are cases, though, where objecting to a certain form of pairing does make you a -phobe. I do not read incest fics, because the idea of incest disgusts me. If this makes me a prude, I am a prude. I don't read underage-characters-having-relationships-with-older-characters cause to me, that's just ew. If you really have to slash Harry and Snape, I'm only going to read it if it's set in the future and Harry is out of Hogwarts. If other people have a similar reaction and rejection of all fics having two same-sex characters together, then yes, they are homophobic.
"Don't like" the idea of gay fic = homophobic
"not interested" in the idea of gay fic, however, means just that. not interested. okay with the idea, but not the kind of thing to search out.
I do not like gratuitous smut, het or gay. I like relationship stories, het or gay, especially when it's well-written, involved, and teaches me something about life or relationships. But I don't read for the sex, and I can understand why some people would object to the fact that the only serious relationship stories are also full of sex, cause while I don't mind it, some people do. I don't think I'm homophobic because I don't like reading gay smut, since I don't like reading straight smut, either. And even if I did like reading straight smut, I wouldn't necessarily be homophobic just cause I'm not interested in reading the gay smut.
Erm. That is all.
pashabird for a long time last night. It was nice. I miss talking about nothing on the phone.www.sluggy.com has finally got Bun-Bun back in action! The switch-blade weilding rodent is back!
And I'm gonna talk alot about fandom now, and I know most of you guys except Sally aren't really interested, so it's behind a cut.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the vocabulary, some Smith students put together an amusing index of words here.
I realized, talking to
pashabird last night, that I haven't rec'd any het fic. Which is weird, cause I certainly do read het fic as much as slash fic. But I can't think of a single het fic that doesn't belong to epicyclical that I would call one of my favorites. I'm sure there's good stuff out there; I just haven't found it yet. And most of my favorite authors write slash.So the Big Discussion in the fandom community at the moment is "Are you a homophobe if you don't like and don't read slash?" I define slash as any fic where at least one of the principle pairings is gay. Some people have a problem with that. They're missing out on good fic, but it's their perogative. They don't have to read it. There are pairing warnings on every fic. If you don't like the fact that someone out there in fandom writes about two guys romanticly involved, don't read it. If you want to go pray for their soul, be my guest. But flaming them isn't productive, isn't gonna change anything, and in general is just really immature.
So say you don't like to read slash. Does this automaticly make you homophobic? The gay community doesn't tend to like bisexuals weighing in on issues like this, but tough. I'm who I am as much as anybody is. And I'm going to say, that if you object to the idea of any two people of the same sex being romanticly involved, then you're homophobic. If you won't read stories where only minor characters happen to have a gay relationship because this offends you, yes, you are homophobic. That's your right.
However, not liking slash is a different thing.
I don't read PWPs, slash or het. For me, fanfiction isn't about two characters having sex. I want plot, characterisation, etc. I have no problem with sex scenes in the middle of a longer story if it adds to the story, but I'm not a fan of gratuitous smut. Some people are; that's their right. And other people just don't want smut, either slash or het.
There is an idea of "slash" as just being graphic sex stories. If someone's uncomfortable with graphic smut, that does not make them homophobic. Not all slash is like that, but we have to admit that much of it is.
I'm going to take my own fandom-perusing as a guide. I don't read rape-fics. I just don't. Using rape as a plot device is taken entirely too lightly in fandom. I don't deny that there are well-written, insightful rape fics out there. But having been raped myself, I object to the plot-line of character A is raped by character B. he/she cries, is destroyed; along comes friend, character C, who admits love to A, beats up B, A and C make love and it's all fine and dandy. I don't like the idea that someone's love is all it takes to get you beyond a traumatic experience. There's a lot more to recovering from rape than that, and the authors obviously have no clue. Go for the Hurt/Comfort fics if you must have one character "rescuing" another with love and good sex, but rape is extream. I only read rape-fics if they're by an author whose other stories I really like and thus am willing to forgive if the story sucks, or when someone I trust rec's one. There's two or three out there that are some of the best fanfics I've ever read. But most of it is awful, and I can't stand reading it. I don't have a problem with the idea of exploring the emotional background and complexity of the characters surviving and reacting to a rape. It's just that most of the time the way it's written is not my thing. Similarly, some people are fine with characters of the same sex having relationships, but they don't want to read graphic details cause it's not their thing. This is the reason we have the obligatory warnings on all fics, people. I don't click on any fic with a pairing of Lucius/Snape not because I'm homophobic but because the pairing doesn't interest me. Unless I happen to know that the writer is really good, in which case I'll give it a chance.
There are cases, though, where objecting to a certain form of pairing does make you a -phobe. I do not read incest fics, because the idea of incest disgusts me. If this makes me a prude, I am a prude. I don't read underage-characters-having-relationships-with-older-characters cause to me, that's just ew. If you really have to slash Harry and Snape, I'm only going to read it if it's set in the future and Harry is out of Hogwarts. If other people have a similar reaction and rejection of all fics having two same-sex characters together, then yes, they are homophobic.
"Don't like" the idea of gay fic = homophobic
"not interested" in the idea of gay fic, however, means just that. not interested. okay with the idea, but not the kind of thing to search out.
I do not like gratuitous smut, het or gay. I like relationship stories, het or gay, especially when it's well-written, involved, and teaches me something about life or relationships. But I don't read for the sex, and I can understand why some people would object to the fact that the only serious relationship stories are also full of sex, cause while I don't mind it, some people do. I don't think I'm homophobic because I don't like reading gay smut, since I don't like reading straight smut, either. And even if I did like reading straight smut, I wouldn't necessarily be homophobic just cause I'm not interested in reading the gay smut.
Erm. That is all.
