Slash and the Single FanFic Reader
Oct. 19th, 2003 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stSingle as in ALONE at the time of the reading...not single as in not married or otherwise attached....
Because I am indeed part of a domestic union....
...and not some kind of pervy, smut reading, lone wolf who can't form a real relationship and so has nothing better to do than wank off to the sick and twisted scribblings of some amateur porn hack.
Uhm...not that there's anything wrong with that. ;-D
Just kidding. Trying to clear the air of frustrations.
Lord knows, I don't wish to alienate anyone before I start alienating people.
Recently, MPOETESS did a very funny bit featuring the Jossverse Fancred Stat Sheet. Very soon I will be filling out my stats. All should link and respond...it is a wonderful thing she has wrought.
However, one of the many questions on the Form was about SLASH. During the multiple answers bit she, I assume satirically, linked the hatred of SLASH to Homophobia.
This prompted me and mien cyber buds to discuss the idea of WHY NOT LIKING SLASH MIGHT BE LINKED TO HOMOPHOBIA?
AllyV said, "Because that's what people say when you say you don't read slash! That you're homophobic!"
I begged her pardon!
Apparently, I don't get out much.
A rant was born.
First off...my credentials: While I am an occasional reader of Slash, I do not generally seek it out...neither do I abstain. I am an occasional reader of FanFic of any description. I have written two slash fics one MM and one FF and have two others (both MM) on my hard drive. A good cyber-bud of mine HATES Slash and so...she doesn't read mine. That's okay by me.
I will, also, admit to getting a touch of the Cosmic Horn over a little Spike/Angel fic called, "I want to F**k him" by Saber Shadowkitten. I printed it out and read it two more times. It was NOT a literary work. Sorry Saber! It was visceral, though, and powerful and that's what I liked about it. I have read Estepheia's* X/S Slash. And a wonderful Angel/Wes fic called, A SIMPLE REACTION by DUSK. My buddy Circe did a marvy S/X slash fic that made me smile. I thought the Xander speak was spot on.
Now for the shocking confession: Two men having sex isn't one of my turn ons. I generally get nothing out of the experience of reading MM Slash.
For the record, I don't like tickling either.
Nor, am I a big fan of the vampiric biting which is so very popular with others in my fandom. It leaves me yawning.
And indeed, hold onto your hat...
I am a bit squicked out by the idea of Xander having sex with ANYONE!!
I don't fancy Xander, you see? I don't consider him a sexual object. To me Xander is kind of like...a table lamp (I mean, like a table lamp would be to a person who is NOT sexually stimulated by table lamps).
And this brings me to the crux of this post and I know it is a shocker.
PEOPLE DIFFER SEXUALLY! We just do!
Some people like having their toes licked. Some people like spanking or being spanked. Some people like really rough sex scenes. Some people even like Giles/Wood fic.
Okay, those last people are SICK!
Kidding...
...mostly!
G/Wood fic squicks me, too. And I don't mind saying so. Does that make me Watcherphobic? Not really! That makes me a person with a radically different idea of sexuality than the Giles/Wood fic fan. I should be able to say it...publicly and proudly...
"I get squicked out by Giles/Wood fic. Yes, I do!"
I should also be able to say publicly that I don't read or am squicked out by F/F slash if I want. Or that Naked Spike makes my skin crawl (and NOT in that nice skin crawly way). Or that I just can't see Angel having sex with a woman of any description (where the woman cooperates anyway). As long as I don't try to stop OTHER people from reading, writing or enjoying said fics. So what?
Smutty FanFic is supposed to be fun. And well...sexy. If it makes your skin crawl...that's a good enough reason not to read it. If it just leaves you yawning...that's a good reason, too.
Sexuality is kind of an individual thing. And it seems to me that part of being TOLERANT is tolerating someone's right NOT to read or like something. I can write my little heart out, beta up the yazoo and turn out what I find a hot and charming gender swapping fic like SWEET SPOT. And then I can proudly listen while someone says..."ICK, that is just...sooooo SICK!"**
Because well...all that means is...my fic didn't do a THING for them in the low, down tickly way. That doesn't mean there is anything WRONG with me...or them...or my fic really.
It, however, does mean we're not sexually compatible, me and this anonymous reviewer.
But again I say...so what?
I'm already taken anyway.
End of Rant.
*Thanks for the correct spelling, DtP...I bow to your wisdomosity.
**And here we assume, for the sake of my argument, that the "ICK" and "SICK" reference the Gender-Swaping, FF slashiness and NOT my stellar prose style.
Because I am indeed part of a domestic union....
...and not some kind of pervy, smut reading, lone wolf who can't form a real relationship and so has nothing better to do than wank off to the sick and twisted scribblings of some amateur porn hack.
Uhm...not that there's anything wrong with that. ;-D
Just kidding. Trying to clear the air of frustrations.
Lord knows, I don't wish to alienate anyone before I start alienating people.
Recently, MPOETESS did a very funny bit featuring the Jossverse Fancred Stat Sheet. Very soon I will be filling out my stats. All should link and respond...it is a wonderful thing she has wrought.
However, one of the many questions on the Form was about SLASH. During the multiple answers bit she, I assume satirically, linked the hatred of SLASH to Homophobia.
This prompted me and mien cyber buds to discuss the idea of WHY NOT LIKING SLASH MIGHT BE LINKED TO HOMOPHOBIA?
AllyV said, "Because that's what people say when you say you don't read slash! That you're homophobic!"
I begged her pardon!
Apparently, I don't get out much.
A rant was born.
First off...my credentials: While I am an occasional reader of Slash, I do not generally seek it out...neither do I abstain. I am an occasional reader of FanFic of any description. I have written two slash fics one MM and one FF and have two others (both MM) on my hard drive. A good cyber-bud of mine HATES Slash and so...she doesn't read mine. That's okay by me.
I will, also, admit to getting a touch of the Cosmic Horn over a little Spike/Angel fic called, "I want to F**k him" by Saber Shadowkitten. I printed it out and read it two more times. It was NOT a literary work. Sorry Saber! It was visceral, though, and powerful and that's what I liked about it. I have read Estepheia's* X/S Slash. And a wonderful Angel/Wes fic called, A SIMPLE REACTION by DUSK. My buddy Circe did a marvy S/X slash fic that made me smile. I thought the Xander speak was spot on.
Now for the shocking confession: Two men having sex isn't one of my turn ons. I generally get nothing out of the experience of reading MM Slash.
For the record, I don't like tickling either.
Nor, am I a big fan of the vampiric biting which is so very popular with others in my fandom. It leaves me yawning.
And indeed, hold onto your hat...
I am a bit squicked out by the idea of Xander having sex with ANYONE!!
I don't fancy Xander, you see? I don't consider him a sexual object. To me Xander is kind of like...a table lamp (I mean, like a table lamp would be to a person who is NOT sexually stimulated by table lamps).
And this brings me to the crux of this post and I know it is a shocker.
PEOPLE DIFFER SEXUALLY! We just do!
Some people like having their toes licked. Some people like spanking or being spanked. Some people like really rough sex scenes. Some people even like Giles/Wood fic.
Okay, those last people are SICK!
Kidding...
...mostly!
G/Wood fic squicks me, too. And I don't mind saying so. Does that make me Watcherphobic? Not really! That makes me a person with a radically different idea of sexuality than the Giles/Wood fic fan. I should be able to say it...publicly and proudly...
"I get squicked out by Giles/Wood fic. Yes, I do!"
I should also be able to say publicly that I don't read or am squicked out by F/F slash if I want. Or that Naked Spike makes my skin crawl (and NOT in that nice skin crawly way). Or that I just can't see Angel having sex with a woman of any description (where the woman cooperates anyway). As long as I don't try to stop OTHER people from reading, writing or enjoying said fics. So what?
Smutty FanFic is supposed to be fun. And well...sexy. If it makes your skin crawl...that's a good enough reason not to read it. If it just leaves you yawning...that's a good reason, too.
Sexuality is kind of an individual thing. And it seems to me that part of being TOLERANT is tolerating someone's right NOT to read or like something. I can write my little heart out, beta up the yazoo and turn out what I find a hot and charming gender swapping fic like SWEET SPOT. And then I can proudly listen while someone says..."ICK, that is just...sooooo SICK!"**
Because well...all that means is...my fic didn't do a THING for them in the low, down tickly way. That doesn't mean there is anything WRONG with me...or them...or my fic really.
It, however, does mean we're not sexually compatible, me and this anonymous reviewer.
But again I say...so what?
I'm already taken anyway.
End of Rant.
*Thanks for the correct spelling, DtP...I bow to your wisdomosity.
**And here we assume, for the sake of my argument, that the "ICK" and "SICK" reference the Gender-Swaping, FF slashiness and NOT my stellar prose style.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-19 07:20 pm (UTC)Hey! You keep mocking my lifestyle and I'm coming for Jan.
Anyway, you know how I feel about it all so, I won't add anything further at the moment except to say this. People who say I'm homophobic for not getting turned on by Spike and Xander having wild monkey sex are a lot like those that tell me I'm a bad Spike fan because I don't want him to move on from Buffy. It's all about tolerance... we all have different wants and needs, we all like different things, different things turn us on or make us happy, and cause I don't like one thing that doesn't make me a bad person. So get off my back already.
That is all. :)
Now, Ally...you should know better...
Date: 2003-10-19 07:28 pm (UTC)Rae
who for the record has a fairly REAL relationship with you...considering we have...you know...never met.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-19 07:32 pm (UTC)Smutty FanFic is supposed to be fun. And well...sexy. If it makes your skin crawl...that's a good enough reason not to read it. If it just leaves you yawning...that's a good reason, too.
Sexuality is kind of an individual thing. And it seems to me that part of being TOLERANT is tolerating someone's right NOT to read or like something.
I love your rants/essays. :-D And you summed up most of my feelings on the subject. I love to read a great many things that others can't stand, loathe even. I love happy endings. I my favorite pairing is Spike/Buffy but I will read many others, if they "work" for me. I won't get into characterization issues, cause that wasn't the point, but I hate Cordelia/Connor and Spike/Dawn, and can barely type Buffy/G.... Nope, can't do it. And slash doesn't do a thing for me, so since my life is finite, I read other things. And yes, I've gotten called homophobic for it. I wonder what phobia I have for not reading Spike/Dawn?
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-19 07:36 pm (UTC)You hit the nail on the head--it's all about tolerance and toleration. I don't have to like or agree with your choices, you don't have to like or agree with mine, but respect is what it's all about.
I get the lack of respect all the time--aimed at me directly and in various kerfluffles. It pisses me off. I don't tell other people what to write, why do they think they have the right to do the same to me, or infer that I'm not a true fan of one pairing because I ship the characters with others...
I seem to be ranting...*g*
*more applause*
Uhm...that would be Spawnophobia I believe...
Date: 2003-10-19 07:50 pm (UTC)Rae
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-20 09:17 am (UTC)I agree that we all have different preferences and that there's nothing wrong with that. The problem comes when people start whining and complaining about other people's preferences. For example, several authors who once wrote S/B have gotten rudely attacked for writing slash. There are also plenty of people who insist that slash shouldn't be written, shouldn't be archived, shouldn't be read, is wrong, etc (but they're perfectly fine with heterosexual stories being written and read and archived). There are people who insist that slash is an inherently inferior genre that's corrupting the fic world, etc.
Plenty of people who attack slash this way have never even read it, or read one bad story a year ago, then think that they're qualified to judge the entire genre (a genre which includes an immense amount of diversity, from G-rated fluff fics to NC-17 angst fics). Then these critics say they're not homophobic; well, they are. Their problem is not just that homosexual relationships don't appeal to them; it's that they actively disapprove of homosexual relationships compared to het relationships.
It's perfectly fine to (like you said) just not be interested in slash. It's another thing entirely to look down on it or criticize the people who do like it. That's why slash fans get defensive and start characterizing anti-slash people as homophobic.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-14 12:09 am (UTC)As for Giles/Wood, ick. I have no problem with Giles , in fact I thought ASH was sexy when he was on VR-5. Wood however squicks me , because I think he has an Oedipal complex and he got the job at the school specifically so that he could have acess to Buffy through Dawn. I mean ., look how quickly he jumped on(to) Faith once it became obvious that Buffy wouldn't sleep with him.
His intentions on thier date were obvious.Out of the way restaurant, A little showing off, feeding her dessert . That all says that he was planning on getting laid.
I think it would be neat if someone did a fic that had his history shown to have a sexual interest in Slayers and/or Potentials. Especially if they were his only sexual partners.
End of rant .