~~ slash & homophobia. more importantly, semi-nekkid pixies.

[reenka]

the thing that often strikes me is how much everything depends on definition. you can be correct about something with only the slightest change of definition, and a little nudge there or here, and you're way off. this seems to be the case especially with the whole debate about whether disliking slash is homophobic. if you define slash as "a story with gay characters in it", then yes, if you just dislike that it has gay characters, you have problems with homosexuality by implication. but if you define slash as "the practice of slashing canonically straight characters in literature and film with other canonically straight characters of the same sex", it's different. since this involves a certain radical reinterpretation (and you could say, appropriation) of the text, in a direction that it is not very likely to go.

especially if you separate "slashing characters who have subtextual chemistry and taking it one step further" and "slashing because it's fun to have two boys in love, regardless of their relationship to each other and to canon". both are slashing, and yet they involve rather different attitudes.
    and besides. at heart, one slashes because the interaction of these two same-sex characters tickles you and you basically want them to kiss. this "wanting them to kiss" thing is something some people get and some people don't. i mean, people have such different attitudes to literature/film. some just want to extrapolate canon and be predictive and just know "what happens next". that is pretty far from slash as an aesthetic, generally. and some people like to play around with the text, twist it this way and that, to suit their desire. they are more akin to people who like AU fanfics, in that way.

in general, i'm the sort of person who picks up on subtext and goes hog-wild over it. i was a huge scully/mulder shipper (back when it was subtext). if it's all in the moments and the too-long looks and the lingering touches, i'm there. on the other hand, i also like things that are blatant, if they're to my taste, so it really depends.
    on the one hand, there's this relationship to the text-- subversion or extrapolation. on the other hand, there's the burning desire to see what you want to see, which is something else entirely.
    i never realized i liked seeing boys together, just because i well-- i like it, it makes me happy-- but i do. it took seeing yaoi fanfic to enlighten me that it does, but really, i've always had a fascination with boys in (platonic) love. there are many possible reasons for this, and i won't get into them. suffice it to say, it diddles my skittle, so to speak. i want to see romeo & juliet, only with boys. i want to anything romantic and sweet and sexy, except with boys. it's just not there. there's isn't much to -turn to- besides writing it yourself and reading other amateur stuff.
    naturally, this is something that's hard for some people to "get". they don't -have- to be homophobic (though they could be), they could just not be voyeuristic. there are too many things curled up here to rule anything out. it's not -just- that i'm -tolerant- of queerness. it actively gets me off, emotionally, physically, what have you. that is basically why i read/write slash. i would maybe have a passing interest otherwise, but i wouldn't seek it out. which i do. and hey, most hp(!) het squicks me and most femmeslash leaves me cold, and i'm bi, so even if slash squicked me, it wouldn't mean anything (necessarily) beyond the fact that it's just not my cup of tea.

anyway, it's all complicated. naturally, if you go around attacking writers/readers of whatever persuasion, it just means you are rude and have anger management issues, no matter what you're yelling about. you shouldn't connect the possession of issues with something with their rude expression. i hate/dislike lots of things that'd get me in hot water if i yelled them from the highest mountaintop. you know that thing with the dixie chicks who said they're ashamed to be from texas 'cause of george bush. people said they're unpatriotic or whatever. if i wanted, i could say i'm ashamed to be from new york 'cause of george pataki. and maybe some people (i dunno who, but anyway) would want to eat me alive. heh. lots of people are going to have unpretty opinions, without being hateful and mean. hey, i know some atheists who condemn all christians as stupid idiots who want to persecute the free thinkers and stifle the free expression of sexuality and whatever else. sometimes -i- get pretty upset at christianity myself. i mean, and i know that's both stupid and understandable, depending where you stand. not that slash has ever oppressed anyone, but you know, people feel oppressed whether you want them to or not, sometimes (and one person's oppressor is another person's oppressed).

   EDIT - as a last point, if the issue is saying the words "hate" and "it shouldn't be written"... well, what can i say to that? slapping the label "homophobe" on someone is extreme and it perpetuates the circle of resentment. but obviously, trying to verbally hurt a group of people or to censor them doesn't have any easy excuse. it's the casting of stones that bothers me, on either side.
    and obviously, this has all been said before, in one form or another. blah blah stop wasting time, reena. i'll shut up now.
~~

instead of all that, i'd recommend reading thessamunga's harry wankfic. and alexmalfoy's harry gigglefic. mmmmrrrr. the bunch of you are just so talented it's an embarrassment of riches. heee. never have to troll the net for pr0n again, ahahahaaha. ahem.

anyway. drew a happy springtime pixie, 'cause today was a good day, and i listened to one of my favorite j-pop bands (boa), and. um.
    

Comments

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

if you're around, come talk to me on: DownWithGryffind

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*laughing*
okay, so i'm getting this idea like.....

you want me to talk to you ^^;
coming! :D

[acidic.livejournal.com]

faerie! so cute! i am drawn to her little turned-in foot! :)) adorable!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

heeeee :D
thankeeees :))
i meant to make -someone- happy with her (besides me), so i feel my mission wasn't a complete failure now *grins* (and yes, guilty of thinking people hate it if they say nothing, even though i know better). but. hee. i have the feeling this is a pixie with a "two left feet" problem, definitely :D

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

ooh, picture so pretty!
For some reason she reminds me of Tessa. No idea why.

Ooh, and I found a fucking hilarious D/M fic. (http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/Under/Graces/socialgraces1.html) Best. OCs. Ever.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

hee! thankees! :D
i sort of see it. the tessaness. though it's weird~:)
and, have bookmarked. cannot read this weekend on pain of being an evil procrastinator even more than i am. it's a struggle though ^^

[starlitefaerie.livejournal.com]

lovely picture, first of all. Very pretty.

naturally, this is something that's hard for some people to "get". they don't -have- to be homophobic (though they could be), they could just not be voyeuristic. there are too many things curled up here to rule anything out.

I agree that it doesn't have to be homophobic, because. I see slash everywhere. Really, truly, I am Queen of the Land of Subtext. And it drives my girlfriend mad, we had a big giant arguement about it two nights ago wherein she accused me of seeing subtext anywhere and everywhere. Her arguement being that it isn't meant to be there by the people who make the characters, so I should stop seeing it. I, in turn, became very hurt and angry, because nobody puts down subtext to me and gets away with it. Asking me to not pick up on subtext is like asking me to please quit breathing, thanks very much. My point being that, despite my girlfriend's squickness over H/D and dislike of my subtext-obsessing, she is not homophobic obviously, as she's my girlfriend. And she isn't anti-boy, as most of our best friends are gay boys. She doesn't get it, and she certainly isn't homophobic. There is a difference, a matter of preferance.

My girlfriend doesn't like slash, and especially not H/D, so she isn't going to go out and read a story. When I do have her proofread one of my fics, she doesn't respond by I think this is disgusting and I hate it, she gives me actual critique despite her feelings about the subject matter. It's not as though slash stories don't come with a million warnings before them. The people who attack other people for their stories are rude and cranky and ignorant. If someone doesn't like my fic because it has boys in love, I don't care. If they don't like it for valid reasons, because of plot or my writing style or blah blah blah, than that is valid and I do care. I don't like it, but I respect it.

I am exhausted and hope, for my own sake, that the above made sense. It is very possible that it doesn't. *sigh*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

hee. it seems we agree ^_^
a lot of intelligent people -don't- agree (and well, obviously they didn't feel like discussing it with me), but oh well, it's not like i -want- to argue about it~:)
i think the people who think hating/being squicked/disliking slash is homophobic are a) using very specific terms (ie, since slash is a gay story, disliking it must mean you're disliking gayness-- which could be true) or are defensive (must stop gay oppressors and their slash-repressing ways 'cause they're a threat to actual queers).

anyway. thanks :D
a lot of people have talked about this in other ljs and i was beginning to feel a bit left out (ie, just how stupid of a post -was- this?). but then, i'm paranoid -.-
i blame finals! :D

Re:

[starlitefaerie.livejournal.com]

School in general is an evil bitch. The tension is hideous - I have so many orals exams essays that I am constantly on the verge of breakdown. It's a bad scene.

I do that too, with the paranoia. When no one responds I get all fidgety and nervous and start thinking Why did I post this garbage? Was I mad? I must have been at the time! etc etc obsessiveness etc.

And I do agree, because OF COURSE some people who hate slash are homophobic and hate slash without reason, but some aren't. I repeat, it's all about preferance. My girlfriend hates my subtext obsessing but she's fair about it - she hates girl/girl subtext as much as boy/boy.

(ie, since slash is a gay story, disliking it must mean you're disliking gayness-- which could be true)

and It could also be not true. I won't read Draco/Ron slash, I dislike the idea of Ron/Draco but I love slash with a passion not entierly healthy. It's just some things work for some people, other things don't.