~~ 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.