[i'm such a geek]

[reenka]

Thinking about reading het... it occurs to me that if you can -only- bear to read slash (in general, I don't mean specific pairings), then you're really in the same boat as the people who can only bear to read het. I mean, there's that default setting of rightness, and everything else is uncomfortable. So if it works that way, then slash is no longer "different"-- it's just the same thing with different equipment. If the important thing is that the equipment remains or that you're turned on by the equipment, then you're not really... er... doing anything special, I guess.

I don't know where this whole "slashers are special" thing comes from, anyway. It's so easy to feel like being a slasher means you're more open-minded and maybe kinkier and more free-spirited. All those het-obsessed people are just prudes, aren't they? Prudes who don't know what they're missing, right?

It's funny, because while I would say it's "all about the dynamic", for me, I -am- shallow. It's not as if I look "beyond the bodies" or whatever. I -like- the bodies. Possibly, it can be equally if not more freeing for girls to write/read a certain kind of het fic rather than slash. Because you're learning to be okay with yourself, to not fall into gender roles, to challenge your assumptions-- right there, where it's difficult. Where you're reminded of yourself. Where there's a -girl- there, and you're not that girl and maybe you want to be and that -hurts- or maybe you -can- pretend you are, and then you remember you aren't and -that- hurts.

It would be hard for me, actually, to imagine a true romantic who's exclusively a slasher (or vice versa). Or a real hedonist, for that matter. And I'm pretty much both. How could you confine yourself to only one arena? How could you pretend the fun's only over -here- and not over -there-? The fun is everywhere, isn't it? People fall in love with other people, and have the same emotions no matter -who- they have them with, right? And bodies are always fun together, aren't they, no matter whose bodies they are? It's the bisexual revolution all over again, man.

Slash for the sake of slash or vice versa just strikes me as sad, really. Anything for the sake of itself can be seen as sad-- sex for the sake of sex, food for the sake of food. Righteousness for the sake of righteousness. I can go on and on. (And most often, I do, don't I.) It's like... meaning may come from within, but it's pointless if there's no larger context. And my larger context tends to be love... hopefully sans the righteousness.

EDIT - Yeah, all right. It's hotter. Slash, that is. Or maybe it's my H/D button. Can never tell, really. *gives up*

Comments

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

I actually had to write some het, recently. I took drabble requests to celebrate my 1-year LJ anniversary and there were a couple of het requests in there... and, they were actually really fun to write. I was glad to find that out, because I read almost exclusively slash, and I've started to worry about why that is... when I am a woman married to a man, why am I more interested in reading about two men? And... maybe it has nothing to do with that. Maybe it is just that male characters are written so much more often in fiction, and those are the characters I'm drawn to... I don't know. I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say, if anything. Only that it was nice to be reminded that I can enjoy het.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

That was exactly -my- feeling, although I've had het requests and challenges for months now, more than a year... but writing it didn't really relieve me the way reading it did. 'Cause I've found I can write -anything-, 'cause of course it's tailored to my personal tastes, even on request. I can write any pairing I can even remotely envision, so it's not as freeing to suddenly write het.

But reading (and liking) all this B/S, I realize that I'm the same girl who has like, a zillion het OTPs (or at least more than 10). I'm still me. Who'd've thunk it? :>

Re:

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

To clarify, I think the thing that was nice for me was not that I could write the het requests, but because I really enjoyed writing them. :) At least one of them was NOT a pairing I ever would have shipped, either (Oz/Tara). Hee. But yeah. We're still us. It's a crazy world. :)

Re:

[cat-mom.livejournal.com]

I'm a married woman who reads H/D slash exclusively and I'm not exactly sure why this is, but I suspect it is for several reasons:
1) I am sexually attracted to men, so there is a turn on factor there (not unlike het men who fantasize about two women getting it on).
2) There is a voyeuristic undercurrent since I don't put myself emotionally or physically into the story; perhaps that feels safer than putting oneself mentally into the fic.
3) This may sound stupid, but I think for my husband it's not at all threatening for me to like to read about gay sex. It's like my obsession lately for watching QaF. He doesn't care to watch it, but it doesn't bother him that I do.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I think my own motivations for reading slash & H/D in particular aren't too common in the slash fandom, really. Mostly, I just really like a their particular dynamic, and it's that way for all the couples I read about. It's -hot- to me that they're both boys, but it's more important to me who they -are-. If two people are right for each other, then it doesn't matter (to me) what gender they are. Though like I said, it's not that I'm disinterested in bodies, just interested differently, I guess.

Another thing is that I read fanfic the same way I read published works. I mean... I read Diana Wynne Jones and John Barth and even JKR, right. And they write het. So I mean, it's weird, applying a whole different standard to fanfic, though I know most people do. I dunno -why- they do, actually. Hmm. 'Cause it's amateur work? But... that's just not enough. Seems like a cop-out. So yeah... I won't say that what "really" matters is Good Writing-- I can only say that it's that and my pre-existing emotional investment. And I don't have emotional investment in penises, y'know. Well, I do, but. *laughs*

Re:

[cat-mom.livejournal.com]

Yes, what you said about H/D's dynamic, that's it exactly! I really am only interested in H/D slash because I love the way the writers take their canon characterizations and put their own spin on them. And it's the interplay between those two particular characters that I enjoy reading about.
I will probably always see a distinction between published work and fanfic simply because of the circumstances (albeit superficial) of their existence, i.e. fanfic is based on existing characters, and those characters can be written wildly OOC from the canon; it is not protected by copyrite, and is found almost exclusively on the internet therefore is not accessible to a large majority of the population. Thanks for all your great insights! :)

[fiendling.livejournal.com]

the only thing i have to say... i like het too! but there are so many more men in hp :P and its the only fandom im in besides lotr which is all men too :P
i do like a good harry/hermione every now and then -.-

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Eh :> I don't like het in HP. At all. Which is why I haven't had this thought earlier. I'm a romantic, mostly. Gotta have the luuurve. And, I mean, I ship R/Hr but not really emotionally. I don't ship het in a lot of fandoms, but it's just... coincidence, sort of, y'know?

It's just silly thinking of being a slasher as equivalent to being a born-again Christian, where you don't go back to your "old ways", eheheh :>

[bekkle.livejournal.com]

I think I read about 70% slash, 30% het. It seems, sometimse, that about 70% of slash is worthy of reading, while about 10% of het is.

this doesn't really apply to the theme of your entry, but.. mmhmm

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I don't even bother reading -any- het in the fandoms I slash. Or reading much of any slash in the fandoms I ship het in. I'm pretty either-or about it, but I do find that in the fandoms dominated by het pairings, the het's as good as anything slashed~:)

[ex-monochro174.livejournal.com]

There's something about the less-conventional seemingness that attracts, for me, anyway. But it sometimes seems easier when it's slash—m/m, anyway. I read het and it has to be beautiful. I read het and it has to tell me something about myself. A lot of times it does. And that's terrifying. But it's also beautiful.

So I don't know. Love is beautiful, either way. Human emotion, human interaction, is beautiful. Either way, it captures some little piece of us, whoever we are, and it's recognizable. That recognition, no matter the gender of who we're reading about, seems to make it beautiful.

Well, really, this comment is mostly to ask what your favorite love song is. I need to know! *laughs* And, if you didn't see my post, your card IS coming. I know it is horribly, unforgivably late. *embarrassed*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Yep, still not reading my flist. At all. I dunno what it is... mostly I'm obsessed and any non-B/S reading's beyond me right now. Heh. I'm such an addict, really. But.

Can't think of one right away. I've had different ones at different times, y'know? I love a -lot- of songs, and a lot of them are lovesongs, too....I do have a favorite sex song, eheheh. "Closer" by NIN. No contest, man. No contest. But that's more... a certain sort of love, y'know? Heh. Okay, slightly challenged by Sophie Hawkins' "Damn, I wish I was your Lover"-- but no. So yeah. While I have a lot of songs I have an intense relationship with, "Closer" is prolly the one I'm the most viscerally into... though it's tied with Moby's "Porcelain", that's not really entirely about love, anyway.

I have a favorite "he left me to die" song. Indigo Girls' "Ghost", definitely. And most of Tori's songs... especially "Silent All These Years" and "Little Earthquakes", but... those aren't really lovesongs, right? 'Cause "Silent All These Years" has prolly my favorite song for -years-.

I have a favorite "he's a stupid jerk, gah" song, which'd be Patty Smyth & "Love Just Ain't Enough". Or maybe Tori's "Tear in Your Hand". Or "Leather". Or "China". Okay, Tori in general.

Elton John's "One" is my favorite "soulmates 4evah" song. Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" is my favorite "I want to see movies like this" song. Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" is my favorite "ode to my beloved" song. U2's "Mysterious Ways" is my favorite "this is what it feels like" song tied with Ani's "Falling Is Like This". I've always had this gaping huge soft spot for "I Melt With You" by Modern English (that's been my favorite love song for -years- and years and years, sort of my "this is what love should be like" song) & "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds gets me all nostalgic 'cause that was one of my very top favorite lovesongs back when I was 14. And then there's Berlin and "Take My Breath Away", which I adored completely.

More sad love songs... and I love a whole lot...
I have this... -thing- for "No More I Love You's" by Annie Lennox... and also "Why". Ani's "Untouchable Face". That just breaks me into pieces. And the Rufus Wainwright version of "Hallelujah". And Moby's "Porcelain". And U2's "With or Without You". And the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody".

Clearly I've listened to way too many lovesongs, man. I wanna say either Tori, Annie Lennox, Modern English or NIN. And they're all so -different-, y'know? *sigh* At different times, I have different favorites. Depends which one I remember at the time. If I listen to one again, it all comes back, y'know? Right now, "Closer" is just the one I've had most recent experience of. It also reminds me of my OTP's at the moment. "Love" isn't exactly what it's referring to, though :> Pick one, anyway :>

Oh, and. Yeah. I totally agree. I dunno... I don't think I'm -always- looking for differentness, in romance. Sometimes I'm just looking for the intensity... I mean, that's not necessarily "different"... it's just not dependent on gender, I guess. Slash isn't any more -intense- by nature of it being two boys, y'know? It might be sexier or more well-written by a certain segment of the population or less cliche (not true, generally)-- but the emotions are all the same, so if that's what one's after.... The preference for it becomes... weird. But then, some people like purple more than blue, so :>