~~ the quest for kinkless reading continues.

I guess I mostly want to post about whether one can dislike slash & not be homophobic.

I mean, I would automatically say one is pretty much homophobic to some degree if one -hates- and refuses to give slash (or gay-themed literature or movies) a chance. But in the case of just preferring het or gen-type fic, it's different, slash being a genre of romance. People generally read romance for pleasure-- unlike say, "general" fiction or nonfiction. They read it to relax and enjoy themselves, and if they don't identify with the emotions of the characters involved, then what would be the (emotional) draw?

As a 'serious writer', one of my main goals is to write outside my kinks (or pleasure-zones), because I think that's essential to improving one's craft, and also unsticking one's brain from a rut. But as a 'serious reader', I can't be bothered to ignore my kinks outside of class. And a reader's sexual orientation is just one big kink area, isn't it?

I have a straight, non-fandom guy friend who often reads my H/D fic and even enjoys it, so I know he doesn't have a problem with The Gay. He just doesn't like the sexy-yeay aspect of things. At all. And that really kind of made me think-- how many slash readers/writers would stop reading if slashfic no longer felt -good-?

I think the difference between proclaiming the 'yuck' reaction is homophobic & conscious or understandable and unconscious (in a straight guy or a non-kinky girl) is the difference between a higher-brained and an instinctual (pleasure-based) response. The higher brain says "whoa! morally suspect content!" whereas it's the inarguable Id that proclaims "omg hot!!1" or "omg, NOT!". *sigh* It also seems important that while there are -some- male slashers, nearly 100% are gay (thus begging the question of whether they're being as limited as the straight guys who'd rather stick to het).

This needs more thought on my part, clearly.
~~

Also... does loving/writing/reading H/D fics mean you're one of the inchoate group of H/D shippers? Does that have to necessarily mean you're all into the same thing, that you truly have something in common? (...No.)

It's just-- liking "all versions" of a pairing doesn't make sense to me.

( Jaded? Draco issues? Badfic issues? Just plain Issues?? Moi?!? )

~~

Generally, what I really care about is a good story rather than a shippy or a slashy story, even though those things draw me in initially. It's rather difficult to overcome some ridiculous characterization to write a brilliantly moving tale, but that's only because usually the stuff that's "OOC" makes no sense anyway. Usually it's just -stupid- or uninspired, moreso than it's anti-canon, as far as I can tell. But I'm cranky that way.