Calling All Slashers!

[spiceblueeyes]

Hello F-list!
I'm doing a Case Study for my Cases in Gender Studies class and my topic is slash fanfiction. I'd love to include all of your thoughts!
So please, comment and tell me what you think of slash fanfic as an expression of female communication (yes, I know there are guys out there, but we're talking majority here). Why do we read and write slash, what do we get out of it? (minds out of the gutter people.) Do you see it as an oppositional interpretation of the original material? Help me explain and present slash to an audience that has never heard of it before.
I really want to know what you think, anonymous comments are welcome too.

Comments

[kj-svala.livejournal.com]

that`s, an intersting topic.

Me, I`m a slasher ever since I started watching Stargate SG-1, and after I discovered the wonderfull world of www, both was years ago.

but, since my english is anything but good enough to express how I got into reading slash (since I don´t write), and why I always go back to slash in general in all fandoms I read fanfiction for, I either have to leave it with this comment of mine, or pre write a real answere in word (spell check included).

hmmm ...

[spiceblueeyes.livejournal.com]

I'd love to read what you have to say, cause I know you slash many fandoms.

[quovadimus83.livejournal.com]

I think you could view it as a way for women to take power in their sexuality when they write slash, or any pairing, for that matter, but specifically with male slash. I think it could be argued especially in that case, b/c a woman is in control of two men AND a sexual situation. it's also a good way for women to communicate to the world what kinds of actions and emotions they like to see in men. even in a society that is very emotionally driven like ours is, we (as women) are often still not allowed to come right out & ask for what we want--sexually & romantically. the double standard is still very much active re: strong sexual women (aka promiscuity). I think this is a safe way for women to get what they want w/out being labeled as such.

[spiceblueeyes.livejournal.com]

I agree, it is a safe way to express ourselves. At least on the internet, I know in the real world many people find it bizarre at best, reactions can be strong. Again the double standard of guys can want to see two girls, but girls can't want to see two guys together.

[quovadimus83.livejournal.com]

I regard slash fanfic the same way I do fantasies or regular daydreams people have. you're in any given situation & your brain goes to work at making it better/more enjoyable for you. the same thing applies here: you're given a set of characters, & while you might already enjoy that a lot, you still find ways to make it better. but overall, I think it's simply a way for women to wield power.

might I link a friend here? this kind of topic is right up her alley, & I think she'll have some interesting things to say.

[spiceblueeyes.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, the more the merrier :)

[flighty-dreams.livejournal.com]

In a hurry so I can't write much, but women enjoy slash the same way men enjoy 2 women making out. It's a turn on. I think part of what makes slash more 'taboo' to the mainstream is that it's in many ways objectification of men, whereas in our society it's usually women who are being objectified. I mean, just look at music videos. Even the female singers are dressed sexily b/c they are supposed to be seen as desirable, while the men can wear whatever they want--while having scantily clad female backup dancers/singers in the background.

I see slash as a way for women to express their desires openly, something that as a poster above said, isn't always viewed well by society.

I could say more but alas I must go.

[spiceblueeyes.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I think in some ways fandom is one of the few places woman CAN objectify men without being silenced in some way.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Clearly, yes, slash is an expression of female communication. I was lucky enough to get to go to wincon one year, and it was like an overflowing fountain of squee. Slash seems to channel women's responses to source material (through our passionate reaction to the slashy interactions we perceive between the men), upping the squee factor significantly.

Interestingly enough, I've spent the last several years in Supernatural fandom, where though Wincest gets a lot of press (due to the now-canon fact that the boys are "erotically codependent" lol) there is a very active gen fandom. Gen fans also get excited and squee about their stories and meta. It would be very interesting to explore how gen fans see their involvement with Show differing from how slashgirls see it. I personally think slash is "a line in the sand"... as people become involved in fandoms, they tend to start out gen and become more slashy and cross more lines after time. It's also true that for writers, slash brings more comments home to the journal that gen stories. Most of the truly big name writers are slash writers. I'd love to hear more from the gen side of communities about this aspect. -- So it really does seem that slash is a form of communication that is produced by women, for women. The sexual component of slash stories is often presented as a gift -- whether specifically, as for someone's birthday, or in general, to one's readers.

Is slash oppositional to the source material? This is very complicated, natch! It's pretty common to theorize that slash makes visible the strong homosocial bonds between men in Western fiction -- here, mostly tv. To go back to my first slash fandom, the X Files, Mulder and Scully were partners -- they clearly loved one another deeply as best friends -- they eventually had a child together -- but the slash relationship was Mulder/Krycek ... Krycek was a killer, a liar, and a traitor, but man did he have the chemistry with Mulder. No one could make Mulder as passionate as Krycek. Reading sex into their relationship was a natural for slashgirls. Whereas the love between Mulder and Scully was deep but unresolved (as far as I know, the phrase UST, unresolved sexual tension, was actually coined to describe Mulder and Scully!), the passion between Mulder and Krycek was right there on screen. Gen writers would prefer to write stories more similar to canon, where the emphasis is on the case, not the relationship; while het writers might go deeper into the love relationship between Mulder and Scully; but slash writers latched onto what they perceived as the most passionate, most volatile emotions to exploit. So slash could be seen as partly oppositional --revealing homosocial bonds that "are meant" to stay hidden -- or it could be seen as expanding on what's already inherent in the source.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Given that one intends to make the leap from Gen into porn, why slash instead of het? It's my conviction that het involves power dynamics that are more naturalized and trickier to navigate. If sex is predicated on penetration (which of course it need not be), the act of being penetrated can be equated with being less powerful -- hence the linkage between "bottoming" and "submission." No one, that I know, ever wanted Scully to SUBMIT to Mulder (OH HELL NO!) so slashgirls are not going to go there. Het runs the risk of naturalizing women's submission. Of course, a skilled writer can always turn that around, but that's the risk. With slash, power dynamics are fluid and always explicit. Both men stand equal chance of being on top or on bottom -- neither position is naturalized -- so the writer has to build the story (even if it's a pwp) justifying what happens in the scene. Readers get annoyed and bored if writers fall back on cliche justifications.... moving to spn, if Castiel is portrayed in too many stories as wimpy, clingy, overly sweet, virginal, or auto-bottomy -- that is, if he is overly "feminized" -- cas fans will start posting Casifestos that reassert what a BAMF he is. Readers don't want to see Castiel "bottoming" without that choice being justified by the story.

I think that basically, slash is porn created by women, for women -- but slash exists within a fannish community that ranges from gen to het to slash (then dives into the kink end where even the most game reader might fear to follow)! Het becomes less of a "squick" (a turnoff that makes you run away) when power dynamics are more openly addressed in the story. When het becomes more "slashy" -- as it is predicated on a fluidity of power relations between man and woman-- it becomes more interesting to slash readers.

okay, that's for starters!!

[spiceblueeyes.livejournal.com]

For starters? Is there more? Lol.
"an overflowing fountain of squee" LOL, wish I was there:)

I also think that one of the things that makes slash interesting is the power dynamics. In a het story the dynamics are usually pre-established before you even start reading. The struggle and fluidity that slash has is much more interesting, and fun. I know that I rarely read het any more (ironic since I'm actually writing a het story right now) because a lot of times I find them boring. I'm always glad to find one that actually holds my attention.

"Het runs the risk of naturalizing women's submission." So do you think (I'm just thinking out loud) that slashers are women who are uncomfortable with the average media portrayal of women as submissive? Maybe we identify more with the male characters? I know that the female characters on tv that I really love are the ones that 'act manly.'

"I personally think slash is "a line in the sand"... as people become involved in fandoms, they tend to start out gen and become more slashy and cross more lines after time." Completely true in my experience. I didn't start out as a slasher. I read one slash story with morbid curiosity and then another, and then I was gone.

The supernatural fandom is the most obviously gendered fandom I've been a part of, not that the others aren't, just that spn fans surpass them in this (as with many other things). Maybe it's because there are only two main actors, and they're both men, and the women on the show tend to meet untimely ends. (Something that fans don't seem to mind much, ellen and jo excluded).

So yeah, what do you think?

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

LOLZ! BE VERY AFRAID, THERE'S ALWAYS MOAR THINKY WITH FANNISHLISS AROUND. :D

Het. I do know some writers who have no problem at all with het. My favorite het queen is azephirin --- and it's super interesting to me that most of her recent women are genderswapped boys, like girl!Johnny Weir, girl!Kirk, etc. By switching the character from boy to girl, she's able to create fantastic, nuanced woman characters, because she explores what being a girl really MEANS. The best het is like that. :)

I can almost GUARANTEE you that Slashgirls are incredibly uncomfortable with the way woman characters are portrayed. So much so that in supernatural fandom, the fans have actually been accused of internalized misogyny for their strong antagonistic reactions to the women characters on the show (though, of course, some of those critics just have legitimately high standards for women characters: BUT a show about two brothers is NEVER going to pass the Bechdel test -- how could it?) I personally have always indentified with the men characters -- I'm not Scully, I'm Mulder (or perhaps Krycek); I'm Pippin and not Arwen or Galadriel; and I'm certainly Dean rather than Bela!! :)

I like stories about women characters that don't focus too hard on their femininity. I'm not a big Joss booster, but I think his shows do a good job first building a great character and then giving her a woman's problems, instead of the other way round. (Buffy is FIRST A SLAYER, and only tangentially Angel's girlfriend or whoever's). It bothers me when characters become ESSENTIALLY a girlfriend or a mother. Ben Edlund's friends, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, have the Venture Brothers foreground this with two great characters -- Dr. Girlfriend, now known as Dr. Mrs. the Monarch, and Molotov Cocktease. --In my humble opinion, their show does a great job mocking stereotypes by writing them large... it's the type of humor that Edlund uses all the time, and it really pisses some people off! :P

I've been HIPDEEP in supernatural fandom for several years now, so I can't even comment on what other fandoms look like right now. :)

[quovadimus83.livejournal.com]

yes! I knew I could lure you into this discussion. :D

[quovadimus83.livejournal.com]

slashers are women who are uncomfortable with the average media portrayal of women as submissive. this is absolutely true of myself. I only found a woman character in the past year or so that I can actually identify with & call my hero. there have been a number of female characters that I enjoy enough, but their male counterpart on the show always has outweighed them. & then I met Mary from In Plain Sight, & I fell in love w/ her character! *sigh*