Thoughts on slash.
This is my oblique response to a Tumblr essay by madlori, who writes some of the best Sherlock fic in the fandom - answering the nervous queries of a slash newbie who worries how people will feel about her if they know she enjoys reading this material.
***
I was a slash fan at the age of 5. Seriously. I'd watch Captain Kangaroo (for the youngsters and non-Yanks out there, an American kid's show that ran on CBS for 30 years) and was firmly convinced that the Captain and his friend Mr. Greenjeans were married to each other. I also wondered about the puppet pals Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit.
I was 14 the April I discovered Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, written science fiction, and puberty all at once. It's a wonder I survived. And at the age of 15 - a naive nice little Catholic girl - even before I understood the mechanics of gay sex, I'd picture Kirk and Spock in bed together, making love.
That was 35 years ago, this year.
I went from shushing friends who'd say the word "slash" out loud at regular conventions (I was sure we'd be thrown out), to coolly letting Jerry Pournelle know that I wrote slash as well as the more conventional speculative fiction of mine that he'd read as a contest judge.
What a wonderfully freeing genre it can be at its best! How many libidos has it unlocked? (How many grateful spouses?) How many categories can it encompass? (I've written plotless smut, sexless romance, horror, adventure, fairy tale, comedy, tragedy - all under the oblique banner.)
One of the best things slash (and, more broadly, media fanfic) has created is an old girls' network out in the world of professional fantasy/SF. Lots of women writers out there began as 13-year-olds writing Star Trek, Blake's 7 and Man from UNCLE stories (often having their interests sneeringly dismissed by boys who wrote Heinlein and Asimov fanfic).
I'm with madlori - whose Sherlock fic is so wonderful that one of her fans is none other than author Diane Duane. With more practice that nervous new fan will become more confident, more sure of her own mind, tastes, and pleasures - and less likely to give a rat's ass how she should present herself for other people's comfort. (Which sounds an awful lot like a woman discovering her own sexuality, doesn't it?)
And as TV's Frank said, "Fly your freak flag high!"
***
I was a slash fan at the age of 5. Seriously. I'd watch Captain Kangaroo (for the youngsters and non-Yanks out there, an American kid's show that ran on CBS for 30 years) and was firmly convinced that the Captain and his friend Mr. Greenjeans were married to each other. I also wondered about the puppet pals Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit.
I was 14 the April I discovered Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, written science fiction, and puberty all at once. It's a wonder I survived. And at the age of 15 - a naive nice little Catholic girl - even before I understood the mechanics of gay sex, I'd picture Kirk and Spock in bed together, making love.
That was 35 years ago, this year.
I went from shushing friends who'd say the word "slash" out loud at regular conventions (I was sure we'd be thrown out), to coolly letting Jerry Pournelle know that I wrote slash as well as the more conventional speculative fiction of mine that he'd read as a contest judge.
What a wonderfully freeing genre it can be at its best! How many libidos has it unlocked? (How many grateful spouses?) How many categories can it encompass? (I've written plotless smut, sexless romance, horror, adventure, fairy tale, comedy, tragedy - all under the oblique banner.)
One of the best things slash (and, more broadly, media fanfic) has created is an old girls' network out in the world of professional fantasy/SF. Lots of women writers out there began as 13-year-olds writing Star Trek, Blake's 7 and Man from UNCLE stories (often having their interests sneeringly dismissed by boys who wrote Heinlein and Asimov fanfic).
I'm with madlori - whose Sherlock fic is so wonderful that one of her fans is none other than author Diane Duane. With more practice that nervous new fan will become more confident, more sure of her own mind, tastes, and pleasures - and less likely to give a rat's ass how she should present herself for other people's comfort. (Which sounds an awful lot like a woman discovering her own sexuality, doesn't it?)
And as TV's Frank said, "Fly your freak flag high!"