Slash and the appropriation/objectification of The Other

[herongale]

This post, on the topic of female slashers writing about gay men, really struck a chord with me. A kind of annoyed, exasperated chord. So I started writing up a response, and as it got longer and longer, I realized that the most appropriate place for me to post this was in my own journal. I don't post about my opinions as often as I should in my

Comments

[anonymous]

Uh. Even bigots have the right to write what they want.

Actually, no, they don't. There are limits to free speech and have always been.

Try to write out a detailed plan about killing the president or everyone at your school/workplace. Good luck arguing about free speech.

Yes, there is always the defense "but it's just art" for racist or sexist or homophobic speech. That, of course, is only because the majority is neither. Try to have the same against the majority or a minority that is not declared an outlaw and watch what happens.

For example, oh, antisemitic stories. Watch the international outrage over the last two turqish stories about evil jews abducting an innocent turq and turning him into an arab killer.

Oddly, it's only bad when the minority isn't considered fine to exploit and bash.

I think it is possible to write fiction based on a lack of first hand knowledge

Yes, it is. That's not the issue, so overall, you're arguing against a strawman.

most individual such stories don't bring any cost to the minorities in question.

And most individual story portraying POC as lazy pieces of garbage don't bring any cost to the minorities in question. So why should we be bothered about fictional racism? It's just racism, then, if we follow your argument.
Same with sexism. It doesn't individually hurt women, so why should we be concerned about fictional sexism?

Why should we be concerned at all?

Oh, wait. Racism and sexism affects the majority of the people in the slash fandom, so it's bad. Homophobia only affects a minority, so it's ok. Get you now.