The more things change.... ALL OF THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.
Snark ahoy.
eta: I'm exceedingly busy right now, so I'm not replying at ALL. Leverage takes precedence, sorry.
Navel-gazing 101: Boyslash is So Deep and Transformative
Step 1. Write a m/m slash fic, with or without butt-sex. Make certain to worship the penis and deride the vagina as much as possible.
Step 2. Rake in the feedback and wait for the one that may, possibly, wonder where the women are or think you got them OOC or is mildly curious how x-y-z is possible.
Step 3. Ignore the intent of the feedback and rant about it in your journal/blog about some homophobic asshole came and stomped on your parade and how it's NOT FAIR that gay men at so stigmatised and how your fic was just trying to help.
Step 4. Rake in the condolences and anti-homophobic rage from your friends. Bonus: if you're linked on metafandom, complete strangers will tell you how crusading you are for having the strength to continue to write about two men fucking.
Step 5. Post about how you have calmed down and maybe examined your privilege, and how you're sorry people who don't like gays exist in the world. Go off about how boyslash is helping to narrow the gap in fiction and how no one is straight (least of all, hot white dudes). Make sure to throw in lots of words like 'heteronormative' and 'cis-gendered' so your audience thinks you're deep and smart. Remember not to mention femslash or the idea that m/m fic excludes women.
Step 6. Notice that this activity has caused some, "Uh, but... " from the person who might have given you the original crit. Condescendingly tell them they just don't understand oppression.
Step 7. Explain to your friends list how you like this one movie/show and the woman (possibly plural) in it because it subverts gender types and tropes, and how AWESOME it is, but how sad you are that you can never talk about it (or women) because everyone you know is a boyslasher. And you wouldn't want to dare harsh their squee by talking about vaginas.
Step 8. Be comforted that all of your comments will be replies telling you that there are only a few well-written women, and they're the only ones anyone can like. Badly-written women are so common, after all, and even if the men are badly-written, they're easier to understand (boys are so awesome, squee, did you know about that minor male character/male character in two seconds of that one episode Big Bang? Wasn't it wonderful?).
Step 9. By now, the female character fans will probably be going, "dude..." Take everything they say out of context and wrong, accuse them of wanting only submissive/heteronormative women and dismiss their comments as "haters" and "people who don't liek* gays in media".
Step 10. Write one fic about a woman.
Step 11. Talk about how it was so hard, because women are so boring... You may need to go back to step 6 or 7, at this point.
Step 12. Repeat in a years' time, sure in the knowledge that the female characters will have dwindled even more in the media as the boyslashers continue to dominate fandoms and produce trends that advertisers/producers use to gauge their audience.
* a typo, but it was perfect, so I'm leaving it.
eta: I'm exceedingly busy right now, so I'm not replying at ALL. Leverage takes precedence, sorry.
Navel-gazing 101: Boyslash is So Deep and Transformative
Step 1. Write a m/m slash fic, with or without butt-sex. Make certain to worship the penis and deride the vagina as much as possible.
Step 2. Rake in the feedback and wait for the one that may, possibly, wonder where the women are or think you got them OOC or is mildly curious how x-y-z is possible.
Step 3. Ignore the intent of the feedback and rant about it in your journal/blog about some homophobic asshole came and stomped on your parade and how it's NOT FAIR that gay men at so stigmatised and how your fic was just trying to help.
Step 4. Rake in the condolences and anti-homophobic rage from your friends. Bonus: if you're linked on metafandom, complete strangers will tell you how crusading you are for having the strength to continue to write about two men fucking.
Step 5. Post about how you have calmed down and maybe examined your privilege, and how you're sorry people who don't like gays exist in the world. Go off about how boyslash is helping to narrow the gap in fiction and how no one is straight (least of all, hot white dudes). Make sure to throw in lots of words like 'heteronormative' and 'cis-gendered' so your audience thinks you're deep and smart. Remember not to mention femslash or the idea that m/m fic excludes women.
Step 6. Notice that this activity has caused some, "Uh, but... " from the person who might have given you the original crit. Condescendingly tell them they just don't understand oppression.
Step 7. Explain to your friends list how you like this one movie/show and the woman (possibly plural) in it because it subverts gender types and tropes, and how AWESOME it is, but how sad you are that you can never talk about it (or women) because everyone you know is a boyslasher. And you wouldn't want to dare harsh their squee by talking about vaginas.
Step 8. Be comforted that all of your comments will be replies telling you that there are only a few well-written women, and they're the only ones anyone can like. Badly-written women are so common, after all, and even if the men are badly-written, they're easier to understand (boys are so awesome, squee, did you know about that minor male character/male character in two seconds of that one episode Big Bang? Wasn't it wonderful?).
Step 9. By now, the female character fans will probably be going, "dude..." Take everything they say out of context and wrong, accuse them of wanting only submissive/heteronormative women and dismiss their comments as "haters" and "people who don't liek* gays in media".
Step 10. Write one fic about a woman.
Step 11. Talk about how it was so hard, because women are so boring... You may need to go back to step 6 or 7, at this point.
Step 12. Repeat in a years' time, sure in the knowledge that the female characters will have dwindled even more in the media as the boyslashers continue to dominate fandoms and produce trends that advertisers/producers use to gauge their audience.
* a typo, but it was perfect, so I'm leaving it.