Conversations about female characters and fandom
So I find a lot of what's being talked about in metafandom really interesting.
Some background, which is already obvious to most of you. I am really into female characters, these are the main draw in fandom for me. The genres I gravitate to are het and femslash because of this. That said, I also enjoy slash. It is because I feel that slash in my fandoms (Spn, Trek) is so full of really fascinating fic, that I sometimes get a little sad that there's not as much het and femslash. Indirectly, I think that's why it figures so much in my links, since I feel it doesn't get too much attention.
So I'm sympathetic to these concerns:
First I'm in your fandom queering up your het... by qwertyuiop voices how I feel about the het I like and would love to read more of. The het I seek is even more scarce because I want het that goes past the traditional gender roles, complicating and/or subverting them--I believe het is just as capable of being transgressive as any other genre (like the post below argues). This is where the writer comes in. I agree with the OP's assertion that a good thing to keep in mind is an avoidance of always taking "straight" as the default for characters. It's a good point of departure for more complex explorations of gender roles.
Then My Fandom is All Genres by gabrielleabelle continues along this vein, talking about the reasons why female characters get ignored and calling for a deeper engagement with them. I like and agree with her view of fandom as space where we can deconstruct canon's failure with respect to 2-dimensional female characters and cliched relationships. I also wish there would be less complacency with slash as the end-all of transgressive writing.
That's why I feel the need to spam:
het_reccers (Multi-fandom het recs, now doing Dollhouse)
where_no_woman (Trek, centered on female characters)
spn_women (which has its ficathon offerings up and which I need to go back to).
How cool is it that these conversations are happening just before halfamoon (Multi-fandom festival centered on female characters)? *rubs hands gleefully*
Some background, which is already obvious to most of you. I am really into female characters, these are the main draw in fandom for me. The genres I gravitate to are het and femslash because of this. That said, I also enjoy slash. It is because I feel that slash in my fandoms (Spn, Trek) is so full of really fascinating fic, that I sometimes get a little sad that there's not as much het and femslash. Indirectly, I think that's why it figures so much in my links, since I feel it doesn't get too much attention.
So I'm sympathetic to these concerns:
First I'm in your fandom queering up your het... by qwertyuiop voices how I feel about the het I like and would love to read more of. The het I seek is even more scarce because I want het that goes past the traditional gender roles, complicating and/or subverting them--I believe het is just as capable of being transgressive as any other genre (like the post below argues). This is where the writer comes in. I agree with the OP's assertion that a good thing to keep in mind is an avoidance of always taking "straight" as the default for characters. It's a good point of departure for more complex explorations of gender roles.
Then My Fandom is All Genres by gabrielleabelle continues along this vein, talking about the reasons why female characters get ignored and calling for a deeper engagement with them. I like and agree with her view of fandom as space where we can deconstruct canon's failure with respect to 2-dimensional female characters and cliched relationships. I also wish there would be less complacency with slash as the end-all of transgressive writing.
That's why I feel the need to spam:
het_reccers (Multi-fandom het recs, now doing Dollhouse)
where_no_woman (Trek, centered on female characters)
spn_women (which has its ficathon offerings up and which I need to go back to).
How cool is it that these conversations are happening just before halfamoon (Multi-fandom festival centered on female characters)? *rubs hands gleefully*