I still come across fics with the 'warning' for slash, even on slash-only lists. When confronted, they usually claim that they're crossposting, and that they'll get yelled at if they don't include the warning, etc etc.
Shit. I flagged an academic paper a while back on my old computer and now, of course, I can't find it, but it linked current notions of ratings and warnings to historical accounts of authors and literature and the need for secrecy in writing because, way back when, one couldn't be or write about the gay experience because everyone would be clutching their pearls and, y'know, sending them to jail for writing such "explicit" material.
Basically it discussed how, through time, all those "secret handshakes" in literature that certain people knew how to read but that were layered in such a way that "commoners" couldn't tell what was really going on, how those evolved into warnings and ratings, if that makes sense.
It focused more on old school literature and the history of film censorship and I don't remember there being a lot, if any, focus on internet literature and fandom, but the general idea might be interesting in this context?
God I want to see that paper. That must have been fascinating. *entranced*
It focused more on old school literature and the history of film censorship and I don't remember there being a lot, if any, focus on internet literature and fandom, but the general idea might be interesting in this context?
I think it really would since a lot of fandom is based off of pushing against social pressure/stereotypes or, in reaction, embracing some of them and not others.
I can try and find it? I'm a packrat when it comes to academic papers, so it'll take time and pie to root through the 900+ other essays I have on my computer, but I'll make an attempt.
Well, let us think back to a time before the Internet - indeed, to a time Before I knew that "slash" meant something other than a vicious slice with a blade
( ... )
I have password protected my site(s) in the past, requesting that people who wanted the password simply make an age statement in an email to me. At the time it felt like the right thing to do, to make sure that I wasn't leaving my porn out for the kiddies to flip through. I also did it when I was first writing RPF - again, it felt like the right thing to do if, for example, in the admittedly unlikely event that Orlando Bloom googled himself, he didn't come across some awful thing I'd written about him.
I never picked or chose, all I asked was you say "yes, I'm 18." so yes, it was limiting access, but imo not any way that could be construed as marginalizing. I mean, unless you believe that 14 year old girls with crushes on Legolas should've had the freedom to read about Orlando Bloom tied up and fisted? maybe you do. I kind of doubt it, but maybe someone believes that.
Are you making the distinction between porn and slash, though? *curious* Because I've seen people password-protect their PG-13 slash, and it still crops up semi-frequently in the warnings section (seriously, I mean; there's also quite a bit of tongue-in-cheek usage of warnings for both slash and het).
no, I have never made that distinction. i've always found warning for slash to be insulting -- when I got started in fandom in the early 90s, slash was outright banned in a lot of places, and that never ever sat right with me. it's my habit to write both hetero and homoporn, as I am moved to. I say porn is porn, and you're either old enough to read it or you aren't.
people DO make that distinction, giving greater negative weight to slash, and frankly while I remember how unforgiving fandom at large was to it -- and to RPF -- I figured if you're going to have the nerve to write it, have the nerve to own it.
fwiw, while I still worry about underage readers and the occasional celebrity vanity google, I haven't used a password system since about 2003 -- but I no longer have seriously hardcore stuff up either.
ok that's actually what I thought you were saying but I wanted to be sure. I definitely agree with you that warning for slash is both pointless and insulting. God, it seems like the RPF wars were so long ago too, but I bet there's still places where they're still going on.
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Wow.
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Basically it discussed how, through time, all those "secret handshakes" in literature that certain people knew how to read but that were layered in such a way that "commoners" couldn't tell what was really going on, how those evolved into warnings and ratings, if that makes sense.
It focused more on old school literature and the history of film censorship and I don't remember there being a lot, if any, focus on internet literature and fandom, but the general idea might be interesting in this context?
Reply
It focused more on old school literature and the history of film censorship and I don't remember there being a lot, if any, focus on internet literature and fandom, but the general idea might be interesting in this context?
I think it really would since a lot of fandom is based off of pushing against social pressure/stereotypes or, in reaction, embracing some of them and not others.
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Yes, I know.
It was the stone age.
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I never picked or chose, all I asked was you say "yes, I'm 18." so yes, it was limiting access, but imo not any way that could be construed as marginalizing. I mean, unless you believe that 14 year old girls with crushes on Legolas should've had the freedom to read about Orlando Bloom tied up and fisted? maybe you do. I kind of doubt it, but maybe someone believes that.
*hands*
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people DO make that distinction, giving greater negative weight to slash, and frankly while I remember how unforgiving fandom at large was to it -- and to RPF -- I figured if you're going to have the nerve to write it, have the nerve to own it.
fwiw, while I still worry about underage readers and the occasional celebrity vanity google, I haven't used a password system since about 2003 -- but I no longer have seriously hardcore stuff up either.
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