Right? Well, mostly right...

[teand]

afterelton takes an extended look at slash fandom and how it might be shifting the perception of being gay out there in the real world.

Has Slash Made the World Better for Gay Men?

They contradict themselves by first saying: "Our survey also found that interest in these relationships tended to skew very young - something that makes the exploding

Comments

[eregyrn]

Thanks for linking to that! Comments still seem to be fairly positive, which is nice to see

[eregyrn]

I wonder if he will go into the tension between old slash fandom mores ("you don't expose the actors/creators to slash"), and modern mores... and perhaps the way in which the modern "over-sharing" may, paradoxically, be contributing to a general acceptance of the topic. It seems pretty rare these days to encounter a modern (fandom-inspiring) show in which the stars AREN'T abundantly aware of the slash phenomenon, and aren't willing to address it directly even when they aren't being asked about it (but of course, they're also being asked about it). Are they even "playing to" the slash part of their fandom any more, or are they simply "playing"? I'm thinking of RDJ and JL stuff surrounding the Holmes movie -- it just seemed like RDJ was taking that theme and running with it out of the gate, without needing to be introduced to the concept or prodded into it

[teand]

I think non-critical humour shows us where the edges are. We laugh at the edges (culturally) for the same reason we laugh at bananna peels -- because we're afraid of falling. Once we (as a culture) stop being afraid of falling, the jokes stop being funny and the comedians move on to the next scary change.

So you're very right; big difference from even ten years ago when we (culturally) were laughing at the guy in pieces at the bottom of the cliff.

Also, Jon Stewart is a whole list of adjectives that still don't do him justice. And I wish the comedy channel hadn't moved the repeats of the night before's show off their lunch hour to 2 pm because now I keep missing it!

[teand]

I suspect that part of what skews this article is that it's an afterelton article and their audience is specifically gay and bisexual men (regardless of how many women hang around the site) so content is angled toward their perceived demographic

[mz_bstone]

I think that the young women I know -- even some the devoutly Christian ones -- are much more aware of GLBT issues and much more likely to be unfazed by same-sex relationships compared to even a decade ago.

Whatever the cause, it's about time!

B

[teand]

GBLT issues have become, at the very least, impossible to ignore. And that can only be a good thing.

I still miss the days when slash flew under the radar though...