what I read and what I write
There's a very interesting discussion of het and slash over here in rydra_wong's journal, which has so far managed to avoid degenerating into "my pairings are better than your pairings," perhaps because the discussion has remained focused on the question of what works for individual readers and writers. So if you go over there, don't stir up shit.
As I read through, it seemed that much of the commentary wasn't really relevant to my experience as a writer or as a reader, because I'm one of those crazy people who aren't here primarily for the porn; if I have a list of stories to click through and limited time to do it in, I cut the NC-17 ones first. Crazy! And as a writer, I prefer to leave things vague or fade to black. What does strike me, though, is the use of m/m or f/f to explore power dynamics which people find disquieting in m/f.
Nowadays, I don't read much m/m at all; that's in part because most of what I read is SPN and most of the m/m in SPN is Wincest, but it seems to me that the prevalence of Wincest just gives me an excuse to follow my own preferences. If I am going to read erotica, I need there to be a female body in there somewhere; otherwise I won't find it hot. This wasn't always the case, of course -- when I first started reading a lot of fanfic, back around 2000, I read a lot of m/m slash, mostly in HL and XF. Over time, I think I've gotten pickier about relationships, and the kind of stories being written have changed to suit the kinks[1] I've developed, and especially my major relationship kink, equality.
I have a clear memory of the notion, in some long-ago discussion of het vs. slash, that one of the appeals of m/m slash (over het, at least, as that was back in the day before f/f was part of my daily life) was that it allowed a relationship of real equality, because the characters could be entirely free from the kind of subtly or not-so-subtly ingrained social prejudice which might make a truly egalitarian relationship between men and women so difficult to imagine. (And even if the characters live in a world free of sexism, we as authors don't, and our understandings of men and women play out in the things we write about men and women.) I remember not being sure that I really bought that explanation at the time; I'm even less sure that I buy it now. Not because m/m slash can't deliver equality -- it can and does -- but because m/f and f/f can also do so and (it seems to me) are doing so more and more often. That was one of the things I liked best about Alias, that the female characters were a match or more than a match for the men; I got the sense that it was something that appealed to a lot of people who wrote John/Aeryn, over in Farscape, or early MSR. I wonder if there's been a change in the kind of female characters being written, or the way we read and write those characters.
Considering the example of Alias, I think that equality doesn't involve lack of conflict, in my mind -- I'm all for there being a struggle for dominance, so long as that struggle can never be resolved. As soon as there's a clear power differential, my interest changes to disquiet. (It wasn't always like this -- once upon a time I read rather a lot of fic that played with power differentials, with dominance and submission as major themes. Then I think I read too much of it, and too much of it that frankly wasn't very good, and now I flee from it, especially in slash.) The one exception that springs to mind is Sark/Irina; it probably helps that the woman is clearly the more powerful one in that relationship, and that the relationship itself is marked by the kind of conflict and betrayal I like best. Betrayal is my bulletproof kink, remember, especially if it isn't really betrayal at all. I get the sense that a lot of people who like slash also find it a safe space to play with issues of dominance; that makes a lot of sense to me, although it isn't something I read for.
So given that I like stories with women and I like equality it's not surprising to me that I read (and write) more m/f and f/f than m/m, even though my OTCs are more likely to be male than female and I am currently writing in a fandom that is known for having no women. I am pleased that there are more stories that fulfill these needs out there; I think it's a good thing not just for me but also in general, for m/f relationships in fanfic to be about equality.
I wish there was some way to bring the equality-thing and the betrayal-thing together, or that I had something more coherent to say, but I'm writing this at work and frankly, the week off made me forget just how much work work is. Perhaps one of you can explain it all to me in comments?
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[1] I'm not sure kink is the right word here, but whatever. I can't think of a better one.
It's been ages since I had anything to say for myself, isn't it? Although I'm not sure this is meaningful content.
As I read through, it seemed that much of the commentary wasn't really relevant to my experience as a writer or as a reader, because I'm one of those crazy people who aren't here primarily for the porn; if I have a list of stories to click through and limited time to do it in, I cut the NC-17 ones first. Crazy! And as a writer, I prefer to leave things vague or fade to black. What does strike me, though, is the use of m/m or f/f to explore power dynamics which people find disquieting in m/f.
Nowadays, I don't read much m/m at all; that's in part because most of what I read is SPN and most of the m/m in SPN is Wincest, but it seems to me that the prevalence of Wincest just gives me an excuse to follow my own preferences. If I am going to read erotica, I need there to be a female body in there somewhere; otherwise I won't find it hot. This wasn't always the case, of course -- when I first started reading a lot of fanfic, back around 2000, I read a lot of m/m slash, mostly in HL and XF. Over time, I think I've gotten pickier about relationships, and the kind of stories being written have changed to suit the kinks[1] I've developed, and especially my major relationship kink, equality.
I have a clear memory of the notion, in some long-ago discussion of het vs. slash, that one of the appeals of m/m slash (over het, at least, as that was back in the day before f/f was part of my daily life) was that it allowed a relationship of real equality, because the characters could be entirely free from the kind of subtly or not-so-subtly ingrained social prejudice which might make a truly egalitarian relationship between men and women so difficult to imagine. (And even if the characters live in a world free of sexism, we as authors don't, and our understandings of men and women play out in the things we write about men and women.) I remember not being sure that I really bought that explanation at the time; I'm even less sure that I buy it now. Not because m/m slash can't deliver equality -- it can and does -- but because m/f and f/f can also do so and (it seems to me) are doing so more and more often. That was one of the things I liked best about Alias, that the female characters were a match or more than a match for the men; I got the sense that it was something that appealed to a lot of people who wrote John/Aeryn, over in Farscape, or early MSR. I wonder if there's been a change in the kind of female characters being written, or the way we read and write those characters.
Considering the example of Alias, I think that equality doesn't involve lack of conflict, in my mind -- I'm all for there being a struggle for dominance, so long as that struggle can never be resolved. As soon as there's a clear power differential, my interest changes to disquiet. (It wasn't always like this -- once upon a time I read rather a lot of fic that played with power differentials, with dominance and submission as major themes. Then I think I read too much of it, and too much of it that frankly wasn't very good, and now I flee from it, especially in slash.) The one exception that springs to mind is Sark/Irina; it probably helps that the woman is clearly the more powerful one in that relationship, and that the relationship itself is marked by the kind of conflict and betrayal I like best. Betrayal is my bulletproof kink, remember, especially if it isn't really betrayal at all. I get the sense that a lot of people who like slash also find it a safe space to play with issues of dominance; that makes a lot of sense to me, although it isn't something I read for.
So given that I like stories with women and I like equality it's not surprising to me that I read (and write) more m/f and f/f than m/m, even though my OTCs are more likely to be male than female and I am currently writing in a fandom that is known for having no women. I am pleased that there are more stories that fulfill these needs out there; I think it's a good thing not just for me but also in general, for m/f relationships in fanfic to be about equality.
I wish there was some way to bring the equality-thing and the betrayal-thing together, or that I had something more coherent to say, but I'm writing this at work and frankly, the week off made me forget just how much work work is. Perhaps one of you can explain it all to me in comments?
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[1] I'm not sure kink is the right word here, but whatever. I can't think of a better one.
It's been ages since I had anything to say for myself, isn't it? Although I'm not sure this is meaningful content.