How Do YOU Define Slash?

[gehayi]

Got into a discussion at fanficrants about slash, and now I'm a bit perplexed.

Now, I've been in various fandoms for the past thirty years. The original Star Trek. Star Wars. Doctor Who. Highlander: The Series. Poltergeist: The Legacy. Buffy. Angel. Harry Potter. Rent. (ETA: I forgot to mention Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series and Jacqueline

Comments

[jadis31]

I'm with you on this one. Slash is just a homosexual relationship in fic. I mean, does this person take het to mean that it's a non-canonical m/f relationship? No, it just means that there's a romantic/sexual relationship between a man and a woman in the story. H/Hr is every bit as much het as R/H and Remus/Sirius is every bit as much slash as Dee/Ryo (from FAKE).

Then again, I've only known fan fic existed for about 4 years and I don't stray far from HP if I can help it.

[gehayi]

H/Hr is every bit as much het as R/H and Remus/Sirius is every bit as much slash as Dee/Ryo (from FAKE).

That's the definition I've been using for the past thirty years, so I agree with you wholeheartedly.

[gehayi]

Bit of a snob, isn't he? Though since he advises starting at adultfanfiction--which has also been called the Pit of Skrewts, to distinguish it from its cousin, Fanfiction.net (a.k.a. the Pit of Voles)--I don't think he's read much quality slash. Like any other kind of fiction, you have to look for the good stuff, and judging by his commentary, he settled for the first slashfics he came across. Pity that he wasn't willing to "do a little research," as the caveman says on the Geico ad.

[settiai]

I've seen the definition "non-canonical homosexual relationship" be brought up in discussions in over a dozen fandoms, but it's been shot down almost every time. From what I've seen, most people consider slash to be any homosexual relationship, whether it's canon or not.

[gehayi]

Could I please steal your icon? I have one like it, but it's not animated.

[settiai]

Sure, no problem.

[gehayi]

Thanks!

[thistlerose]

I used to think of "slash" as being any non-canonical homosexual couple - and there are times when that definition still makes sense to me. I don't think of Jack/Ennis (Brokeback Mountain) or Vince/Stu (Queer as Folk) as slash couples. They're gay. They're canon.

But I think that using the term "slash" to describe any homosexual couple makes things a lot simpler.

I'm weird, though. I tend not to think in terms of slash and het. Most of my fics contain both, anyway.

[roo2]

I've always thought of it as just plain ol' homosexual couples, regardless of whether they're canon or not.

What I find annoying is that the younger generation apparently thinks that "slash" = explicit sex scenes, regardless of orientation. *shakes her head as she wonders what will become of the next generation who insist on using fruit words to identify their stories and instead end up sounding like a commercial for some weird flavored Sprite or something*

[gehayi]

I've always thought of it as just plain ol' homosexual couples, regardless of whether they're canon or not.

So do I, though if asked to describe the relationship in a fic summary, I'd probably put "WARNING: Slash relationship" or "WARNING: Slash undertones." Not "WARNING: Homosexual couples present in this fic." (Though the latter might be more accurate.)

[katsaris]

the younger generation apparently thinks that "slash" = explicit sex scenes, regardless of orientation.

*g* From the point view of gay rights and gay acceptance, I think I consider this to be a very positive step.

[roo2]

You'd think so, except they refer to it as "slash" and "gay slash", which is totally redundantly redundant :-)