UR DOING IT WRONG

[ifyouweremine]

This is a response to a Swedish newspaper article about Star Trek slash. I have some problems with it and my reply was a bit too large for the comment box.

Comments

[nimnod]

This statement creates a double-standard between slashfic and het/genfic; it accepts the existence of het/genfic without question, but requires that there be a "need" for homosexual interaction (that is, a lack of homosexual characters in media) in order to validate or necessitate slashfic.

Agreed, and thanks for pointing that out.

Another note: the writer should have asked for people's permission before she started quoting/reccing them by (user)name.
I disagree - if their stories are posted to a public comm under those names, and not-flocked, I don't think the writer needed to ask for permission to rec them any more than I would ask for permission to rec them in my journal. If the writer had revealed something about their non-writer non-LJ identities it would have been a totally different story.

[ifyouweremine]

Well, that's true, the journalist didn't need to ask for permission to rec their stories, but it certainly would have been courteous to have done so, especially considering that those were homoerotic stories referenced in a national forum for a general audience (which could possibly make the authors uncomfortable, in a way that getting recced in a personal journal aimed at fellow slashers would not

reccing, journalism

[lilian_cho]

Oh yes, def. agree that asking before reccing on a fandom newsletter is a courtesy. I mean, mirabellawotr always lock down her stories whenever she suddenly gets heavy traffic because someone linked to her fics in a forum =P

The journalist should've known better =/ I think she's probably more of a slash dabbler/lurker instead of actually in the fandom. That's why she still has the woo-hoo rush of "I'm doing something wrong and subversive, tee-hee!" >_>

But...I've accepted that different countries have wildly differing journalism "ethics." British tabloids v. U.S. newspapers, for example. British articles often have the writer's personal bias. Americans do it too, but usually in columns and not news articles, for goodness' sake >_>
Objectivity: UR DOIN IT WRONG.

(They might not even teach objectivity/ethics at British journalism schools, IDK.)

[bubl]

UNO: YES. This is what I hate most about when mainstream-type/non-fandom people talk about slash. Sure, there's sex. We totally love our fair share of sex. But slash isn't ABOUT sex, it's about the relationships. There's a reason it's written mainly by women, we like the romance. I just hate that whenever someone mentions slash it immediately turns into us being porny pervs. (Which, again, most of us are, but that's not the WHOLE POINT.)

DOS: Yes again. I've always been a slasher, but I'm sure het and gen fans know what slash is. You don't have to like to to KNOW about it. Here's my mini research, admittedly only in SPN:
spnstoryfinders list tags for 193 het, 479 gen, and 644 slash. Like I said, this is Supernatural I'm talking about, but look who doesn't know about slash here? NO ONE

[ifyouweremine]

1. THIS! I mean, if you're introducing a GENERAL AUDIENCE to slash in a national newspaper and trying not to scare them off immediately, then opening with a scene about Kirk and Spock's "hot night" (rated R because of "explicit m/m sex") and then going on and on about "deviant [gay] stories" and then reccing explicit slashfics from the Star Trek kink meme is NOT the way to do that. It misrepresents what slash is (relationship first, porn optional) and immediately alienates us from the audience (it seems like the journalist is trying to get the readers to understand what slashers are about and accept us, but instead she's just perpetuating stereotypes that turn us into the alien "other

[mythras_fire]

Wow. You are awesome. My rants really do give you the idea that my face is going purple from spewing more words than I have breath for. But yours (and I don't even think of it as such) is so eloquent and well-founded and TRUE that I just have to say BRAVO *claps enthusiastically*

Long live slash! :P

[ifyouweremine]

Thank you! I wanted to enjoy the article, but I felt that the journalist really mishandled the topic and that needed to be addressed.

Thanks again for your comment! ^___^ <333

[splatterdick]

A++ for you, sir.

[bibliofilen]

I agree with your sentiments but I have to say that your first quote is incorrect. It should be translated "more and more daring stories", "daring" as in sexually daring but not at all similar to deviant.