My big het poll (now with proper coding)

[profshallowness]

This isn't related to the latest round of discussion about het and slash, although I held back from posting this poll until I was caught up. It's actually inspired by the round before this (see metafandom's March entries), in which one commentator seemed to think that slash fandom = fandom. As this excluded me as both het writer and occasional fan of some

Comments

It seems only fair to warn you that unlike 99% of LJ, I am male

[kd5mdk]

Here via fabu

Re: It seems only fair to warn you that unlike 99% of LJ, I am male

[profshallowness]

Thank you! Consider me warned :)

I would have asked about gender, but I'd run out of space, so I'm running on the assumption that most of the respondents will be female (I hesitate to say how many, though I suspect it's less than 99 per cent. 95? :)

Actually, a breakdown for the gender ratio of gen, f/m or m/f, m/m and f/f readers and writers would be interesting. There might be more varied answers on lj and off it.

[caderyn]

Okay, here through ray & neela community... I love polls. Does that result tell you anything? I'm curious as to what you're trying to find out...

Have you tried to HP fandom btw? They have the largest numbers of ships (and het ships, I presume, since the R/Hr vs H/Hr vs H/G vs D/G vs D/Hr battles are notorious).

[profshallowness]

Thanks for taking the poll. I love taking them myself, although I'm not so keen on making them. I'm waiting for a little more data before trying to analyse it. Basically, I want info to counter or back up assumptions and generalisations that are made about het shippers, especially in the context of the 'het vs. slash' discussion. I'm hoping that the poll will do so.

I was going to say 'But I'm not in HP fandom', but maybe I could try the newsletters. Thanks for the suggestion.

[caderyn]

Sorry, I'm being daft, but what's the general 'het vs slash' dicussion? What presumptions are being made?

[profshallowness]

Now I wish I'd kept links! If you look in metafandom - particularly during March and in posts from the end of June-beginning of July you'll see them. A couple of slashers posted the latest in a long discussion. I mean this discussion's been rumbling for a long time, with some people expressing their preference for slash as 'Ewww, het', and I'm not saying that some het shippers don't go 'Ewww, slash', but in slash meta, a lot of 'I prefer slash and it's what I mainly read' has become 'and all het is inferior.' One of the specific posts I reference made in March didn't say this, but did make a lot of assumptions about slashers in comparison with hetters - based, it seemed to me, on a limited experience of one or two fandoms on lj, which isn't the whole story. I wanted to counteract those assumptions with facts about het shippers' ages and preferences. I think others have dealt with the assumptions made about the quality of het vs. slash (this month's discussions were in response to a deleted post where it was claimed that m/m slash is

[altyronsmaker]

Here via herself_nyc.
Jossverse ficcer here. I'm an unconventional 'shipper as far as het goes. I don't do the S/B stuff (though I felt like writing some last month and did a prompt request *shrug*) usually. But X/D post-series is a guaranteed read of mine, X/B as well. I like C/W and C/Doyle, Lindsey/Darla.

Interesting poll, thanks for posting.

[profshallowness]

Thanks for taking the poll - I'm looking for the widest spread of people possible. Apart from Giles/Anya, which is nearer-canon, I tend to go unconventional for Buffyverse 'ships too. (Maybe because I can thus imagine them not having an automatic angsty ending). For me it's Buffy/Oz and Spike/Tara (I know!) though I keep meaning to read further and wider in that verse.

[shipperx]

Pairings are strange alchemy. I have a few pronounced patterns in preferences, but I also have several exceptions to those patterns. I have no hard, fast check list (though I do admit to a few kinks).

The primary thing about pairings which catch my interest is that there has to be something between them which leads me to believe that they could be happy together (be it het or slash, and regardless of whether the characters believe they could be happy together. It only requires that I believe it). This doesn't mean I don't want them to have many, many obstacles or that I don't enjoy watching them go through a lot of shit to get there. But I do want to believe that "if only they got through the shit and learned from it they could find a way to be happy." It can be unconventionally happy, though (extra points if it is). I'm not looking for 'two kids and a white picket fence in the suburbs' happy.

[profshallowness]

For my part, I want to say 'word' for most of what you said. It is that 'strange alchemy' for me too rather than a formula. There are certain patterns (big mouthed girl meets snarky verbal sparrer, and turning a platonic but supportive friendship into a romance when the protagonist is canonically involved in what I see as a dysfunctional relationship) but I hesitate to state that they are my pairings when other people go 'I always fall for X type of pairing' so definitely.

I agree that belief that the pairing could be happy together with each other is important. They don't even always have to get there at the end of a story, though I mostly prefer that they do, and that happiness comes out of understanding rather than a certain type of ending.

Thanks for taking the poll and sharng your thoughts.

[julia_here]

I'd tell you my age quite willingly but it's above your top number.

And I don't ship any particular typew of het pairing, any more than I slash in prefernece to het, or the contrary. I'm all about the writer's skill in making me accept the pairing and the situation.

Julia, just thought I'd say for sure

[profshallowness]

I'm really sorry for that. I had to post the poll twice because I'd messed up the coding, and somehow, '40-plus' became '40-49'. Grr, I wanted info because generalisations have been made about the average age of het shippers, although from the results, I think that most of my respondents ship het and slash pairings.

I don't think that I always 'ship a certain type of pairing, although I think it's decided for me by what I see on screen or think of the character. I can be persuaded differently, but I tend to pre-select what ships I'll read

[profshallowness]

Also, thank you for taking the poll!

[executrix]

What julia_here said (you're welcome to know that I'm 53) and I strongly prefer slash but that doesn't mean I hate het--sort of "Kinsey 4" about fic.