I don't know why, it's not that I'm addicted to the porn aspect of the fics, but.... I guess it comes down to the fact that I'm a romantic at heart (who grew up reading trashy romance novels) and am there to read about the courtship. *shrugs*
It comes back to everyone being in fandom for different reasons. You’re here for the courtship aspect. I tend to go more for characters studies and stories that expand on ideas that are raised and then neglected by the source media. I also like subversive stories, and while slash, in many canonical sources, is fundamentally subversive, the prevalence of slash in fan works has made it feel less so.
I think part of it comes down to acknowledgement. I've seen gen writers/readers, proclaim loudly (and generally obnoxiously) that "OMG they're just *friends* and you're sick to think otherwise!!" (May I also point out, just to be fair, that I've seen more than my fair share of obnoxious and loud slashers who proclaim that "Of course they're *together* in canon and just hiding it!" *rolls eyes*)
I can’t stand either side of the argument, and like you I’ve seen both. Mind you, the ones who really get my goat are the ones who decry het because, you know, women are icky and coming between the true love of boy x and boy y, or are all Mary Sues.
I've seen a couple posts on my flist about people misinterpreting fics and the character's relationship in them, readers getting flack from the author, because they see the relationship differently (once from someone who writes both slash and gen, who was annoyed that her readers read a gen story as pre-slash). Preslash gives us an opening though, so we feel safe in our reactions, and don't have to worry about the author getting pissed because we constantly wear our slash goggles. Which is why I think an author's note saying something like "This *could* be seen as preslash. If you squint" goes a long way. It makes slashers feel like we're welcome.
My problem is, though, that so much of fandom is devoted to romance, and to slash in particular, that I don’t feel like I should have to roll out the welcome wagon to make it safe by effectively lying about my motives behind writing a piece. It's insulting, both to me and to you. Besides, who’s out there making the world safe and welcoming for genfic authors and readers? There are whole archives out there that don’t even have a gen category.
As someone who writes gen, I admit that I was initially quite taken aback when I got feedback that referred to a romance in a short that, as far as I was concerned, was pure comedy. I went back and I looked and looked and looked again at the piece to see where I’d put the romance in, but ultimately could see none. In the end I decided that the reviewer had their romance goggles on so tightly that it coloured everything they saw. It’s funny, but that one comment, probably written by a teenager, sticks in my mind more than any other bit of feedback I've received. It's a bit distressing to try to do something different, only to know and see that so many people have one expectation that's so deeply ingrained that they're going look for romance even when you strongly hint that it's not there. You have to ask yourself: what's the point?
Anyways, kind of off topic here.
Off topic, on topic... *shrugs* Off topic happens because it's interesting.
no subject
It comes back to everyone being in fandom for different reasons. You’re here for the courtship aspect. I tend to go more for characters studies and stories that expand on ideas that are raised and then neglected by the source media. I also like subversive stories, and while slash, in many canonical sources, is fundamentally subversive, the prevalence of slash in fan works has made it feel less so.
I think part of it comes down to acknowledgement. I've seen gen writers/readers, proclaim loudly (and generally obnoxiously) that "OMG they're just *friends* and you're sick to think otherwise!!" (May I also point out, just to be fair, that I've seen more than my fair share of obnoxious and loud slashers who proclaim that "Of course they're *together* in canon and just hiding it!" *rolls eyes*)
I can’t stand either side of the argument, and like you I’ve seen both. Mind you, the ones who really get my goat are the ones who decry het because, you know, women are icky and coming between the true love of boy x and boy y, or are all Mary Sues.
I've seen a couple posts on my flist about people misinterpreting fics and the character's relationship in them, readers getting flack from the author, because they see the relationship differently (once from someone who writes both slash and gen, who was annoyed that her readers read a gen story as pre-slash). Preslash gives us an opening though, so we feel safe in our reactions, and don't have to worry about the author getting pissed because we constantly wear our slash goggles. Which is why I think an author's note saying something like "This *could* be seen as preslash. If you squint" goes a long way. It makes slashers feel like we're welcome.
My problem is, though, that so much of fandom is devoted to romance, and to slash in particular, that I don’t feel like I should have to roll out the welcome wagon to make it safe by effectively lying about my motives behind writing a piece. It's insulting, both to me and to you. Besides, who’s out there making the world safe and welcoming for genfic authors and readers? There are whole archives out there that don’t even have a gen category.
As someone who writes gen, I admit that I was initially quite taken aback when I got feedback that referred to a romance in a short that, as far as I was concerned, was pure comedy. I went back and I looked and looked and looked again at the piece to see where I’d put the romance in, but ultimately could see none. In the end I decided that the reviewer had their romance goggles on so tightly that it coloured everything they saw. It’s funny, but that one comment, probably written by a teenager, sticks in my mind more than any other bit of feedback I've received. It's a bit distressing to try to do something different, only to know and see that so many people have one expectation that's so deeply ingrained that they're going look for romance even when you strongly hint that it's not there. You have to ask yourself: what's the point?
Anyways, kind of off topic here.
Off topic, on topic... *shrugs* Off topic happens because it's interesting.