To those on my flist who are slashers
Aug. 31st, 2008 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kribbanAs someone with Deep Thoughts about sexuality and gender identity, I try to stay away from articles and debate forums that I know will contain sexism or misogyny/misandry. It's called self preservation, and I've learned it in latter years.
Unfortunately, said sexism sometimes creeps up on you.
Apparently, as a slasher you contribute to male supremacist power and the oppression of women.
????????????????????????????????????????
I've been a slasher for 45 % of my life (yes, I just used the calculator *g*) and I've always viewed it as:
* a sexual expression
* a way to explore different relationship dynamics in the source material
* pure entertainment
* applying abilities and attributes associated with women to male characters, thereby challenging the idea of gender (I cringe at the way I write that, because it implies that fan fiction is Serious Literature, which of course it isn't, but there you go.)
But according to this writer, I am a slasher to cope with the fact that I have no social, political or economic power (????????) in the same way that a battered woman learns to get an orgasm from rape.
I didn't know that by objectifying men in order to get emotional and sexual satisfaction, I am in fact not oppressing men, which would be a valid albeit far fetched argument, but myself.
Wow.
What annoys me further is that the paper gives a very inaccurate image of slash stories. The sex is portrayed as a violent, demaning act, devoid of all emotion and tenderness? That's bullshit, if you pardon my french.
Most slash stories actually put a lot of emphasis on the emotions. I've read lots of moving, sublime, heart breaking love stories between male characters. And unless you read Non-con or rape stories (which do exist, of course) the sex is never portrayed as brutal or demaning to the bottom (also, not all sex is penetrative).
It makes me think of that woman from Concerned Women for America who said that 'sodomy' per definition is a sadistic act.
Yes, traditional macho culture (at least historically) view male/male penetration as an act of dominance (and I don't mean 'dominance' in the BDSM meaning of the word, which of course is a completely different thing) BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT SLASHERS DO.
Yes, some sure do. There is probably tons of really icky seme/uke fanfic out there where being a bottom means being incapable or unworthy of equal treatment, but none of the slashers I know personally write or think that way.
In fact, I would go as far as saying that slash written by women is sometimes a way of putting a man in a woman's shoes, in the most emphatic, constructive way. And vice versa.
Should I also add that most slash stories that portray unabusive male/male relationships put a lot of emphasis on the equality of the couple and on the love and respect they have for each other?
Of all the slashers I've met, almost all of them are for gender equality and equality in relationships, be they male/male, female/female, female/male, Male/male/female, or any combination there of.
And you know what? I wonder where my social, economic and political power have suddenly gone. Maybe Hillary got it all.
Unfortunately, said sexism sometimes creeps up on you.
Apparently, as a slasher you contribute to male supremacist power and the oppression of women.
????????????????????????????????????????
I've been a slasher for 45 % of my life (yes, I just used the calculator *g*) and I've always viewed it as:
* a sexual expression
* a way to explore different relationship dynamics in the source material
* pure entertainment
* applying abilities and attributes associated with women to male characters, thereby challenging the idea of gender (I cringe at the way I write that, because it implies that fan fiction is Serious Literature, which of course it isn't, but there you go.)
But according to this writer, I am a slasher to cope with the fact that I have no social, political or economic power (????????) in the same way that a battered woman learns to get an orgasm from rape.
I didn't know that by objectifying men in order to get emotional and sexual satisfaction, I am in fact not oppressing men, which would be a valid albeit far fetched argument, but myself.
Wow.
What annoys me further is that the paper gives a very inaccurate image of slash stories. The sex is portrayed as a violent, demaning act, devoid of all emotion and tenderness? That's bullshit, if you pardon my french.
Most slash stories actually put a lot of emphasis on the emotions. I've read lots of moving, sublime, heart breaking love stories between male characters. And unless you read Non-con or rape stories (which do exist, of course) the sex is never portrayed as brutal or demaning to the bottom (also, not all sex is penetrative).
It makes me think of that woman from Concerned Women for America who said that 'sodomy' per definition is a sadistic act.
Yes, traditional macho culture (at least historically) view male/male penetration as an act of dominance (and I don't mean 'dominance' in the BDSM meaning of the word, which of course is a completely different thing) BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT SLASHERS DO.
Yes, some sure do. There is probably tons of really icky seme/uke fanfic out there where being a bottom means being incapable or unworthy of equal treatment, but none of the slashers I know personally write or think that way.
In fact, I would go as far as saying that slash written by women is sometimes a way of putting a man in a woman's shoes, in the most emphatic, constructive way. And vice versa.
Should I also add that most slash stories that portray unabusive male/male relationships put a lot of emphasis on the equality of the couple and on the love and respect they have for each other?
Of all the slashers I've met, almost all of them are for gender equality and equality in relationships, be they male/male, female/female, female/male, Male/male/female, or any combination there of.
And you know what? I wonder where my social, economic and political power have suddenly gone. Maybe Hillary got it all.
