thoughts on slash and stuff
May. 10th, 2004 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingRandom aside: Am eating squid and assorted unidentifed vegetables for my very belated dinner. I have become oddly enamored of squid, at least as cooked by the local Chinese take-out.
Anyway, having written an entire 4,000+ story, Wearing Thin, to deal with some of my issues about slash, I felt I had to post this, taken from a Stargate SG-1 fic:
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Jack reviewed where they had touched, but still couldn't decide. "This is weirder than weird," he said. "I'm trying to figure out what second base on a man is. On you is. Whatever. I mean, I haven't been thinking of you as another man." He winced. "Okay, that came out wrong. You know what I mean."
Daniel shifted and propped himself up on one elbow. "Actually, I think I do. This may be our problem. We're conceptualizing." His hand moved over Jack's chest as he gestured. "I haven't been thinking, 'I'm attracted to another man'. I've been thinking, 'I'm attracted to Jack'. To reduce the trauma of the situation, we've reinvented 'Jack' and 'Daniel' as... as non-gendered constructs. Abstractions. But of course, we're not concepts, we're real, so the problem is not only accepting the attraction at the abstract level, but also figuring out how to apply our existing experiences at the gender level."
Oh god. Why had he ever stopped doing and started talking? To Daniel, for chrissakes. And he had a nagging feeling that kissing Daniel to shut him up wouldn't work. He'd talk right through the kiss.
Daniel's fingers drummed on Jack's breastbone. Jack said carefully, "So what you're saying is that if I were a woman, you'd sleep with me. Which is... disturbing." Which it was. "And yet... also kinda flattering." Which it was.
Daniel tapped his breastbone with one finger. "Ah, but I'm not saying that. This is precisely the problem with conceptualization. If you were a woman, you wouldn't be Jack."
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which is one of the best treatments of one of my slash peeves ever. The whole "I'm not actually gay, I just like this particular person who just happens to be male" attitude. Because really, it seems awfully odd. And kind of weird. Because why are writers so reluctant to declare the characters bisexual, at least? It's as if slashers sometimes seem to think that having the characters be vehemently straight, but willing to make an exception for this one person, somehow makes their love more pure or transcendant or something.
Which just baffles me, really. Because if you like someone of the same gender, then you are kind of by definition at least somewhat bisexual/homosexual. That's just a technical description. It doesn't mean you have to buy into a subculture or anything. Heck, I occasionally catch myself watching women and I once had a teeny little bit of a thing for one of my friends. Which means I have some minor bisexual leanings. Which I admit. See? It's not hard.
And anyway, love is love is love. It's not as if admitting to some obvious potential bisexuality (if the characters have previously only had heterosexual relationships) is going to make their love any less real. So why be so afraid of the words?
Just one of the many things that occasionally baffle me about fandoms.
(For the full story and Keiko Kirin's other works, go here.)
Anyway, having written an entire 4,000+ story, Wearing Thin, to deal with some of my issues about slash, I felt I had to post this, taken from a Stargate SG-1 fic:
---------------------------------------------
Jack reviewed where they had touched, but still couldn't decide. "This is weirder than weird," he said. "I'm trying to figure out what second base on a man is. On you is. Whatever. I mean, I haven't been thinking of you as another man." He winced. "Okay, that came out wrong. You know what I mean."
Daniel shifted and propped himself up on one elbow. "Actually, I think I do. This may be our problem. We're conceptualizing." His hand moved over Jack's chest as he gestured. "I haven't been thinking, 'I'm attracted to another man'. I've been thinking, 'I'm attracted to Jack'. To reduce the trauma of the situation, we've reinvented 'Jack' and 'Daniel' as... as non-gendered constructs. Abstractions. But of course, we're not concepts, we're real, so the problem is not only accepting the attraction at the abstract level, but also figuring out how to apply our existing experiences at the gender level."
Oh god. Why had he ever stopped doing and started talking? To Daniel, for chrissakes. And he had a nagging feeling that kissing Daniel to shut him up wouldn't work. He'd talk right through the kiss.
Daniel's fingers drummed on Jack's breastbone. Jack said carefully, "So what you're saying is that if I were a woman, you'd sleep with me. Which is... disturbing." Which it was. "And yet... also kinda flattering." Which it was.
Daniel tapped his breastbone with one finger. "Ah, but I'm not saying that. This is precisely the problem with conceptualization. If you were a woman, you wouldn't be Jack."
---------------------------------------------
which is one of the best treatments of one of my slash peeves ever. The whole "I'm not actually gay, I just like this particular person who just happens to be male" attitude. Because really, it seems awfully odd. And kind of weird. Because why are writers so reluctant to declare the characters bisexual, at least? It's as if slashers sometimes seem to think that having the characters be vehemently straight, but willing to make an exception for this one person, somehow makes their love more pure or transcendant or something.
Which just baffles me, really. Because if you like someone of the same gender, then you are kind of by definition at least somewhat bisexual/homosexual. That's just a technical description. It doesn't mean you have to buy into a subculture or anything. Heck, I occasionally catch myself watching women and I once had a teeny little bit of a thing for one of my friends. Which means I have some minor bisexual leanings. Which I admit. See? It's not hard.
And anyway, love is love is love. It's not as if admitting to some obvious potential bisexuality (if the characters have previously only had heterosexual relationships) is going to make their love any less real. So why be so afraid of the words?
Just one of the many things that occasionally baffle me about fandoms.
(For the full story and Keiko Kirin's other works, go here.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-11 07:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-11 07:10 pm (UTC)I knew a guy named Malachy, which is a perfectly good name. He got hell for it up until high school.
Frieda probably wouldn't evoke the same reaction -- girls get more leeway for weird names -- but it just doesn't sound "American."
Just one of those cultural things.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-11 07:19 pm (UTC)Hehe. If I ever have a daughter, I'm naming her Caoimhe unless the father objects strongly. She's going to have a lot of fun when she visits America.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-11 07:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-11 07:56 pm (UTC)It's pronounced Queeva, by the way.