joanne_c

Disclaimer: My only knowledge of kink is from RPing/writing it. If I get anything wrong let me know - I won't be angry about it. I don't think I've made any egregious errors, but one never knows.

( And what about RACK anyway?Collapse )

There was a thread or three on fandom_me's journal where there was some discussion of what, if anything, would people not post because of fandom's reactions to that story.

And I thought, "there's nothing I wouldn't post. If fandom doesn't like it, they don't have to read it. So what if I go against the OTP/prefer non-canon slash pairings to the canon one/like to write frequently slashed guys in het/like the girls in canon enough to pair them with the guys or with each other/write RPF/write minor character fic/etc, etc."

But then I realised. That's not completely true. It's mostly-to-entirely-true, yes. But there is actually one subject matter I might be hesitant about writing and therefore posting (er, that's aside from the stuff I'll never write cause it squicks or bores me or I just can't write it, of course).

And it annoys me somewhat that it's this subject because fandom is perfectly accepting of the opposite.

What would I have some hesitation in writing and posting?

Canonically and/or actually (in the case of RPF) gay characters in het fic. And it annoys me that this causes me hesitation. Because though we may all say that there's no such thing as canonically confirmed sexuality, when a guy's shown dating women, liking women, kissing women, in bed with women? It's not out of the realm of possibility that he's straight. That doesn't prevent me from slashing men I see as straight. I will (to go onto another tangent) presume bisexuality rather than homosexuality, but that doesn't negate that I write men (and women) I am sure are straight in my own mind in situations some would see as gay.

And it irritates me slightly that the opposite is frowned upon.

Yes, I would want to see a lot of work put into a story writing a gay character in a het relationship. I would want the author to show their work. To see the character examining himself as much as I would like to see the characters in slash examine themselves sometimes. To see him realising that his attraction to this woman is real and it's not wrong. It's just different. And maybe for authors to show what they see in canon that leads to this, or to write it so it works in an RPF medium. It's not impossible. It's something that could be very beautifully done. It's something I want to do.

And yet I hesitate doing more than thinking about it in my own mind.

Because I do. I have a few of these pairings in various (RPF and not) fandoms I can see, and I know it'd take a lot of work. But I'd do that work (doing that work may be what's prevented me from finishing anything, I'll admit that). I'd show how he got from guys only to guys and girls (or girl - yes I would do "I'm not straight for anyone but you" because I find that more likely). I'd write him as not abandoning guys for girls, but making the choice he wanted to make.

And what would be so very different to that than slash? I'm afraid I don't see a great deal of difference.

So that's my thinking on that one.

So I'm rolling around ideas for my Yuletide pinch-hit story and a sentence pops into my head. "It's not like (character removed to prevent fandom identification) hadn't done the same thing with guys before, but it felt different to watch this woman kiss another." And I realised that I have no problem writing a (mostly) het story that has allusions to prior slash relationships. Because I have no reason not to think that it's possible that the girl has kissed another woman (due to a situation in canon) and I just see the guy as having been with a guy before given his job in canon.

And that got me thinking. A lot of slash fans tend to prefer het written by other slash fans, rather than (if known) het written by het-only fans. And I'm wondering if that could be why? That not saying that they are and were straight always and forever and just because the person they're with in this story/universe is of the opposite gender doesn't mean that if things had turned out differently that they wouldn't have ended up in a same-sex relationship.

And, conversely, I tend to like the implication in purely or almost purely (depending on the degree of stickler-iness on what constitutes it) slash that if things had been different in that universe/person/situation/story that maybe the person of the opposite gender, rather than the lover of the same gender that they're having wonderful sex with.

It could be because I tend to consider the characters as bi unless there's a compelling reason to consider them gay (lack of women, lack of interest in women on-screen do not qualify as compelling to me), or it could be that I like to explore the possibilities.

But I can't help wondering if a part of it is being a fan of slash and het as well.

(PS: Comment answers coming - I start vacation on Saturday - technically tomorrow but I'm doing the shopping thing then)

So I was reading a post linked from metafandom about feeling that they couldn't write George/Derek slash (Grey's Anatomy) any more due to the fact that the actor TR Knight (George) has recently come out.

And I'm like... wtf? What on earth does TR's sexuality have to do with writing slash about George? Or Patrick Dempsey possibly defending him for that matter - just because Patrick plays Derek? Does the person think that it could be bad just because that's the pairing and it seems there is friendship or whatever in RL?

The poster did say they don't do RPS - they find it squicky - but this isn't anything to do with RPS as far as I can see - and we all know I don't have a problem with RPS ;)

( really minor Dr Who first season spoilers re relationships and minor Good Will Hunting spoilers if there's anyone who cares and hasn't seen the movie yetCollapse )

I'm really just still not at all sure what an actor's RL sexuality has to do with what their characters do. Or we'd never get to write Nine/Jack either, because as far as I know, Christopher Eccleston is straight.

Unrelatedly, where did fandom pick up genderbending from? I thought that was what Bowie did... not turning boys into girls or girls into boys...

But on the subject of fannish genderbending.

I have never really seen the point. Not a value judgement, it's just not something I see the appeal of. Plenty of people could say the same about slash, or shipping, or whatever. It's just not my thing. I'm fine with that. I don't get the appeal of the Stargate shows either. And it can - please note, not does, I can name ten examples off the top of my head that don't make me uncomfortable - can - have overtones I'm not comfortable with if someone turns half of a frequently slashed couple into a girl and writes het. And I'll admit I would feel exactly the same way if a girl was turned into a boy and he was slashed. Oddly enough, femslash seems to not engender the same discomfort... but then femslash is rare enough that anything to encourage writing it should really be encouraged.

Anyway, the actual point...

I was thinking if I ever wanted to genderbend a character played by Jensen Ackles, there's only one actress I'd give the face of female Jensen to.

Alison Sweeney. She played Jensen's twin sister on Days Of Our Lives, is blonde and pretty and would just be the only person I could imagine as girl Jensen.

So yes. That's it.