HERE. (Click above if you wish.)
I think it is odd that Binstock sees fanfic that turns hetero characters into homo characters as "empowers" anybody. Such stories can be very entertaining to be sure. But I don't see anything "empowering" about re-hashing something hetero and turning it homo. Its an "also ran" position, and a reminder of our other-ness.
What I have seen in black fiction going back to the 70s is a canon of unique black characters who are placed into heretofore "white" scenarios. I think that is more empowering than taking an established character forcing the suspension of disbelief on the reader. Looking at the most recent wave of black slash, the most popular sub-genre is about black homo men in hip-hop culture. Black women are eating that stuff up. I think part of the appeal is that the authors are creating unique and recognizable characters and stories.
Take, for instance, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the superpowered members of the Avengers are mostly male, toned as hell, and love to banter: Right out of the gate, fans were eagerly exploring the possibilities of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, and Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, becoming lovers. On Ao3, there are almost 10,000 stories pairing the two romantically; that’s 3,000 more than the next most popular pairing, which also features two male characters in a queer relationship (Agent Coulson and Hawkeye). Parks and Recreation, one of television’s most beloved sitcoms, has more stories that romantically pair protagonist Leslie Knope with her female best friend, Ann Perkins, than with her husband, Ben Wyatt. And in case you were wondering, Shakespeare fan fiction does exist, and yes, Henry IV’s Prince Hal does fall in love with his childhood friend Ned.
Quite possibly. For my taste (for whatever that's worth) I far more prefer reading fanfic about well-established fictional characters who are already gay or are newly created characters who are gay or are discovering their gayness/are coming out. Reading fanfic about gay romances with well-established 'canon' characters who are ostensibly straight completely bores me. As a now 62 year-old who (at 12) first watched the original Star Trek on September 8 1966 in a kind of ecstasy, even attempting to read fanfic stories about 'Spock and Jim Kirk in love' would leave me rolling my eyes.
Its an entitlement thing. Its all about identity politics.
I will admit up front that I didn't read the whole article, so I may have missed this.
The author's title talks about gay writing fan fiction. Does the author address the high numbers of straight women who write slash/fan fiction? The majority of slash authors I met from my travels as a Brokie have been straight women. I can probably count on one hand the number of male authors I met.
WOW!!! You and I actually have a common feeling about this!!
Is this a generational thing? ??? A gender thing? ??? A generational-gender thing? ??? I do not feel "left out" or "hurt" because virtually all the characters in the TV shows I watch are straight and cisgender (Lordy, I hate that word!). But then again I'm a white cisgender male, even if I am gay, so what do I know? ::)
Anybody else want to bet that Binstock's sources skew female, cis- or otherwise? I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but I do think it might be a good idea to tell her readers, if that's the case.
The author's title talks about gay writing fan fiction. Does the author address the high numbers of straight women who write slash/fan fiction? The majority of slash authors I met from my travels as a Brokie have been straight women. I can probably count on one hand the number of male authors I met.
Maybe it's been done already, or maybe there isn't really any way to do it, but I would really be interested to know what percentages of slash fiction are written by straight women, what by gay women, and what by gay men.
A few centuries ago, I took a couple of semesters of Chemistry, and learned about cis- and trans-. It never bothered me at all that, (decades later??) the prefixes became vogue, then common usage as is today--they seemed to 'mirror' (like chemistry! like isomers!) types of selfhood, and seemed like good metaphors. As gay as I was and am, I never doubted I was male (however unconventionally so, to the uptight world of the 50s-80s) and, like you, I'm a cisgender male. Who knew!
Is that where that term comes from? Chemistry? I still hate it! :laugh:
Here you go, Jeff, hate away! (Believe it or not, there are hordes, no ARMIES of students who hate--HATE! Organic Chem. I actually liked it because I like geometrical patterns--)
Uh-oh! Don't tell people that the Trans from trans fat (which is bad!) is from the same suffix!
The terms “cis” and “trans” are from Latin, in which cis means "on this side"[2] and trans means "on the other side" or "across".
Like Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul. ;D ;)
Uh-oh! Don't tell people that the Trans from trans fat (which is bad!) is from the same suffix!
But I'm afraid I've led this thread astray. :(
BOOM! God, I used to know stuff like that! Scary, scary thing-- I would NEVER have remembered that, EVER to my dying day, until you unearthed that. Wow.
PREfix, prefix, you dummy (dummy being me!), not suffix! Once again, I cannot figure out is that MISTAKE is my aphasia or my senility! :laugh: