la la la femslash

[schmerica]

I don't really find the "why do lesbians dig m/m slash, anyway?" discussions all that interesting anymore -- like most slash discussions, it seems to have lots of interesting theories but basically come down to "why are people turned on by what turns them on?" which, really, strikes me as a question that doesn't need an answer -- but it struck on this last go-round that, hey. No one ever asks about the straight girls who write/dig femslash, eh?

I imagine this is possibly a combination of several things:

a) That femslash tends to be under-represented or -cared-for or -considered in slash fandom in general.

b) That there aren't that many of us (and possibly an assumption of queerness goes along with the writing of f/f, though I'm not really confident on that point. At any rate, straightness is not necessarily something immediately apparent, especially since slash fandom tends to be a very queer-seeming place, at least in the circles I'm most familiar with).

On a completely different note, my dad and brother left yesterday for their week at the national trapper's convention. I love them both dearly, but the week every year when they're gone? It's like vacation, man. Yaaaaay.

Comments

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

That there aren't that many of us (and possibly an assumption of queerness goes along with the writing of f/f, though I'm not really confident on that point. At any rate, straightness is not necessarily something immediately visible).

I think this is the case. I read a recent discussion somewhere (before vacay, so god knows where it was), where the poster did assume that straight women *didn't* write f/f. And while it's not anywhere near the amount of het or m/m slash I write, I have on occasion written it, I do read it if it's a pairing that interests me, which is mostly why I read any fanfic. It's just that the f/f couples who interest me are even fewer than the m/f or m/m (or m/f/m threesomes).

Like, say, Willow/Tara is lovely, but I don't seek out fic for it. Cordelia/Faith, otoh, or Kaylee/Inara (or Kaylee/River, but River/almost anyone will pique my interest) or Hermione/Ginny or Bellatrix/Narcissa... I'm more prone to read if it pops up on my flist.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

And while it's not anywhere near the amount of het or m/m slash I write, I have on occasion written it, I do read it if it's a pairing that interests me, which is mostly why I read any fanfic.

*nod* I don't find women *innately* less interesting in men, is the thing. Nor female-based relationships. Firefly is an excellent examples where I find all the really interesting relationships on the show to be either female-female or female-male based -- River-Simon, Zoe-Wash, Mal-Inara, Zoe-Mal, Kaylee-Inara, Kaylee-Mal, and on and on all seem central in a way the guy-guy ones don't.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Yes. I don't mind the Jayne/Simon or the Mal/Jayne - I read it if the mood strikes me - but it doesn't ping me the way Mal/Kaylee, or River/Simon or even Kaylee/Inara does.

Of course, for me, the fic is 90% about pinging me, and then other ten is either boredom or really trusting the author.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I don't mean ping in a sexual sense, necessarily, so much as an emotional one.

Though sexual pinging is good too. I find good f/f featuring characters I'm interested in as much of a turn on as good m/m or m/f featuring characters I'm interested in.

It's the "characters I'm interested" part that's important to me.