quirks; gay slash pairings; sekrit het couple

[schmerica]

brooklinegirl had another porn poll in her journal, and it's got me thinking about a subject that I like to call "Things That I Do Not Actually Feel Strongly Enough About to Count as Pet Peeves But Which I Do Notice and I Suppose Just Count as Slightly Negative Quirks."

So, uh, first and closest on target: porn. In theory, I would say something like "my specific kinks aside, well-written and in-character porn about characters I care about = FOR THE WIN." But in reality? Reading 69s bores me silly. And there are all-guy threesomes I am all over, but when it gets to Guy A is fucking Guy B is fucking Guy C, I tune out.

Other things: the first hundred times I read a slash story that has the guys realizing "Hey! We've been dating all this time!" I was entertained by it. Then suddenly on the hundred-and-first first time I suddenly got irritated and talked back to the story. "NO. No, you weren't. You were hanging out. Dating is hanging out with conscious romantic intent. You had NO conscious romantic intent, therefore YOU WERE NOT DATING. The end."

I felt all triumphant with that logic until I remembered that stories can't argue back.

(Do I have to put the disclaimer that there is always a story that disproves my preferences about everything I claim? I think you can take it as given at this point.)

In other news, are there really people who think McKay/Sheppard is gayer than Jim/Blair? Are there people who think ANY pairings are gayer than Jim/Blair? I am befuddled.

I really want to read or write Fraser/Thatcher, but I can imagine no way of getting what I like about their relationship in s2 into a story, let alone porn of any type.

Comments

[cereta.livejournal.com]

In theory, I would say something like "my specific kinks aside, well-written and in-character porn about characters I care about = FOR THE WIN." But in reality?

Leaving aside the specifics, I have to admit that the "gosh, I'll read anything if it's well-written" thing is starting to irritate me, not because some people won't, and hey, more power to them, but because there's often the implicit assumption that having any preference other than "good writing" is, I dunno, unworthy.

Possibly I have issues there ;).

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's totally a fair point! Hmm. I think it's just easier to use a shorthand to say that my automatic preferences point to this area of pairings/kinks/fandoms whatever, but there is an additional element that area doesn't cover, and I don't have any better connecting descriptive tool to cover this other area than "well-written" as a vague blanket statement for "things that worked for me that I am not automatically inclined to." But I certainly don't think the fact that I have that other inexplicable area means I'm somehow more openminded than people who can account for their preferences more exactly, you know?

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I was actually kind of agreeing with your post ;). I mean, there are things that, no matter how well-written, just don't work for me, you know?

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

*raises hand to agree*

I mean, if you can't get me to read all the brilliantly written classics of pro lit, despite the fact that I'm, you know, a lit professor, what makes anyone think they can get me to read all the brilliantly written fanfic?

Some days, with enough pimping, if I'm in the mood, I'll read almost anything. Most days? My characters and my kinks or *nothing* :)

[vee-fic.livejournal.com]

I like to say that reading something outside your own kink zone is like rifling through a stranger's underwear drawer: after the initial curiosity wears off, it's basically all anthropology and boredom.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Ha!

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Heh. :)

[claire.livejournal.com]

I have a whole bunch of things that I'll read even if the writing is pretty appalling. Then there's pairings/fandoms/kinks/stuff I'll read only if the writing is adequate. Then some things that I'll only read if they're well-written. Then stuff I won't even read if it's written by the best writer in the history of writing.

But there's no easy way to say all that ;)

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that the "gosh, I'll read anything if it's well-written" thing is starting to irritate me, not because some people won't, and hey, more power to them, but because there's often the implicit assumption that having any preference other than "good writing" is, I dunno, unworthy.


I think that that position (which, to disclaim, I usually take) is a reaction to the people on the other end of the spectrum who will only read Character X/Character Y in 20,000 words or less with an R rating and a happy ending and scenes set at the beach and a pony. You know.

I also think for some, like me, it's a tacit admission that fanfic has destroyed all their previous lines and squicks and now they'll glumly read any incest/scat/slaveplay fic written by their favorite author because they'll probably enjoy it. *g*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

What good is having the ponies if it's less than an R rating?

Hi, sometimes I like to pretend I have class.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

There are well-written things that horrify me utterly (one story about Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Alien from Alien comes to mind), and not-so-well-written things I love (Tamora Pierce, here's looking at you).

I've never really thought about that statement before.

[bathsweaver.livejournal.com]

It is my belief that no one is gayer than Jim and Blair.

[minim_calibre]

s2 Gunn/Wes? At least AS slashtastic as Jim and Blair. (But, I've just finished my S1 rewatch, and S1 of TS is where they Really Tried Hetting It Up Hard.)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but ... The Sentinel, Too. With the SPIRIT ANIMALS.

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

Oh, right there with you. Gunn saw Wes getting shot in *slow-mo*! And they had a secret handshake. And hugged a lot. And--yes.

[gloss]

A very good point. *ships them*

[zvi-likes-tv.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to say that Starsky & Hutch are gayer than J/B. They appear to have separated only to sleep and go on dates with women, and they didn't always do that. I mean, I can't watch the show and I suspect you would not like it either, but it is super, duper, hella guay.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Agreed...and that's exactly what I was going to say. Starsky and Hutch are the Uber-Gay slash couple.

But I'd rather watch Jim and Blair in second place (they're like Avis: they try harder *g*)

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Okay, that is definitely an acceptable answer! I am vaguely ashamed of not being down with my history.

[neery.livejournal.com]

I think Ray K./Fraser is gayer than Jim/Blair. They sounded unbeatable slashy in theory and fiction (what with the living together, and all that -- it took me three days of reading fanfic to find out that those two weren't a couple in canon), but in the actual show, I always kind of got the feeling that they don't even like each other all that much, most of the time. But that's just me, I think.

[aimeelicious]

Um, is "gayer than Jim/Blair" even possible? There are some that come close (haha pun intended!)...as neery above me notes, Ray K./Fraser is a pretty gay pairing. But yeah, J/B set the bar at it's maximum height, I'd say.

[aimeelicious]

gah, "ITS maximum height". That's what I got for posting a comment without proofreading.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I'm at a loss for what is gayer than Jim/Blair.

Certainly not McKay/Sheppard, a pairing that is only sort of fictionally gay.

Even the big gay love of RayK and Fraser isn't so gay...

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*giggles* RayK/Fraser is very slashy, but there ARE still non-gay ways to interpret their relationship, you know?

[claire.livejournal.com]

I once walked in on my friend C blowing a random guy he'd hooked up with for the night. That was less gay than Jim and Blair.

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

♥

[sloganeer.livejournal.com]

last night's sentinel ended with girl-of-the-week inviting them both to dinner and with jim and blair agreeing not to compete so she would pick up the check. nothing gayer.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

That is what I think, too! People are strange.

[dirty-diana.livejournal.com]

I cannot answer any questions about Mckay/Sheppard, the whole thing confuses me.

I will read your Thatcher/Fraser! Should you ever accomplish it. Thatcher is hot.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*snicker* I keep thinking I've got a grasp on the utter foreigness, but no! Not ever!