A poll about gen fanfic
May. 1st, 2009 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrThis post is about fanfic. If you are not into fanfic, just be grateful I used a cut and scroll on...
In Words, Words, Words![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pandarus talks about the way fanfic about same sex couples get classified as "slash" when the equivalent story about an opposite sex couple would get classified as "gen", and in the comments gives a specific example ("Child via mpreg is read a story" below) which really got me thinking.
So, first, a poll, about different types of stories. It doesn't matter what definition of gen you use, as long as you're consistent. Assume these hypothetical stories are otherwise totally free of references to sex and romance.
[Poll #1392668]
(Sorry for the stark same sex/opposite sex dichotomy, but the whole slash/het divide isn't really designed for the possibility of trans/intersex/genderqueer characters. Or threesomes etc. Someone else will have to do another poll :))
I must admit I'm guilty of this myself. I tend to classify borderline stories as not-gen if the mentioned couple sticks out at me, and having been raised on a diet of heteronormative fiction where any two members of the opposite sex can plausibly get together with no warning, but none of the same sex ones can, it's the same sex couples that tend to jolt me more. Now I'm not one of these people who gets really uptight about categories, and I read plenty of (boy and girl) slash, but I still don't think it reflects very well on me.
I don't have a paid Dreamwidth account or I'd post over there with my nice comments policy. So assume it applies, though even if you don't like it you're welcome to take the poll.
(*)I am thinking of a Spike/Buffy story I read once. I don't think the child's conception was ever explained. Maybe Spike had become human? I back-buttoned pretty quickly :)
In Words, Words, Words
pandarus talks about the way fanfic about same sex couples get classified as "slash" when the equivalent story about an opposite sex couple would get classified as "gen", and in the comments gives a specific example ("Child via mpreg is read a story" below) which really got me thinking. So, first, a poll, about different types of stories. It doesn't matter what definition of gen you use, as long as you're consistent. Assume these hypothetical stories are otherwise totally free of references to sex and romance.
[Poll #1392668]
(Sorry for the stark same sex/opposite sex dichotomy, but the whole slash/het divide isn't really designed for the possibility of trans/intersex/genderqueer characters. Or threesomes etc. Someone else will have to do another poll :))
I must admit I'm guilty of this myself. I tend to classify borderline stories as not-gen if the mentioned couple sticks out at me, and having been raised on a diet of heteronormative fiction where any two members of the opposite sex can plausibly get together with no warning, but none of the same sex ones can, it's the same sex couples that tend to jolt me more. Now I'm not one of these people who gets really uptight about categories, and I read plenty of (boy and girl) slash, but I still don't think it reflects very well on me.
I don't have a paid Dreamwidth account or I'd post over there with my nice comments policy. So assume it applies, though even if you don't like it you're welcome to take the poll.
(*)I am thinking of a Spike/Buffy story I read once. I don't think the child's conception was ever explained. Maybe Spike had become human? I back-buttoned pretty quickly :)
