What annoys me about fanfic meta about itself

[alias_sqbr]

(separated out as a tangent from Old school fandom: Can we fix it?)

There's a difference between "here are some flaws in X group"/"Here are some awesome things about my group" (both of which are valid) and "Let's think about the differences between X and my group. Well.. X has all these flaws. And my group is awesome. Because we are awesome people, and they are flawed people (apart from the ones who eventually realise how awesome we are and change sides)."

There is a jump from "there is an undertone of misogyny to some slash"/"There is an undertone of homophobia to some non-slashers behaviour" to "slashers are misogynistic"/"non-slashers are homophobic" to "If you really cared you'd write (fem)slash"(*).

One of things which made me feel excluded from fanfic fandom for years was this attitude that "A lot of fanfic works this way"->"This is What Fanfic Is"->"Everything that is not This sucks and is probably written and enjoyed by misogynistic and/or dull men". Yes, a lot of fanfic takes canon characters and puts them into a romance, but that doesn't mean that I'm Missing The Point of fanfic if I take the setting and write gen about some original characters. And the fact that male dominated fandom tends to be sexist and dismissive of fanfic doesn't mean there's a direct correlation between having tastes in line with conventional fandom and being sexist/narrowminded. Acting this way means female fans with "male" tastes get treated badly in both fandoms.

I'm not sure I've ever seen any "Let's compare stuff from fanfic fandom to equivalent stuff made by people outside" meta that didn't spend every second paragraph talking about how much more awesome and creative and feminist and postmodern "our" stuff is.

One of the things about online fandom (especially on lj) is it's much bigger and more finely delineated which makes it easier to avoid really obnoxious people and create your own space but also makes it easy forget that your like-minded friendslist is not all there is to fandom. When I see a comment like Ursula LeGuin fans could demonstrate a little of the progressive social values of Stargate:Atlantis fans I have to wonder if they count all the fans in mainstream male dominated fandom who think Teyla is hot and enjoy the explosions or whatever. And if they don't count, why don't I get to redefine "Ursula LeGuin" fans the same way? (And here I start shading into my next post :))

nb: I realise one of things fanfic meta does is tend to focus exclusively on fanfic (and specifically, boyslash) to the exclusion of other sorts of fannish creativity and I've kind of done that here. I guess I can't break out of the very mindset I'm criticising!

(*)These arguments annoyed me a lot less once I wrote some femslash, since now I'm one irrational-smug-moral-superiority level above the smug m/m slash writers :)

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

I am beginning to suspect that one of the many revolutionary things going on in the fic community (I really have no experience of art or vids) is a reaction against PC and hence people are exploring beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable in every way - not just the commonly defined social norms but the newer social norms of PC, social justice, call it what you will.

Heh. I have this whole rant about the twin meanings of PC as "Basic human decency with regards to caring about the effect of your words on other people" and "Counterproductive dogma". This is particularly relevant to "sexist" fanfic by women since it messes so much with the id, for example some feminists define anything pornographic as sexist and evil, while others define anything pornographic by and for women as feminist, and both decry the other as "sexist" and/or "too PC". But yes, fanfic does give us all a chance to explore things which would be condemned elsewhere (for whatever reason, and for good or ill)

But social change is still a by-product of fanfic, and since the general drift of society is in that direction, fanfic will be swept along in the tide and become part of furthering the causes of social justice. But it might do so in some very unexpected ways.

Agreed.

That said, I think people can use their own fanfic for social justice, same way as they can use music or art or whatever. They just can't use ALL of fanfic fandom.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

(Disclaimer: I am hugely brain tired today, but I need to answer because I will be very short of time starting next week and I don't want to leave it until I am time rich again.)

I think people can use their own fanfic for social justice, same way as they can use music or art or whatever. They just can't use ALL of fanfic fandom.

Agreed. Nobody can steer the herd, whether from outside or within it, but they personally can run whichever way they want, and sometimes the herd will chose to turn with them. All anyone can do is try and see what happens.

I have this whole rant about the twin meanings of PC as "Basic human decency with regards to caring about the effect of your words on other people" and "Counterproductive dogma".
I think it is one sign of how far we have come that a lot of stuff that twenty years ago was considered PC is now classed under 'bleeding obvious requirement of good manners' and the term PC is left lumbered with some pretty fringe weird and wonderful dogma.

I look forward to reading your rant some day.

This is particularly relevant to "sexist" fanfic by women since it messes so much with the id
I have to admit I am having trouble understanding this sentence. If you could unpack it I would be grateful.

[alias_sqbr]

Well, I'm no psychologist so my usage of "id" is a very loose probably totally theoretically wrong one I've picked up from fanfic meta. I have no stake in the whole Freudian thing about the Id being biological or whatever, I just mean "The part(s) of the mind that responds to basic wish fulfillment/sexual etc stuff in a very simple intense way".

So, my argument with more unpacking: a lot of fanfic is blatantly self indulgent, either wish fulfillment or sexual kink etc (as a writer and reader of gen I don't like the assumption that this is all sexual: my "Disney Princess creates democracy" and "Gu'uald is trapped in a cats body" stories were more about the Id than my femslash, at least as I define Id) And a lot of what women really deep down want to read or write has some disturbing sexual dynamics, often playing into sexist stereotypes etc. So either you try and put limits on it and as a result police women's sexuality, or you don't and you encourage the production of stories which perpetuate sexist ideas, and both of these actions can be seen as pretty sexist and result in incredibly heartfelt and intense responses (as I'm sure you have seen).