Okay, I swore I wasn't going to comment any more on this topic, and I kind of danced around this at Cate's journal, but since I know you well enough that I can just flat-out say this and I won't offend you:
HOW is this any different than what slashers do?
Because, yes, it pisses me off the way that our society and our pop culture is geared towards sex and romance being the be-all and end-all of relationships. But that's what slash is, and that's why reading slash very often leaves me feeling a little bit ... bruised, because what it's saying, either implicitly or openly, is that the platonic relationships I so adore are ... nothing, compared to romantic love.
Yeah, it doesn't make me happy to have pro writers come right out and say it, but there are SHELVES full of romance novels at Barnes & Noble that express the same sentiment. There are archives full of slash fic that are basically mini-theses whose topic is what Gero just said. And I'm looking around at the anger and wondering where the hell it's coming from, when I had to learn to wall up my own frustration and hurt all these years just to get along in fandom without feeling like people were tromping all over my heart all the time. Goddamn it, I worked my ass off to not be resentful of slash for breaking up my friendship OTPs, and slowly I learned to read and enjoy it and even to write it. I have been working hard to come to terms with romance in general, to like and appreciate it so that I can work it into my own writing and appreciate it in other people's writing.
I can't believe that I feel this strongly about this, but I'm actually sitting here crying because I'm so hurt and angry that now, now everyone's getting upset about Gero pissing in their cheerios, when they've been happily pissing in mine for the entire time that I've been in fandom, and I've been working so fucking hard to get to a mental place where I can not only appreciate it but thank them for it.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2008-11-25 06:43 am (UTC)HOW is this any different than what slashers do?
Because, yes, it pisses me off the way that our society and our pop culture is geared towards sex and romance being the be-all and end-all of relationships. But that's what slash is, and that's why reading slash very often leaves me feeling a little bit ... bruised, because what it's saying, either implicitly or openly, is that the platonic relationships I so adore are ... nothing, compared to romantic love.
Yeah, it doesn't make me happy to have pro writers come right out and say it, but there are SHELVES full of romance novels at Barnes & Noble that express the same sentiment. There are archives full of slash fic that are basically mini-theses whose topic is what Gero just said. And I'm looking around at the anger and wondering where the hell it's coming from, when I had to learn to wall up my own frustration and hurt all these years just to get along in fandom without feeling like people were tromping all over my heart all the time. Goddamn it, I worked my ass off to not be resentful of slash for breaking up my friendship OTPs, and slowly I learned to read and enjoy it and even to write it. I have been working hard to come to terms with romance in general, to like and appreciate it so that I can work it into my own writing and appreciate it in other people's writing.
I can't believe that I feel this strongly about this, but I'm actually sitting here crying because I'm so hurt and angry that now, now everyone's getting upset about Gero pissing in their cheerios, when they've been happily pissing in mine for the entire time that I've been in fandom, and I've been working so fucking hard to get to a mental place where I can not only appreciate it but thank them for it.