And now, for something completely different

[cabenson]

Dear Friendslist,

With all the discussions we have seen on femslash lately, I have a couple questions about femslash fandoms and their pairings for a project I may, or may not work on this fall. If you would be so kind as to answer in the comments, I'll send you nekkid pictures of theholyinnocent. Thanks.

1. What do you consider a femslash fandom: one that has a subtextual pairing, one that has a canon pairing, or both?

2. List some of your favorite fandoms, the pairings you "ship", and the episode that made you sit up and go, "OMG! they are so gay for each other!"

3. Most fandom femslash pairings bite the big one some time during a television show's production. Name a show or two that failed to bring closure to a pairing, and name a show or two that brought a pairing together in an acceptable way, even if the pairing was never seen again (I'm looking at you, SHED!)

and finally,

4. What should I wear to work tomorrow? Dressy, causal, or lazy girl in scrubs?

And, I thank you!

Comments

[archaica.livejournal.com]

Isn't the point of slash that it's subtextual, fem- or male-?

[cabenson.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily. Some same-sex pairings are shown as canon, but are still written in the femslash world albeit in "behind the scenes" or AU scenarios. In my opinion, simply because they are canon doesn't detract from the fact that fall in a "slash" catagory. What would you call same-sex canonical fiction (besides delicious)?

[archaica.livejournal.com]

.....erotic fiction? I mean, my impression of the slash term has always been that it was non-canonical, dervied from subtext read into it by fans. Sometimes the text is not even sub- , if you read it the right way. But then again, I suppose the definition of the word isn't dependent on how I would use it, but how the majority use it. So I guess that would be my question.

[projectjulie.livejournal.com]

there's definitely contention about this in fandom at large -- from what I've seen there doesn't seem to be any clear consensus. it might be up to us to decide, since we have much more canon than the boys (it was mostly an issue for Queer as Folk fandom, if I recall). there are good arguments for both sides, but my vote is for defining slash as fan fiction (i.e. derivative fiction -- hence it's difference from original erotica) depicting same-sex relationships, regardless of their canonical provenance. in practical terms, this is because it seems to me that lesbian canonicity is a spectrum, rather than a bright line -- how would we know where to make the slash cutoff? to put this same reasoning in philosophical terms, defining slash as subtext only seems to devalue subtext -- why is it any less "real" or canonical (as you imply)? one of the most important arguments fanfic makes in its existence is that there is no canon outside of interpretation, and that makes canon a very slippery thing.