Fanfiction and sex... slash vs. het

[pippin_999]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "selah_1977" <ebonyink at h...> 
wspring to 
>
> When het writers include steam, it's trashy romance.  When 
slash  writers do it, it's erotica.  
s:
> 
> 1)  Why do you think this double standard exists?  Is it reflective 
> of the quality of the writing or the maturity level/personal 
squicks of the audience?

  As far as I know there is very little commercial slash. 
Commercial fiction with gay protagonists is generally aimed at  
gay males, whereas I believe male/male slash fanfiction is read 
largely by  straight females (my information comes from Textual 
Poachers, is it correct?) 
     I think the trashiness label carries over from the commercial 
product. With slash the work isn't tainted by mass-marketing and 
commerce, so it can more easily claim to be art. Hence the 
erotica label.
  The squick factor has to do with how much  the reader identifies 
with the characters. IMO, erotic situations can be rougher or 
seedier or more casual  in slash because the female reader is 
distanced from  the male characters and feels less vulnerable. 
The level of explicitness can be raised because only male 
bodies are described, so the female reader doesn't have the 
feeling that her own body is  exposed.
 OTOH, slash can be even more gushingly romantic than het 
stories. Let's face it, real guys, straight or not,  are generally 
eager to score. Since romantic fiction is more about longing than 
it is about fulfillment, slash in which the characters are  uncertain 
about their orientation or afraid to reveal it  gives the author 
another excuse to keep the characters out of physical contact 
and exchanging longing glances. 
> 
> 2)  Is there a way to write het fanfiction, R or higher, that 
escapes  this stigma?
Find a publisher with the courage to print commercial slash and 
at least everyone will be in the same boat? <g> But then, most 
slash deals with characters who aren't gay in the original works, 
and it's hard to see how the effect of that (oh, I'm not gay, I just 
like to delete on Draco's expletive) could be carried over into 
original fiction.  In fan fiction the characters can carry on in this 
unresolved way, whereas in real life or an independent fictional 
universe they would either have to break up or start picking out 
china.
> 3)  In your opinion, should there even *be* NC-17 Harry Potter 
> fanfiction, slash *or* het?
    People are going to write it.   And people are going to read it, 
because it validates their feelings. (ooh, I'm not the only one 
who's hot for Pigwidgeon, phew!) As an artist and critic, my  
feeling is that   a story should be set in a particular universe 
because it could only happen in that universe.  The reactions of 
each character should be unique to that character. Since the 
mechanics of arousal are pretty much the same for everybody, 
(otherwise there couldn't be  mass-market erotica/porn/romance 
in the first place) the more explicit the writing becomes, the less 
the characters and the setting  matter. So why set the story in the 
Potterverse at all? As a form  of  entertainment , of course it can 
work, but the artistic level is dubious.


Pippin