A Thought or Two on Slash

[puddlemereunited at yahoo.co.uk]

To leap from one debate to another, I would like to now explain my 
dislike of Slash.  It can be divided into two complaints:

First, there is the technical problem which is the lack of any 
noticeable homosexual characters in the books (the movie is a 
different story).  It is true that no one in the book has had a 
specific sexual preference issued to them, but the main characters 
have all exhibited indicators of heterosexuality.  All the boys and 
men who react positively to the Veela and Fleur can be assumed to be 
heterosexual, as can the women who react indifferently.  
Of course, some percentage of the Hogwarts students would be gay, or 
bisexual.  But Slash stories would have you believe that every 
character who is popular is also gay, or willing to "go all gay" at 
least for a day or so.  This is as ridiculous as assuming that a gay 
man, if propositioned by a woman, would happily become intimate with 
her.  This is hard to believe - it makes the world no more complex 
than the world of porn films, where people are compelled to copulate 
by the appearance of a stray earlobe.
But I admit that one could easily make a case for a character being 
gay, and if this is dealt with sensitively I have absolutely no 
problem with it. 
 It is only when characters are written in such a
way as to be engines of pansexuality that I am disturbed, and more 
importantly bored.  Again, if your own Slash story does not follow 
this line then I am sure your work is an admirable one and this does 
not apply to you.

Secondly, there is the problem of using characters just to fulfill 
sexual desires.  This is more of a problem in my eyes.  Consider this 
quote from a previous post to this group:

I think Justin's written as gay because we don't know what else to do 
with him...he's like Seamus, lovely decoration but rarely contributes 
to the plot.

This is what I dislike most in Slash: characters as "decoration", who 
serve the same purpose as scantily-clad women dancing around boxing 
rings.  One cannot make a case that such characterisations do
anything to further character development, plot, or even add color to 
a work.  
They are there simply because someone has decided it would be "hot"
to see them make out.  This commits the double sin of being both 
distasteful and dull.  It grieves me to see Seamus, or any other 
character, reduced to the same importance as a pair of jiggling 
breasts in a music video.  
As a young gay woman, I find it insulting to see characters forced to 
conform to a sexual preference so that they might titillate a 
reader/author.  I wouldn't want Seamus and Cedric made gay any more 
than I would want to see two straight girls forced to engage in 
lesbianism to impress a man.
I know bisexuality has become trendy lately in pop culture but I am 
sick of people who think "gay is cute".  It isn't; such an attitude
is patronising and demeaning.  Being a girl isn't cute, and neither
is 
being gay.  Making a character gay does not make using them as a sex 
object any more laudable.  NO MORE "DECORATIONS".

Again, before I am accused of over-generalising, these complaints do 
not apply to all Slash stories.  But if you take a sampling of ten 
random Slash stories that you have not read before, you might see
that 
more than half commit one or more of these crimes.  

E.