[HPFGU-OTChatter] Fanfics with slash & sex...I don't get it

[Kathryn Cawte]

-------Original Message-------

From: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com
Date: 05 January 2003 11:43:15
To: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [HPFGU-OTChatter] Fanfics with slash & sex...I don't get it

I honestly don't understand the appeal of all these 
slash pairings. I suppose people will write what they 
like, but I won't be reading any of it. I like the 
characters too much as they are written to go changing 
their sexual preference on them! If the Harry Potter 
books introduced a gay/lesbian character I wouldn't 
try to pair that character up with someone of the 
opposite sex in a fanfic I wrote, so I can't see 
trying to pair up hetrosexual characters with someone 
of the same sex. Besides, I can't see 11 to 
14-year-old children [the age span of Harry, Ron and 
Hermione from PS/SS through GoF] being written as 
having sex at all. Why can't child characters remain 
children without people writing about them having sex? 
Yeah, free country, I know, so the writers have a 
right to write that if they wish - and I support their 
right to do it - I just refuse to read it. 


Firstly - while I've read a lot of fanfic with the younger characters having
sex I've seen very few that aren't set far enough in the future that the
kids are all over 16. Just because a fic is harry/Ron or Ron/Hermione or
whatever doesn't mean it's about 12 year olds having sex. Generally the
authors will age the children up. I have no objection to the kids having sex
before they are legally allowed to (as long as they're not too young) as
that's realistic - not everyone waits for the age of consent, but I would
insist that they are having sex with each other and not adults before I read
it (unless it's n/c sex, which I don't read very often anyway).

Secondly - what makes you think we (us authors) are changing their sexual
preferences, with the exception of people like Percy (who we know is dating
Penelope) and a few other characters we don't know definitively what their
sexual preferences are. How do you know there aren't already gay characters
in the books? You seem to be working on the principle that all characters
are hetersexual unless they definitively declare themselves to be gay, I
prefer to assume that unless I have been given evidence either way a
character's sexual preferences are totally undefined and I can pair them
with any character I want. That's not to say that I think all the adults and
older students are jumping from bed to bed (or desk, wall, an y other
convenient surface) all the time, I too prefer my stories to have a plot
generally.

Now I'm not trying to force you to read anything you don't want to, I have
several online friends who refuse to read slash (and a couple who won't read
het unless they're beaten over the head with it), you can read what you want
- like you say it's a free country. But there is some very good plot-driven
slash out there that stays true to JKR's characters.

Besides there are so few strong female characters in the books, compared to
the guys, that we poor authors either have to write slash, introduce
original characters, or stick to a very limited number of pairings. Offhand
I can think of a dozen or more male characters I feel I know enough about to
write but very few female characters (Hermione, Minerva, Molly, possibly
Ginny) - the majority of the female characters we know nothing about -
Lavender, the twins (can't think of their names) etc are just stereotypical
giggling girlies - and fine there are girls around like that but these
characters have no depth to them. With the exception of the ones I've
mentioned the females are less well developed than the males. Who are our 
heroes'? Harry, Ron, Albus, Snape (possibly), Remus, Sirius, Fred and George
 Mad-Eye, Lockhart, Hagrid, even bloody Dobby is male! And our villains?
Voldemort, Snape (possibly, see I'm being very even handed here <g>), Draco,
Lucius, the Dursleys (alright one female here I forgot her earlier), Peter,
Quirrell, Crouch .... Even the ghosts we know best are generally male, I
never thought I'd say this but thank God for Myrtle! And which Houses are
seen as the strongest/most important? The ones founded by men, the two
houses founded by women are also sidelined. I'm not claiming that's an
exhaustive list but still *that's* why I write slash.

Sorry that went from an fyi about slash writing to a rant about the sexist
world of Harry Potter. Off to go and write some female-centered potterfic to
slay this particulat hobby horse so I can go back to my regularly scheduled
slash.

K

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