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

[Queer as John]

ER <ression at hotmail.com> said:

> What is this nonsense leading up to? My view is that one should warn
> about the things that are _likely_ to upset or offend the _majority_
> and, rightly or wrongly, quite a lot of people get upset by
> descriptions of homosexual sex. Thus IMHO it makes sense for slash
> stories to carry a prominent warning, but "normal" stories need not.

ER, but I am incredibly offended by your statement and use of language.
(It's also exceedingly rude to refer to somebody else's point as "nonsense".
You may not understand the point, but in that case, ask for clarification
rather than attacking with vitriol.)

The reason I am offended is that the continuation of your argument (if not
your argument itself) is that if slash is not normal, gay people are
abnormal. Calling gay people "abnormal" or even "not normal" is personally
offensive to me and, I suspect, to many others, gay and non-gay, in this
community. I object to it in the strongest possible terms.

Even if your personal beliefs do not continue to that extent, your argument
appears to be that, rather than taking pride in our work, slash writers
should closet themselves behind warnings *purely* because the relationships
in their stories are between people of the same gender, as if reading about
gay couples in stories rated appropriately to their age will be somehow
damaging to children, or warp their minds, or (*gasp*) turn them gay. I will
*not* subsume to the homophobia and heterosexism which that reflects.

Think about what you are suggesting in another context: should AngieJ's
excellent _Paradise_ series have "Warning: inter-racial couple" or "Warning:
black character narrator" warnings? Of course not, we say. (Or, at least, I
hope we say.) How about Ron/Hermione fics ‹ should they contain "Warning:
pureblood/mudblood couple"  language? Again, of course not ‹ that is
ridiculous.

Just as there is no reason why Angelina's skin colour or Hermione's
wizarding heritage makes them inferior or subject to warning language, there
is no reason why sexual orientation of characters as I perceive them should
make them inferior or subject to warning language.

*That* was Heidi's point: that there are many things that people could
possibly find objectionable, both in life and in stories. She was attempting
to point out all the things that GoF could use warnings for. You may find it
ridiculous and "nonsense": I feel the same way about segregating stories
purely because of the genders involved in the relationships contained
therein.

I'll also reiterate my frustration with the fact that people (not just you,
ER) appear through their language to be implying that all slash involves gay
sex. It doesn't, any more than all fics with heterosexual pairings involves
straight sex.

> Anyway, I think that HP FanFics that deviate markedly from this norm
> should also carry a warning - "this ain't what you think it's going
> to be"!

 I *really* hope that you are not referring to slash when you say "deviate".
Because I really dislike it when people refer to my orientation as
"deviant".

--John
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Queer as John || john at queerasjohn.com

AIM, YM & LJ @ QueerAsJohn || www.queerasjohn.com

"There's nowt as queer as folk."  --English proverb
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