Slash fiction

[Tim Regan]

Hi Stacey,

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter Stacey  wrote:
> There seems to be a plethora of Harry Potter slash 
> fiction.  I wonder why that is.

There was a discussion of this on the group a while ago (try 
starting with Diana's post 13086 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/13086
and look at the myriad of threads spawned from there), but I think 
that there is tons more to say, which hopefully your post will 
illicit.

I also read a fascinating chapter in Henry Jenkins' ethnographic 
study of fan-fiction (from before the days of the internet) "Textual 
Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture" 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415905729
He talks at length about why heterosexual women enjoy writing and 
reading homosexual male pairings involving their favorite 
characters. And that was part of the surprise for me – the male / 
male partnerships are popular in fan-fiction and it's mostly fueled 
by heterosexual women. Part of it was about the balance of power in 
a sexual relationship, part was about revealed vulnerabilities, but 
there were loads more. If there's interest I'll try to summarize the 
chapter for this list. It will have to be after the weekend though – 
I'm off camping with Kate and the kids on Mount Rainier.

Cheers,

Dumbledad.