I didn't mean to do it...

[bluflamingo]

I swear I didn't, but I couldn't help it. Yes, I went and left a comment on this. I should have stuck with my original response of 'oh, god, shut up, I can't read this,' but I couldn't do it.

Apparently, slashers are all:

- lesbophobic (okay, I thought I was gay because I'm anti-men, now I'm anti-lesbians as well? Cos that pretty much only leaves the straight girls, and they're way more trouble than they're worth (to date - I know many lovely straight women, but I speak from experience when I say that romantic/sexual involvement with them is just asking for disaster.) Well, no, I suppose it leaves the bi ones as well - that's okay)

- women-hating (nope, scratch that, don't get any girls. Damn it - just because I don't have a girlfriend right now, I wasn't actually intending for that to be a permanent state)

- straight (oh, okay - don't tell me - the gay thing's all a phase, right?)

- just writing to turn each other one (so how does the slash fic that doesnt involve more than a kiss, and sometimes not even that work? I gotta say, if that's turning you on, you guys are kind of easy)

- all about the violent, penetration-centric sex (totally true... except, nope, I've written one fic where they have penetrative sex. Actually, no, I've written two - one was femslash- guess I really am an unwitting tool of the patriarchy)

- female (sorry, any guys out there who write slash fic - you're like unicorns, figments of our imagination)

Actually I probably would have gone on with my original reaction of shutting the article, even with the whole 'slash relationships are written about a masculine and a feminine partner' and 'in the end, they turn straight again' (seriously, can you even link me to *one* fic where that happens?). Well, okay, I probably wouldn't.

But - she says she's a radical feminist. Feminist research methods are all about respect for the people being studied, acknowledging their beliefs and working with them. She's all about 'I have looked at your community and found it strange. Let me come in and tell you, in the most patronising tone possible, why you're wrong.' So she's a crappy feminist researcher, and actually just a crappy researcher, since she doesn't once quote from a single fic, or cite any sources (I know it's not an academic paper, but seriously - you want to make these sweeping statements, back it up with something).

I kind of just wanted to leave a comment saying - I'm definitely a feminist, and some of what I think is pretty radical feminism - get the hell off my side!

Okay, now I feel better.

Comments

[01100100.livejournal.com]

Read this (http://mmmchelle.livejournal.com/269950.html?style=mine#cutid1). You may feel better ;-)

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It certainly made me smile :)

[lilysaid.livejournal.com]

I didn't read the article, but I read your synopsis and I share your rage--particularly over the "lesbophobia," because of all the untrue assumptions here (and they are ALL untrue), that's one I can't even think of a handful of examples of, and seems most fabricated to suit her interests. well, that one and the "end up being straight in the end" one, which doesn't even make sense. in fact, looking over your bullet points again, it seems like she's building a case that straight women writing slash is basically an affront to the gay, lesbian, and female community as a whole.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I think you're probably right. I don't know if I'd feel differently if I was a gay man instead of a gay woman, since most slash is male rather than female, but the thing I love most about fandom is that stories about same sex relationships and being gay are normal, and the characters can go on being themselves, and having interesting lives with more meaning that just 'I'm gay'. When I'm particularly wanting to curse bookshops, it feels like slash fandom is the only place where I feel normal, which is sometimes a nice feeling.

But what do I know - clearly I'm too busy buying into the patriarchy to properly understand my own feelings!

I didn't read the article

Don;t bother - watching paint dry would add more to the quality of your day :)

[libel.livejournal.com]

Wow, just wow.

She is correct in stating that I don't know enough about Radical Feminism to understand the framework that supports her theories. I do know enough about fandom to see that her argument doesn't hold water when she looking at the evidence that she provides. I have played in multiple fandoms and have read very few if any fics in which one of the characters goes straight at the end.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

See, and that's another part of my problem with her - we don't understand enough about radical feminism to understand her framework (which one could argue is a failure of her article - one of many) but it's fine for her to come in and talk about fandom with no understanding of it, and then make sweeping statements about what's actually true about it. Not buying it, sorry.

Also - how can she be a radical feminist and have so little conception of how feminist discourse works?!

[scarletts-awry.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That woman disgusted me so I could barely skim it. On the one hand, she's so ridiculous I feel like she's not worth my time; on the other hand, I also left a substantial comment that is waiting in moderation.

Sure, there is a segment of slashers that strike me as heteronormative and seem to fetishize gay men, and those people both trouble and offend me--but you CANNOT say that that specific group represents ALL slash. That's insane.

I've given a fair amount of thought to how slash--fanfiction in general, actually--provides a hypothetical space in which to explore new paradigms of romance. No, not every piece of fanfic necessarily does that--just like every piece of science fiction doesn't necessarily explore the social or ethical consequences of new technology. Just like not every piece of fiction written (pro or fan) is a good piece of fiction.

I began and ended my comment with the fact that her description does not match my years-long experience of slash whatsoever. I hope Crazy Chick with Poor Research Skills gets a fucking clue.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I hope Crazy Chick with Poor Research Skills gets a fucking clue.

Me too, though I'm not holding my breath - she actually reminds me of some of the most rabid OTPers, who refuse to listen to anyone who disagrees with them.

Sure, there is a segment of slashers that strike me as heteronormative and seem to fetishize gay men

But, as you say, they're a segment, which by definition is not the same as 'everyone'. I mean, would she look at, I don't know, the experience of middle class women and then say that this was true for all women?

I also left a substantial comment that is waiting in moderation.

I think I left the last comment before she started moderating - oddly, I haven't had a reply :)

[fiareynne.livejournal.com]

I want to say to her what I said to my father today as he placed things in the way of my removing an ancient dryer from my parent's hall: "STOP HELPING!!!"

Instead, I just point and laugh (http://fiareynne.livejournal.com/368202.html), because she really screwed the pooch with that article. I'd read more of her pieces to see if they're all as poorly founded, but I don't want to get any more stupid on me today than completely necessary.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I want to say to her what I said to my father today as he placed things in the way of my removing an ancient dryer from my parent's hall: "STOP HELPING!!!"

Exactly! Or if you must be on my side, can you do it from far far away so people don't realise you are? I don't want to be tainted with your crazy brush just because we're both feminists.

[lyonza.livejournal.com]

I'm a unicorn!!! Wheee!!!

Hun, let it roll off your back like water from a duck. That woman is all kinds of crazy.

Edit: I went and read the piece in question (found the link from one of your flist that commented) and I found the woman to be so very condescending in her commentary to some people that I couldn't actually read it. In fact, after the first paragraph of her piece in general I skipped to the end and ended up not reading much of it to be honest.

I'll stick to:

WHEEEE!!! I'M A UNICORN!!!

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I'm a unicorn!!! Wheee!!!

Cool, right? I'd rather be a unicorn than a lesbophobic straight woman being oppressed by the patriarchy. At least you get a shiny horn... and oh, that sounded so much better in my head! Sorry.

I don't know why I read it. I particularly don't know why I went back and read it again, with some of the comments - one of her commenters is actually agreeing with her, but she refers to 'lesbian' (her quotation marks) slashers and says that none of what we write is lesbian. I will allow that the women in my femslash stories are usually bi or have an undefined sexuality, but not lesbian? Not even a little bit?

Plus, I kind of want to smack her for putting 'lesbian' in quotes, like she has any right to imply that my identity isn't real.

Okay, deep breath. Letting it go.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I read that! I even had a long and detailed response outlined and was just about to send it before I realised that this woman has already made up her mind about me and won't listen to a thing I have to say because I'm a straight, woman-hating lesbophobe who supports the patriarchy. So why should I justify myself to her? I think I'll just put this particular work of condescendence and faulty conclusions in the folder marked 'ignore'.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're stronger than I am - I couldn't resist trying to point out that she's wrong, wrong, so very wrong. Not that it did me any good, since she hasn't approved my comment. So basically, I was ranting to myself there.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Well, the people who don't agree with her are clearly supporters of the patriarchy and the evil, evil penis ;-)

She's so not worth my time...

[okobde.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's no point in answering. I read the article and thought of leaving a comment, venting a bit, but there I saw that she not only screened all comments, but also had deleted those that disagreed before she started moderating. Way to go, that's a mature way to lead a discussion.

[ariadne83]

And here I was, thinking that I read slash because I like hot guys, and because Mills & Boon makes me gag... Go figure.

[ariadne83]

Also, I really want to comment to that article and link her to A Farm in Iowa because... Yeah. Rodney *totally* goes scurrying back to Katie *snort*

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

I know. It'd be pointless though, she's screening out comments from people who disgaree with her, because, you know, the hallmark of an open-minded and conscientious researcher is hammering down disagreement rather than engaging with it. I really think what annoys me most about her is not what she's saying, which is clearly stupid, but that she claims to be a feminist yet clearly has no conception of what it means to be a feminist scholar (I know it's not an academic paper, but she writes it like it is).

[slybrarian.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I would go read this, but I need to work on my my fic about violent, penetrative sex that gets interrupted by a crying baby that needs a diaper change.

[bluflamingo.livejournal.com]

You're much better off writing about sex than reading that article, trust me, even if it does make you a tool of the patriarchy. At least we'll all have fun while we're perpetuating a male-centric society *rolls eyes*