LGBT Issues: Linkspam #12

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fairestcat: *rages*

DID YOU SEE WHAT SHE DID THERE??? Because I sure as hell did. Let me break it down.
She suspects that "some female slash writers" who say they're bisexual are just doing it to "gain credibility". But of course, she'd never imply that any specific person were doing that, oh no, she'll just vaguely suggest that "some" of them are, thus casting the net of suspicion and doubt as wide as possible .

alixtii: Femslash and the Lesbian Experience. Which Is Clearly Not My Experience.

It makes sense to me, in a more-or-less purely theoretical way... that may be totally wrong, that a predominately queer female body of writers writing for a predominately queer female audience about characters who are in some sense or another queer and femele doesn't require them focusing on how they are representing themselves (because the people to whom they are representing themselves are themselves), or at least not how they are representing themselves in any way which requires realism. Rather that which is being represented is a set of hopes and dreams, fears and fantasies. It's not a mirror that's intended to exist without distortion; indeed, given the grim reality of so many queer female lives, it'd be the source of much pain and anguish if it were. Femslash, no less than m/m slash, is frequently a genre of escapist literature (although, of course, it doesn't have to be, and it can be in ways other than the immediately obvious).

bodlon: More thoughts about hot man-on-man action

On the whole, I find the position that slash (or mainstream m/m fiction written by or for women) is anti-gay hard to sustain.
I agree that it’s problematic in that there’s a tremendous amount of appropriation going on, and that there’s a significant amount of factual error and projection happening, but slash doesn’t arise out of some sort of hostile impulse.
Practically speaking, slash exists virtually independently of Actual Gay Men. The only necessary thing that Actual Gay men and slash have in common is the idea that men can be attracted to one another emotionally and/or sexually. If Actual Gay Men were a significant factor for slash to exist (or if slash were a significant factor for Actual Gay Men), there would be more of a connection there.

mistresscurvy: On Privilege and Responsibility

However. There is a huge difference between saying that there are instances of problematic characterizations or plot points or objectification that should be addressed and saying that women aren't allowed to write about gay men's experiences fullstop. The fact that there are examples of fail within a genre doesn't mean that the entirety of the genre is rotten. This is the exact opposite of the straw man argument from RaceFail09 that since it's so difficult for a white person to write characters of color without failing in some manner, they shouldn't even try. I do believe that writers have a greater responsibility to fully consider how they write characters of marginalized groups they're not members of, but there is a huge difference between that and saying you shouldn't write them at all because you don't belong.

avendya: (no subject) [Poll on demographics of fandom; DW version]
avendya: (no subject) [Poll on demographics of fandom; LJ version]

This poll is simply trying prove or refute the statements that "fandom is mostly heterosexual females", or "most of fandom identifies as queer" (both of which are common statements at the moment).

calicokat: (no subject) [Post discusses question of fandom's responsibility to the LBGTQ community]

I've been watching this "Fandom's Responsibility to the LBGTQ Community" from a distance[...] And honestly I haven't read everybody's arguments, only picked up on things here and there, but as for fandom's responsibility to the LBGTQ community...
It doesn't have one.

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Combined Linkspams: Gender and Con Safety #1, Gender and Slash #5

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[Trigger Warning: Discussion of gender and con safety includes discussion of sexual harassment at cons]

( Gender and Con Safety Linkspam #1 )

( Gender and Slash Linkspam #5 )