Categories and definitions again oh my
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| Title: | categories and definitions again oh my |
| Creator: | princessofgeeks |
| Date(s): | Mar. 10th, 2011 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | it mentions Stargate SG-1 |
| Topic: | Femslash, Gen |
| External Links: | categories and definitions again oh my; archive link page 1; archive link page 2 |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Categories and definitions again oh my is a post by princessofgeeks on how femslash and gen is defined in fandom.
Post
Oh internets, give me your thoughtses....1. I notice on sg1_debrief that F/F and M/M fic are listed under the heading of "Slash." Is this the way fandom is trending, from where you see it? Is it better to discard the category of "femslash" in favor of an umbrella term, or is it better to preserve the category of "femslash" so that its profile within and without fandom is raised?
2. Once again, coming around on the guitar, "gen." Is it more accurate nowadays to say that gen means "no romance," or that it means "no porn"?
Because my fandom history mentors tell me that gen+het was in the fandom mainstream and existed for a long time together; yes? Back in the bad old days when M/M and F/F was seen as morally objectionable regardless of rating?
And then there's this idea that "gen equals more like canon," and since our canons until recently had no obvious M/M or F/F, gen could include het without much examination, yes?
But have times changed?
For example, in my fandom, Daniel/Janet is noncanonical. So is Daniel/Jack. If you reject one and not the other, it might be on grounds of plausibility or the way you see the characters, but it can't be on the basis of canon accuracy or congruence with canon.
People do throw fits when "gen" fic includes a surprise or stealth (meaning "unlabeled") pairing or a ship they hate, in the background or in the foreground, but I have no idea how to solve this other than to try to urge people to use the term "bob" for a plotty fic with a ship (canonical or uncanonical) in the background. I go round and round about how to label my plotty fic (rare though it is -- I know!)
I know I'll never "solve" this gen thing, and I don't expect to, but I'm looking for trends, I guess. And I am groping for a set of labels or shorthand terms that make sense to me personally, and that result in minimum confusion when I use them. Fandom terms are changing all the time; I just read a hilariously earnest and impassioned argument about the meaning of "drabble." I mean, I'll never use "drabble" to mean anything other than a "100-word ficlet," and I use "ficlet" to mean "a short piece of fan fiction." But I know other usages exist. Language drifts; I accept that. It's less a matter of "right" and "wrong" than it is, for me anyway, a desire to be understood when I type.
So anyway.
Any thoughts you have on 1. or 2. (or anything else, for that matter) are appreciated.
Comments on Essay
I use femslash, slash, het and poly for describing anything that focuses on romantic relationships. That also includes relationships that are not sexual per se.For me, gen stories have another focus than exploring the romantic relationships that are included in the story. So, a story can be Jack/Daniel and gen, in my eyes.
I like distinguishing between femslash and slash - but that is because when I rec, I usually only divide between the above mentioned categories without explicitly stating any pairings. And, if we have a genderfuck!story, for example, Jack/Daniel could be something else - het or femslash or whatnot.
Still, I make it sound easy, but it really isn't, even when you're just reccing. Authors all see it differently...
Is this the way fandom is trending, from where you see it? Is it better to discard the category of "femslash" in favor of an umbrella term, or is it better to preserve the category of "femslash" so that its profile within and without fandom is raised?It's not the way that the f/f fans are trending, and I really think that fandom-in-general should probably take its cue from the people who are actually in femslash fandom. Which they don't often do.
When I tag things on delicious I distiguish between slash and femslash.I use gen to mean 'no romance' or 'incidental pairing', canon pairings are more likely to get a pure gen label as long as they are not the focus. Some stories have both a gen and het/slash/femslash tag because there is mention of a non-canonical pairing but it is not about said non-canonical pairing.
I have seen the label 'bob' around but I have no idea where it came from and it's never been widely used in any of my fandoms so it's not part of my fannish vocabulary.
I like both f/f and m/m as "slash". I think 'slash vs. femslash' preserves the idea that femaleness is not normal, it is a special case.Similarly, I DETEST the use of 'gen' to mean anything but 'not romance' because using to 'gen' to mean 'het' re-enforces that homosexuality is the not-normal. I think you're right this is much less common than it used to be, but 'pre-slash' to mean 'gay non-sexual' is equally problematic (for the same reasons) IMHO, but it's definitely still around, at least in Supernatural.
You're right "more like canon" is extremely subjective.. . very annoyed when I see that.
Too bad AR (as a subset of AU) fell out favor; I think that is helpful category.