Femslash February
| Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Femslash February |
| Date(s): | 2013 - present |
| Moderator(s): | None |
| Founder: | soaringrachel |
| Type: | Open to any fanwork |
| Fandom: | Multifandom |
| Associated Community: | femslash february tag on tumblr |
| URL: | Original challenge post |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Femslash February is an open challenge started on tumblr calling on all members of fandom to create at least two fanworks of any sort (fanfic, fanart, fan vids, graphics, podfics, fanmixes, cosplay, etc.) featuring a F/F ship in the month of February.
Original Challenge Post
I think a lot of us in fandom can agree on one thing: f/f doesn’t get enough love. So for the next month, let’s try to do something about it.I pledge to focus my creative energies on ships between women for the month of February. While m/m and m/f shipping is great, let’s make this month all about the ladies.
I will make two fanworks—or more!—devoted to a lady ship. I’ll use my creative power to increase the number of f/f fanworks out there and the awareness of these awesome ships. And I hope you’ll join me in this.
How to participate?
Reblog this post!
If you’re a fanwork creator—whether a fic writer, a fanartist, a graphic maker, or something else (fanmixes, podfic, cosplay, anything goes!): decide to focus on f/f for the month. Make (at least!) two fanworks for f/f pairings throughout the month. Tag them #femslash february.
Whether you’re a creator or not: signal boost the shit out of this! Track the #femslash february tag! Show your love for the awesome works that are sure to come out of this!
Have questions? Just excited? Put it in the #femslash february tag or come talk to me, soaringrachel!
Let’s get creating!
Black History Month Challenge
Several people immediately commented that February is Black History Month in both the U.S.A. and Canada; eshusplayground issued an additional challenge that participants of Femslash February feature Black women.
It just so happens that Femslash February coincides with Black History Month.As a way of celebrating women loving women in fandom, as well as recognizing and honoring Black folks, I want to issue a challenge to everyone participating in Femslash February.
It’s pretty simple: write more femslash about Black women.
That’s it. That’s all I want.
A little less of the Infinite Parade of Pretty White Girls and more love being given to women who are too often loved least.
Now, there’s a question that will doubtlessly come my way, so I want to head it off right now.
"Why don’t you just write it yourself?"
Actually, I did. I wrote two full-length plays with queer Black women as protagonists.
There’s Tulpa, or Anne&Me and Encanta.
So, stories about queer Black women is already my thing.
And, honestly, if you think the reason why you don’t see more Black women represented in femslash ships is because we’re not doing shit, that says a lot more about you and your expectations of us than it does about what we’re actually doing.
Besides, fandom is as much about expanding your horizons as staying in your comfort zone, so why not start doing that now?
Works meeting this challenge were tagged with #femslash february celebrates black women.
Genderswap discussion
There was some discussion when Femslash February first started in 2013 on whether genderswap pairings should be included. As the original challenge post did not explicitly prohibit genderswapping some thought it should be fine to include them. However, others noted that genderswapping went against the spirit of the challenge, which was to celebrate and produce more fanworks for femslash pairings as they are often gain less attention than het or slash.
If it were just about increasing the number of fics out there that contained women with women, I don't think I'd object to Rule 63 being included. But fic doesn't exist in a vacuum--people beta it, comment on it, rec it, and use it to tweak their own interpretations of canon. Fic about Brook Banner or Toni Stark (to use the Avengers example from above) might be femslash all by itself, but when people discuss it, they're going to relate it back to how they feel about the original male characters.Part of the charm of #femslash february is that it encourages people to look at characters or relationships that might have been flying under the radar! And that's not what Rule 63 is usually about...[1]
Fanworks Produced
As a tumblr-based challenge, the most complete collections of fanworks produced are in the #femslash february and the #femslash february celebrates black women tags. There is also:
- a Femslash February Collection on AO3, maintained by soaringrachel
- a Femslash February Trope Bingo Card
- a Femslash February Prompt Repository on Dreamwidth
- a Multifandom Commentathon for Femslash February on LiveJournal—2013 only
Femslash February works
2013
The first Femslash February, though mostly confined to tumblr, did gain some traction among other blogging platforms. On LiveJournal, the Faith Slash and Veronica Mars Femslash communities promoted the Multifandom Commentathon for Femslash February and Teen Wolf Ladies ran its own Teen Wolf Femslash February Comment Fest.
Femslash February was also covered in an article by Velociriot!, a blog post on Lady Geek Girl, and a blog post on What If Books Etc.
On Archive of Our Own, 196 works were posted to the Femslash February Collection in the month of February, and a few dozen other works were posted later in the year. An additional 183 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February, though there may be some overlap between works posted in the tag and works posted in the collection. The most posted in fandoms were Sherlock (TV series), Teen Wolf, and The Avengers. The most posted pairings were Sally Donovan/Molly Hooper, Allison Argent/Lydia Martin, and Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov.
People who did not want to contribute new works to the challenge nonetheless got involved in other ways. Wrangle Tangle posted a series "highlighting female character-centric and femslash-centric tags on AO3" under her femslash february tag.
2014
On Archive of Our Own, 233 works were posted to the Femslash February Collection in the month of February, and 312 works were posted in the Femslash February tag, though again, there is likely some overlap between the collection and the tag.
The most posted in fandoms were Fullmetal Alchemist, MCU, Teen Wolf, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The most posted pairings were Paninya/Winry Rockbell and May Chang/Lan Fan.
2015
On Archive of Our Own, 409 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Agent Carter, The 100, Teen Wolf, and MCU. The most posted pairings were Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli, Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell, Korra/Asami, and Abby Griffin/Raven Reyes.
2016
On Archive of Our Own, 691 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Teen Wolf, MCU, and Star Wars. The most posted pairings were Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov, Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell, and Rey/Jessika Pava.
To celebrate Femslash February, Destination: Toast! compiled some femslash statistics from Archive of Our Own. These indicated that both the number of femslash fanworks created and the percentage of the archive that they took up were on the rise. The most active femslash ships in the previous year were Swan Queen (Once Upon a Time), Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein (Carmilla), Clexa (The 100), Korrasami (The Legend of Korra), Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli (Agent Carter), Root/Shaw (Person of Interest), Historia Reiss/Ymir (Shingeki no Kyojin), Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam (Homestuck), Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell (Pitch Perfect) and Maxine Caulfield/Chloe Price (Life is Strange). Of those top ten femslash pairings, six of them were the most popular pairing in their fandom overall.
The fandoms with the most femslash overall were Once Upon a Time, Glee, Homestuck, Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf, Carmilla, Supernatural, Warehouse 13 and Orphan Black.[2]
2017
On Archive of Our Own, 728 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Star Wars, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Miraculous Ladybug. The most posted pairings were Sansa Stark/Margaery Tyrell, Jemma Simmons/Skye, and Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
2018
On Archive of Our Own, 597 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Legends of Tomorrow, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. The most posted pairings were Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, and Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor.
2019
On Archive of Our Own, 948 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Harry Potter, MCU, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The most posted pairings were Adora/Catra, Hermione/Pansy, and Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov.
2020
On Archive of Our Own, 857 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Dangan Ronpa, MCU, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The most posted pairings were Delia Busby/Patsy Mount, Original Female Character pairing, and Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood.
2021
On Archive of Our Own, 821 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Dangan Ronpa, Harry Potter, and Ace Attorney. The most posted pairings were Adriana Clios/Sophie Lombardi, Christine Chapel/Nyota Uhura, Korra/Asami, and Asahina x Oogami.
2022
On Archive of Our Own, 1124 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were MCU, Star Trek: Voyager, and Genshin Impact. The most posted pairings were Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine, Yelena Belova/Kate Bishop, Ikusaba Mukuro/Maizono Sayaka, and Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan.
2023
On Archive of Our Own, 1383 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and MCU. The most posted pairings were Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair, Fiona Friend/Sabina Pleasure, and Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine.
2024
On Archive of Our Own, 1326 works were posted in the Femslash February tag in the month of February.
The most posted in fandoms were Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Miraculous Ladybug, and The Owl House. The most posted pairings were Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Number One/La'an Noonien-Singh, and Original Female Character/Original Female Character.