Girly Men
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Girly Men (table of contents title), "Stop treating us like chicks" (title on essay itself) |
| Creator: | Jane |
| Date(s): | December 1999 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | online here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Girly Men is an essay posted to Citizens Against Bad Slash by Jane.
It has the summary: "Men who call each other honey, sweetie and the ever famous "babe."
See Portrayals of Masculinity in Fanworks.
Excerpts
Someone asked on our message board recently if we, as fanfic readers, like to read guys who are masculine or guys who act a little feminine. I think she used the word "fairy," but I can't exactly remember. I guess it's a matter of preference, but my preference is this: if the characters is a "fairy," then write it like that. But if you write an obviously masculine character like a girl, it makes it onto my squick list.There have been many times that I have read a story and practically heard Fox Mulder, Fraser from Due South or some other typically masculine character scream "we're not girls, so don't treat us like it!" There seems to be an overwhelming tendency in the slash community to make masculine characters so feminine that you could change one of the names to "Mary" and it wouldn't make a difference.
Maybe it's because it fits the story better. Maybe it's because it's the easiest way for female writers to relate to them. Maybe it goes back to the old anime thing, where women like to read about feminine men because they are venting their pent-up sexual fantasies. But even Vincent Valentine has a gun fetish and even Sailor Moon's boyfriend pees standing up.
I find it a little annoying when I see perfectly masculine men, like the aforementioned Fraser, acting like women. Even if we're writing stories about an alternate universe, it's always more interesting when the dialogue and actions of the character are somewhat true to life. The neat thing about slash is that you get to see characters act out what you don't see onscreen but it loses its appeal when the character is so "feminized" that you can't recognize him.
Here are some things I think constitute "feminizing" a character:
- Pet names
- Top vs. bottom
- Their emotional reaction to sex: How many slash stories have you read where Character A and Character B feel drawn to each other, fall into bed and make passionate love? How many times have you seen said characters proclaim or acknowledge their love for each other? Dozens, I bet. But if you're writing every story like that, you could be feminizing your characters. It's no secret that women fall in love faster than men, or are at least 1,000 times more capable of expressing and coming to terms with said love. We think, we feel, we yearn, we adore. Men are not so easily swayed. If they were, it would make my relationships a hell of a lot easier.