Harry Potter and Slash

Meta
Title:	Harry Potter and Slash ("Harry Potter Fanfiction and Slash" is listed as the title on the main page)
Creator:	Tinderblast aka Firebolt
Date(s):	November 4, 2000; edited December 21, 2000
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Harry Potter
Topic:
External Links:	Harry Potter and Slash
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Harry Potter and Slash is an essay by Tinderblast. The essay was written in support of slash "back in the days when it was still a serious point of controversy".

It was posted to FictionAlley when it opened in 2001 in the "Primer" section:

The Primer is a constantly changing, constantly updated resource for fanfiction writers. It includes suggestions on how to improve your writing, ways to connect with other writers, and even a short history of the Harry Potter fandom. We're always open to submissions of well-written essays or other content, as this section is "by the authors, for the authors."

Tinderblast posted a follow-up to the essay in February 2002 in response to the first critical feedback she received for it. She stated of the original essay:

Nowadays it seems fairly juvenile (although heartfelt) to me, but I got a lot of very nice feedback, and if anyone's out there who was one of those who sent me a nice, supportive e-mail, thank you very, very much. It was wonderful to know people were actually listening to what a two-bit fanfic writer had to say.

The Preface

Warning: This is merely an attempt to intelligently set forward my point of view. I'm not going to deny that I'm biased, because quite frankly, we all are. I'm only trying to be logically biased. Please don't flame me for my view. On the other hand, comments, counter-arguments, or additional points to make, don't hesitate to e-mail me; I love getting responses to my essays. The only condition, besides not bashing other points of view, is that it be relatively coherent and thoughtful. None of this 'U R relly relly sick every1 knows that homosexuals will go to hell and the idea of harry and ron doing each other thats just disgusting' - I won't even grace that with a reply

Five Points

The essay argues five points:

• 1. "Homosexuality is against my religious beliefs!"

• 2. "Slash pairings are out of character."

• 3. "It's not natural!"

• 4. "Harry Potter is a children's series!"

• 5. "I have nothing against homosexuality, but it's just wrong!"

Excerpt

I can remember the first days of Harry Potter fanfiction. It was only a year or so ago really, but that year made a difference - stories written by fans were few and far between, at least in any large quantity, and the Harry Potter section of fanfiction.net had maybe two or three pages to its name. In that year, things have changed - there are mailing lists and websites for fanfics everywhere you look, and FFN now sports over 200 pages of fics, and more by the day. We've come a long way, but the basic idea stays the same. People still write stories, people still read stories, people still review stories. And people still flame stories.

Because there has been something of a mini-revolution in the past year, which has been growing for a while. Maybe it's been months, maybe it's been the whole year or even earlier, but a new category of Harry Potter fanfiction has taken hold. In these stories, it's not Ron and Hermione who kiss and hold hands. Nor is it Harry and Ginny, Draco and Hermione, Remus Lupin and a Mary Sue (more on those some other time), or any of the other myriad pairings that have existed in Harry Potter fics for as long as anyone can remember. No. In these stories, it's Sirius Black and Remus, or Harry and Ron, Draco and Neville, Ginny and Hermione, or any of another long list of pairings. Slash or same-sex pairing fanfiction has come to the fandom.

And these fics, along with their authors, are getting flamed out of their minds.

Why? Well, putting aside all the normal causes that lead to flames, like terrible spelling and grammar, silly, time-wasting posts on the part of the author, or most often out of sheer spite on the part of the flamers, it's because the stories feature same-sex pairings. There are many people who don't like the idea of homosexuality.

Well, that's fine. You have every right not to want to get involved in a romantic or sexual relationship with someone of the same sex as you, just as I have every right to dislike Johnathan Swift and the boy next door has every right to hate the taste of pizza. People have different opinions and beliefs, that's a given. If we didn't, we wouldn't be human beings, we'd be a giant, worldwide beehive. It's when you cross the line between 'I don't like or think I should do this' and 'I don't like or think anyone should do this' that it stops being a matter of personal choice and becomes a matter of prejudice and discrimination.

Yes, discrimination. The same grouping into which sexism, racism, neo-nazism, and various other -isms (although not all of them) fall into. But, the anti-slasher protests, even if some of the flames are prejudiced, there are plenty of valid, non-discriminatory reasons to be completely against slash and homosexuality in general.

You don't have to read slash if you don't like it.

Yes, it's true. On your browser toolbar is a button marked 'Back'. Click on it, and you never saw the story. And you know what? You don't even have to click the back button. I have never seen a Harry Potter slash fic - although I can't admit I've seen them all, I've seen more than a few - that wasn't marked with warnings all over. If you pay attention to the summary and the author's notes at the top, you have perfect control over what you read.

And if the author has enough respect for your dislike of slash to write the warnings, shouldn't you have enough respect for their ideas to leave the story alone and not flame?