How Free to Speak?

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Title:	How Free to Speak?
Creator:	Joel Davis
Date(s):	January 1979
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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How Free to Speak? is a 1979 essay by Joel Davis.

It was printed in the Star Trek: TOS zine Odyssey #3.

The subject was Star Trek: TOS fanfiction, specifically that of an erotic or explicit nature. The author states that although he isn't in favor of censorship, he thinks there is too much explicit sex (specifically slash) in Star Trek fanfic, and that a lot of it isn't very good. Davis urges authors and editors to voluntarily cut back on it.

Davis wrote a second essay in Odyssey called The Things to Be. The topic of that essay was fans becoming "professional" guests and having too much influence at cons and in show canon.

Some Topics Discussed

• equating "porn" with m/m sexual relationships; the only two vague examples of offensive/boring fiction types mentioned are Kirk/Spock (TOS) fics
• while only a dozen Kirk/Spock stories were available to the average fan, the essayist posits that there are too many of them
• the quality of explicit writing
• porn, as opposed to explicit writing
• accusing writings of explicit fanfic as simply wanting attention, or following a fad

• writing about sex is boring

From the Essay

An interesting thing happened here in Rhode Island not too long ago, that I think has bearing on a recent phenomenon in fandom. A new obscenity law went into effect. And it did so with a bang. Not only were the stores selling "pornography" closed down, but...

The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is perhaps the most renowned art school in the world. It is certainly one of the best known.. They did an exhibit, as was their wont. Nothing unusual in that. RISD has been putting on exhibits of art for many years now and they have all been acclaimed by the public.

This particular exhibit was entitled "Private Parts" and it contained drawings, paintings, scuiptures and what-have-you of human genitals, breasts, etc. The police came in, confiscated the artwork, and closed down the exhibit.

I find the foregoing curiously alike to what is happening in fandom lately.

Perhaps I should state where I stand right up front. I am not "pro-pornography". Nor am I "anti-pornography". I believe that an artist, and by that I mean writers, painters, sculptures, etc., have a right, under the First Amendment, to say what they wish to say, through their particular medium. Any way they wish to say it.

There is also such a thing as good taste.

I believe that most writers, painters, sculptures, etc., take the care and pride in their work that would almost insure that they would not turn out something as ridiculous as (to use a private joke between a friend of mine and myself) "John-Boy meets the Whip Lady". But there is a time and place for pornography, if it is to be called such. The question more in my mind is, how is it written?

If it is written artfully, with the intent of communicating an emotion or emotions to those who read it, see it, whatever, then it should be given the respect it is due. It may not be great, it may not even be good. But the person who did the work, did that work out of a need to communicate. Perhaps he or she failed. But respect for the desire and the time and effort exrended is what is due here.

And I feel that some of us in fandom are forgetting that very important lesson. If someone writes a story and a fanzine publishes it, then said fanzine will get some mail on it. Depending on the readership, either a lot or a little. To be sure, individuals' tastes differ and I would not try and impose my tastes on anyone else.

Neither do I want anyone else to do the same to me.

But though I've gone on about this being a problem with porn in fandom, I don t really think it's the major part of the problem.

Back in the dim dawn of time, or was it only a few years ago, someone wrote the first pornographic Star Trek story. Sometimes, this sort of thing is done in jest and labelled as such and doesn't really apply to my arguments here. I'm talking about the serious stuff. When this happened, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. We are now inundated with the stuff. Not that some of it isn't good or that some of it isn't bad, but we are overflowing with porn stories. It has become a fad, in fandom, to write a pornographic Star Trek story.

This is not a good thing.

I don't mind seeing a story now and then, or even one or two zines especially devoted to porn stories. But when every one in fandom thinks that the way to become a star in fandom is to write a porn story, then the time has come to do something.

I don't know what.

I wish I could give some clear-cut answers. But nobody can. All we can do is ask.

I'm certainly not asking and if anything, I'm demanding that fandom not succumb to a Joe McCarthy witchhunt and wipe out the porno writers as if they were Commies. No censorship of any kind should be invoked in fandom or in fanzines or anywhere.

Then what do we do?

It is up to us. Those of us who write, who publish, who read, who draw. It is up to us. We must say that some is fine, but not all of it is. We should draw the line. We got tired of reading "Lt. Mary Sue Stories", as they became to be known. Aren't we getting a bit tired or reading about Kirk and Spock in bed together? As lovers?

It is up to us.

Now before somebody out there gets the idea that this is what certain pressure groups are trying to do to television and accuse me of the same thing, let me say, you're wrong. I've looked at what I've just put down very carefully and I chose my words carefully.

The TV pressure groups are saying, "Don't sponsor this show; it's dirty, it's violent. If you do, we won't buy your products."

What I'm suggesting is that we say, "There is no reason that some pornography is fine. But there's too much of it floating around and some of it isn't even good! Let's get rid of some of it, just on the grounds that enough is enough.

As writers, we can think of other things to write about. Save the porn stories for another time, when there isn't so much around.

Compare: TV pressure groups say get rid of it, period. I say, don't do as much. And I don't mean three hells and a damn in a story in exchange for a nude scene. What I mean is find other topics, equally as provocative. There are plenty, you know. I hurl a challenge. Can we think of topics, equally as provocative as two men going to bed with each other, within the Star Trek universe? I say, yes. And I further say, let's get to work and prove it. Sure, porn is a provocative topic and it can be well- written and have a good story line and so on. But there are other things to write about, just as good.

Show me. Show me we can do it. I have the faith in fandom, in all of us.

I hope it's not misplaced.

Fan Comments

To round off the zine Joel Davis has two rather jaundiced and poorly written essays of opinion, one against Cons featuring as GoH writers who began in Trek and moved on to paid sf, and the other against homosexual porn in Trekfic. His style comes across as petulant scolding rather than reasoned and thoughtful, and these excerpts are unlikely to change many minds on either topic.

See Also

The SekWester*Con Porn Debate