Meta (do you know what you’re missing)

Meta
Title:	Meta (do you know what you’re missing)
Creator:	fox1013
Date(s):	September 29, 2006
Medium:	online
Fandom:
Topic:	Femslash, Why Isn't There More Femslash
External Links:	Meta (do you know what you’re missing), Archived version
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do you know what you’re missing is a meta post by fox1013.

Excerpts

But the thing is, the more we discuss why femslash is so much smaller, we… isolate ourselves, maybe? And what’s more, others isolate us. […] Femslash has its own fannish history, which is kind of like watching how humans and fish evolved alongside each other.

But I feel like the femslashvolution is less… seen, somehow? I mean, looking at the diagram of fannish migration making the rounds (which I’ve been part of), I saw definite patterns in certain types of shipping but none femslashwise. I don’t know if that’s because we’re so small as to not be noticed, or just because we are on roughly the same trajectories (XF to Buffy? Um, yeah), but whereas I can tell you that Sentinel and Highlander and Due South and Star Trek are some seriously boyslashy early texts, I don’t know how many people would have anything to offer for femslashers besides Xena- which, honestly, I was never a part of and have no interest in. I’d consider myself part of the femslash community, and even I don’t know what “early femslash texts” would be. Maybe it really is, you know, Buffy and shit; maybe we did develop later. I think we probably just developed quieter.

I don’t think femslash is suffering right now. I think it’s actually in a period of growth, but that period isn’t getting us to the proportions of het and boyslashdom, and that makes people wonder if we ever will.

Comments

[romanticalgirl]: But I’ve had a hard time with writing femslash lately because, by and large, I don’t see the canon subtextual messages that ping a relationship for me or, by and large, I don’t care about the female characters current shows that I watch are giving me. […] I think many of the creators of shows are catering to the fandom voices in that they’re giving us all the subtext that we’re looking for on a whole, but the boyslashers seem to be the ones that get the most press and have the loudest voices. Also, there’s always going to be a predominance of male led shows vs. female led shows (or shows with strong female leads), so the leanings toward boyslash are easier if nothing else.

[queenzulu]: Some people say there aren’t enough girls, or aren’t enough interesting girls. Whatever, people. What the blerk ever. Because if the show doesn’t focus enough on the girls, doesn’t mean we can’t. Maybe our fanons will diverge more because we’re working out our own backstories and characterizations more, but people writing Wincest can’t exactly claim that they’re being more realistic, y’know? Like you say, we’re all fic writers; in the end, it’s all fic.

[ficbyzee]: I admit that my impression, as an outsider, is that the femslash community seems to be kind of exclusive. Or, not exclusive, but I often get the impression that just writing femslash isn’t enough to be actually ‘in’ the femslash community. […] And along with the weird boundaries, there’s also a feeling I get that identifying as a femslasher means that you can’t like, write or read boyslash. Which we’ve chatted about before, and I *know* that’s not how you feel about it, but that is the feeling I get from some people. - Part of my confusion with the whole femslash community debate is that, in the primary fandom that I’ve had experience with (DC comics), there wasn’t really this divide between slashers and femslashers–people wrote everything. Most, if not all, of my favorite femslash in that fandom was written by people you’d probably consider slashers, and slashers organized the 4ColorHeroines challenge, which produced a lot of femslash.

[sailorscully]: I think what’s most important is that we all COMMUNICATE. Because, chances are, there’s a fic someone wants written that you’d love to write, but maybe you never actually considered writing it because you didn’t think anyone would care. If there’s that communication (which there IS, increasingly -) then things get done. — And I also agree with your statement that maybe the femslash community isolates itself. And maybe that’s not good, either. — The coolest thing in the universe would be to have some sort of fanfic writers convention, where slash-writers and femslash writers and gen/het/WHATEVER-writers could all get together and discuss this. Because really, there’s no forum for people to do so, online, because every group really does kind of isolate itself.

[quasiradiant]: why should it be surprising that girlslash is quieter, that the community is more tight-knit, etc. in the same way as, how much do most people (myself included) really know about the evolution of the lesbian community of the world? lesbians didn’t have a stonewall, didn’t have a harvey milk, didn’t have a whole neighborhood in new york or san francisco. we’ve been on the edges since time eternal, or at least since the gay revolution. […] i’m just saying, it just seems that queerness for women is easier for society to cope with and also less seen by society in general.