Now Paul and Janet Darrow are on the offensive about it.
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| Title: | Now Paul and Janet Darrow are on the offensive about it. (the original essay does not have a title; the title here on Fanlore is a line from the essay's second sentence) |
| Creator: | Kathy Hanson |
| Date(s): | January 1989 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Blake's 7 |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Now Paul and Janet Darrow are on the offensive about it. is an early 1989 Blake's 7 essay by Kathy Hanson.
It was printed in Avon Newsletter #35.
This essay's topic was The Blake's 7 Wars.
Some Topics Discussed
- slash fanworks are dirty, not imaginative, make fans fight with each other, denigrate women, aren't sexy
- slash fanworks have destroyed other fandoms
- children might find it
- slash is the "in thing"
- slash is "pseudohomosexual couplings by ultra-masculine hunks"
- slash makes Mary Sues not look so bad
The Essay
The subject of fan pornography was raised several FAs ago. Now Paul and Janet Darrow are on the offensive about it - which seems entirely appropriate as it is grossly offensive to them. They aren’t the first actors to defend their right not to be ’starred’ against their wills in oft-times sadistic, rape- eroticising porn. Would you enjoy circulation of slashlit about you? Complete with an 8 x 10 of your imagined genitals on page 5? Coupled with those of your same-sex co-worker? Well, nor do they! I believe you can still see the roof repairs in the Chicago Hyatt where Mark Ryan went through it on being shown 'Robin of Sherwood' slash at Scorpio 4. Thereafter it was banned from that con and confined to surreptitious deals in dark corners and plain brown envelopes. That's the kind of status/acceptability it deserves.
When B7 fandom began in the UK, fanporn was a very minor part of fanlit. My attitude to it was best described as an amused shrug. So what? Only to be expected when the sex appeal of the characters/actors was more than a minor factor in the show’s appeal. That and the fact that I'm none too keen on prudish censorship and enjoy a bit of erotica myself. What radicalised me into opposing it was encountering US fandom and fanzine listings. I learned that what began as an occasional, "Psstt! Wanna read some feel thy stories?" underground, had now taken over 95% of 'Professionals’ fanlit, formed the larger part of Trek lit. and was about to invade B7. Looking through the zines concerned I was appalled at the degree of sado-masochism involved. Back in NZ, I witnessed the imported US and Australian slash zines becoming the staple diet of old friends and prompted as the ’in-thing’ to new, impressionable, often under-age ones.
Somewhere the bounds of what I find acceptable were well and truly breached.
Sexuality is great, rape is horrific, an adult, frank approach to human physical relations in the arts welcome. Straight myself, I don’t condemn homosexuality. But the bulk of fanporn portrays little of any of this. What we get are pseudohomosexual couplings by ultra-masculine hunks. This to turn on female heterosexuals who can't identify with the fabulous creatures they think are the only women their heroes could credibly be interested in. The males-only sex romps preclude any odious comparisons with what the writers and readers see in their mirrors. Come back, Mary Sue, all is forgiven. Inferiority complexes lead people in queer directions (pun intended).
The excuse that it is the characters who are in slash-porn, not the actors and therefore that they shouldn't be upset is patently absurd. Whose bodies are portrayed? Actors invest themselves in their characters; identification is very close. Most authors know this and few have the nerve (or are stupid enough) to front up to the actors and say, "Here is some slash I wrote and I’m proud of it and I stand by it.” In which case why don’t they use their often considerable talents to produce things they are not ashamed of?
Opposition to fanporn does not win you popularity contests. It leads to resentment, even enmity. It is a subject on which I disagree vehemently with people I otherwise respect and count as friends. Friendship does not mean I have to endorse that which I find repugnant. I’m an atheist, and a liberal, some of my friends are religious and conservative. The same applies.
Whatever happens fanporn won't die out - but I would very much like to see its increasing pre-eminence and social acceptability sorely dented.