Sex & Star Wars
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Sex & Star Wars |
| Creator: | Mark Richards |
| Date(s): | February 2000 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Wars and The Phantom Menace |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Sex & Star Wars is a 2000 essay by Mark Richards.
It was printed in Tales of the Empire #12 with the header "The Editor Bites Back!."
For some context, see Category:Star Wars Meta.
Some Topics Discussed
- George Lucas' wholesome universe and sex do not mix
- there's lots of pornography out there, so leave Star Wars alone
- many fans who write stories with sex and Star Wars use the films as "a vehicle for erotic fantasies and perverted encounters" and have "worryingly unsound and sick minds"
- the "majority of [fan stories that contain sex are] obscene and distasteful in the extreme"
The Essay
... what do I think of the [topics of sex and Star Wars] mixed together? Do I consider writers of slash and adult Star Wars stories to be of the same level as the more mainstream writers?
To be honest, I have not purposefully sought out adult or slash Star Wars stories - those that I have encountered have been purely by accident so my experiences are limited. Incidentally by the term slash I refer to stories which feature homosexual/improbable relationships or pairings. Normally these stories, at least from my experience, are centred around the principal leads i.e. Luke, Han, Leia and Lando.
I vehemently assert that sex does not mix with Star Wars and I have a genuine concern for the perversions that drive the writers of the material that I have read. I can only describe the majority of it as obscene and distasteful in the extreme. More worrying is the emphasis in some work on sexual violence (even sado-masochism), which I find particularly disturbing. If you want pornography and erotica there are plenty of available outlets but let us please preserve Star Wars for what it is.
Star Wars Is very much a childhood fantasy (please note that it does not mean that it is only for children) and it is also by its nature an almost uniformly sexless environment. It is a pure and, insofar as it can be a wholesome fantasy but that doesn't mean it lacks romance, fun and adventure, which are the ingredients core to its appeal.
Without sounding unduly sanctimonious everything has a context including sex and it is simply mutually exclusive to Star Wars. Let's not degrade Star Wars into nothing more than a vehicle for erotic fantasies and perverted encounters. Quite frankly, I think that without wishing to taint all the writers of such material with the same brush, that there are some worryingly unsound and sick minds.
Pornography and adult material is freely available as it is and whether you agree with it or not there will always be a desire for such material. For me, Star Wars is not an avenue open for this sort of exploitation. It degrades the experience and destroys the moral fibre and credibility of the characters. I can find no enjoyment or fun in having Luke, Han and Leia for example with whom we have become so familiar acting totally out of character in a series of lurid sexual encounters. It isn't clever and I don't find It particularly pleasant.
Please leave Star Wars alone and allow people to enjoy the wonderful fantasy that Lucas has provided us with, maintaining the ethos of the original trilogy. There is nothing more wonderful and exciting than that.