Gen, Slash, and Het: Warnings or Genres?

[alixtii]

After--what? a week? a week and  a half?--of the gen vs. ship debates (cf. metafandom), I've finally come to a conclusion. They--with "they" being pretty much everyone with whom I disagree, on every side of the table--don't want genre labels. They want warning labels. (Admittedly, this wasn't so much my brilliant inspiration, as some of them coming out and admitting it.)

When we look for Serenity in the DVD store we look under "Science Fiction" (if the store has an S.F. section), because the movie is more science fiction than it is a western. You won't find a sticker on it saying "Warning: This film contains Western elements" and even if you read the entire back cover you won't find any indication that some people consider the film to be a western in addition to being science-fiction (in part because the cover sucks, but what can one do). (I'd use Firefly rather than Serenity to make my example, as the former has more western elements than the latter, but it'd probably more than likely be found in a "Television" section--which shows that fannish categories don't make any less sense than any others.)

If I go to the bookstore and browse through the science fiction section--which I do less than I used to, since I have an insane number of books already purchased and unread--they are in that section because they belong to the genre. They do not, however, have warnings that say: "Warning: This book may contain mystery elements" or "This book contains a boy and a dog" or "This book has a romance in it." No, it gets filed under the dominant genre, the best fit. The summary, if the book has one (not all do), might give a sense of the secondary or tertiary genres if there are any. (And even then the summaries aren't written by the author, so sometimes the summaries suck and give away too much, and sometimes they seem to be for a completely different story altogether, like the summary on the back of my copy of Time Enough for Love.) Then again, it might not, and you might find out half-way through the science fiction mystery you've been enjoying so much so far that it also includes a romance and a boy with a dog. If you hate these elements so much you can't go on, then tough, you're out $6.50 you could have spent on a different book.

In the fanfiction world, things are much better for the ridiculously fragile: all fanfics come with a money-back satisfaction guarantee.

"Het" is a genre which includes texts that focus on m/f romantic or sexual relationships. It is not a warning; I refuse to label my stories for someone so ridiculously fragile they will be crushed if they come across a reference to a heterosexual couple, even (what they, using their hermeneutic, consider to be) a non-canon couple. "Femslash" and "m/m slash" are genres as well, not warnings. I absolutely will not label my stories for someone so ridiculously fragile (or homophobic, although in these cases I don't think my interlocutors are) they will be crushed if they come across a reference to a homosexual couple, even (what they, using their [heteronormative] hermeneutic, consider to be) a non-canon couple.

Indeed, the best way one can tell that "gen" isn't a genre the way the gen fans (or at least the vocal gen fans with whom I've been disagreeing) have been using it is that it can be defined far too precisely. Genres don't work that way; their edges are always-already fuzzy. Warnings--or, in this case, the lack thereof--do. A genre specifies what a work is about, whether it's about falling in love or solving a mystery or fighting demons, which is subjective. A warning specifies if a given element is present--think of those warnings for peanuts on products that don't even include peanuts, because people can be just that sensitive to the oils--which is not subjective.

"Milk Chocolate" M&M's may contain peanuts; it says so on the wrappers. That doesn't make them Peanut M&M's, and anyone looking for Peanut M&M's and finding Milk Chocolate ones isn't going to be satisfied.

Anymore, the only time I warn, ever, is for non-con. I wouldn't (I don't think--I'm not making any promises) withhold pairing information if the relevant pairing was incestuous, even if it was very brief, and I think I might even add a note in the case of a pairing like "Cindy Mackenzie/Lauren Sinclair" making clear the relationship, so you could say I'd warn for incest. But I don't warn for death, and I don't warn for pregnancy, and if I've already said it, I don't care, I'll say it again: I will not warn for het or femslash or m/m slash. Absolutely out of the question.

I provide a Genre Index so people can find the sorts of fic they'll probably like, like putting all the science fiction books together in the bookstore--not so they can be protected from stuff they don't like. If you like homoerotic stories about women which are romantic and/or sexual, you'll probably like the stories I classify under "femslash." But that doesn't mean you won't find elements you don't like there. Tough. As I said, money-back satisfaction guarantee. (Stealing a languagelog chestnut even more, I'll even throw in a free year's subscription to this journal.) Stories are frequently listed under more than one genre, and yes, a story about fighting demons in which Dawn and Giles just happen to be married will be listed under both gen and het. (And I suspect the reader going in expecting pure het is going to be more disappointed than the reader expecting pure gen.)

Admittedly, it's not just gen fans who want warnings when it comes to pairings. 'Shippers can be just as bad, with a Buffy/Angel fan not wanting to hear a mention of Buffy/Spike or Spike/Angel even if the fic is post-"NFA," or some such. A plague on both their houses, I'll say--if a couple paragraphs referencing some (in your mind noncanon) pairing in a long plotty multichapter epic can ruin your entire reading experience, you really have to get over yourself.

But this is the first time I've heard anyone suggest that we subvert the entire genre classificatory system to turn it into a warning system. Because just, erm, no.

Comments

[fandom-me.livejournal.com]

I'm a really odd animal, because I agree with you entirely and use headers and warnings in ways that I'm sure not even the most whiney ass complainer could bitch about. I'm sitting here now trying to think about it and the best conclusion I can come to is: I'm actually scared of getting yelled at for surprising or upsetting someone. I have to work on that.

...Gotta work on that, but yeah. Genre != Warning, even for me and my abuse of labels in fic headers.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you say here. And that's not just because I liked the bookshop metaphor. I find people who want to be warned for every possible squick a bit odd, the big squiks (rape, incest, violence etc) warn away, couldn't agree more. But beyond that surely that's what the back button is for.

[vinnie-tesla.livejournal.com]

Does slash have any tradition of story codes (http://vinnie-tesla.livejournal.com/3908.html)?

[drifterskip.livejournal.com]

"Milk Chocolate" M&M's may contain peanuts; it says so on the wrappers. That doesn't make them Peanut M&M's, and anyone looking for Peanut M&M's and finding Milk Chocolate ones isn't going to be satisfied.

I think that's a most apt comparison.

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

Is this a recent mindset or has it been going on for awhile? I ask, because I received a review just the other day on a fic I'd written that completely floored me. In my initial notes, I stated that it was a genfic, with no specific pairings involved. Of the genre choices available under "genfic" at this particular archive, I chose "action/adventure" because that seemed to fit the story best. There was no specific genre called "rebuilding damaged Scoobie relationships" available, which is what the fic is about, in addition to the action/adventure. During the course of the relationship building, the characters do various things: shop for groceries, do Canadian Air Force exercises, go on patrol, and cook and eat food. The review which floored me stated: Things I like: I like the premise. Also, I admire the care you've taken to use good grammar and make sure everything is correctly spelled. Things I don't like: The play-by-play descriptions of cooking would be helpful if you were writing recipes, but have little place in a supernatural action-adventure story set in the Buffy-verse (though running out of groceries is canon, so having characters notice that is not a problem).

This seems to perfectly illustrate your point. Now I'm supposed to warn that a fic may contain incidences of Xander chopping onions and peppers and opening a jar of salsa while Dawn grates cheese and scrambles eggs?

*is speechless*

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I am filled with feelings of relief that my friendslist is full of people like you.

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

I have the sense that some folks in fandom are -- to extend your M&M analogy -- allergic to ships. And I don't get it. What I don't get even more strongly, though, is the obsession with warnings, which you've hinted at here. If I'm reading a fic, and about 2,000 words in I begin to dislike the story, I close the tab and move on with my life. I don't care if I begin to dislike the story because the writing has proven itself to be crap, a plot twist rubs me the wrong way, or (Gods forbid!) a pairing or event I don't like shows up.

Maybe I consume fic differently from the majority of fandom, but the only time I demand to know whether or not every aspect of the fic is going to cater to my desires is with smut. Because, ahem, I generally read smut in service of a very specific need, and I'd rather not waste my time getting all anticipatory over a fic that will suddenly have a Hufflepuff bukkake party pop up. If I'm reading for plot, though, I want to be surprised.

Here from metafandom

[sarah-frost.livejournal.com]

Yes; it seems to be a quite intriguing feature of fandom that we're so much more keen on warnings than anywhere else. Maybe it's got something to do with the already defined parameters? When starting to read something in RL we have no preconceptions, no wish to find something beyond that basic genre and summary and cover art and author--but in fandom we care about the text in different ways, and divide ourselves into smaller factions, and want to Know if it matches the opinions we've already formed on it. Or maybe it's a matter of the community.

I often find having to list pairings irritating--sometimes they're such a small fraction of what the story's actually about it's pointless, sometimes they're canon or have heaps of canon support anyway, sometimes there's character development or love polygons that don't need spoiling.

Warnings are for things like non-con and violence and explicit sex and violence, and genres don't give so much information, and it seems to me that we have further classifications--het and slash and femslash because 'warning' isn't an appropriate term to use to alert someone to the presence of teh ghei, characters involved, pregnancyfic, dark 'n disturbing, all that.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Here via metafandom

To me labels and warnings are two separate things.

I do label stories for 'Genre' (and for these purposes Genre means 'Slash' 'Gen' and 'Het') and also Sub-Genre (which can be Established Relationship, First Time, Angst, Humour, Action, etc. etc) and have it as a field for my Comms and Challenge Comms. However, I try hard to stamp down on people who 'warn' for slash and het. Two totally different things, IMO.

I hate actually having to put 'slash' or 'M/M' under 'Warning' but will do so if the Comm to which I am posting has it in its rules. But for my own Comms/stories, to warn for it is a no-no. But label, yes.

Okay, maybe it's just semantics, but . . .

[thelana.livejournal.com]

*shrug*

I guess to me slash/het/gen just aren't genres.

Adventure is a genre. SciFi is a genre. Character Drama is a genre. Action is a genre. Romance is a genre.

Het, Gen, Slash are just... stuff. Additional information. They don't tell me anything about what the story is about. They are attributes, not genres themselves.

And in that say I actually think it is much more forward than real life genres, because I like to think that one can have "Slash adventure" and group it under "adventure, attribute slash" rather than throw it under "Gay Interest (has some plot)". [but the genre is still Adventure and not Gen because to me Gen is another attribute, just like slash, not a genre]

It's kinda funny because warnings in fandom, at least for me, have the odd function that most of the time I don't use them to avoid, I use them to find. I'm the kind of person who frequently searches an archive for non-con or darkfic because they interest me more than love stories. Just like I would like it if a SciFi book that has some gay substory in it would be marked. Not so I can avoid it, but so I can find it, even if I think that it does belong in the SciFi section.

[rushin-doll.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting observation, actually. I've got a few questions though.

First: what determines what's worth warning for? Is it just personal preference by the author? Is it tied to the community they are writing in? Is there some set of universal things that should be warned for (like the peanuts thing, it's pretty unethical not to warn for peanuts because someone could die).

Second: I see the value of genres as analytical tools, and as classificatory tools in large fixed-space archives. If you've got one copy of a book (or just a couple), then it makes sense to put them in one place where most people will look for them first. However, I'm not really convinced that fixed-space genre conventions make sense in the digital world.

I mean, you point out that you'd list the same fic in multiple "genres" in your index. That's a good thing, but it also seems, somehow, to suggest that maybe we should be getting beyond genres? I don't know precisely how this would happen, but I'm thinking about it more and more these days...

Curiously,
Ana

[veracity]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think we metaed on the same point, but with different perspectives. My thinky brain took a vacation after all the meta being discussed on the subject, so I can't say for sure until it comes back.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Here from metafandom :)

I've been reading but not commenting on a lot of this discussion. I'm one of those people, like you, who takes a much broader definition of "gen".

Labels and genres and warnings - it's enough to give someone a headache. But what I was thinking about, with regard to a discussion in comments above with regard to subgenres and the like, is that we are completely hardass about what we expect ficcers (or artists) to warn for, but yet, the creators of canon...

There was no warning before certain Battlestar Galactica episodes for Adultery! Lee/Kara. JKR didn't warn for Hagrid/Madame Maxime, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Lavender or most of her character deaths. Author Diana Gabaldon didn't warn for m/m rape, dubcon/sketchy consent, or poly!relationship in her 'Outlander' series novels, nor did George RR Martin warn for character death, incest, chan, or m/m in his ASOIAF series.

It amazes me that 'canon' has such a power where things that would/might bother someone (Spike/Buffy, Willow/Tara, Harry/Ginny, or the aforesaid het 'ships, incest, rape and dubcon, etc.) if they weren't canon, suddenly become acceptable simply because it's now canon. Particularly when it comes to acceptibility within a definition for "genfic".

Yes, I realize that the creators of canon are, well, the creators of canon. But we (general we) just seem to give them a lot more leeway than we give ourselves, which, to me, is a bit weird. People can have the same aversions to canon couples or issues as others do for non-canon couples or issues, but of course, it's canon so buck up there! Fandom is a funny place.

Fanfiction already has a main genre, really - whatever the genre of the source is. By default, HP fics are fantasy, BSG or Stargate fics are sci-fi, etc. Which leads me back to your original post, wherein I am very much in agreement and why I commented here - It's not really about genre at all. It's about content warnings.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. Here from metafandom, and if you're interested I have a long rant about why I read gen and use a moderately narrow definition.

But basically: there is a difference between labelling for gen and not warning for het/slash. If a story is unlabelled I will assume it'll have some slash/het in it because 99% of the unlabelled fanfic I encounter does, and if it looks good I'll read it. But if it's labelled gen and it has what I consider a reasonable amount of focus on romance/sex then I will be dissapointed if I was in a "gen" mood.

Also, I find that people who ship an OTP will classify a story as "gen" which to anyone who doesn't ship that OTP (gen reader or otherwise) will come across as quite shippy. In fact such stories can be more annoying than stories "about" that relationship since there's no effort made to explain how the relationship came about and it can feel rather tacked on.

That said, I do agree that people get a bit crazy about warnings. I mean I may be mildy annoyed by a story that I feel is labelled as gen when it shouldn't be, but if it's a good story I'll still read and enjoy it, and won't be all "OMG how dare you sully my canon with your icky non canon couple!!!!".