Except when you're writing femslash because you've gotten tired of reading fics that aren't like any lesbian lives you've ever known... the lives that include arguing over whose turn it is to clean out the catbox (I would warrant that this discussion takes place in 75% of all lesbian households, the majority of which are supplied with cats, and therefore it really ought to be a writing prompt in any femslash comm whose canon is remotely rooted in the real world).
I don't know. I've been in the periphery of this whole slah and gender discussion because (a) my tiny fandom seems to have, write about, and include more women than most and (b) I'm not thinky thoughts enough; I'll say stupid ignorant things because I haven't spent years having my consciousness raised to the point that zie and zir are as natural as breathing and I know all the Required Reading List books for Gender Enlightenment.
I don't. I'm just this bi woman writing fanfic.
But I'd just like to highlight this quote from the above post and put little stars and gender-stereotypical hearts and gender-not-stereotypical lightning bolts all over it:
"it's also about agency (and the fantasy of agency) and about female characters (albeit characters who, although female, were probably written and created by het white men) being themselves (which in itself can be a radical act)."
That is the part which sounds to me like the f/f and f/whatever stories I know. Stories written by, about, and for women -- some lesbian writers, some bi writers, some straight.
1) It's not all about gaze. I understand that term is talking about perspective and viewpoint, and we can never get away from who's looking because it shapes what we see, but all this talk of gaze seems to emphasize looking too much: active (subject) looker, passive (object) recipient. That's a power dynamic right thar. All this gaze stuff is wigging me out. Please pass the salt. (No, that isn't actually a non sequitur.)
2) It's about agency. I was recently amused/mortified to find this idiot (www.asylum.com/2009/12/.../steamy-erotic-final-fantasy-fan-fiction/) quoting several of my fanfics and claiming that the writer (whom he obviously assumed was male) was turning character A into a "promiscuous" slut on account of her "well-exposed cleavage". This totally ignored the fact that the fics focused on her hands and did not mention cleavage, and that every one of the fics, whether het or yuri, focused on characters doing things. Sexually or otherwise. In the het no less than the yuri or gen, the interest is in what each character is doing. Each. In yuri written by and for lesbians, you'll run into a lot of emphasis on the doings, not appearances. Whereas men writing f/f stuff seem to spend more time on appearances and receiving.
3) "being themselves". Amen and amen and amen. This is what I think a lot of writers-comfortable-writing-women write about: trying to get at who these characters are. "Female" is one part of that. But more importantly, "cranky intellectual who can turn those who annoy her to a pile of ash" or "gentle healer type who tends to let people push her around" or "mad scientist trickster thief who acts like she's on a permanent sugar high but is actually the one with the most sense in the party."
And, oh yeah, they have tits. Given. Seldom mentioned save in descriptions that include many other body parts.
So there's my incoherent off-the-cuff representation of at least one batch of women fanfic writers and how they write femmslash, or however that's spelled. (Yuri. F/F. Lesbians. Those make more sense to me.)
no subject
I don't know. I've been in the periphery of this whole slah and gender discussion because (a) my tiny fandom seems to have, write about, and include more women than most and (b) I'm not thinky thoughts enough; I'll say stupid ignorant things because I haven't spent years having my consciousness raised to the point that zie and zir are as natural as breathing and I know all the Required Reading List books for Gender Enlightenment.
I don't. I'm just this bi woman writing fanfic.
But I'd just like to highlight this quote from the above post and put little stars and gender-stereotypical hearts and gender-not-stereotypical lightning bolts all over it:
"it's also about agency (and the fantasy of agency) and about female characters
(albeit characters who, although female, were probably written and created by het white men)being themselves (which in itself can be a radical act)."That is the part which sounds to me like the f/f and f/whatever stories I know. Stories written by, about, and for women -- some lesbian writers, some bi writers, some straight.
1) It's not all about gaze. I understand that term is talking about perspective and viewpoint, and we can never get away from who's looking because it shapes what we see, but all this talk of gaze seems to emphasize looking too much: active (subject) looker, passive (object) recipient. That's a power dynamic right thar. All this gaze stuff is wigging me out. Please pass the salt. (No, that isn't actually a non sequitur.)
2) It's about agency. I was recently amused/mortified to find this idiot (www.asylum.com/2009/12/.../steamy-erotic-final-fantasy-fan-fiction/) quoting several of my fanfics and claiming that the writer (whom he obviously assumed was male) was turning character A into a "promiscuous" slut on account of her "well-exposed cleavage". This totally ignored the fact that the fics focused on her hands and did not mention cleavage, and that every one of the fics, whether het or yuri, focused on characters doing things. Sexually or otherwise. In the het no less than the yuri or gen, the interest is in what each character is doing. Each. In yuri written by and for lesbians, you'll run into a lot of emphasis on the doings, not appearances. Whereas men writing f/f stuff seem to spend more time on appearances and receiving.
3) "being themselves". Amen and amen and amen. This is what I think a lot of writers-comfortable-writing-women write about: trying to get at who these characters are. "Female" is one part of that. But more importantly, "cranky intellectual who can turn those who annoy her to a pile of ash" or "gentle healer type who tends to let people push her around" or "mad scientist trickster thief who acts like she's on a permanent sugar high but is actually the one with the most sense in the party."
And, oh yeah, they have tits. Given. Seldom mentioned save in descriptions that include many other body parts.
So there's my incoherent off-the-cuff representation of at least one batch of women fanfic writers and how they write femmslash, or however that's spelled. (Yuri. F/F. Lesbians. Those make more sense to me.)