On Fraught Taxonomy

[alixtii]

There's an "On Terminology" section on yesterday's metafandom, and it has me suddenly wondering: when do we actually use the gen/het/slash distinction? When we meta, certainly, but many if not all of us recognize that the definitions are fluid and know enough to define our terms before we begin. (And when we do make assumptions--such as that femslash is or isn't a subset of slash--we often end up in vexed situations.)

I know I also use the distinctions when I'm organizing my fics, when I utilize a variety of categories, some of which overlap: gen, grön, femslash, het, friendship/pre-femslash, friendship/pre-het. (I haven't actually have written any m/m slash, although of course the conceptual category is there for me should I ever do so.) And sometimes figuring what counts as what is a pain in the neck, as the boundaries aren't exactly firm. But mostly the issue is my own private taxonomic nightmare and almost complete academic: I haven't recieved any complaints that a story which I marked "grön" should really have been "femslash" or vice-versa. (This may simply be a function of my not being a popular enough writer to attract that sort of wank, though.)

But the actual fics don't bear these labels anywhere on them: they simply have pairing and rating information. In my neck of woods, that seems to be a perfectly acceptable practice. So what's the issue, really?

Comments

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I remember raising this question back when Ari talked about using f/f as the default meaning for the term "slash" and specifying "boyslash" (rather than the vice versa that is the current norm). I can't find the post in question, though.