You Asked For It, Part 2

[emmagrant01]

A few more rants. I apologize if I didn't get to your topic, but I think this will be it! Fandom time is really limited for me these days... ;-)

helens78 requested a rant on slash fen expressing disgust at het sex in fic.  I have to say I really, really don't get why so many slash fans have a "eww, gross!" reaction to het.  Are they sexually repressed or something?  It seems a bit strange that someone (typically a heterosexual woman, right?) would find descriptions of sexual activity between two men hot, but would be turned off by a description of heterosexual sex.  It really boggles the mind, and it seems hypocritical too.  

I like het fic, personally.  I've written het. I have plans to write more het.  There's a perception that slash is, on the whole, of better quality than het fic.  I don't know if that's true, but that's not what I'm talking about.  I can understand why a lot of fans wouldn't enjoy the bad het fanfic that's out there.  I don't like any fic that reads like a cheesy Harlequin novel or bad porn, whether it's het or slash.  But every now and then someone has a "yuck! het!" reaction to something that's well-written, and I really don't get it. How can someone find that distasteful, when it's what they do in bed? 


oconel requested a rant about Star Wars.  She left it fairly open, so here's what I'm going to rant about.  (I think it could be adapted to apply to HP as well...)  How could people LOVE The Phantom Menace and HATE Attack of the Clones????  I mean, WTF???  Yes, I understand AOTC lacked Qui-Gon, but that's because he was DEAD.  I was really disappointed in TPM when I saw it at the theater, and I stopped being a SW fan for a couple of years because of it.  It was beyond disappointing -- I was embarrassed by it, and I thought maybe I'd outgrown SW at long last.  It was only after seeing AOTC that I started writing fanfic again, because that film energized me to get back into fandom!  After AOTC, I had hope that everything would turn out all right for the series, even after the horrors of Jar-Jar and midichlorians and the immaculate conception and "wizard!".  None of that crap was in AOTC, and it just... rocked.  Love, love, love it.  Serious lightsbaer action, bearded!Obi, kick-ass!Yoda, hot!Anakin, parallels with ESB, and so on.  

But it totally sucked that I joined MA just after falling in love with that film, only to find myself in the middle of a barrage of "AOTC SUX!!!" posts.  Oddly enough, I got involved iin the HP fandom after reading OOTP, and it was a similar experience.  (Why do I always arrive in a fandom a couple of years too late?)
 

eristeleute requested a rant on the re-introduction of the so-called Marriage Protection Act in Congress.  You know, it's hard for me to express the degree of anger and resentment I feel about this!  I had myself convinced that the Republicans had just pushed this issue during the election to stir up their base, and that nothing would really come from it because the majority of Americans, while not necessarily supporting gay marriage, were uncomfortable amending the Constitution to ban it altogether.  There had even been some indication that Bush was willing to let the whole thing drop quietly.  Guess I should've known better, but I was hopeful.  It's depressing, and sad, and makes me really, really angry.  But I'm going to fight it in whatever way I can.  By the way, if you haven't read it, everyone should pick up a copy of Jonathon Rausch's book Gay Marriage: Why it's Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.  jedirita recommended it to me, and I'm SO glad I read it!  If you need ammunition for talking to your closed-minded friends and relatives, READ THIS BOOK!  It changed the way I think about marriage -- my own marriage, even.


On a completely different note: remember when I complained about my computer problems last week?  We ended up having to wipe and reformat the hard drives on all of our computers.  This actually turned out to be a good thing, because it "fixed" all the problems I've been having with my laptop lately.  I managed to save all of my documents, but I lost all of my IE bookmarks.  :-(  This only sucks because I had a ton of HP and SW fics bookmarked that I was going to add to my recs pages...  On a more positive note, I LOVE Firefox!  Thanks to everyone who recommended it!

Cryptic bit for those folks who know what I'm struggling to accomplish in RL at the moment: Wish me luck this weekend -- I think it's going to happen after all...  :-D

Comments

[lunadeath02.livejournal.com]

Oh, I whole heartedly agree with you on all the subjects here. Why is it that they go "ewww het!" anyway? perhaps because they didn't really want to read het in a slash? But still, most fics that I read that had het in it warn you *snorts* before hand in the beginning. If one doesn't wish to read the het part, they could just skip it, instead of reading it and going "Oh, ewwww!" Which I don't get, unless the person is a gay guy or a lesbian. :\

I LOVED Starwars II! I really liked the first one when it came out, but I didn't think the second one sucked at all. Like Lucas had said, he's just telling a story, he's not out to please everyone. :) I really loved the Obiwan/anakin interactions during the film. Especially that chase scene and then the end of the chase where they go into that bar.
"You'll be the death of me."
"Don't say that, master."
Awww.

*fumes* Don't get me started with the whole Marriage thing. But, I will try and find that book you recommended. Thanks!

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

I have no idea who you are. I just wanted to tell you I love your icon :-)

[lunadeath02.livejournal.com]

Heh, thanks. I like your icon as well! :D

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your perspective! I have a question for you, and I don't want it to come out the wrong way. So please don't be offended!

My first reaction to reading your comment was to wonder why you so strongly dislike the words that are typically used to describe female gentalia? (I mean, "hard cock" and "slick hole" can be just as cringe-worthy, depending on the context. Don't get me started on "puckered opening"...) Are there any words that don't make you uncomfortable? You said you used to read lesbian erotica. Is the terminology fundamentally different?

I guess this is the question: is it possible that your discomfort with reading explicit descriptions of female gentalia duing het sex scenes reflects some level of discomfort you have with your own sexuality?

Again, no offense intended! I'm just curious.

[helens78]

The funny thing is that I've finally reached a point where I find very little het fic appealing, and only rarely want to write it. I like slash. I like femmeslash. But het is just not doing it for me right now, although I've written bits and pieces that have been very well-received. It takes a certain combination of roles, I think, and I very seldom see them. Girls who are strong without a big point being made of their strength. I may end up writing some het in Highlander, though (did you know I've jumped headlong into HL? Ahh, new fandom!) because I love the female characters there -- there are three solidly strong ones and a whole bunch of supporting ones and just damn -- it's a wonderful fandom for those of us who like girls. (Of course, you get your detractors too. Everybody hates the girls at times.)



And I couldn't agree more on the AotC rant! OMG, yes, I loved AotC. Without AotC, I wouldn't be writing slash at all! I had pretty much the same reactions to TPM and AotC as you did. And maybe that's why I was never so tied to Qui/Obi as many people -- I just didn't think all that much of TPM, so my love for Qui was limited and I was all right with his being dead.


I also had to grin at your "Why do I always arrive in a fandom a couple of years too late?" Highlander went off the air how many years ago? Thank heavens for DVDs. I'm just glad I wasn't around when Endgame came out, because the classic HL OTP shares about four minutes on screen in the movie and the rest of the film is so bad as to be memorable. Ack. Oh well! I'm here now, and so happy about it I can't stand it. :D

[helens78]

Oh!! And good luck on your cryptic thingy!! Go you!!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

although I've written bits and pieces that have been very well-received.

I still think your Obi/Siri fic "Contagious" is amazing. One of my favorite ever O/S fics!

And maybe that's why I was never so tied to Qui/Obi as many people

You know, that's a good point! Hadn't thought of that before...

And thanks for the good wishes!

[sorion.livejournal.com]

I'm not against het in stories... I just don't like to read it much, anymore. It's a case of "I can have it, why would I want to read it?" ^_~
And of course... I just like the slash pairings in my fandoms too much. Any woman getting in between any of them, gets tarred and feathered.


I love Star Wars. Always have. And while I see that the new films aren't "the same" anymore, I don't like them any less. I prefer AOTC to PM... Simply because there was too much politics in PM (on the other hand, it is clear that it was necessary). But AOTC... "You'll be the death of me." - "Don't say that, master." I nearly cried my eyes out at that... ;_;

I watched all the Star Wars films with my son, these days, starting with IV, and he loved them nearly as much as I did (That is so nice to see ^___^). He loved Luke and Han, and at first I wasn't sure whether to show him Ep I and II... But at the end of VI he asked me "why did Vader become evil?" *laughs* So that was that... and we started with Ep I the next day ^_~ (He really liked young Anakin... They look a bit alike and my son was impressed at how Ani won the race. Jumping up and down "go Anakin, go Anakin...")
Eh... Right... That wasn't really on topic ^-^''' It was just nice to see that Star Wars still works on a six year old of today ^-^


I am not going to get into the Marriage Protecting Act... I am not. (And I am very glad that I don't live in the States...)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

It's a case of "I can have it, why would I want to read it?"

I totally understand that. There's a certain sort of "exoticness" about slash if you're a straight woman. It's sex from a different perspective and often entails a degree of sexual freedom one doesn't experience in one's own life. I mean, I do prefer reading slash to reading het, for exactly that reason. I guess what I don't get, though, is the "Eww, gross!" reaction some people seem to have. Why would reading about something you do (and presumably enjoy) illicit that sprt of reaction?

[shudaizi.livejournal.com]

I do the "eeew het" thing, but mostly as a joke in my peer group (which is largely made up of men). I get razzed about being in to slash so often from them, so I razz back cause I know they are very not in to it. I used to read het a ton before I found slash. I had a fairly decent collection or erotica, and a HUGE collection of bodice rippers. But I noticed my favs were always ones with bi or boy/boy scenes. I started buying published gay erotica (once I was able to stand in front of the section with other ppl there and not feel embarrassed and then bring it up to the counter. Oh how I blushed!), and then in the late 90's found slash fanfiction. Once I realized I wasn't reading the erotica that didn't have male couplings, I started selling them on half.com. I just find reading het less appealing than slash. I do still read it sometimes. Hard to avoid when you're a Buffy/Spike fan :) I love the men, I want to read about, and see the men.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I totally understand preferring slash to het, because I feel the same way. It's just more interesting to read. Still, I like reading het too.

I'm just baffled that het fic grosses some (straight) people out.

[spinifex-faerie.livejournal.com]

I don't know what your cryptic thingamajig is, but I thought I'd wish you Good Luck anyway!
*crosses fingers for you*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks!

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

On the marriage thingy - didn't you see, though, that some band of religious conservatives have threatened to block Bush's efforts to "save" Social Security unless he moves on the marriage amendment?

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those lovely people. With their magnificent efforts, they might be able to undermine the entire Bush agenda.

[thalia]

Ooh, that might be good. Maybe we can avoid both the marriage amendment and Social Security restructuring. Yay!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, what if Bush decides to get behind the MPA in order to destroy SS? *is uncharacteristically pessimistic*

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers, hair and toes for you* Good luck! *minisquee and gentle hugs*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[littlesnitch.livejournal.com]

luck wished, cryptically!

all the best,
--ls

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Say, is that really your cat?

[littlesnitch.livejournal.com]

Sorry, not my cat. I found a japanese website that had cat clothes and this one just seemed very HP to me. I posted the link to the site on my lj if you are interested.

--ls

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.

mystery - YES! ;)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

1) :-)
2) :-D
3) :-P

And thanks!

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

You know what? We have an exchange student from Idaho at school and yesterday we (her and I) argued over gay marriages.

She is against, for reasons I can't agree with. She says:

1) It's just not done (What a valid reason, really!)

2) It seems to go against the very foundations of the State. In the Constitution and in the Declaration for Independence it everywhere reads for God, through God, etc; and God (in the Bible) says that marriage happens between a man and a woman and so gay marriages go against God, therefore against everything American

3) It is against natural laws



I am for gay marriages.

I don't get it. If those two gay people live together, nobody will say anything. But when it comes to marriage (which is only making official something that already exists, for Pete's sake, it's not live allowing murder; just a signature in a registry!), all the prudes go on a riot. I think it's hypocritical to forbid them. After all, the USA is all about democracy and human rights, and what can be more undemocratical than to forbid someone to be officially with the person they love???

I believe that your politicians are trying to divert the public's attention from something bigger and more important. I mean, here, at my country, they do the same. When there's some kind of big deal, in the Parliament they debate whatnot, just as a cover-up.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, you would really like the book I recommend above! He has answers to all the classic arguments against gay marriage, and he argues that allowing more people to get married only strengthens the institution, while barring certain people from it weakens the institution to the point that it may break altogether. Great, great book.

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I most probably won't be able to read it :( There's no way I can get it here...

Anyway, I am wondering for a while now - what's the big difference between Democrats and Republicans? From here it looks like all they don't agree about is war and gay marriage
*?*

[shudaizi.livejournal.com]

1) It's just not done (What a valid reason, really!)

Tell her neither was wearing white after labor day, and look how we got over that.


3) It is against natural laws

Actually, scientists have shown that there are same sex couplings in nature. So while it is unusual, and not good for the species in huge numbers, is it natural.

She's a real force of logic that one.

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

neither was wearing white after labor day, and look how we got over that

I couldn't get that :)) I'm just a stupid not-native speaker...

She's a real force of logic that one

You have no idea...

[shudaizi.livejournal.com]

Used to be many years ago that it was considered unfashionable to wear white after labor day (a holiday that is in Sept). This was considered the onset of the winter season. Wearing white in winter just "wasn't done".

The past 20 years though, wearing white in winter is less a fashion faux pas, and considered ok to do.

And nah, you're not stupid, just not familiar with all the bizarre minutia of american culture. :)

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Ok, now I can say that I've become more powerful *points your icon smiling* Thanks for the info.

And yes, having understood your reference, I have to agree completely. Not doing something just because someone says you shouldn't, or just because the public opinion will criticise you, is stupid

[oconel]

You're completely right about het fics. I admit that, in general, I've had bad luck with the ones I've read. It's very sad to see girls behaving in a way none of the girls I know does.

I haven't seen so many people complaining about that, in fact I've seen the opposite, people complaining less about AotC than about tPM. Curious.

You need to get rid of your President, not only about gay marriage, but also about environmental politics, public health system, international issues...