Raise your hand if you're a freaky slasher too.

[emmagrant01]

I'm assuming everyone has seen this article in The Guardian by now?

Um, actress_krissie? You're mentioned. Along with lots of other folks, in not-so-flattering lights. I think I saw a mention of mijan, though I'm not sure. And we get called freaks. A lot.

Though this line did make me crack a smile, I must admit: There's a group of teenage boys from the website, Mugglenet, who appear to think that they're in a boy band.

But still, it's kind of interesting to see an outside perspective on fandom every now and then, you know?

Edit: You know, the more I think about this, the more annoyed I'm getting over it.

upstart_crow makes some great points about journalistic integrity.

furiosity points out that this is just the sort of thing that might make JKR, Scholastic, or WB come down on slashers.

And many other great points are being made in locked posts, which I can't link to, obviously. :-P

Comments

[gmth.livejournal.com]

The thing that bothered me most about that article was this:

Do you do ... 'slash'? I ask Olivia and Abbi.

'No!' they say. 'We're fans, but we're not freaky fans.'

I hate -- HATE -- this kind of attitude in fandom. We're ALL geeks to people on the outside. Attempting to separate yourself from the rest of fandom -- "We're okay, THOSE people are the freaks!" is utter bullshit, IMO.

[eliminate.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the only highlight to that article was the Emerson line. He's such a twit.

Oh, I wish I had gone to Lumos. D:

Also, I didn't like the one part in the article (too lazy to look) that said something along the lines of 'it's like how men like lesbian stuff'. So... us female slashers that happen to write femslash? We must be special, that's all. ;)

[dartmouthtongue.livejournal.com]

::Raises Wand::

-shrugs-

I'm queer, getting called a freak is pretty much a way of life. Sorry you girls have to be called freaks too for liking the queer, but I guess it rubs off.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

*likes to be special* ;-)

[gunxshyed.livejournal.com]

(WARNING-I am SO going off on a tangent.)

This is really such a wonderful thing to read, like you said, to see an outside perspective on fandom. You were really the one who got me into Harry Potter, because before this month, I'd never read any of the books at all. Following your accounts of Lumos was so interesting, but this really addressed some questions I have. I'm currently struggling with a boyfriend who is suddenly extremely against slash and homosexuality in general. The whole idea is just...terrifying for him, and it's puzzling to me, since he really has no religious background that would constitute his behavior, etc. His first exposure to it was when I confessed I wrote Star Wars slash, and the reaction was SO negative (a complete backlash, really) I haven't the nerve to tell him that I write and draw Kingdom Hearts slash and am teetering on the edge of Harry/Ron art once I get to know the characters well enough.

I think it's an easy thing to say, as I've been saying it too, that it's just like men like lesbians, because I know he likes the lesbian porn, you know? But what puzzles him is that so do I! This man writing this article is, though more articulate lol, identical to my boyfriend in his lack of understanding of eroticism. Why is the idea of boys in homosexual relationships such a disgusting one for men to endure?

At my school, which is a very liberal art school, there was a show three semesters ago that depicted outline drawings of men using sex toys with each other. They were incredibly erotic. There were also photographs of a female couple underwater doing some hardcore humping against each other with dildos. (No, I don't go to porn school XD) Our president (male) removed the male pieces, deeming them inappropriate.

Whhhaaaaat?

I know this is roundabout, and I'm sure it's a question that lots of people have discussed, but I'd love to know what you think.

So glad you had fun at Lumos! I want to go next time and play water Quidditch! Then I'd know something about the whole thing XD

[dm-p.livejournal.com]

Funny...Sounds like the reporter was a little more than frightened...

[gunxshyed.livejournal.com]

Oh, and by the way.

*RAISES HAND*

[lazy-daze.livejournal.com]

The attitude does piss me off, but at the same time I try and be rational and really think what it looks lke to a complete outsider. *shrugs* and also, she's more likely to get a good response by pointing and laughing at the 'freaks' than talking about us positively lest she get tarred by the same brush. Plus the newspaper probably prefers a point-and-laugh type exposé rather than any kind of balanced discussion of Us Freaky Slashers. Le sigh.

[chocklit-frog.livejournal.com]

Was anyone else annoyed by the writer's "Oh, it must be a female thing" dismissive attitude?

[gmth.livejournal.com]

This man writing this article is, though more articulate lol, identical to my boyfriend in his lack of understanding of eroticism.

This reporter is a woman. Which makes the somewhat nasty tone toward's women's interests in the article more than a bit baffling to me.

yes...

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

Which is why I originally assumed the author was a male, and then realized that it's a female.

It made me a little sad; I totally understand most women not getting the fandom thing, but to dismiss it as 'just one of those crazy, silly, foolish chick things!' after attending the convention? I feel like I'm listening to a Malibu Stacy doll saying 'Don't ask me; I'm just a girl! Hee hee hee!"

[gmth.livejournal.com]

*towards. Gah! I hate not being able to edit LJ comments!

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

I kinda hope JKR doesn't read that article. Because yikes.

[coffeejunkii.livejournal.com]

you know, the article isn't half-bad for someone who has no clue whatsoever. i don't think it's mean-spirited, but rather tongue-in-cheek. the person clearly had no idea what awaited her at lumos, hehehe. this totally cracked me up:

But we sub-divide ourselves into who you ship.'

Ship?

'Who you put together. I do Remus-Sirius, but Hally here she does Harry-Draco .'

Draco, his arch enemy? I say. The little blond one?

Lisa nods her head.

I had no idea that Harry was a porn star, I say.

lol!

[gunxshyed.livejournal.com]

Whhhaaaaaaatt? I thought it was a guy the whole time XD I guess I didn't read it closely enough or look at the reporter name. Sorry! Let's just pretend.

[sorion.livejournal.com]

This is Harry Potter for adults. A concept that I'd always thought of as one of those minority tastes like quantum physics for children. Or Star Trek for girls.

I beg your pardon??? *harrumph* ^_~


Well, the article is like most articles by men who discover slash... And it's less stupid than the last one I saw...

[freckles42.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yesyesyesyesyes.

And as a woman, writing off nearly 1000 of the 1200 attendees... Horrific.

As she herself says, if it were a man saying these things, the country would be up in arms.

Why do women persist in persecuting ourselves and perpetuating this cycle?

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

I did too until she mentioned her girly heart or some such at the very end...then I had to scroll back up to read the author's name! I totally thought it was a man.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

I'd say there is Zero possibility that she won't have seen this article. Her and her entire entourage. I just hope her children don't see it!

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Well, so much for burying my head in the sand. Well, I hope this doesn't mean there'll be a crackdown on slash fic. ._.

[http://users.livejournal.com/reciprocity_/]

This kind of thing is one of my biggest pet peeves in life. I'd bet someone 20 bucks that the reporter(s) have some sort of thing that they do and love that isn't approved by everyone ever in society. I've experienced this very rarely, since my participation in fandom is my best kept RL secret. I find that people are so quick to judge fandom slashers and then 10 minutes later you find out they spent 7 years playing D&D or White Wolf and calling themselves a Mage or something. I don't have a problem with D&D players or whomever, but I really don't like it when people turn around and call you crazy when they're doing something that can be considered equally unusual.

I didn't find the article hugely disparaging, but it wasn't very nice either. I'm not surprised, everything's 'freaky' if you don't understand it, and to understand the fandom you have to love it. IMO - Interesting article though, thanks for linkage :-)

Basically I don't think I'm a freak, so Yay.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I'm not so much disturbed whether the reporter is a man or a woman; the snide undertone of "tee-hee, look at the silly sex-deprived housewives" is annoying either way.

I had a feeling that there was some anti-slash sentiment among some Potter fen, but to go so far as use a "freak" tag is fairly catty. I wonder how these anti-slashers feel about fen that write both het and slash?

[jamoche]

I knew it was going to be bad as soon as she mentioned the weirdness of girls liking Star Trek. Back in the 70s I was a girl, and I liked Star Trek. I grew up to be a software engineer. She probably thinks that's weird too (granted, at the Apple developer con next week, the m/f ratio will be the reverse of Lumos. But when people come up and fangirl me, it will *not* be because I'm female.)

Really, this is just write-by-numbers - SF cons get the same thing. Come to think of it, all subcultures get the same thing - I heard a story of someone at an SF con doing an interview with someone from the queer press and expressing concern at how SF was treated in the press, only to get the reply "yeah, we get the same thing when we have events. Trust us." Sure enough, that was the only article that wasn't going "look at the freaky people."

Oddly, she seemed just as condescending to the ones who really were there just for the academic side.