Two mainstream articles about slash

[emmagrant01]

My husband, sitting next to me on the couch, emailed these two links to me a few minutes ago. He could have just told about them, you know? But still, both are articles in mainstream newpapers that mention slash.

The first is from The Daily Californian last July and probably not new to many of you. It's actually pretty fair to slash, though I have to say I object to her exclusion of fen from "normal people with real jobs". Oh, please. But still, I think the fact that it was written by the paper's regular sex columnist says a lot about its fairness.

Edit: I've been told this is actually the campus newspaper of UC-Berkeley. I was confusing it with something else, heh.



CHRISTINE BORDEN
The Slash That Lives
Monday, July, 23rd, 2007

While normal people unlike myself and people with real jobs still trundle through the seventh Harry Potter book, hundreds of hungry shippers will find new ways to disrobe, arouse and utterly debauch Harry and Co. Trust me, this started way before Daniel Radcliffe revealed his hunky hunk of burning love to the eager audience of “Equus.”

No, for years Harry has been more than platonic friends with Hermione, has fooled around with Draco and even has found himself in the arms of Snape. And that’s not even considering his orgy of friends.

Missing out on all this sex? Harry Potter fan fiction, if you know where to find it, thrives with a strong fan base and numerous contributions and yes, plenty of raunch. Hedwig, I don’t think we’re in the canon anymore.

FictionAlley.org is the largest realm of Potter fan fiction, and here you’ll find all the Potterotica you could crave (along the other pretty normal, not-so-dirty spinoffs). Ship—that is, the pairing off of characters into relationships—rules supreme on this site. Not everything is sexually explicit, but the NC-17 and R stuff draws a crowd.

Many authors of fan fiction, especially slash (homosexual male pairing), are female. They write themselves out of their smut, but that’s not to say that a fangirl won’t go all wibbly for the next Harry/Draco drama. For women, slash doesn’t exclude them or eliminate their arousal. Instead, much like a heterosexual male obsession with girl-on-girl, slash gives double the muscles, double the longing looks and double the quivering … wands.

Slash writers transfigure their male characters to be more feminized in their behavior and feelings. Rather than being exclusively male, slash characters embody both genders and act unlike their heterosexual counterparts in the canon. In a nutshell, they’re the best of both fantasy worlds. Slash, however, is not exclusively male. Femmeslash features girl-on-girl action, but again much of the fanbase is female. The genre originally thrived within a lesbian audience, like the fans of “Xena: Warrior Princess.”

But femmeslash didn’t catch on during the infant years of Potter fan fiction. Slash originally reigned supreme, but now femmeslash holds some sway. Most writers focus on some combination of Hermione, Ginny and Luna, but many take dramatic license with minor characters whose lesser development works to the fiction writer’s advantage.

The sexy side of fan fiction can be troublesome, especially when a sense of reality clashes with the fantasy of it all. Besides the legal aspect of using J.K. Rowling’s characters and plots, writers also face the legality of sex. Many of the popular ship characters are minors or pursue and maintain a relationship that would qualify as statutory rape. Does fantasy cover and protect these non-canonical sex lives?

BDSM and nonconsensual activity dominate a number of NC-17 slash works, especially those with darker characters. These pairings may involve rape, slavery, violence, mind- control, blood-play, mutilation, suicide, torture and bestiality. Some slash relies on the taboo draw of incest, often singling out the Weasley clan for its greatest possible pairings. Not all fans go that dark and twisted, but occasionally you’ll see even ultimate villain Voldemort apparating in slash.

Pushing these characters past the limits of normative sexual activity and gender roles emphasizes the fantasy of the fiction, the great divide between canon and fanon. Potter’s fantasy genre and Rowling’s original magical world lend themselves so well to the extremes of fan fiction. These writers use the children’s series to push the boundaries of acceptance and to explore the darkness both in Harry’s own world and in that of sex.

Potterotica may take the characters in far too deep and dark a place, but it adds an important layer of human life that Rowling must leave out in her novels: sex. At its best, fan fiction surpasses the talent of the original author herself. It can render a world entwining sex, power and magic beautifully and tragically, highlighting the artfulness of sex and its portrayal.

In this fantasy, everything—including sex—is made possible, regardless of whether the boy lives or dies.

Celebrate Harry’s coming of age with Christine at sex@dailycal.org.

The second article is from today's Scotland on Sunday and is a heck of lot less sympathetic. I'll put the relevant part of the article here.

MURDO MACLEOD (mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com)

Slash porn

LAWYERS for the promoter of the Harry Potter films are clamping down on so-called 'slash porn' featuring the world-famous boy wizard.

It is estimated that there are more than 700 websites worldwide publishing lurid homosexual tales about the lead character in the best-selling books by JK Rowling.

Mainly penned by women, the genre has seen Harry Potter caught in flagrante with a variety of other males featured in the series.

The authors steadfastly refuse to accept that their work is pornography, claiming instead it is an art form.

But now websites used by the 'slash porn' writers are being closed down after legal warnings.

The bizarre craze started about five years ago in the United States but it has now become such a huge global problem that a decision has been made to act.

But the move to shut down the sites has not been universally welcomed.

One online contributor recently wrote: "Some Harry Potter fans have had, for a long time, those kind of fantasies about the characters.

"Slash fans are not new nor rare. I understand that it goes against some policies to publish this kind of stuff but, again, people are allowed to have their own fantasies.

"If they can't put them on this website they'll just start one of their own."

A spokesman for AOL Time Warner, which owns the film rights to Harry Potter and which has been instrumental in cracking down on 'slash porn', said they were determined to maintain their character's image.

He added that it was their "moral obligation" to act: "This is especially true in the case of indecent infringement of any icon whose target audience is children."


Okay, so first of all, "slash porn"? WTF? They've taken a page out of 6A's book, I think. And don't get me started on the homophobic and sexist tone of this article. It's so obvious that I'm just going to leave that one alone. And slash is five years old? Don't make me laugh. People have been writing slash for a long, long time.

The line about AOL Time Warner getting involved seems to jive with what people have been saying about what's going on here on LJ. This guy gets so many of the facts wrong about slash here that I'm disinclined to believe that's more than rumor, but still.

The main thing I'd like to say about this, though, is that FANDOM IS NOT MAINSTREAM. Anyone who thinks we would get a lick of sympathy from the mundane world for our shit getting TOS'd is wrong and naive -- and is also putting the rest of us in danger when doing things like writing to AGs. THIS is what people think of us, and this guy actually put it pretty mildly. Imagine if it was in a big paper in the southern US?

I'm all for being out within the fandom, because people who are just as geeky about the fandom as me really have no place to judge my ways of participating. But outside of fandom, we are freaks, people. And in the eyes of many, we are dangerous freaks. I'm not happy about it, but I'm content to stay underground and quiet if it means I can keep practicing my favorite hobby.

Comments

[nqdonne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first one's not to bad though, hahahahaah - normal people with jobs? Has someone clued her in on the fact that a majority of peeps in HP fandom are teachers, librarians, lawyers, publishers, etc.? I think a lot of us work 9-5...

And, oy, the second one. I lol'ed at the five years thing. Someone needs to clue that writer into Star Trek fandom like now. But, yeah, overall a really ignorant writer and possibly not a great paper anyway - the website won't load so I can't check whether it's a broadsheet or tabloid.

Sigh. I'm really not surprised that it might all be AOL Time Warner, though if it is they picked a really funny time to go after us - they started sexualising the characters in the movies with GoF and most of their actors are now over the age of 18 (and their audience has aged significantly as the movie ratings/themes go up). It is very curious...

But, yes, we are so not mainstream in the least and it really frustrates me that many people think other people will give a damn about our problems. I've always been incredibly careful to keep the fandom stuff on the way DL, especially at work and when I'm out in public with other fandomers. Cause you can try and explain fandom to a "normal" person until you're blue in the face; they'll likely just think you're a freak at best, take hateful action against you at worst, and call it a day. And what makes this whole thing just worse is that obviously it means we're getting media attention. Media attention is Not Good. :/

[nqdonne.livejournal.com]

ARGH. to/too error in the first line. I need coffee :/

[gmth.livejournal.com]

The authors steadfastly refuse to accept that their work is pornography, claiming instead it is an art form.

Mine is porn.

Also, not impressed with the research that went into the first article. FA.org doesn't host NC-17 stuff.

But I agree wholeheartedly with your conclusions. Fandom really needs to keep its head down right now.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Mine is porn.

Hee! And you should be proud of that! But yeah, the conflation of slash with porn annoys me, as I consider most of what I write not to be porn. My fics are have plot and characterization (I like to think). They also have explicit sex, but that isn't the whole point of my writing. slash can be porn, just as het can be porn, but to say the two are equivalent is ridiculous.

Of course, that particular writer is clearly not interested in reporting any facts at all, so what can you do?

[quill-lumos.livejournal.com]

hmm thanks for posting that. I didn't get the Scotsman today (I live in Scotland) but I am not surprised that they picked this up, they are very good at noticing things on the periphery of mainstream news, plus they may have had a heads up. J K Rowling lives in Edinburgh, home of the Scotsman and believe me everyone knows everyone here.

It amazes me, the naivety of some people. I don't like the fact that LJ is behaving the way it is, but I am not surprised. and whilst Squeaky has been very welcoming on IJ how soon would he give into pressure if he were approached? I don't think we do any harm. I love reading and writing slash. But I do not use my real name or tell any of my real life friends what I do, it is just not worth it. As far as most people are concerned we do not have a legal (or moral) leg to stand on!

I would rather keep flying under the radar too as I do not think any of us would find sympathetic support in the cold light of day!

Thanks for sharing

Lucie

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

[hematite-dragon.livejournal.com]

the second article makes me sad. I live with a fellow slasher who is quite open and enthusiastic about her interests, that combined with the fact that I live in California (which is quite a bit more open than any place I've ever been, albeit I haven't been many places XP) I sometimes forget what the rest of the world thinks about us. Though, if it ever comes to complete censure I hope I would be strong enough to fight.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I'm totally closeted. MDH knows and is very supportive, but no other RL friends or family members know about my hobby. I don't tell them not because I'm ashamed, but because I know they wouldn't understand. And if they, knowing me, wouldn't understand, why would I expect hostile strangers to?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

A huge global problem? Like climate change? *eye roll*

[norton-gale.livejournal.com]

Thanks for linking these interesting articles. :)

At its best, fan fiction surpasses the talent of the original author herself. It can render a world entwining sex, power and magic beautifully and tragically, highlighting the artfulness of sex and its portrayal.

Bravo! I think she's got the idea. :)

And the bizarre craze (right, homophobic) of slash is a global problem? Please.

But now websites used by the 'slash porn' writers are being closed down after legal warnings.

Huh? Not that I heard of. Just visual art has been targeted so far. And I have no knowledge of any websites "being closed down" permanently.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

People have commented below that they think he's referring to the wave of C&Ds that WB sent out several years ago. The end result was that those sites made their stuff less accessible to kids, but very few went away. He clearly didn't do his research on this one!

[lunalelle.livejournal.com]

Bah - pornography is art. Just low art. Embrace the sordid! :D

I did like the first one, though, in spite of the REAL PEOPLE thing. What do they think we are? Homeless people who happen to have internet?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yes, pornography is definitely a form of art. It's the assumption that slash=porn that's annoying me there. :-P

[maple-mahogany.livejournal.com]

Normal people ... nice. That's kind of the ironic point, 'normal' people DO do this.

Slash writers transfigure their male characters to be more feminized in their behavior and feelings. Rather than being exclusively male, slash characters embody both genders and act unlike their heterosexual counterparts in the canon.

*bangs head* That's exactly the stereotype you and I argued against in the Quaffletalk.

The second article kind of freaks me out. SO homophobic, and for crying out loud! I wish people would quit asking the Corporations what they think of fanfiction! oi.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

That's exactly the stereotype you and I argued against in the Quaffletalk.

Yes, absolutely. Though I'd bet that if you plucked a random slash fic off the web, it would probably look just like that, sadly. I tend to forget how much badfic is out there because I'm so selective about what I read.

[emeraldjay.livejournal.com]

Both of those authors really need to find out the history of the term "slash". It derives from the "/" that is in between the characters names when denoting the pairing. Yes, it is predominantly homosexual male couples but the term does not exclude f/f and f/m pairings. The term "femmeslash" which I have only seen since getting into the HP fandom, is exclusive to f/f. NB: My first fandom was ST Voyager specifically Tom/whoever is willing.

Now if the two article writers wish to hunt for Siobhan's website and research papers and actually read them, they are welcome to write on this subject again. I do hope I spelled her name correctly, it has been forever and a day since I looked over her site. If I find it, I will link it.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I had the feeling reading the first article that the writer was in fandom, though perhaps not a fanfic writer or reader herself. But the guy who wrote the second one clearly did no research and pulled shit out of his ass. Sadly, people will read it and believe it. :-P

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

Yep. Like you said, imagine if that was Southern OR Middle America writing that article.

Articles like that scare me more than anything. The media scares me more than anything.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know. I really believe media attention could facilitate the death of fandom. :-P

[ashe-frost.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else kind of wonder if JKR's always been really annoyed with slash? You know she has to know it exists, and you know how she reacts to anyone even thinking that Slytherins aren't bad people.. So now that the books are sold, she's finally getting her lawyers to step in and put a stop to it because she doesn't understand? I don't know if that statement has any basement in truth, of course, but it would make sense why this all kind of happened toward the release of the last book.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

She'd have a really hard time gdoing that now, because of legal doctrines caled lached and implied license. WB and JKR can't take action against R-Rated slash or het fi, or anything that merits a lower rating, without having to spend a long time explaining why they haven't done so in the last 8-ish years - and it's likely that a US court wouldn't give such an argument any credence. It would also be hard for them to argue against people posting and sharing NC17-rated art as long as it's not googleable/in other search engines, because of their 2004 discussions with RestrictedSection.org.
Also, let's remember that in 2004, jkr fangirled Immeritus as the first Site of the Month, and they have slash, including some NC17-rated content.

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

I completely agree that we need to keep our heads down and crawl back into our hidey-holes. I'm of two minds about the whole LJ/6A thing, in that I'd like them to clarify their policies and stop ToS'ing people... but at the same time, I would have been content if fandom had just taken their actions for what they were and everyone packing up and leaving at once. No need for all the publicity, really. The CA AG doesn't care, the BBB doesn't care, and as we can see, the media aren't inclined to agree with us either. *sigh* Anyway, long in short, I agree with you.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I'm not looking forward to the day when some fanfic writer finally lands in court. We exist in this lovely grey area now, and it works for us. :-P

[rubymiene.livejournal.com]

The Daily Californian is UC-Berkeley's school newspaper. I don't know how mainstream that is. She's obviously not a slasher, but she's probably a het lurker.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks. I was thinking of another paper when I saw the title. She did come across as someone who's at least on the periphery of fandom, didn't she?

[karaz.livejournal.com]

But outside of fandom, we are freaks, people. And in the eyes of many, we are dangerous freaks.

I'm just amazed at the number of people in fandom who disagree with this statement and feel like we should be defending our rights to all comers. It's a clear reminder, in the second article especially, that many would want to put a stop to this for no other reason than it's "teh gay, OH NOES!" Like anyone is going to take the time to appreciate the difference between Slash and Porn and any other of the billions of nuances?

If this gets enough mainstream news attention, JKR will soon feel obligated to put a stop to it.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Fortunately for us, JKR has been demonstratively hands-off in the past, even about adult stuff. AFAIK, she's just asked that it not be easily accessible by kids. I think she has some level of understanding of what we do, even if she doesn't agree or approve.

But yeah, if 6A can't figure out the difference between fanart and child porn, why should we expect the larger world to understand that slash ≠ porn?

[fourth_rose]

I totally agree with you that fandom needs to stay under the radar, and that the media attention we're getting at the moment is the last thing we need. But I can't help wondering where the second article got his facts from - wasn't that debate whether WB would tolerate HP slash going on a few years ago, when Fiction Alley got started? I wasn't in fandom then, but I seem to recall I heard something about it. Perhaps the author of that article took that bit of history and mixed it with a few aspects of strikethrough?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Basically, what happened was, circa fall of 2002, WB asked fictionalley to make all slash fics Rated R, and make them password protected and not allow people under 17 to read them.

We said no, we wouldn't do that because we had writers under 17 creating R-rated with (sometimes with parental permission) but we'd be happy to put up an Informational Screen for people to see when they clicked to read an R-rated fic, although we wouldn't block anyone from reading it.

So we put up the screen, then told them about it.

They said that would be ok, and we haven't had an issue since - they've sponsored contests and let us be on the red carpet for premieres and have never again asked us to censor any content. Basically, they bought a clue. I'm not sure they've lost said clue - all I've heard are outside rumors without names attached - but any site that hosts content like FA (and our definition of R is somewhat risque) should be legally in the clear.

[pumpkinpasty.livejournal.com]

Thanks for linking to these. :)

The first isn't, like you said, so bad. Aside from the "normal people" thing.

Anyone who thinks we would get a lick of sympathy from the mundane world for our shit getting TOS'd is wrong and naive -- and is also putting the rest of us in danger when doing things like writing to AGs. THIS is what people think of us, and this guy actually put it pretty mildly. Imagine if it was in a big paper in the southern US?

Agreed and agreed. And coming from the southern US -- I have a friend who is a columnist for a large paper down here, and when she wrote an opinion piece supporting gay marriage, the hate mail she got was awful. So yes. It would be much worse here.

Fandom forgets that we're really not "normal," by most standards. :/

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know. I live in Texas, and if people here won't accept LGBT folks, why would they get slash? :-P

[cynikal-lemon.livejournal.com]

Whaaa? Great, the minute I step foot off that campus the sex columnist decides to write something remotely interesting. Let me just say, the sex columnist on the Daily Cal is boring, every semester they seem to pick the most boring chick on campus to write that particular column, and that's 8 semesters, with 4 summers on that campus, 12 writers, all females who write about the same boring stuff, so for her to write about slash is a wonder all on its own...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Hee! I didn't realize that was a student newspaper until someone above pointed it out. I got the feeling reading it that she was in fandom, though not a writer herself.

[irrevokable.livejournal.com]

Imagine if it was in a big paper in the southern US?

Seriously. I live in the heart of Georgia and the words "Harry Potter" stir enough controversy as it is (especially after the 7th book and they learned what happened to Harry) that I can barely imagine what it would be like if a major article was printed in the AJC about the slash in the HP fandom. I agree that it is best to not have our fandom hit the mainstream because it would end up just killing what we are fighting for. Authors and artists will be too busy fearing legal threats to ever write or draw anything. :\

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

LOL, seriously! Some people think reading HP at all is promoting sin. And we would only be more evidence in that direction, sadly.

Is this true?

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

"But now websites used by the 'slash porn' writers are being closed down after legal warnings."


Has anyone heard of any websites being closed down? I think I remember reading it once happened 4 or 5 years ago, but I don't think it was specifically a slash site.

Re: Is this true?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I think he must be talking about what happened a few years ago. If sites were getting shut down now, we would know. He doesn't know what he's talking about, clearly.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

I would REALLY like to write to the author of the second article and inform him/her politely that Kirk and Spock were being slashed decades before Harry and Draco. *snort* "Bizarre five-year-old craze" my lily-white ass.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Or that people were writing (and selling for profit) Holmes/Watson slash in the 19th century? Yeah, clueless. :-P

[emila-wan.livejournal.com]

Anyone who thinks we would get a lick of sympathy from the mundane world for our shit getting TOS'd is wrong and naive -- and is also putting the rest of us in danger when doing things like writing to AGs.

BUCKET OF WORD.

[siriusblackout.livejournal.com]

hi - do you mind if I link this to today's issue of hogwarts_today?

drusillas_rain

Couldn't agree more.

[optimistic.livejournal.com]

God, that article is so misinformed. It's scary, and it illustrates that point that's been brought up a lot in the last few weeks: people outside of fandom just don't get fandom. It was especially clear to me during Strikethrough and Boldthrough (did that one catch on?), when people outside of fandom kept asking why fandom was so adamant about protecting child porn. I agree with you on all your points. I'd always thought of fandom as a secret thing between fans; the HP fandom is my first experience with a fandom being so open.

"[O]utside of fandom, we are freaks, people. And in the eyes of many, we are dangerous freaks."

Yep, I can totally see US religious groups going on a crusade against us sinners and deviants, and that would be absolutely horrible.

[kestrelsparhawk.livejournal.com]

I found the tone of the first article questionable, but I have no questions whatever about the second!

I do note it's the "film promoters" (ie Time/Warner/AOL and all the evil megaconglomerate's names) who are fighting it. I think the timing is related to the release of the new movie and the fact that the movie characters are reaching a clearly sexual age. Film and TV folks have a tendency to try and control images in their films -- a crackdown on slash which adopts, for example, Dan Radcliffe's face and body is downright predictable.

It's been tried since Star Trek was owned by.. Paramount? Warner Brothers? Whoever owned them first. The word on the Trek street was they started losing fans -- read consumers of secondary commercial crap, like models of the Enterprise, etc. -- so quietly quit their activities.

But homophobia even trumps profit, I think.

[parisntripfan.livejournal.com]

Well Star Trek as been protected by the Roddenberrys - and right now they own the Star Trek franchise and the rights to it. And Majel (and Gene when he was alive) were very aware that is was the fans that kept Star Trek alive. So have all the people involved in Star Trek know about this.

But then Star Trek fan-fic has been around for forty years. Paramount, the people involved in Star Trek be it the show or the books, know all this. Time Warner? Harry Potter is most likely the first time they ever had anything that has drawn that big a fan response - or one that is as out in the open. So they may not have any idea how to deal with it.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I'm all for being out within the fandom, because people who are just as geeky about the fandom as me really have no place to judge my ways of participating. But outside of fandom, we are freaks, people. And in the eyes of many, we are dangerous freaks. I'm not happy about it, but I'm content to stay underground and quiet if it means I can keep practicing my favorite hobby.

Yeah, word. As much as I would like to think that a majority of people are pimping the slash, the reality is that we are a minute subset. We are not mainstream. We just aren't.