I generally think such issues are more rather than less complex than they first appear, but as I read post after post of I-don't-really-want-to-write-about-two-hot-white-guys-but. . . . I can't help thinking it's all a bit disingenuous. Not that any of the reasoning is necessarily false; it's just that it seems like a good-reason-versus-real-reason sort of situation. The "good reasons" are "hypocrisy (maybe). . .laziness. . .reinforced into the cultural pattern. . .self-discovery. . .self-concealment. . .Don't-Get-It-Wrong. . .we-subvert-the-patriarchy-by-being-queer-women-writing-slash. . .etc." And these reasons are not untrue. But the "real reasons," it seems to me, aren't too difficult to discern: people write what they want to write...because it pleases them, comforts them, satisfies them, makes them hot, excites them. And what I'm hearing is that white-boy-slash writers are getting that pleasure/comfort/excitement from white-boy-slash -- regardless of what they think they "ought" to be writing. They write it because they want to.
I'm not judging here...not saying this is a good or bad thing. I think it's just a thing. I'm not sure it needs any elaborate justification or excuse or explanation. It is what it is: slash for fun and hotness. Why not? It's not what turns me on, but so what? Many things that DO turn me on are no doubt equally indefensible in a social-justice or gender-equality sense. White-boy slash probably doesn't make the world a better place, but so what? Does it make the world a worse place? It might, but I'm not sure quite how. Is it hypocrisy? I don't think so -- at least not in the usual sense of the word. Here is where the complexity comes in: writing slash obviously serves some sort of psychological need for the people who write it. It benefits them in some way (somewhat differently for each person, probably), and it doesn't seem to be doing overt harm, so I say -- don't agonize. Just write what you want to write. Enjoy it for what it is. Don't expect it to be what it's not. And work for justice some other way.
If I'm being horribly offensive, Maggie dear, do tell me, and I'll delete this. I don't mean to be. And maybe it's too easy for me, a person not particularly moved by two-hot-white-boys, to be dismissive of the anxiety. I don't mean to be that, either. If I'm the one being disingenuous, tell me.
Okay, I'll shut up now, lest I become even more annoying.
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zvi and
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Date: 2010-09-22 12:54 am (UTC)I'm not judging here...not saying this is a good or bad thing. I think it's just a thing. I'm not sure it needs any elaborate justification or excuse or explanation. It is what it is: slash for fun and hotness. Why not? It's not what turns me on, but so what? Many things that DO turn me on are no doubt equally indefensible in a social-justice or gender-equality sense. White-boy slash probably doesn't make the world a better place, but so what? Does it make the world a worse place? It might, but I'm not sure quite how. Is it hypocrisy? I don't think so -- at least not in the usual sense of the word. Here is where the complexity comes in: writing slash obviously serves some sort of psychological need for the people who write it. It benefits them in some way (somewhat differently for each person, probably), and it doesn't seem to be doing overt harm, so I say -- don't agonize. Just write what you want to write. Enjoy it for what it is. Don't expect it to be what it's not. And work for justice some other way.
If I'm being horribly offensive, Maggie dear, do tell me, and I'll delete this. I don't mean to be. And maybe it's too easy for me, a person not particularly moved by two-hot-white-boys, to be dismissive of the anxiety. I don't mean to be that, either. If I'm the one being disingenuous, tell me.
Okay, I'll shut up now, lest I become even more annoying.