We can only close the shutters.

pennypaperbrain:

acafanmom:

<interesting stuff snipped by Penny, go read the original post>

…And I strongly believe that one of the reasons that we talk about slash in these ‘resistant’ ways is because the academic study of slash and fandom originally came from a disadvantaged place, where it was necessary to stake some kind of claim for validity as a topic of study. It was strategic when Henry Jenkins did it in the early 90s, but we need a new paradigm that’s not as reliant on resistance for its worth or validity now…

Fascinating stuff, though I haven’t seen the earlier discussion. I’m aware of the idea that slash as resistance is an outdated academic interpretation, but haven’t seen it around for a while, in large part because people are indeed too busy squeeing about pleasures whose validity is now increasingly and rightly taken for granted to talk about resistance much of the time.

But. From where I sit, ‘resistance’ discourse is still useful to my writing. I write BDSM slash, using my perspective as someone who identifies as kinky first and heterosexual secondarily, and while I’m doing it for many reasons, a major one is resistance to the popular idea that my sexuality is either mental illness or a smutty joke (50 Shades etc).  The very idea that it’s possible to write the kind of sex I practise as consensual, romantic and deeply emotional would still surprise many people. These days I have a high level of self-acceptance, but the slash community as a place to state that my sexuality is not a joke, and to have that accepted by people different from myself and jointly explored by others like me, is passionately important to me.

Of course, what I am clearly not is a gay man. Which puts me in the strange position of saying ‘I write this as an expression of deep experience’ (I do this shit) and at the same time ‘I don’t and can’t experience this in one of the most basic physical and social ways’ (I am not a bloke). So I’m testifying in the classic identity politics sense – and maybe fetishizing at the same time. I think my ass just got intersectional.

I am a slightly different writer at different times. When I’m writing, it is about the characters. Then if someone comments and says ‘this sex is beautiful and emotional’ then I have the political response of hell yes, testimony achieved. As a reader, I almost always perceive slash stories through character – my resistant reading in Sherlock fandom is mostly about exploring female characters like Sally who I think get a raw deal.

So, this isn’t to disagree with your points, which I think are well taken, particularly the idea that resistance as a concept can lead to ghettoisation, so being able to move out of it is probably a fine thing. But… am I a dinosaur, or in a tiny minority, or are a significant number of readers using slash like me, not only to think theoretically about male homosexuality but to explore directly their own marginalised sexual identity? Asexuals, transmen, genderfucked – I’ve seen fics written by all these people, and that have a cis gay male sexuality that the writer does not personally embody running in tandem with another aspect of experience that they absolutely do. Can we keep our resistance? I do think it has validity still, even if it’s not the tool to lead an academic charge with.

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meganphntmgrl:

Some thoughts on H.P. Lovecraft and racism under the cut. TW for discussion of said racism and also mental illness.

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inkskinned:

it took me so long
to wrap my fingers
around another girl’s
that by the time i had done so,
i’d been told real gays
came out early, what was i
even hiding from – well, okay
but when people think you’re straight
they say the things they
wouldn’t otherwise, their
tongues touch upon secrets like
why can’t bi people just choose a side
as if sexuality is as simple as
football teams – and on that note
society spends more reverence on sports
than it does on the education of
such individuals as all
sixty-seven (and counting) people
who have asked me “a gay-person question”
like how does lesbian sex even work,
despite an iphone where they could easily
access this information and have the
added benefit of jacking off to it,
i am still told i am the voice and the
dictionary of my people and you’re
allowed to violate my pages because
you’re just curious, like
anything that starts out of a straight-girl’s mouth
with you’re bi, right? as if last night i got up
and changed from the way i have always been,
like the follow up rounds my bulletproof vest
is built against: you’re bi, right? how hot am i? even
though i think of you as a sister, you are
still asking me to disregard the conversations
about the objectification of women because
it’s okay if i fawn over you since i have a vagina
but it’s not weird because i also like dick -
fuck you, i would not go down on you even
if you tasted like skittles – how dare you ask
me questions like
you’re bi, right? so have you, like, kissed a girl?
because for some reason despite explaining
this process over and over, people still
don’t understand that
no contact is required, your pulse has already
jumped to starting under the electric shock
of somebody smiling, but as a matter of fact,
yes, i’ve kissed more girls than my boyfriend has and
i have carried their borrowed lipstick onto
boys i have kissed too, and no,
it’s not gross, stop telling me you didn’t kiss
your best friend when you were drunk
because everyone knows, the secrets you
swallow down despite spitting out words
like you’re bi, right? but are you really? this
might sound pretty simple
but is actually the kind of question i’m sure
mathematicians are trying to solve since it’s
about the veracity of a statement
of fact: are you really? because
in movies and magazines
and on websites with twelve-year-olds, bi
is being fetishized into the slutty girl
who’s too scared to come out of the closet,
bi is being tangled up in polygamy because
how could i choose just one person, bi
is being told i am straight when i am with a man
and a dyke when i am with a girl, bi is being
bastardized and thrown out by my
own culture because
i don’t feel i fit into those letters
LGBTQ, bi is the middle child of everyone and
they step over us because we’re
not quite gay and not quite straight, bi is being
stopped by your friend of ten years and being
asked,
you’re bi, right? so are you, like, in love with me? and
not being able to see where that blow
is going to come from, not being able
to know who it is that’s going to ask you to
make out with his girlfriend or star
in her boyfriend’s porno, not being
safe because
nowhere
is home.

(via bisexual-books)

emeraldincandescent:

Do you ever just watch a show and look at the female characters and think

Oh honey you deserve so much better than this.

(via fahrbotdrusilla)