I separate out profic primarily because of the Professional Publishing aspect. In that the same (many and varied) people are writing for the same (many and varied) reasons with the same (many and varied) results, it's no different at all from slash fanfic. Where I see it start to split is that in profic (from posts I've seen--I'm not a professional writer, so I've no personal experience), female presumed-heterosexual writing is being systematically promoted over that of gay men, both in the initial publishing stages and in shops where the books are available. The result is a pervasive loss of gay male voices in their own genre. If this wasn't happening and it was only a numbers game, I think they'd be equal in general terms on this issue. Slash fanfic, on the other hand, is mostly a Do It Yourself venture. Anyone can write, post and crosspost to a million communities or archives, regardless of who they are. This doesn't mean that the same drowning-out effect isn't happening, but that it's much harder to pin a finger on it if it is.
I get pissed off when slash is segregated into the straights/non straights, because I will maintain no matter how much shit I get for it, that slash is primarily a *female* activity. Every thing else flows from that, including the acceptance of all sexualities. It's terrific that queer people find slash empowering. But *I* find it empowering too, and you could use my sexuality as a fucking ruler :)
I've been thinking on this, and I'm coming to a semi-formed hypothesis that slash is an intersectional "our space" for people who may be out of the mainstream-accepted gender and sexuality niches. There's so many reasons that people come to it, but the major one I see repeated is that it gives us something we don't get elsewhere. So we have heterosexual women expressing sexuality in a female-friendly space, non-GBLTQAI non-heterosexuals like myself being able to be openly ourselves, asexuals existing and being acknowledged as so... I think that might be significant in how we're reacting to having Gay Men telling us We're Doin' It Wrong, even though they might be right. It hits buttons, because this is our space that we created because of them. Under this idea, women make up the vast majority of it because of male privilege, which does not stop with heterosexuals.
I have gay friends who love what I write and find it a positive thing for them. (And likewise I have read books by gay men which I feel empower me as a woman.)
Yes, this exactly! I feel like the discussion is straying from the message to the messenger in some ways. I tried (and hopefully succeeded) to avoid that, because a hurtful story does not become more or less damaging/demeaning/fetishistic depending on the gender and sexuality of the author, nor does an empowering story lose its value.
no subject
I get pissed off when slash is segregated into the straights/non straights, because I will maintain no matter how much shit I get for it, that slash is primarily a *female* activity. Every thing else flows from that, including the acceptance of all sexualities. It's terrific that queer people find slash empowering. But *I* find it empowering too, and you could use my sexuality as a fucking ruler :)
I've been thinking on this, and I'm coming to a semi-formed hypothesis that slash is an intersectional "our space" for people who may be out of the mainstream-accepted gender and sexuality niches. There's so many reasons that people come to it, but the major one I see repeated is that it gives us something we don't get elsewhere. So we have heterosexual women expressing sexuality in a female-friendly space, non-GBLTQAI non-heterosexuals like myself being able to be openly ourselves, asexuals existing and being acknowledged as so... I think that might be significant in how we're reacting to having Gay Men telling us We're Doin' It Wrong, even though they might be right. It hits buttons, because this is our space that we created because of them. Under this idea, women make up the vast majority of it because of male privilege, which does not stop with heterosexuals.
I have gay friends who love what I write and find it a positive thing for them. (And likewise I have read books by gay men which I feel empower me as a woman.)
Yes, this exactly! I feel like the discussion is straying from the message to the messenger in some ways. I tried (and hopefully succeeded) to avoid that, because a hurtful story does not become more or less damaging/demeaning/fetishistic depending on the gender and sexuality of the author, nor does an empowering story lose its value.
You're awesome. Have a cute panda icon. *g*