My thoughts on Femslash
Jan. 2nd, 2012 06:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
surrealistdreamerThere's been a lot of discussion of why femslash isn't as popular as slash. It seems to baffle some folk that slash can be so popular in the realms of fandom. What especially confuses them is how fangirls who claim to be more interested in the ladies than the dudes could possibly prefer male/male slash as opposed to female/female femslash (kept in their own very seperate categories).
There are a lot of really interesting female characters that get ignored, but there are also a lot of female characters that are just sexist stereotypes (be they a Bimbo or a Straw Feminist/Activist) or are just forgetablly bland. Male characters generally don't get this treatment because men are believed to be layered and complex. Female characters are treated more like symbols and LOL who understands how women think am I right? (/sarcasm)
Why not write fix it fic? Because it's not my job to fix the messes professional writers make. I'd rather focus my attention on things that make me happy.
Then why aren't the well written female characters more popular? Because female characters are judged to much higher standards than their male counter parts. Any flaw is seen as a mark of being poorly written when the character is female as opposed to male characters who are often celebrated for their flaws.
Another problem in media is the Sausage Fest. Since Men are Interesting and do Interesting Things a lot of writers, particularly male ones, tend to fill their casts with dudes with maybe one chick (can't let things get too gay now). However the one chick, particularly one that's blandly written (though she isn't always blandly written), isn't enough to stop those of us who see the world through a Haze of Gay from shipping the hell out of the dudes! The Sausage Fest will always breed slash, but does that mean a Taco Fest will breed femslash? Yes, yes it will. Look at My Little Pony: FiM, Adventure Time, Sister Claire, Teen Titans (the cartoon), and Daria.
Now a big reason why I personally don't dig on femslash as much as slash is that most female characters are stuck in Generic Prettiness mode. Society seems to believe (wrongly) that there is one way for women to be physically attractive and instead of teaching women to celebrate their individualized beauty they're taught from a very early age that Beauty Comes First. Be thin, have big boobs, be athletic and smart (but not too athletic or smart), be sweet and kind (even when others give you no reason to be), and above all else never ever complain about anything being wrong ever. Because Girls don't have Real Problems. (/sarcasm)
Are all Generically Pretty Girls bad characters? No. There are of lot of female characters that are pretty that are also interesting or at least can be when the writer isn't soley interested in catering to the Male Gaze. Good writing is definately part of the equation to get people interested in female characters.
However all that Generic Prettiness can really get tiring after a while. I don't know about anyone else, but I particularly cannot get into live action stuff because of the Generic Prettiness factor. There have to be exceptions I'm sure, but on the whole I look at some female characters and think "Shit, I can't tell them apart!"
It also doesn't help that lesbianism is often pushed into the spotlight in order to appease the Male Gaze. Oh no, those girls making out in your action movie are not for me or any other lesbian. Lesbianism is held to a standard of hotness as long as the women aren't over 25 or choosing to leave a Man for a Woman because they emotionally click.
Now homoeroticism on the other hand is held to such a low regard that people deny that it even happens outside of gay guy's apartments. There are people who even believe that dude on dude action is a recent phenominon as opposed to having always been a part of society just on the down low. There's a bit of romanticism in forbidden love between two dudes who kiss in the shadows and hide from the moon. Yes, I am well aware that I'm a cornball.
Speaking of cornballs, something I wish I saw more of in media is female characters who acted like cornballs. Again it's that whole layered and interesting thing that women are believed to be incapable of. I don't know what kind of lady friends other people have, but my lady friends on the whole are funny. Not only are they funny, they're goofy. I like that in a lady.
You know what else I like in a lady? Unique character designs. If we coupled this with writers who believe women do things besides be kinda competent and look sexy then there'd probably be femslash and slash in equal amount. I'm still gonna read dude slash though. XD
There are a lot of really interesting female characters that get ignored, but there are also a lot of female characters that are just sexist stereotypes (be they a Bimbo or a Straw Feminist/Activist) or are just forgetablly bland. Male characters generally don't get this treatment because men are believed to be layered and complex. Female characters are treated more like symbols and LOL who understands how women think am I right? (/sarcasm)
Why not write fix it fic? Because it's not my job to fix the messes professional writers make. I'd rather focus my attention on things that make me happy.
Then why aren't the well written female characters more popular? Because female characters are judged to much higher standards than their male counter parts. Any flaw is seen as a mark of being poorly written when the character is female as opposed to male characters who are often celebrated for their flaws.
Another problem in media is the Sausage Fest. Since Men are Interesting and do Interesting Things a lot of writers, particularly male ones, tend to fill their casts with dudes with maybe one chick (can't let things get too gay now). However the one chick, particularly one that's blandly written (though she isn't always blandly written), isn't enough to stop those of us who see the world through a Haze of Gay from shipping the hell out of the dudes! The Sausage Fest will always breed slash, but does that mean a Taco Fest will breed femslash? Yes, yes it will. Look at My Little Pony: FiM, Adventure Time, Sister Claire, Teen Titans (the cartoon), and Daria.
Now a big reason why I personally don't dig on femslash as much as slash is that most female characters are stuck in Generic Prettiness mode. Society seems to believe (wrongly) that there is one way for women to be physically attractive and instead of teaching women to celebrate their individualized beauty they're taught from a very early age that Beauty Comes First. Be thin, have big boobs, be athletic and smart (but not too athletic or smart), be sweet and kind (even when others give you no reason to be), and above all else never ever complain about anything being wrong ever. Because Girls don't have Real Problems. (/sarcasm)
Are all Generically Pretty Girls bad characters? No. There are of lot of female characters that are pretty that are also interesting or at least can be when the writer isn't soley interested in catering to the Male Gaze. Good writing is definately part of the equation to get people interested in female characters.
However all that Generic Prettiness can really get tiring after a while. I don't know about anyone else, but I particularly cannot get into live action stuff because of the Generic Prettiness factor. There have to be exceptions I'm sure, but on the whole I look at some female characters and think "Shit, I can't tell them apart!"
It also doesn't help that lesbianism is often pushed into the spotlight in order to appease the Male Gaze. Oh no, those girls making out in your action movie are not for me or any other lesbian. Lesbianism is held to a standard of hotness as long as the women aren't over 25 or choosing to leave a Man for a Woman because they emotionally click.
Now homoeroticism on the other hand is held to such a low regard that people deny that it even happens outside of gay guy's apartments. There are people who even believe that dude on dude action is a recent phenominon as opposed to having always been a part of society just on the down low. There's a bit of romanticism in forbidden love between two dudes who kiss in the shadows and hide from the moon. Yes, I am well aware that I'm a cornball.
Speaking of cornballs, something I wish I saw more of in media is female characters who acted like cornballs. Again it's that whole layered and interesting thing that women are believed to be incapable of. I don't know what kind of lady friends other people have, but my lady friends on the whole are funny. Not only are they funny, they're goofy. I like that in a lady.
You know what else I like in a lady? Unique character designs. If we coupled this with writers who believe women do things besides be kinda competent and look sexy then there'd probably be femslash and slash in equal amount. I'm still gonna read dude slash though. XD
