Abstract
This chapter examines in more detail what the 84 per cent of respondents who participate in slash fandoms enjoy about sexually explicit slash fiction. It looks at the sense of community and security provided by these spaces, and the opportunity they provide women to explore issues around gender and sexuality.
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Notes
- 1.
Zines are small-circulation self-published works of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via photocopier. They often deal with topics too controversial or niche for mainstream media.
- 2.
Lucasfilms has previously implied that legal action will not be taken against Star Wars fan fiction writers and editors, provided fans do not attempt to publish sexually explicit stories—particularly ‘gay’ sexually explicit stories. Please see the Fanlore wiki page for more information: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_vs_The_Courts:_Fan_Fiction_and_Fair_Use.
- 3.
Let us not forget that the phenomenally successful Fifty Shades of Grey started life as Twilight alternative universe [AU] fan fiction.
- 4.
Queerbaiting is a practice whereby producers incorporate queer subtexts into a show in the hope of expanding the audience by attracting LGBTQ+ folk while avoiding alienating viewers who would disapprove of openly queer characters.
- 5.
In its broadest sense, a crackfic is any story whose premise and events would be completely implausible and/or ridiculous in canon, such as casting all characters as My Little Ponies. It may or may not deal with this premise in a serious way. The name stems from the notion that the author must have been ingesting some pretty strong drugs just to think up the idea, let alone write it.
- 6.
Livia Penn is a blogger and long-term member of media fandom. You can read more about her on her Fanlore page: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Liviapenn (accessed 7 December 2017).
- 7.
Obviously, hierarchies are at work here, and having the time, space and ability to access online SEM, including slash, is deeply embedded in global capitalist social relations. Although women from 40 different countries took part in this study, the demographic data suggests that accessing m/m SEM, including slash fiction, is still a prerogative of White Western women. While slash may be ‘free’ at point of use, it is not truly free within this framework—in any sexualised economy power relations are classed and racialised, and while online slash fandom spaces may be sites of resistance and struggle, they do not exist outside of power (please see Berg, 2015; Fazekas, 2014; Smith, 2015 for more).
- 8.
While slash fandom can certainly be read as feminist, this is not to say it is exclusively female space. Men can and do participate in slash fandom, as both writers, readers, and visual artists. It is important not to erase the important contribution men have made to slash fandom, and scholars such as Joseph Brennan (2014) are intensely critical of academics who continue to link slash exclusively with women.
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Neville, L. (2018). The Joy of Slash. In: Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69134-3_3
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