Some days, you gotta let it out.

[sarea]

On slash: I don't see the point of turning two men into women, and then pairing them together. What you're looking for is called "femmeslash."

Not all slash does this. The vast majority of it, I've found, does. Kind of kicks the theory of "two hot guys together" in the teeth. See, that I can get. The turning one or more of them into women, I do not. If you're going to do that, either actually use female characters, or keep them as men. Doing otherwise is an atrocity that makes me want to laugh and laugh and laugh and gouge my eyes out if they don't first fall out of my head from rolling too hard.

Actually, do what you want. But dude. Call it as it is.

Why I can can hardly read slash anymore: Is fluffy DRECK. About two women with penises.

So. If you have slash recs that don't have the above limitations, rec here so that I might see the attraction once more. Otherwise, I can get fluffy dreck from het fics, which aren't nearly as supercilious, and has the added bonus of actually featuring at least one man.

~~~

To apologize for ranting, but also to kind of prove my point, here is some hot Draco/Ginny/Harry smut that mynuet just posted. Dom!Draco!! Whooooo. And am going to be beta'ing smut that jade_okelani just sent my way. Am v. lucky girl!

Comments

[mynuet.livejournal.com]

Amen, sister, preach it!

[jade-okelani.livejournal.com]

Let it out, dude. Bottling things up like this is going to give you an ulcer. Tell us how you really feel about it.

*clap clap clap*

[kirixchi.livejournal.com]

Am v. pleased with the results. Latent H/G shipper in me had a smile, and virulent, kudzu-like D/G shipper in me had many laughs at Draco's expense...

Jade smut too! :) This /IS/ a good day.
-Kiri, who agrees about slash. I just can't get into it.

Re: *clap clap clap*

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I just don't know how you can be an H/G shipper in any way, shape, or form.

slash

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

*ponders* You're entirely right. There is slash that does that, and it's horrid. But then there's the issue of meshing canon characterization with writing a man who's gay, because I believe in real life there are some traits some gay men display that perhaps straight men do not, to the same degree.

Eh, you know what? My friend shayllla said that, plus a whole bunch of other things on the topic, better than I ever could here.

Anyway, yeah, I like slash that is about two MEN myself. Dunno what pairings you might be after, so I'll rec you a bit of a variety:

Flesh and Substance, by wikdsushi. Remus/Sirius, NC-17, one-shot. Two straight guys fuck.

Circles of Power, by Mad Martha. Harry/Ron, post-Hogwarts. Novel-length, complete. There's a nice Draco characterization running around in there, too.

Darkly Inclined, by the lovely sahiya. WIP. There's a Harry/Hermione/Ron triangle running around in this fic, as well as a Hermione/Harry/Draco one (does that make *any* sense?), plus Remus/Sirius. Also, plot! Which is always nice.

Flagell, by shayllla. They cannot fuck in silence. Remus/Sirius, NC-17, one-shot.

And I can always bring more... *evil grin*

Re: slash

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

EDIT: Sorry, wrong link for Stacy's fic. http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/S_Hart

Re: slash

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I believe one of the "S" authors you rec'ed wrote a wonderful R/Hr piece that I really liked. Don't remember now who the specific writer was ...

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. The more I think about this, the more I think I know (or feel, to me) what the problem is. It's that people are taking straight characters and making them gay, you see. That's what really bothers me about a lot of slash. That it's not true to the characters because, in canon, they haven't displayed any homosexual tendencies, or if they have, they are latent, so latent as to be invisible to the naked eye. There's a difference between sexual tension between men, and actual homosexuality, you know? I can see where the love/hate relationship is attractive to people who want to write slash, but in most cases it's such a stretch from canon that it's very difficult to do well, if you ask me.

I mean, Harry & Draco are pretty much enemies. So are Mulder & Krycek, Skinner & Krycek... uh, Krycek & just about anyone. So the problem lies in either making the characters totally gay, which goes against canon, or in having your straight characters having same-sex sex, which goes against characterization. Both options, as a matter of fact, seem to go against canon AND reasonable characterization. What's needed, for me, is a story which explains why these two characters would get together, despite it being out of character/canon. So I can't just see Mulder/Krycek sitting at home eating popcorn and acting schmoopy, because it would take so long for me to get to the point where Mulder and Krycek would be together, have a home, and act schmoopy, that it would be a novel, not a vignette as many schmoopy M/K lovefests seem to be.

Another thing I wonder is this: why don't there seem to be that many fans of slash featuring actual gay characters?

Also, I get pissy about the Cool Factor. A while back (using XF as an example, 'cause it's what I know) there wasn't that much slash, and MSR was the "cool" thing to write. Then a lot of the "cool" writers started to get bored with MSR and moved into slash, and slash became the new black. I ... don't really have anything to add; I suppose that's just an observation.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

It's that people are taking straight characters and making them gay, you see.

Yeah, I know. It's absolutely true. But I never talk about this, because it's a slippery slope. That gets into characterization, and I'm hardly one to talk about that, am I, t00by D/G shipper that I am? Yet, all the time, I do want to say, "Okay, but there are levels and levels of characterization, and with every level, you're going further and further out of the realm of possibility."

Still, assuming that believability is put aside, and it's believable for Draco to like Ginny and vice versa, and for Harry to like Draco and vice versa, it still doesn't answer my question of why so many slash writers insist on turning either Draco or Harry (or insert whatever male character of choice) into women. Of course, I am also one of those people who do not in the least understand the attraction of, say, MPREG. *shudder* Or, again, two weepy women with penises, which is what I find all too often in slashfic.

why don't there seem to be that many fans of slash featuring actual gay characters?

How true this is, Ropo. How true this is. It's this twisted thing where I don't believe these people actually find homosexual men attractive, and yet neither are they truly making them men in these stories. I have no idea what's going on, and thinking about it too much makes my head hurt.

And definitely re: the Cool Factor. That exists in the HP fandom. In fact, I have half a mind to believe that it created it, it's so prevalent. :D But what's ironic about that, of course, is that the preferences that are supposed to set them apart as being "refreshing" and "avant garde" are instead making them just like everyone else. Hahahhahahaa.