No slash? WTF?

[dragonyphoenix]

I just realized the Circle of Friends remix has a no slash policy. I'm having difficulty not reading that as homophobic. I don't think I'm going to drop out but I also think I wouldn't have joined in if I'd read the rules more closely beforehand.

Comments

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to not judge, because I don't know why that rule was applied, but it's hard not to read it in a negative light.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the comments about Faith had seemed a bit off at first but then I did recall some really flirty bits with Buffy.

At first I couldn't think of anything for Xander but now that I've had some time to think about it:
Xander: That weird guy that warned her about all the vampires?
Willow: That's him, I'll bet you.
Xander: Well, he's buff! She never said anything about him being buff!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'm more familiar with the earlier seasons, but now that you mention it, yeah, I do recall that.

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

And I just was wondering, why that event was so unpopular...

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what their original intention was with that rule, but it's hard, at least for me, not to read it that way.

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

According to this (http://aadler.livejournal.com/246752.html) it's just matter of his personal preferences.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Okay. I don't completely disagree with that. If the rules had linked to that, I wouldn't have had such an issue.

Aaaand maybe next time I'll think to just ask "what's up with that?" first.

[rbfvid.livejournal.com]

It's perfectly ok to have personal reading preferences. But to introduce it as a restriction in the ficwriting community seems a really bad idea to me. Especially in the current state of fandom.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

aadler's doing the work of getting this remix up and running. I am not impressed with this restriction. I am particularly not impressed with the lack of reasons given for this restriction on the CoF site. It's also reduced the number of people who are willing to play. No, I'll go further than that. It has offended people who would have been happy to play. So, yes, bad idea and badly implemented.

Aadler seems to think no slash is a big enough deal that he's willing to alienate people would have otherwise been happy to be part of this project. I don't understand that attitude.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Not sure either, but I try to give the benefit of the doubt, so yes, I signed up.



Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

If they had a good reason listed ...

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I think they're trying to keep it gen focused, at least that's the impression I've gotten.

The main reason i signed up is that I know there's one of my stories aadler really wants to remix and I'm actually curious about what he'd do with it.


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how allowing M/F but not M/M or F/F keeps it gen focused but that's at least better than the (non) explanation they give.

And I'm not trying to suggest anybody shouldn't sign up. I just realized it today and freaked a bit.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I'd actually forgotten the rule and, as I was looking over everyone's stories to get ahead start no matter who I was assigned, I was worrying about my ability write Ethan should I draw you...


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Don't we get to pick the story we remix? Granted, I'm a fan of Giles/Ethan but Ethan's not in every single one of my stories. ;-)

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Yes we do, but your G/E stories are so intriguing, so yeah... I was thinking... But of course, that's moot now and it's not like I even know who I am getting anyway.


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

your G/E stories are so intriguing. That's so sweet. Thank you.

If you look up in my comments, rbfvid provides a link that explains where aadler is coming from on the whole no-slash rule.

[baudown.livejournal.com]

The mod is very anti-slash, as evidenced here: http://aadler.livejournal.com/246752.html?thread=467936

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

No one is being forced to read it. I had rather wondered about this. Even if slash was written for the remix, aadler doesn't have to read it.

I don't understand the meaning of "systemic" homosexualization of characters. What system are you referring to? I completely didn't think of this, read right over that phrase but, yeah. It certainly isn't systemic.

I had noticed that all the relationships he'd posited were female but I'm more BtVS focused than AtS and much as I'd love Giles/Ethan to be canon ... And I really don't like Angel(us) so him with pretty much anybody tends to be why bother for me. While I have paired Angelus with others, it was more to explore issues of power and Angelus is perfect for that.

[baudown.livejournal.com]

When I first read that post, I was pretty new to fandom/fanfic/slash, and I didn't realize that anti-slash people were a thing. I was legitimately baffled at the time. But while I generally like to give people the benefit of the doubt -- nah, not about this. Reading it again, I find it even more offensive.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I seem to have missed the anti-slash aspect of fandom. Go me.

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Coming to this very late, but just wanted to say that I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that had a WTF reaction to that requirement.

A while ago, I was looking at the Twisting The Hellmouth challenges that members had posted, and there were a bunch of them that said, "NO SLASH" pretty vociferously, which just kind of threw me for a loop. Like, I undertand if someone is looking for more of genfic, or only wants to read canon pairings, but there are ways to articulate that without saying "NO SLASH."

It made me sort of sad. But because I am evil, it also made me want to write a story that met their requirements, but also had the most horrific / canonically ridiculous hetero 'ships, like Glory/Oz, Joyce/Adam,
Tara/The Mayor, Jenny Calendar/Warren
Maggie Walsh/Xander, Kendra/Rack, Kennedy/Caleb.

Fortunately for everyone, I have enough problems finding enough time to write stuff that makes me happy, so those crackpairings-to-annoy-people stories will never be unleashed upon the world.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice it at first. I think it was beer good foamy who pointed it out to me. But, yeah, makes no sense.

Hmmm, and I didn't even think of going the really awful 'ships route. Clever. Some of those are terribly squicky!

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was definitely going for maximum squick-factor with those, just to illustrate what a bizarre requirement it was. I don't actually advocate anyone writing a story with these just to annoy someone. (Since I see that aadler seriously argued that slash fiction was written for shock value, or to annoy people, I guess I should clarify that this was a flippant response of mine and not actually my agenda when writing fic.)

On a more serious note, good luck with your remix. :)

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

My slash is written because I really like Giles/Ethan as a couple.

Thanks. It's coming along but I don't think it's going to be expected. Not slashy or meant to annoy or anything, I just took the whole remix concept in a different direction. I am enjoying writing it though.