I'm just going to make a brief comment on the prevalence of very popular slash ships in contrast to a relative (and actual real) lack of visible femslash ships (brief because I'm really looking forward to OITNB and ice cream). And I'm going to state my opinion on why this happens, because the roots of the problem lie not with fandom but with the media we are fans of.
Think about what goes into shipping. In many shows there's a lot of subtext (I'm looking at you Supernatural) or a close emotional relationship between two character that brings a ship to life. Whether that ship is heterosexual, homosexual, or neither, it usually has roots in show canon. That element gives male slash ships a leg up. Why? Think about the Bechdel Test. Think about the fact that we even need the Bechdel test. Now think about your favorite television show, your favorite book series, your favorite movie, your favorite whatever the fuck you're shipping people from. Now consider whether or not it passes the Bechdel test. And then consider whether it passes it with more than one pair of ladies. If the answer to either of these questions is no you have your answer about why there aren't more femslash ships. (Even if both answers were yes, you're still likely to have either fewer women than men or family relationships somewhat inhibiting shipping.) One of the defining characteristics of a likely ship is emotional closeness and enough emotional connection with the characters as a pair to think they'd be great romantic or sexual partners. Where the fuck am I supposed to get a femslash ship if there are no women?!
So before you start criticizing teenage girls for "only shipping dudes because it's hot" consider instead criticizing writers, directors, and producers who create material with so few well-rounded and shippable female characters.
P.S. As an AFAB, bisexual person I'm just gonna say that two dudes doing the do is, frankly, hot. But I'd really love to read more femslash if I could find any! Also, sometimes reading fanfiction about people with vaginas is really fucking weird because I know how that shit works and people are doing it wrong. And the next time somebody refers to someone's vagina as her/their/his "center" I'm gonna stab someone.
EDIT: I am aware that there are shitty people who write slash fanfiction and minimize or demonize female characters. There are also shows with plenty of ladies who don't have nearly so much fanfiction written about them as the dudes. These are true facts. My issue is with people just discussing the lack of femslash as evidence for the "great evil" that is the "fetishization" of gay men. Nobody's perfect, but I think the way blame plays out in this discussion usually places an undue amount on that amorphous entity "young women" in a very sexist way, much like the way things such as romance novels and other "chick lit" are derided and declared separate for being directly primarily at women. I would also like to point out one more fact: however it may seem on the internet, the majority of people in the world are heterosexual. Which means that statistically fanfic writers will have a very large heterosexual contingent. And if you're a heterosexual woman who is attracted to men and are writing homosexual fanfic, you're probably gonna write about dudes. I would definitely write about things I found hot if I could actually write fanfic.
CONCLUSION: YES I AM SURE THAT SEXISM PLAYS A HUGE ROLE IN THIS, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMEONE ADDRESS IT IN A MORE CONSTRUCTIVE WAY THAN JUST SAYING YOUNG WOMEN ONLY LIKE BUTTSEX AND ALL WANT GAY BEST FRIENDS. PERSONALLY I READ A LOT MORE GAY FANFICTION THAN LESBIAN BECAUSE IF I WANT SOME VAGINA ON VAGINA ACTION I CAN GO AND GET FUCKING LAID! I CAN'T JUST FUCKING GROW A PENIS AND HAVE GAY SEX. IT'S FANTASY, IT'S CUTE ROMANCE, AND IT'S A HELL OF A LOT LESS DEGRADING THAN THE WAY THE PORN INDUSTRY TREATS LESBIANS! SO STOP ONLY TALKING ABOUT HOW HORRIBLE TEENAGE GIRLS ARE!
Also, anyone who eliminates female characters or makes them evil (excluding making them a friend rather than romantic interest) for the sake of a gay ship deserves to eat shit. That is a problem too but bothers me marginally less. Plus, I'm pretty sure we can blame the disdain/competitive feelings women have towards each other on the patriarchy with literally zero percent margin of error.
I'm not convinced that the lack of shippable female characters in the media is the only reason for the lack of femslash. It's a major stumbling block, yes, but seeing how prevalent guyships of male characters who never/rarely interact in canon are, or how canonically underdeveloped male characters get fleshed out by way of fannish effort and celebrated, while female characters get demonized for breathing in the wrong direction (and even quality femslash fics go underappreciated), it feels like fannish behaviour deserves its share of the blame.
ReplyDelete"Blame" being relative, and not a call for shaming at all.
I mostly agree with you, but I'm also just really angry about the degree to which the issue gets pinned only onto fanfic writers, the majority of whom are young women (or stereotyped as such).
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