Slash and the appropriation/objectification of The Other

[herongale]

This post, on the topic of female slashers writing about gay men, really struck a chord with me. A kind of annoyed, exasperated chord. So I started writing up a response, and as it got longer and longer, I realized that the most appropriate place for me to post this was in my own journal. I don't post about my opinions as often as I should in my

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[duskpeterson]

"I think that gay men should be allowed to to subvert and appropriate, and as a woman I appreciate the blurring of distinctions."

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying this.

Speaking generally about the debate as a whole (not about the specific article you link to), the oft-recurring assumption in this debate that "straight women are always straight women, while gay men are always gay men, and neither of them ever have gender/orientation identities that cross over with one another" has been puzzling me. It's been publicly pointed out, for example (by the very person I mention below), that one of the persons mentioned in the L.A. Times article who was described as a straight women is actually a bisexual with a fluid gender identity

[guanin]

Here's the way I see it. Saying that women (straight, lesbian, or anything in between) can't write about gay men because we can't experience it ourselves is the same thing as saying that men can't write about women. Or women write about straight men, for that matter. So no one then has the right to write any characters that don't match their own sexual orientation, gender, race, etc. and how is anything supposed to be written in that case? People get characters from different backgrounds than theirs wrong all the time, but not everyone does. A lot get them very right. Even though I may sometimes complain that a particular male writer has no idea how to handle his female character, that doesn't mean that I'm going to start crying that men should not write women ever, because that's ridiculous

[mauvecloud]

Should gay men stop designing clothes for women? After all, a gay man who designs clothes for a body he will never have is not all that different from a woman who writes stories for a life she will never lead. So, should I stop?

You're cool. I love you! :D

(I'm gonna be evil and mention that most of the anorexic models who parade the fashion designer's er designs resemble boys more than they resemble women.)

[anonymous]

Uh. Even bigots have the right to write what they want.

Actually, no, they don't. There are limits to free speech and have always been.

Try to write out a detailed plan about killing the president or everyone at your school/workplace. Good luck arguing about free speech.

Yes, there is always the defense "but it's just art" for racist or sexist or homophobic speech. That, of course, is only because the majority is neither. Try to have the same against the majority or a minority that is not declared an outlaw and watch what happens.

For example, oh, antisemitic stories. Watch the international outrage over the last two turqish stories about evil jews abducting an innocent turq and turning him into an arab killer.

Oddly, it's only bad when the minority isn't considered fine to exploit and bash.

I think it is possible to write fiction based on a lack of first hand knowledge

Yes, it is. That's not the issue, so overall, you're arguing against a strawman.

most individual such stories don't bring any cost to the minorities in