Was It Right To Love Her Brother's Wife So Passionately?
yeah, class was interesting today. we were discussing the impact of lesbian pulp novels in 1950s society.
Keller, the author of the essay with this journal's title, broke down the genre into two different categories - "pro-lesbian" and "virile male adventure." we established that both categories of the genre targeted straight, middle-aged men, which begged the question from the professor, "why do men want to read about two females having sex?"
when the awkward silence stretched on, she told us about this book from the 70s/80s by a man named Jenkins who writes a whole chapter on "fanfiction" - air quotes included. i nearly died laughing. then she says he writes another chapter on "slash fiction" and she proceeded to explain what that was, using a Kirk and Spock reference (eww), and suddenly felt singled out.
she then explains that Jenkins writes that these slash fictions are written by straight women, and so leads to the question of why women write about men's homosexual relationships, which one of the theories is that women (in the 80s) couldn't see themselves in an equal relationship with men and so wrote about gay relationships between men to enjoy the "equal-ness" of that relationship.
anyway, one of my classmates said that she reads fanfiction and that she was under the impression that most of it was written by 17 year old boys. the professor answered that Jenkins agrees with this stereotype, and that fanfiction writers are thought of as nerds who live in their parents' basements and have never kissed a girl. that's where i felt offended, kinda, but in an amused way. and i was just waiting for the perfect moment to say, "yo, hello? i write slash/fanfiction..."
anyway, so yeah, class was interesting, to say the least. we'll be on this subject for the next week, if not two, so if you've got some lovely tidbits or opinions that you'd like to add to the discussion, i wouldn't mind sounding smart and actively participating in class, you know? ^.~
Keller, the author of the essay with this journal's title, broke down the genre into two different categories - "pro-lesbian" and "virile male adventure." we established that both categories of the genre targeted straight, middle-aged men, which begged the question from the professor, "why do men want to read about two females having sex?"
when the awkward silence stretched on, she told us about this book from the 70s/80s by a man named Jenkins who writes a whole chapter on "fanfiction" - air quotes included. i nearly died laughing. then she says he writes another chapter on "slash fiction" and she proceeded to explain what that was, using a Kirk and Spock reference (eww), and suddenly felt singled out.
she then explains that Jenkins writes that these slash fictions are written by straight women, and so leads to the question of why women write about men's homosexual relationships, which one of the theories is that women (in the 80s) couldn't see themselves in an equal relationship with men and so wrote about gay relationships between men to enjoy the "equal-ness" of that relationship.
anyway, one of my classmates said that she reads fanfiction and that she was under the impression that most of it was written by 17 year old boys. the professor answered that Jenkins agrees with this stereotype, and that fanfiction writers are thought of as nerds who live in their parents' basements and have never kissed a girl. that's where i felt offended, kinda, but in an amused way. and i was just waiting for the perfect moment to say, "yo, hello? i write slash/fanfiction..."
anyway, so yeah, class was interesting, to say the least. we'll be on this subject for the next week, if not two, so if you've got some lovely tidbits or opinions that you'd like to add to the discussion, i wouldn't mind sounding smart and actively participating in class, you know? ^.~