Okay, fandom, let's have some words about how you see yourself.

[sarolynne]

Actually, I admit, we could have a metric fuckton of words about a right shitload of things. But I had something in particular in mind today. Today, what I was thinking about in particular is how you seem to think you are just dominated by slash. When I peruse various fandom areas, it seems to be this narrative I run flat into time and again.

Comments

[mildmay]

It's like you're saying het exists. O:

But you know I agree. I actually felt like there was more het than slash in HP fandom, over all. Sirius/Remus and Harry/Draco were very common, but there were tons of healthy het ships. Hermione got paired with just about every male character in the series. And Draco/Ginny had a strong following, too.

[sarolynne]

That's the thing--I sometimes feel like there's probably more het in Naruto than slahs, but everyone focuses on the Sasuke/Naruto. And yeah, I think that very well might be the single biggest pairing. At the same time, I think the next... like. FIVE biggest pairings afterward are probably het. Seriously.

I could be wrong. I wouldn't even be shocked if I was. But sometimes, it does seem that way.

It's amazing though. Het is like so ubiquitous that people just forget it exists sometimes, it seems.

[evercool]

This has always boggled me. Further, since I mostly browse japanese sites, and hentai always seems to much dominate yaoi in the porn area.;;;; I think fandom must wear 3D gay goggles-- all of the gay pops out in 3D and they miss all of the het or something. It's weirder still because it seems like when it comes to 'shipping' wank it's most always main het pairing(s) vs, main gay pairings(s) or something similar and both sides always seem pretty evenly matched despite constant cries of otherwise... which is probably why those types of wars tend to never end. /sigh

It reminds me of how Christians can act oppressed in a nation where as many as 80% of people identify as Christian.

THIS x90000000000000.;;;; I am always torn between confusion and I-did-not-think-this-could-further-disappoint-me-but-it-has when I see this. Oh, religion.

[sarolynne]

Yeah, exactly! Hell, a lot of shipping wank is between two het pairings, too!

The 3D gay goggles sort of seems like an accurate way to describe it. Like the gay seems to pop out and everyone notices it.

[llamrei]

As someone who shipped only het until I was like... 20, you're absolutely right. I was a fan of Gundam Wing het, for instance! The fandom was there! I don't recall ever being upset that there wasn't a fanbase for it!

I still ship het a lot, because for me it's certain pairings that click and not really what genders they are, and sure, for some het pairings there is a lot less fic than there is for the slash pairing. ...But there are also fandoms where it's the other way around. It's really what pairing happens to become more popular, and when it's a slash pairing that becomes the most popular, people start believing it's clearly only because it is slash.

[sarolynne]

Yeah, I agree with that--that it's not just about the genders. Gender is only a part of who a character is, and really, not normally all that hugely important of a part.

People somehow assume that Sasuke/Naruto ends up popular just because they're two guys, and not because, you know... they are epically in love with one another, whether or not that love is romantic in the canon. XD

[llamrei]

Sasuke/Naruto is extremely popular for many reasons, most of which have very little to do with the fact that they are boys. If either of them were female, they would likely be considered the canon love interest.

[sarolynne]

It is so true. If Naruto were a girl, Sasuke/Naruto would have EVERYONE sure they'd eventually become canon.

That's my thing with slash--most of the slash pairings that I like, if the characters were opposite sexes, would seem like a potential love interest. Not necessarily a canon love interest, no, but still definitely as much a love interest as any number of het ships I liked.

So why not ship them too?

[midnigh_unicorn]

I've largely only read slash/yaoi fanfic because.....it tends to be a hundred times better than het fics I find with the same search effort. In fact, the only het fics I read are by authors I found who proved themselves as (let's coin a new term!) slash artists...hm, nevermind, that sucks.

Personally I think a lot more people are where I am, which is 'oh look, yaoi, let's give it a shot/oh look het, moving on' or 'oh look, het, let's give it a shot/oh look yaoi, moving on,' it's the complainers who talk so loudly, versus the majority who don't give enough of a shit to.

Then of course, I sit in a small little community where mostly everybody's reasonable most of the time

[sarolynne]

It might be. I have no idea, really. In my experience, both slash and het are mostly not well written. I don't mean that as an attack or anything. I just personally find that on the whole, most of everything isn't awesome.

Which I'm in the mood for at any given time depends on a lot of things, and that's fine.

No doubt about the complainers being the loudest, though. (Look at me, for example.) XD

[rosalui]

I kind of love you right now. ._. People who are so blinded to something they cannot be reasoned with make me want to tear my hair out. DX

[sarolynne]

I think most people would agree with that.