A New Fannish Phenomenon; or, Where's Oprah when I need her?
by Lilac
A New Fannish Phenomenon; or, Where's Oprah when I need her?
This is kind of weird but evidently there's an idea circulating in a certain (and if you read "certain" as "younger" I don't think anyone would blame you) segment of fandom that reading slash makes you bisexual.
And I'm not talking about teen girls reading femmeslash and saying, "Hey! That there, that's hot! It's, um, something I'd like to try, especially with that cute Julie from homeroom."
No, I'm talking about young women who are reading male/male slash and deciding that because they like the pretty pretty boys making with kissy and the licky and the sucky, that this somehow makes them bi-. And not in the "I want to make out with chicks now!" way, but more in the "hey, I read gay stuff so I must be at least bisexual" way.
Well. Well, well, well.
I need someone to explain to me how this works. How just reading something and getting turned on makes you decide you're bisexual, as opposed to, say, actual interest in and (sexual/romantic) involvement with a member of the same sex. Because I'm sorry, I just don't follow. I mean, if that were the case, furries would be turning into wolves and squirrels and cats left and right. And men who watch hot girl-on-girl action would be turning bisexual too, wouldn't they? Jeez, that would mean, what, 97%* of the straight male population is actually bisexual?
Yeah. I don't think so. Reading slash (male or femmeslash) might make you more gay-friendly. I can see that. It may open your mind to different ways of thinking about sexuality, others' and your own. But reading slash does not make you bi-, nor give you any real fandom queer cred.* * You're going to have to lick some cooter, girls,*** to get that title.
*Okay, 99.9%. Sorry.
**And we know pretending to have fandom queer cred is a bad thing since we all read that rant about straight girls co-opting lesbian/bi-, I don't know, culture? Textual signs of physical affection? Something like that. Honestly, I didn't actually follow the whole thing, but I think what it boiled down to was that fangirls are not supposed to say, "smoochies!" to another fangirl, unless they actually suck face with chicks in real life. There might have been more, but I got lost, since I was busy deleting any comments where I typed *snogs* to a person I didn't actually intend to snog, in case the Fangirl Mafia came after me.
***or suck some dick, if you're one of the rare straight males in fandom who reads male/male slash. Actually, *are* there any straight male fans who read slash and like it? I don't know any, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Email me with anecdotal evidence if you have any, fangirls; or, straight males, email me and tell me if you read slash. And if you read femmeslash (or watch girl/girl porn), do you consider yourself bisexual now? Inquiring minds want to know.