I’m not sure why, but I’m getting more pokes, links and
hits on my m/m fiction and slash tag again; I think I’ve been linked somewhere
again, I don’t know. Either way, my inbox is getting a definite uptick on stuff
related (including an inordinate number of book recommendations, many of which
are… questionable to say the least).
Anyway, people are asking opinions (read the tag, I’ve
pretty much said everything and don’t see why repeating it will matter) and
trying to push me to various discussions. I’m not sure why, maybe because they
want my take, maybe because they and their friends want to play ambush or maybe
because they want to use me as a weapon in their own personal little
grudgematches,.
Look, I really don’t want to join any discussion, debate
or musing on slash and/or m/m fiction on any forum or blog or whatever because
too much of this whole debate, genre, fandom, category are places I don’t
consider safe spaces for gay men. Sure there are some safe spaces out there,
but they are the minority and I don’t want to dip my fingers into various pools
to figure out which ones have piranhas in them
But if you really think there is a debate, discussion or
musing on slash (involving men, rather than femslash or slash involving women)
and m/m fiction that you really want to tell me about then please check it
against these 2 questions first (these aren’t the only questions I have before
I consider a place safe, but these are the first hurdle).
1) Is anyone
saying “these are not aimed at gay men” or “these aren’t for gay men” or “these
don’t involve gay men” or something similar without being dogpiled with giant
ant-eaters?
If so then uckies – that’s objectification right there.
Gay and bi men are objects, tools, things to this place, not people in our own
right. Objectification is one of dehumanising elements of fetishisation. I’d
rather stay away
2) If this is a
discussion/debate/busy comment thread, etc
does it contain a significant number of gay or bisexual men? If there
are a number of people involved discussing this, how many of them are gay or bi
men?
If the answer is “none” or “a teeny minority” or “a very
small proportion” then I’m going to stay away as well. The idea of genre
entirely based around a marginalised identity constantly being analysed by
groups of people that exclude (or include a few small tokens) the people being
written about is always something I’m deeply uncomfortable about and usually
means I don’t want to be anywhere near the place. I generally have the same
opinion of any context – if I went to a convention (unlikely but still) and
there was a panel on “Writing about X minorities” and the 6 person panel were
all from people who aren’t X and the room was overflowing with people who aren’t
X, I’d be dubious.
Frankly, I’m unlikely to appreciate any attempts to drag
me into any forum or group on the subject because it causes me no shortage of
grey hairs – but if a group/discussion/forum/etc fails either of these tests, then
I’m doubly unwilling. Not only that, but if you’re pointing me towards such a
group without at least a disclaimer then I probably don’t want to discuss m/m
fiction and slash with you either.
