An essay on Slash fanfiction

1.           Why are slash writers more likely to be female?

According to pop psychology, on average females are more sexually aroused by words, where males are by visual stimuli. Therefore, while men tend to watch pornographic films, women tend to read pornographic novels.

Concordantly, it is females who write fanfiction whereas sexually explicit fanart is more evenly done by males and females.

It is my theory that many are young females because teens are usually still getting to grips with sex and sexuality; fanfiction is a safe way of exploring sexuality (especially ‘sexual taboos’ such as homosexuality and bi-sexuality), adult relationships and sexual fantasy. I think that might account for some of the more lurid tales that get put online. And this isn’t just for teen girls. I think FiftyShades of Grey (that what once was a Twilight Fanfiction) is evidence that Fanfiction taps into the ‘forbidden sexual fantasy’ but in a tame, controlled manner so people feel safe reading and indulging in it.

2.           Why does there seem to be more slash than heterosexual fanfiction?

I think most people would agree that there is a lot of homosexual pairings (especially between males) in anime and manga fanfiction. 

I think the reason for this is-

a)  Males characters in manga and fanfiction tend to be far more interesting and three-dimensional. Females characters often fall into very stereotypical roles, to the point where they are almost indistinguishable between one anime from another. In manga’s and anime’s that have stronger more interesting female roles, the level

of slash fanfiction tends to be a little lower.

Example: In Death Note there is a lot of slash between the two males, even more than the canon heterosexual pairings. This is because (I believe) the only females that people like are Misora (a side character who is quickly killed off) and Misa Amane (a main character who is a little bit like marmite: people either love her or hate her.) However the males are much more interesting and often the relationships between them are portrayed as complicated, obsessive and intense. The female relationships are portrayed as weak and superficial.

However, in Dragon ball Z fandom, the canon relationship between Bulma and Vegita is far more popular than the relationship between Vegita and Goku. The reason may be that Bulma was a popular character; she was as sexual, flawed and heroic as the males were. Plus, while the romance was brushed over in the manga and anime for obvious reasons (it was never concerned with romance, but action) the relationship between the two was tense, exciting, unexpected and interesting.

In conclusion, I argue that fans simply like these sort of relationships. While some specifically like malexmale, regardless of any legitimacy or how interesting it is, I argue that most fans simply want more interesting canon relationships, and if that does not happen, they create their own, and anime/manga males are, on average, more interesting.

3.           Do I support slash fanfiction?

I don’t have a problem with it, to be honest. As mentioned before, for young people I think it’s a safe way of exploring sexuality, but mainly I  think that non canon slash is no more *heinous* than non-canon heterosexual relationships. The argument many put against slash is that it is ooc. But how is it any more ooc than ANY non-canon relationship? Therefore, shouldn’t all non-canon pairings be as criticised as much as slash?

Plus, slash can be interesting because sometimes canon love interest characters are boring.

For example, in Tokyo mew mew the non-canon heterosexual airing of Ichigo and Kish is more interesting than the canon one because Ichigo’s canon boyfriend is a typical Gary Stu.

On the other hand, the relationship of Fai and Kurogane inTsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is far more interesting than any of the heterosexual ones. This would be because Syaoran and Sakura are so much more boring in Tsubasathan they were in their previous incarnation in Card Captor Sakura. In Card Captor Sakura, Syaoran was a brat and Sakura was a funny, strong-willed heroine. They worked well together; Syaoran made Sakura work harder and take her role seriously, whereas Sakura made him loosen up, become more child-like and have fun with friends. But in Tsubasa Sakura spends most of the time asleep and when she does wake up I was under the clear impression CLAMP had added her simply to dress her in different ‘cute’ outfits. Likewise Syoaran, whilst still a pretty decent character, had all of his flaws and humour taken away and instead became a typical hero you find in most anime and manga novels.

 So, it isn’t that Fai and Kurogane are the better couple because they are both male, it’s because they are more realistic and interesting. I can believe that they would fall in love. I can believe that they are a couple, and I not only want them to be happy together, but I want to see where their relationship will go.

Slash should not be demonised simply for being non-canon. The point of fanfiction is to keep the characters as in character as possible, but throwing them into new exciting circumstances, and seeing how they deal with it. It’s about adding an extra dimension to a world that already exists. In other words, most of fanfiction is non-canon, but that doesn’t make it bad fanfiction.

4.           Good slash versus bad slash?

I have repeatedly argued that fanfic slash is not dependent on people being drawn to homosexual porn/smut for the sake of it or is OOC.

However, as with all types of fanfic, there are pairings out there that are so wild they are OOC. These pairings usually have a forced feel to them and are very difficult to write good fanfiction for.

For example, it takes a good writer to make LxLight fromDeath Note work. In canon they wanted to kill each other. Literally. There was nothing but animosity between them. Sure, you can argue that things improved whilst Light had forgotten all about being a psychopath and was working with L to defeat ‘Kira’, but L didn’t like Light’s personality. Light was childish and spiteful. Despite L being very similar, he still looked down on how petulant Light could be because L, at his worst, was cold-hearted. Light at his worst was...well...Kira.

So it is especially hard to make that pairing work in theDeath Note universe and not an AU.

Some slash is also pure pornography or smut. Whilst I have no issue with people reading smut or porn, I can also understand why many fans of a genre feel annoyed, if not offended, by their favourite characters being twisted in such a way in order to fulfil a sexual fantasy.

It is in this sense that I stress for fanfic writers to try and respect people’s feelings if not the original authors) and to at least try and keep characters as true to themselves as possible. Also, by taking on the criticisms that slash haters have to offer, this could encourage a raising of standards in fanfiction- people who listen and apply criticism tend to become better writers.

Just my two pence J