on fanfic, surprisingly enough
Mar. 19th, 2005 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanNow, it's been many a year since I wrote any fanfic, and sometimes I wonder why I even leave it all there on my website, but I do because occasionally people still discover my stuff and send me nice notes. And then there are the ... other people.
So the other day I got an email about my Xena fic Learning the Ropes, in which the writer claimed that a) since on the show Xena fucked any guy who came her way, she must not be a lesbian, and b) anyone who chooses to interpret Xena and Gabrielle as having a romantic/sexual relationship must think of lesbianism as mere "mutual masturbation" that straight women engage in while between male partners, and c) *I* specifically must not have a very high opinion of lesbianism, because I portray Xena and Gabrielle as involved with each other (??) and because in the above-referenced story they include a man in their sexual activities, which obviously proves that I think it's not sex unless it involves progeny.
Um. Okay, first of all, the fuck?
So I wrote back and said, first of all, that I don't know what she hopes to accomplish by flaming me over (her interpretation of) stuff that I wrote SEVEN YEARS AGO (the dates of the stories are clearly listed on my site), about a show that went off the air what, four or five years ago. And second of all, that I don't know where she gets off making assumptions about my opinion of lesbianism based solely on reading my fic, and not knowing me at all. And third of all, that I see Xena as a complex character who enjoys sex with men as a form of control but can only form real deep relationships with women; also known in dumbed-down vernacular as "bisexual."
Seriously, though, the fuck?
I mean, those of you who have ever written and/or read fanfic will probably understand when I say: I did not write "Learning the Ropes" as a polemic or treatise on the nature of lesbianism. I wrote it because it was itching me and I had to scratch*. I was intrigued by the idea of emphasizing all of Xena's antisocial, imperialistic, arrogant, sexually aggressive qualities, and putting that in the context of the modern-day academic world. I was interested in reshaping her relationship with Gabrielle as a complex BDSM dynamic, the kind where from the outside it looks like one partner wields all the power, but when you dig deeper you find that there's really a synergy, not to mention a true and deep love between the participants. Plus, of course, I wanted to write some hot three-way action between the two of them and some random guy. I think I accomplished all of the above pretty well.
And sure, there's plenty of subtext, so to speak, about my opinions on the Xena/Gabrielle dynamic in canon, and on BDSM, and on lesbianism, and so forth. If you read between the lines you might get a sense for my idea of why X and G choose to include a man in their sex games, and why they choose the particular man that they do, and what they hope to accomplish by it all. I could tell you what I intended by that, or you can read it and decide for yourself, or you can read it and choose to leave it murky as I wrote it. But you know what, I'm not taking any responsibility for a particular reader's interpretation that makes me look like a 'phobe, because that's just bullshit. End of story.
Whew. And that's more than I have written on the topic of fanfic in a looonnnnng time. heh.
In other news, today while Sally had Isaac, I cleared off and cleaned the bathroom sink and shelfy bit on top of the toilet, cleaned the toilet, scrubbed the tub, cleared off and cleaned a fair amount of the kitchen counters, cleared off much of the clutter from my computer desk and rearranged the computer components so as to make more space (did I really need two scanners on my desk, one of which isn't functional? Not so much), and burned a bunch of my important files to a CD for backup. So that was a lot accomplished, especially for like two hours' worth of work, so it feels good. And more importantly, it LOOKS good. And perhaps even more importantly, it SMELLS good. ;) Yay!
* When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. --Samuel Lover
So the other day I got an email about my Xena fic Learning the Ropes, in which the writer claimed that a) since on the show Xena fucked any guy who came her way, she must not be a lesbian, and b) anyone who chooses to interpret Xena and Gabrielle as having a romantic/sexual relationship must think of lesbianism as mere "mutual masturbation" that straight women engage in while between male partners, and c) *I* specifically must not have a very high opinion of lesbianism, because I portray Xena and Gabrielle as involved with each other (??) and because in the above-referenced story they include a man in their sexual activities, which obviously proves that I think it's not sex unless it involves progeny.
Um. Okay, first of all, the fuck?
So I wrote back and said, first of all, that I don't know what she hopes to accomplish by flaming me over (her interpretation of) stuff that I wrote SEVEN YEARS AGO (the dates of the stories are clearly listed on my site), about a show that went off the air what, four or five years ago. And second of all, that I don't know where she gets off making assumptions about my opinion of lesbianism based solely on reading my fic, and not knowing me at all. And third of all, that I see Xena as a complex character who enjoys sex with men as a form of control but can only form real deep relationships with women; also known in dumbed-down vernacular as "bisexual."
Seriously, though, the fuck?
I mean, those of you who have ever written and/or read fanfic will probably understand when I say: I did not write "Learning the Ropes" as a polemic or treatise on the nature of lesbianism. I wrote it because it was itching me and I had to scratch*. I was intrigued by the idea of emphasizing all of Xena's antisocial, imperialistic, arrogant, sexually aggressive qualities, and putting that in the context of the modern-day academic world. I was interested in reshaping her relationship with Gabrielle as a complex BDSM dynamic, the kind where from the outside it looks like one partner wields all the power, but when you dig deeper you find that there's really a synergy, not to mention a true and deep love between the participants. Plus, of course, I wanted to write some hot three-way action between the two of them and some random guy. I think I accomplished all of the above pretty well.
And sure, there's plenty of subtext, so to speak, about my opinions on the Xena/Gabrielle dynamic in canon, and on BDSM, and on lesbianism, and so forth. If you read between the lines you might get a sense for my idea of why X and G choose to include a man in their sex games, and why they choose the particular man that they do, and what they hope to accomplish by it all. I could tell you what I intended by that, or you can read it and decide for yourself, or you can read it and choose to leave it murky as I wrote it. But you know what, I'm not taking any responsibility for a particular reader's interpretation that makes me look like a 'phobe, because that's just bullshit. End of story.
Whew. And that's more than I have written on the topic of fanfic in a looonnnnng time. heh.
In other news, today while Sally had Isaac, I cleared off and cleaned the bathroom sink and shelfy bit on top of the toilet, cleaned the toilet, scrubbed the tub, cleared off and cleaned a fair amount of the kitchen counters, cleared off much of the clutter from my computer desk and rearranged the computer components so as to make more space (did I really need two scanners on my desk, one of which isn't functional? Not so much), and burned a bunch of my important files to a CD for backup. So that was a lot accomplished, especially for like two hours' worth of work, so it feels good. And more importantly, it LOOKS good. And perhaps even more importantly, it SMELLS good. ;) Yay!
* When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. --Samuel Lover
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 01:11 am (UTC)*shrug* This is amusing to me because a wank was brought up just recently where someone said that the fans ruined Xena by forcing the writers into making her a lesbian. Or something.
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Date: 2005-03-20 04:06 am (UTC)The thread this comes from is quite bizarre...
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Date: 2005-03-20 05:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 05:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 06:26 pm (UTC)Then's Pong fanfic!
sheesh.
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Date: 2005-03-20 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 04:12 am (UTC)I'm surprised at the way that Xena fandom seems to have gone so dead... Whereas with Blake's 7, the mailing lists continue at full volume and people read fanfic written 10 or even 20 years ago.
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Date: 2005-03-20 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 12:41 pm (UTC)(Possibly I might be rereading that story sometime soon. Please don't delete your stories, chlaal.)
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Date: 2005-03-20 12:47 pm (UTC)Thanks a heap, anonymous lady.
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Date: 2005-03-21 06:13 pm (UTC);-)
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Date: 2005-03-20 08:40 pm (UTC)I'm continually amazed by what people conclude about the author from reading fanfic.