Kicking the Anthill

Someone posted to the Mediaminer.org a question on whether or not we thought that the lack of flaming of yaoi fans was a sign of the increasing acceptance of homosexuality:
The post

To summarize, most of the comments were agreeing with the original -- basically yaoi fans patting themselves on the back for being so open-minded.

Here's my response:

Well, yaoi has always been a fandom thing... the non-anime designation, slash (though I note that slash indicates both m/m and f/f pairings) was said to be coined in the Original Star Trek fandom as a short hand for Kirk/Spock. Thus, the concept has existed well before ff.net and mm.org.

For me, it's a personal thing. I do not consider myself a yaoi fangirl. I will not attach to any pairing because the two people in it happen to both be male, or are bishounen I find attractive, or that I think would make a steamy lemon, if some way could be contrived to make them jump into bed with each other. What I do judge on is what the canon shows about how two characters would get along, their probable sexual preference, and existing relationships, both between them and the rest of the cast. I support yaoi, yuri and het pairings mostly equally. I can ship Lina/Naga or Lina/Gourry, depending on the fic, and I think Hotohori/Nuriko is just as cute during the Fushigi Yugi TV series as it will be when their reincarnations grow up. As of now, I see most of the characters I like to write for as straight -- probably because many of them have canon straight romances. That could change, if I decided to write fanfic for a different anime.

I think the yaoi vs. het debate depends more on the age of the fandom's popular release. When a fandom has just become popular, it gets flooded with newbies, who have different opinions. Some of them are immature enough to flame someone for having a different opinion (about a character's sexuality, or even which character he/she should end up with). Some of the writers being flamed, will be thin skinned enough to counter-flame, and a flame war begins. As a fandom ages, the enthusiasm dies down -- there are fewer new faces, and the old ones have heard all the pro and con arguments that no one needs to rehash it.

I do think our society is becoming more accepting of gay/lesbian relationships -- Canada has legalized same-sex marriages, and the Supreme Court has rules that a Texas law banning homosexual sex acts (but allowing the same acts to be done by a heterosexual couple) as unconstitutional. I would not point to yaoi in fandoms as a sign though -- if this was true, then yuri fics would be much more common as well. One is far more likely to find a straight romance for a female character than a lesbian one. This is not always true for males, especially in series, such as Lord of the Rings, that are very homosocial* and that have few female characters. While yaoi may be many things, a sign of the acceptance of homosexuality it is most likely not.

*homosocial = social interactions between those of the same gender. For example, a story about soldiers during World War II would be homosocial -- no romance, no sex, but the fact that one is not likely to find a woman in this environment means that you will most likely be writing about male friendships and bonding.

Who wants to predict the reaction?

(no subject)

Spent most of this weekend hanging out with uncreativity, yuuo and Sara. In fact, an off-hand comment helped inspire this spam-fic. Mmm... spam...

We also played far too much Pokemon Puzzle League, and I got to hear Uncreativity's theories about Daria yaoi.

Still not finished on my picture for MOMC. I hope Kern got my e-mail. Phillee is now colored, but needs to be shaded. The woman has the dress sense of a magpie, I think.

I want a flame. But I want to deserve one. It's like my friend Cece and the nightstick thing -- she wants to be beaten by a nightstick. However, it can't just be anyone -- it has to be a cop and it has to be because she is doing something that deserves it.

... anyways, I want to be so righteously critical that some immature little writer who shouldn't be on the Internet without adult supervision gets angry and attacks an honest criticism with an irrational flame. I want to kick the anthill of bad fandom and watch the tiny denizens scurry madly at my feet whilst I laugh at their puny insignificance! Bwa ha ha!