I was reminded tonight by a comment thread on a photo posted by a Supernatural Facebook group that I follow (that has annoyed me in the past because the maintainers throw so many of their personal opinions and details out there) where a piece of fan-art was featured that could have been slashy. Beyond the fact that they didn't even bother to link to the original artist's page/DA account, there was a discussion where someone brought up the fact that the picture was slightly sexual. One of the mods explained that it could be slashy, whereas the other said: "Slash is only good to some people and it's something we've never promoted or let people post on this page. Personally, I hate it." Subsequent comments predictably contained users' disgust with the idea, especially when it came to Wincest (because, you know, that's obviously the only slash pairing possible on SPN, and ALL SLASH must be condemned because it's probably incest. JEEZ.)
[But of course, they'll promote (and create entire galleries for) the mods' own fic and banners.]
I guess it's good to be reminded that in this corner of fandom (possibly the best corner!), we're not judged by one another so harshly, and our love for SPN and the actors is just as genuine as anyone else's. And because we have something linking us together that goes beyond superficial enjoyment of a television show, we're probably one of the strongest corners, too.
So basically, THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME, Y'ALL. And YAY slashy boysex (and girl sex!) \o/
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(And on a related note, my Teenage Fangirl has been gobbling up SPN on our new Netflix account and laughing her butt off about it on fb and the phone with me. She thinks the ongoing joke that everyone thinks they're lovers is fantastic, but I've never said the "slash" word.) LOL
But yes fandom is an awesome place.
Go us!
Anywho, long live slash!
:)
We're really lucky to be able to share and read to our heart's content here.
How is it possible that this quote has both depressed me and made me laugh like a loon?
But seriously, I had some strange run-ins with other fans. There's someone on deviantart who loves to preach to Wincesters/J2-fans how morally wrong they are.... Not to mention the even stranger comment I've gotten on a German page begging me to think about my life and my choices (which I did in length already ;)) and linking incest to paedophilia o.O. After a while, it just gets ridiculous.
People are ridiculous. Some of those people are probably the ones who think it's okay to invade celebrities' lives or raid the FB pages of relatives for pictures. o_O Thinking about my "life and my choices" hasn't gotten me any further than realizing I love what I write and I love what my friends write and draw. If we're "evil", then we're AMAZING at the same time :P
I guess being that Supernatural is my first fandom I am very aware that there's actually a bunch of people out there who are in fandom in varying ways - or even not at all. The judgement still surprises me though because as I mentioned to that friend - sure in many ways it's hot (goodness is it ever!), but it's always the story that gets me most and I can't deny the multitude of talented folks in this corner producing these stellar stories.
Luckily I think I am just in this corner of fandom where we're all a little bit more accepting of each other's quirks so I hardly run into the truly offensive stereotyping and comments.
It is crazy to think that we're just a part of the SPN fandom, and people ARE involved (or mostly uninvolved) in so many different ways (some of which I probably wouldn't approve of, like celebrity stalking). But I'm so glad I'm in *this* corner, you have no idea :P
Tumblr could be the aboslute worst though, I stopped going on there for all the pointless ship wars and how the biggest ploy in the ship wars is twisting how the characters or actors think all wincesters are sick and disgusting. You're right about Livejournal being the main spot where no one is judged for what they like because 9 times out of 10 someone likes the same thing you do. There's no wars or moral sides people stand on. It's what I love about livejournal the most.
Thank goodness I've never bothered with Tumblr!
Edited 2012-04-16 08:25 pm (UTC)
And absolutely, YAY for us! ♥
But I just wanted to drop in and say YES... I agree 100% with this post. What you say about this corner of fandom is one of the reasons I love it here so much. So thank you for the reminder. ♥