Comment Meta

[amaresu]

Femslash Mini Meta fest was an utter fail this year. And I'm still not in a place where I could do it, so I purpose Comment Meta. And let's have it cover all things female and fannish. However you define those.

How it works

1. Post a meta topic in a top level comment. Use the subject line for the meta subject and expand as you want in the body of the comment. Or don't.

2. Repeat Step 1 for as many meta ideas as you have.

3. Comment on other meta topics.


It's kinda like a kink meme, only with meta. Feel free to browse the mini meta tag for ideas.

This is meant to be about as low pressure as it comes. Feel free to write on your own journal/Tumblr/blog and link back here. Respond with as little or as much as you want. This post will remain open indefinitely, so please track it if that makes things easier for you.

Comments

The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[alias_sqbr]

I have some nebulous thoughts inspired by other threads (including what seem to be some unspoken assumptions about our priorities), let's see if I can articulate them...

I love getting recommendations for femslashy sources and femslash friendly fannish spaces. Femslash and femslashers are in the minority in fandom and it can be lonely sometimes, it makes sense for us to stick together and help each other out. Sharing the femslashy squee is super fun, too.

But I don't see much point in trying very hard to push other people into femslashy canons, or into creating femslash for canons they're into in an unfemslashy way, or to push themselves to create more femslash in general if they don't feel super enthusiastic about it. Encouraging people to push a little outside their comfort zone, sure, but personally I don't have a lot of choice about what I feel fannish or creatively inspired about and I get the feeling most other fans don't either.

Femslashiness in a canon and/or fandom is a major draw for me, so advertising femslashiness is more likely to make me want to try it out, but it's definitely not sufficient to guarantee my attention. And I find the assumption that people work that way annoying given that most of ""femslash fandom"" (eg live action femslash fandom) actively avoids the massive collection of video game/comic/anime etc fandoms with canon ff and lots of femslashers. Which is fair enough, you can't make yourself like video games/comics/anime, but alas I also can't make myself like The Devil Wears Prada. And even within the types of fandoms I tend to be drawn towards I can't make myself like, say, fShep/Liara even though it's the major canon f/f ship for Mass Effect.

I feel a certain solidarity with fellow femslashers and am more open minded about checking out f/f ships that don't jump out at me than f/m and m/m ships, but femslashiness does not define me as a fan. I prefer canon ships, and ensemble casts with lots of women, and speculative fiction, which means I'd rather read Dragon Age het or even slash than RPF femslash. And poking at the popular femslash fandoms on the AO3 there are lots I "should" like based on my general preferences but just...don't. That's just the way fannishness works.

So I guess I feel like pushing people towards femslash and femslashy canons (rather than just making it easier to get into) is a losing game for all concerned.

Do other people feel similarly? Or do you like being pushed to make more femslash/get into more femslashy sources etc when you wouldn't naturally? Have you had success pushing other people? Am I just misreading this talk of "pushing" and all you guys mean is "squeeing in an infectious manner"? Because I am totally down with squeeing in an infectious manner :D

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[cantarina]

For me, it's definitely more a way of enabling "squeeing in an infectious manner" than pushing, because like you said, this stuff can't be forced. That said, I might have actually watched LotS while it was airing if it had had a bigger presence in my comms and on my reading list/flist?

There are definitely some huge cultural divides in different parts of f/f fandom that I don't think we can or maybe even should break all the way down, but I've gotten into media through its fandoms before and look forward to doing it again.

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[alias_sqbr]

That said, I might have actually watched LotS while it was airing if it had had a bigger presence in my comms and on my reading list/flist?


*nods* Infectious squee can definitely be effectively infectious sometimes :)

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[sarken]

I'm definitely more of a"squeeing in an infectious manner" type when it comes to "pushing" femslash. As a monofannish person, it's always super awkward when a friend is like, "You should watch X, you'll love it!" directly to me -- it feels like they're trying to get me to leave my current fandom, even though I know that's not their intention, and it's just kind awkward to reply to a direct suggestion like that. So I try to stick to journal posts about how much I love my current fannish object, or encouraging a person if they mention they're already thinking about getting into my fandom, but I try not to give unsolicited (or, heck, even solicited) one-on-one pushes about things people have not already explicitly expressed a vague interest in.

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[alias_sqbr]

As a monofannish person, it's always super awkward when a friend is like, "You should watch X, you'll love it!" directly to me

That wrinkle never occured to me, I can see how that could be an issue! As a multifannish person I actually don't mind one-on-one tailored recs of a canon from a friend who knows my specific tastes, as long as they accept that even if I do like the canon I'm unlikely to get super fannish about it. I had some mild awkwardness recently when a friend I made through Homestuck fandom got me into Dangan Ronpa, the canon she moved onto after she stopped liking Homestuck... and then I continued to be much more of a Homestuck fan than a Dangan Ronpa fan.

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[croissantkatie]

I am definitely a "squeeing in an infectious manner" sort of person. I don't want to push anything on people, I just want to share the joy with others.

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[alias_sqbr]

*nods* That seems to be the general response :)

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[hebethen]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone be like "You! Regardless of your past history of fannish interests, go check out this femslashy canon and produce activity for it!"

???

Like is this a response to femslash-celebrating events or... idk... people complaining about the scarcity of f/f? One's positive and one's negative but I don't think either is a directed "push".

What makes a canon easier to get into?

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah this is one of those comments where I think I had a point under there somewhere but all I ended up doing was confusing everyone in including myself /o\ I'm going to put it aside and let the idea stew some more until I can express it better.

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[hebethen]

Haha okay here is the pot lid and a can of stock in case it starts reducing too much :P

Re: The limits of "encouraging" femslash

[lea_hazel]

My fannishness is strongly dependent on cross-pollination. If lots of people on my dash are squeeing about the same fandom at the same time, I'll get into it. That's how Cinders happened. A pairing that never occurred to me could pop out in a prompt or a random generator, and if someone writes or draws it well, I'll start to see the appeal. If people float ideas for A/Us and tropes, it makes other people want to take those ideas and give them their own twist. So, while I'll always be drawn most to certain things, my experience in fandom is strongly shaped by what the people I hang with are into.

Someone just has to be the one to generate a new idea. Then people either take to it, or they don't. Sometimes you see a pairing or an idea ans go, "Huh, I never would have thought of that." But the idea itself is awesome, and it sticks.

It's also about pushing oneself. No, there are some things that I'll never be into, but I still like to challenge myself as a write. Often the results are more rewarding than I imagined. Sometimes I try to push myself and it doesn't stick, like when I tried to get into mainstream TV fandom femslash, or to slash the only two female characters in a dude-centric blockbuster. But, it's always worth a try.