Picking the Collective Femslash Brain: Femslash as a Fandom

[dagas_isa]

If there is in fact, a collective brain, I'd like to ask it a few questions. I've recently been wondering about Femslash fandom as a whole and thinking about whether it exists and how it manifests.

• Does femslash fandom (as a larger entity) exist?
  
• If it does, what, other than the obvious (having at least one f/f ship), are the central features of femslash fandom?
  
• How is femslash fandom culture different from (or the same as?) het fandom/guyslash fandom?
  
• What are the main fannish interactions in femslash fandom?
  
• Are there any femslash fans who are exclusively into femslash?
  
• What are the canons that you think most femslash fans would (or should) know through osmosis (that is, they might never have experienced them, but would know through discussion/meta)?
  
• What are your personal experiences being a femslasher in a (small/large/eastern/western/etc) fandom?
  

Tell me, what are your thoughts on femslash?

(I have thoughts, but it's easier to ask questions than give a hazy reply based on a limited sample and my experiences in small fandoms.)

Comments

[ranrata]

Interesting questions! There's definitely a larger femslash fandom/culture. I can't help but notice it, as someone who likes quite a few femslash pairings, but finds larger femslash fandom...inaccessible? I just kind of flit around the edges, occasionally finding something I like, occasionally contributing.

I've been trying to determine what causes certain ships/shows to become popular in femslash fandom. I can usually predict this for het and slash fandoms, even if I don't like said ship/pairing, but I'm continually baffled by what takes off (or doesn't) in femslash fandom. I've also noticed crossover pairings seem to be a lot more common.

I don't know if I've sampled a large enough selection, but there does seem to be a certain style to the fic that's quite distinct. I'm not sure how to describe it. I tend to prefer femslash that isn't written in this style, though.

This is regarding media fandom based on LJ/DW. I was heavily into Sailor Moon fandom for years, and the experience was completely different!

[dagas_isa]

OMG icon! ♥

*ahem* (PGSM Rei/Minako is something of an OTP for me)

I'm not hugely into media fandom, but I'm guessing the difficulty in guessing femslash fandoms is that it's harder to find shows with women interacting with each other so the relationship is built on what fans project on to the women versus something in their canon interaction. This could also explain crossovers, where canons have just one awesome female.

Which yeah, is so drastically different from Sailor Moon, where the femslash fandom is almost built in.

I'm continually baffled by what takes off (or doesn't) in femslash fandom?

What ships have surprised you (either by taking off or not)?

[ranrata]

PGSM Rei/Minako is something of an OTP for me
I always thought there was ~something~ going on between them in the manga, but PGSM just went into overdrive! (To this day I swear they were made slashier to make up for the absence of Haruka/Michiru.)

so the relationship is built on what fans project on to the women versus something in their canon interaction.
This makes sense...a lot of femslash fic reads this way to me.

What ships have surprised you (either by taking off or not)?
In Grey's Anatomy, I'm surprised Meredith/Cristina and Cristina/Teddy aren't the most popular non-canon pairings--Meredith kicks her husband out of bed for Cristina, and Cristina wanted to swap her boyfriend for Teddy! In Dollhouse, Caroline/Bennett was practically canon, but I've seen zero fic; instead Echo/Sierra (okay, they're friends...) and Claire/Adelle (huh?) are more common.

In House fandom, Cameron/13 is ridiculously popular. I think the two characters had one scene together, and I'm not sure they even spoke to each other in it. So I'm baffled by the lack of Amber/Cuddy, since they actually interacted, and there were some strong feelings there (granted, negative ones, but still). River/Amy is huge in Doctor Who right now...I'm not surprised people ship it, but I'm surprised by how big it is.

Even the big fandoms confuse me--Devil Wears Prada, the new Alice in Wonderland, Law & Order? Huh? But the fandom is near non-existent for Nurse Jackie (I know it's on Showtime, but still), where one of the women is canonically bisexual. I've become so confused about what will be popular that I second-guessed myself about Rizzoli & Isles taking off.

[pseudo_tsuga]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one confused by the popularity of The Devil Wears Prada femslash since I didn't twig on it at all. I think, though, that the hardened mentor/idealistic student is such a popular dynamic that people immediately became interested in Miranda/Andy even if the canon didn't quite back up all the ways people prefer to have it play out.

[shadowings]

I think some part of the surprising thing about which femslash pairings/fandoms take off is who writes for it too, because there is so much less of it compared to the glut of het/slash fic. Specifically when I think of DWP I think of those few writers that are talented and enjoy writing epics - the fandom seems to center around them.

Also there are shallow factors involved for sure. With House, Cameron and 13 are the conventionally thin, attractive alluring people that both look pretty and both look pretty together. Cuddy is older, and Amber isn't not attractive, but she's no Cameron or 13. With the Harry Potter fandom, the most popular femslash pairings by far and away are those that feature the young, femmey people. There's McGonagall fic and there's Hooch fic and there's Tonks fic in abundance, but it pales in comparison to Ginny, Hermione, Pansy, Fleur, Luna, other people.

(Hope thread-jumping is cool in here!)

[soukup]

there does seem to be a certain style to the fic that's quite distinct. I'm not sure how to describe it. I tend to prefer femslash that isn't written in this style, though.

I'm so curious about what you mean by this. While I can see that it makes total logical sense that in theory some sort of common style or set of conventions might evolve among femmeslash writers, I don't think I have enough basis for comparison to notice it myself! Are there any tropes or styles (or whatever, really) that stand out to you as being a part of this? Even if they only account for a tiny piece of the larger thing you meant, I'd still be very interested to hear about them.

(Also, btw, I am a femmeslasher, but I am very difficult to offend; if you wind up saying that you don't like something which I do, I will not be upset by that! *g*)

Re: (Hope thread-jumping is cool in here!)

[ranrata]

It's hard to describe, since I often backspace out of fic written in this style after a paragraph or two. It feels...very removed from canon. I recognize the characters, and the writing is fine (good, even excellent), but it reads like original fiction, somehow. Doesn't matter if it's pwp or what, I've seen it turn up in all types of fic. I wish I could be more specific, but I never really looked into it closely.

There were two fic written for a pairing I like recently, one I couldn't get through because it was written in this style. I really wish I could find the link for comparison.

Re: (Hope thread-jumping is cool in here!)

[soukup]

How interesting! I often feel like *all* of my writing probably reads like original fic -- in fact I'd say my favourite stories (both my own and those written by other folks) are the ones that really take the canon in new directions. I definitely haven't sampled enough of femmeslash fandom as a whole to evaluate whether that's a more general trend, but I'm going to keep my eye out for it from now on.