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

[fennel]

I'm possibly a bit odd in that het really ucks me out, while I find both boyslash and femslash hot (and interesting in the non-smut variety). Which makes no sense.

It does make sense, I think. I feel mostly like that.

Although I have a F/F preference, I still think some M/M is hot. Het never - the only het ship in recent years I could stand was because for a change, it wasn't dripping with sexism, and I still only found them somewhat cute, not particularly hot.

[unsettledink]

Thinking back, I can remember a few het fics I found actually hot - or interesting - so now I'm wondering why it holds so little appeal for me.

I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that I really enjoy character whumping and extremely messed up relationship dynamics, and that feels … to close to life in het? I'm not sure. But when I think of some of the fics I enjoy most in m/m, reading those same situations in m/f would cause me to back button rather than UNF. …and thinking some more, I've read those situations in f/f and really enjoyed it. Hmmm.