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

[pseudo_tsuga]

Yes!! I haven't been on livjeournal in forever, though, so I must have missed your fics. Do you have any links? Are you on ao3?

Yeah, Oofuri is pretty bad because there are two main female characters and the moms...and that's it. Even if they're treated badly, Naruto and Bleach both have a lot of female characters who have lots of interactions with other females. Plus some have intense history together so it's sometimes almost laughably easy to write them together. I also have a very femslash-friendly flist including one person who digs up lots of f/f fanart so I'm willing to accept I may see more of it than the average fan. But I do still see a least a lot more visiblity. However, that also may be affected by the fandoms I read in as I'm sure stuff like Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Prince of Tennis (both of which I've never read) with mostly-male casts don't have much femslash.

ETA: Also, there's a lot more animanga where the femslash is canon and important. Some of them aren't even schoolgirl stories! sob. Just check out Lililicious and daily_yuri on livejournal. Whereas for TV shows we have...the L Word. And that's it.

[littlebutfierce]

Yes, all my Oofuri fics (most of which are femslash) are here. They're mostly not connected to each other but possibly better to start in date order? IDK... & no obligation to read, period, of course!! But yeah, there they are. Heh.

Given fandom's propensity for obsessing over even really minor & obscure characters, I kind of figured there would be more Oofuri femslash, even given the, um, limitations. (Shinooka is SO BORING in canon--by which I mean the anime & only the scanlated manga--that I almost feel like I have to write her to make her more interesting.)

Thanks for those links! I will check them out. I admit my perceptions of femslash fandom are colored by the fact that I v. v. rarely read fic in fandoms I'm not in--unlike lots of people, I don't generally tend to find it useful as a way to find new fandoms to get into (I like to read fic already knowing the background & able to spot the changes or openings the writer's made). Buuuut... I feel like I may have to revise that strategy w/femslash, cuz yes, I would like more of it! ;_; (& yet I have never really watched Sailor Moon, go figure.)