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

[dagas_isa]

I would say there is a definitely a difference in the type of fic produced overall, all the same types of fic as in het/boyslash etc exist but in different ratios. More unrequited bittersweet endings and understated realism, I'd say, and less long plotty fics.

I've observed both of these things too, and I wonder if the less long plotty fics has to to with the fact that they require a higher amount of work for the likely feedback, and that as far as finding drive-by femslash, it requires a much higher commitment from readers. For me, I guess, reading say a 2,000 word f/f fic for a fandom I'm unfamiliar with is easier than reading a 20,000 word fic.

As for the higher degree of realism/bittersweetness: I do think it's a combination of more queer women writing femslash and trying not to write faux-lesbian porn.

[sqbr]

I do think it's a combination of more queer women writing femslash and trying not to write faux-lesbian porn.

Heh. Quite possibly in general, but with my reading habits the most common alternative to sad realism (and what I was thinking of) is cheerful silliness, not porn :D That said I do sometimes wonder if the fact that I prefer (and write) happy, often quite crack-ish femslash has anything to do with the fact that I'm straight and so relate to f/f relationships in a different way to all the lgbtq femslash writers. *pokes at metafandom femslash bookmarks* Here's a post I made about it