Interesting article

[evcake]

Actually, I found this while trying to find out what percentage of Trekkies are male (my assumption was, oh, 75%) in order to determine...well, never mind. This was close to the top of the first page.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-lad ... _5857.html

I discussed it briefly with one of the guys in my cubicle. He says that Star Trek is currently considered so lame that nothing about it could be used to attract victims.

[Rigil Kent]

The one longstanding attachment Kirk has is to Mr. Spock. In fact, their bond is so intense that there's an abundance of gay porn written about the two. (Oddly enough, it's frequently written by heterosexual women.)

This is something that continues to make no sense to me whatsoever. The same holds true with ENT, and the sheer volume of Archer/Tucker or Reed/Tucker or Archer/Reed slash boggles my mind. You don't see me drooling over the idea of Hoshi/T'Pol, so I remain baffled by how normally heterosexual women can get off on that sort of thing.

A fascinating article though. I guess I'm rather happy that I complain so much about the unbelievable utopia, or the Love Interest of the Week stuff. It seems like everything that bothers me is what attracts the pervs ...

[krn]

This is something that continues to make no sense to me whatsoever.

you and me both.

I've got no issues with homosexuality ("Not that there's anything wrong with that.") It's just that... well... Trip's not gay. Nor is Reed. Or Archer. If the show had made them that way, then fine (though I'd still have a thing for Trinneer, but that's a different thread.....).


so the Beebs have managed to not only take out a franchise, but an entire Pop Culture phenomenon.

[Rigil Kent]

It's just that... well... Trip's not gay. Nor is Reed. Or Archer.

Exactly. It's wildly OOC for them, much in the same way that AinT is OOC for either of those characters or Hoshi/Trip is OOC for them.

But that's not what really weirds me out about it. The fact that most of the authors of those slash fics are heterosexual women is what makes me scratch my head. I mean, if it was a gay guy writing them, I could understand it. But a woman? Who isn't gay? Uh ... what?

[Distracted]

Yep. Puzzles me, too. The het female slash fanfic writers I've discussed this subject with on other boards (not that there have been very many, mind you) seem to get defensive about it, but none of them thus far have come up with an explanation for WHY that particular genre "turns them on", so to speak. Both M/M and F/F slash is, I understand, usually written by nominally het women. I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that most fanfics in general are written by women, but it's still strange. Maybe these women crave a sensitive man, but in their experience they've met only the macho male het asshole type, so the only way they can conceive of a man sensitive enough is to imagine that he's gay? Kinda like a guy who likes being dominated by a woman might like the leather-clad/bondage inflicting/dominant lesbian female stereptype? I dunno.

[blacknblue]

But why do people get off on writing characters so blatantly OOC? That's what really puzzles me. I can see writing a character OOC because you just don't have the skill to do them accurately, or because you personally perceive them in a way that veers somewhat from the mainstream perception. But to portray a character that is emphatically heterosexual as gay seems as unreasonable to me as portraying an openly gay character as heterosexual. Or for that matter, portraying a female character as male.

I just don't understand why folks don't use a different character. Or make up a new OC? It isn't that hard.

[Distracted]

I dunno, BnB. When I was a teenager I used to fantasize about being swept off my feet by Mr. Spock who'd fallen madly in love with me. Sorta OOC, wouldn't you agree?

[CoffeeCat]

Brief History of slash...

Women started slashing Kirk and Spock because there was a serious lack of compatible females they could write a legitimate romance with. (Common' can you really picture Spock/Chapel or Kirk/Uhura without gagging?) Kirk and Spock seemed more romantic to them and I can see why - because there was not enough character development anywhere else. There's a lot of slash now because some writers just love getting involved in the controversy, a lot of them do it in hopes that they'll actually cast a gay character, and some slashed couples make no sense at all (Chakotay/Paris) but are extremely popular because both characters are hot and they just want to picture them in bed together (it's a fettish thing).

As far as slashing Enterprise goes:

I can't see why writer would want to pair Archer with anyone (even the female characters). Such pairings baffle me especially since he's just as abusive towards Tucker as he is T'Pol.

Tucker and Reed I could possibly see someone slashing, or anyone with Mayweather because he's pretty frakin' gorgeous the poor guy needs something to do. Phlox? Hell no! T'Pol/Sato? I don't think there are too many lesbian enterprise fans, but I've found T'Pol/Sato stories before, but they're probably slashed for the same reasons Chakotay and Paris are.

And I can't believe I know all this stuff.

[Rigil Kent]

Common' can you really picture Spock/Chapel or Kirk/Uhura without gagging?

Much easier than picturing Kirk/Spock when the show established that they were heterosexual. It's the wildly OOC element that I don't understand.

But, that also explains why AinT doesn't work for me since it's OOC for both parties, so ... *shrug*

[CoffeeCat]

I dunno, Rigel. Spock/Chapel is almost as bad as AinT. It irritates me to tears the way Chapel would obsess over Spock. It was almost like she was stalking him. If I had a choice between K/S and S/C, I'd choose K/S because I'd feel more comfortable knowing Spock was actually loved instead of preyed on by some woman who can't even respect herself to know it's time to move on and get over it.

[Elessar]

The fact that they don't even discuss the "other Trek" (which in hours of television, film and dollars of revenue probably accounts for like 90% of "Star Trek") weakens their argument. Although it is an interesting psychological analysis linking utopianism to deviant behaviors.

Of course they're just arguing for why pedophiles (or indeed other sexual deviants) would be drawn to Star Trek, not why Star Trek creates sexual deviants. At least I think... the latter would be laughable.

[Rigil Kent]

I dunno, Rigel. Spock/Chapel is almost as bad as AinT. It irritates me to tears the way Chapel would obsess over Spock. It was almost like she was stalking him. If I had a choice between K/S and S/C, I'd choose K/S because I'd feel more comfortable knowing Spock was actually loved instead of preyed on by some woman who can't even respect herself to know it's time to move on and get over it.

I didn't say I was likely to "ship" for Chapel/Spock, merely that it would be easier for me to envision them together than Kirk/Spock. See, I'm gonna have to root for Spock and that Romulan commander.

[Elessar]

By the way, you can IMAGINE what these people would say if they saw "Similitude" . Not only on a regular basis is there a relationship between a 33 year old and a 70 year old, but in this one a flirtation and clear attraction between a 15 year old and a 70 year old

btw KRN, I absol-friggin-lutely love your avatar.

[CX]

I've written f/f slash before, but they were my own original characters, so it was in character for them and I didn't have to abuse anyone else's characters to do it.

[Distracted]

I dunno, Rigel. Spock/Chapel is almost as bad as AinT. It irritates me to tears the way Chapel would obsess over Spock. It was almost like she was stalking him. If I had a choice between K/S and S/C, I'd choose K/S because I'd feel more comfortable knowing Spock was actually loved instead of preyed on by some woman who can't even respect herself to know it's time to move on and get over it.

I didn't say I was likely to "ship" for Chapel/Spock, merely that it would be easier for me to envision them together than Kirk/Spock. See, I'm gonna have to root for Spock and that Romulan commander.

I like that pairing...but then I also liked Chapel/Spock. I thought it was sweet in Amok Time when she made him Plomeek soup. And he was such a grouch about it! I thought in that scene where he apologised, though, that there was some attraction there but he couldn't admit it because he was already betrothed. Talk about shipper's glasses before there was any such thing as shipping!