Feminist SF Wiki - User contributions [en]

Yaoi

2008-02-17T09:25:07Z

Khym Chanur: #REDIRECT Slash

#REDIRECT [[Slash]]

Slash

2008-02-17T09:23:50Z

Khym Chanur: /* Translations of the term "slash" */ The Japanese terms "yaoi", "yrui", "shounen-ai", "shoujo-ai"

'''Slash''' is a [[fan fiction]] term designating romantic and/or erotic (and/or [[pornography|pornographic]]) [[same-sex]] relationships between [[fictional characters]].

The term comes from the typographical "slash" character: "/", placed between the names or initials of the characters paired in such a relationship, e.g.: "[[Kirk/Spock]]" or "[[K/S]]", after one of the early popular slash pairings.

== Vocabulary ==

* '''Slash ''fiction''''' is also referred to as '''slash''', in an abbreviated way, or "'''slash fic'''".

* The verb '''''to slash''''' derives from the noun. [[Fan]]s use it to designate the ''writing'' of slash fiction, the practice of [[reading]] same-sex relationships in a text, or the making of implications about such relationships (for instance, in fannish conversations about a fandom).

*'''Slash fan''': someone who writes or enjoys slash. Also, '''slasher''', though this is less common.

*'''Slashy''', adj., something that has '''slash'''-like qualities. Often refers to [[subtext]] in the source material, notably in acting performances or in the writing. Also designates [[fan]] productions that involve slash, e.g., slashy artwork.

*'''Saffic''': alternative name for slash fiction concerning female character. (It's a pun on "sapphic".) It is sometimes favoured over the term '''femmeslash''', because the construction of the word "femmeslash" carries the implication that '''slash''' is only about ''male'' same-sex relationships.

===Translations of the term "slash"===
*In French:
**'''Biaiser''', verb, meaning "to slash"
*In Japanese:
**'''Yaoi''', noun, meaning "male/male stories", an acronym for "no climax, no resolution, no meaning".
**'''Yuri''', noun, meaning "female/female stories", derived from the term "lily (''yuri'') tribe" which refered to lesbians.
**'''Shounen-ai''', noun, meaning "boys love", coined by Western fans of Japanese series to denote romantic male/male stories so that ''yaoi'' could be used to denote erotic/pornographic ones.
**'''Shoujo-ai''', noun, meaning "girls love", coined by Western fans of Japanese series to denote romantic female/female stories so that ''yuri'' could be used to denote erotic/pornographic ones.

== Practice and Theory of Slash ==

=== Practice ===

;The inventors of slash are [[women]].

[[Women]] have created, named, and driven the '''slash''' phenomenon, and are still the primary producers and consumers of slash.

The position of [[women]] as [[fans]] in a [[male-dominated]], [[heterosexism|heterosexist]] [[popular culture]] is intimately linked to the production of slash, and the [[relations of production]] of slash.

=== Theory ===

There is some controversy over the definition of '''slash''', particularly concerning the requirement of non-[[canon]]icity in slash relationships. This is because the term '''slash''' emerged in a context where [[canon]]ical erotic and/or romantic same-sex relationships were rare to non-existent: products of (primarily) North American and British popular culture in the 1970s, especially on [[television]] and in the [[movies]]. Therefore, in the absence of overt homoerotic material, the distinction between canon and non-canon same-sex relationships became moot.

Since the emergence of canonical same-sex relationships and their increasing overtness in Western popular culture, it has been suggested that the term [[homoerotic]] could usefully co-exist with '''slash''' to designate, respectively, canonical and non-canonical same-sex relationships. However, this suggestion is not standard usage.

Earlier references to '''slash''' also tended to designate only, or primarily, ''male'' same-sex relationships. This is due at least in part to the prevalence of [[male characters]] over female characters onscreen, and the increased importance accorded to them by the producers of popular culture.

==== The Four Waves Theory of Slash ====

This theory was outlined by [[Lezlie Shell]] on the [[Virgule-L]] mailing list in 1993, and later published in [[slash apas|Strange Bedfellows]].

Slash fan fiction has four waves. Every wave has quality stories and writers. Every wave has bad stories and poor writers. What you consider good and bad depends on which wave you rode in on.

Lezlie Shell identified herself as a second wave reader and writer, who enjoys some third wave stories and fewer fourth wave stories.

===== First wave: Character-based stories with slash =====

A. The relationship between the characters is the point of the story. Slash is a means to intensify that relationship.

B. These stories are almost exclusively set in the "real" broadcast universe as the writers' love of the show/characters as presented got them into fandom.

C. The writer invests a great deal of time making characters presented as heterosexual having sex with each other "believeable". In these stories this relationship is not "homosexual" in the political or social sense. The sex acts are between two people of the same sex, but are not "realistic" in relation to the lives of homosexual men.

D. The writers are in fandom (in contact with other fans) and already writing non/slash stories. They view slash as the end of a progression. Would have no trouble classifying a sexless story as slash.

Writers: [[Sebastian]]

===== Second wave: Character-based slash =====

A. Stories about the characters involved in a slash relationship. The slash characterizations are still tied to the aired ones, but the writers do more extrapolation without looking for "proof" in the aired episodes. Certain aspects of the first-wave characterizations
are accepted on equal footing as aired source material.

B. The majority of the stories are still in the "real" world, but it is a broader world. The few a/u stories are the "real" characters in another time. The reader has no trouble recognizing "aired" characters in these stories.

C. The sex in these stories is more realistic in that the writers have probably read '''The Joy of Gay Sex''', but the sex is still female-oriented.

D. Second wave writers are already a part of fandom and are readers of non/slash fan lit, but there is no doubt that reading slash gave them the impetus to write.

Writers: [[Pam Rose]]

===== Third Wave: Slashing the characters =====

A. The slash relationship is central to the story. Without it, there would be no story. But there is a story complete with plot.

B. No emphasis on trying to convince the readers that these characters are having sex. The characterizations are based on 1st and 2nd wave stories as much if not more than the episodes.

C. Sex is more realistic in regards to actual homosexual practices. In these stories, one or both of the characters has experience with the same sex (other than the kind of straight-panic male rape experience typical of first wave stories).

D. The writers were drawn into fandom by the slash. To them, there is no such thing as a sexless slash story.

E. Alternate Universe stories come into their own. The A/U is used to remove the characters from the strictures of the "real" world, or to let the characters be out of character.

Writers: [[Ellis Ward]].

===== Fourth Wave: Multimedia slash =====

A. Slash goes multi-media. It is commonly accepted that the only admission requirement for a male TV character is a penis. The notion that there was something "special" about K&S or B&D, etc. that made them slashable is viewed with tolerant amusement by the 4th wavers.

B. The characterizations in multimedia are, for the most part, composite slash characterizations built from fan fiction in other fandom. It takes a VERY VERY good writer to do character-
based slash for a show that has a limited audience because the readers buy-in is limited.

C. Fourth wave sex, particularly for shows set in present-day America, is more sophisticated. Some stories have one or both characters being bi or homosexual.

D. While the writer will be drawn into fandom by the virtue of writing, the readers may remain fans outside of fandom.

Writers: [[M. Fae Glasgow]] and [[Melody Clark]].

== Further reading ==
* Joanna Russ, [[Pornography By Women For Women, With Love]]
* [http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/bonking.html "Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking": Selections from The Terra Nostra Underground and Strange Bedfellows], edited and introduced by Shoshanna Green, Cynthia Jenkins and Henry Jenkins.
* [http://www.trickster.org/symposium/coltopic.html#gslash The Fanfic Symposium: Columns by Topic: Slash], a collection of essays at The Fanfic Symposium
* [http://www.trickster.org/symposium/symp139.html "What Is Slash?"], essay at The Fanfic Symposium
* [http://flambeau.livejournal.com/120493.html?replyto=1576109 Wave Theory of Slash], [http://flambeau.livejournal.com/120493.html?replyto=1576621 part 2], [http://flambeau.livejournal.com/120493.html?replyto=1576621 part 3]
* [http://flambeau.livejournal.com/153618.html, Pairings, wave theory, interpretive communities], an essay by [[Torch]].

[[category:Theory]]
[[category:Genres]]
[[category:Fan fiction]]
[[Category:Fandom]]
[[Category:Slash| ]]
[[Category:Queer]]

Magical girl

2008-02-17T08:47:58Z

Khym Chanur:

The '''magical girl''' ('''mahō shōjo''') subgenre of [[anime]] and [[manga]] archetypically feature young girls who use an external object and/or trigger phrase to undergo a transformation which grants them superhuman and/or magical abilities, and who have a talking animal sidekick who acts as an adviser; a series can lack some of these archetypal qualities and still be considered "magical girl". Though the most popular and well known series have the heroines fighting an evil to protect the Earth, this is not a requirement of the genre; a popular sub-genre has the transformation age up the protagonist so that she can become a celebrity like a singer, and some series have the protagonist fighting mundane evils rather than one that threatens the entire world. Older magical girls were known in Japan as ''majokko'', literally "witch girl".

"Sally, the Witch" (Mahoutsukai Sally) from 1966 is considered the first magical girl anime.

Occasionally there are transgendered versions of the magical girl; the magical boy.

[[Category:Genres]]
[[Category:Characterization]]

Magical girl

2008-02-17T08:47:09Z

Khym Chanur:

The '''magical girl''' (''mahō shōjo'') subgenre of [[anime]] and [[manga]] archetypically feature young girls who use an external object and/or trigger phrase to undergo a transformation which grants them superhuman and/or magical abilities, and who have a talking animal sidekick who acts as an adviser; a series can lack some of these archetypal qualities and still be considered "magical girl". Though the most popular and well known series have the heroines fighting an evil to protect the Earth, this is not a requirement of the genre; a popular sub-genre has the transformation age up the protagonist so that she can become a celebrity like a singer, and some series have the protagonist fighting mundane evils rather than one that threatens the entire world. Older magical girls were known in Japan as ''majokko'', literally "witch girl".

"Sally, the Witch" (Mahoutsukai Sally) from 1966 is considered the first magical girl anime.

Occasionally there are transgendered versions of the magical girl; the magical boy.

[[Category:Genres]]
[[Category:Characterization]]

Magrat Garlick

2008-02-17T08:22:48Z

Khym Chanur:

{{Femchar
| Names = Magrat Garlick
| Species = Human
| Occupation = Witch, Queen
| Works = [[Discworld series]] by [[Terry Pratchett]] first appearance in [[Wyrd Sisters]]
| Image =
| Caption =
}}

Was the youngest witch of the Lancre coven and it's [[Triple_Goddess|Maiden]] to [[Nanny Ogg]]'s Mother and [[Granny Weatherwax]]'s Crone; gave up her position in the coven (though stayed a witch) when she married, since she was no longer a Maiden and Nanny already had Mother covered. An affectionate parody of the "New Age" witch, she prefers to do her magic with crystals, herbs, runes and such, while the two older witches just use whatever materials are handy; she also wears several pounds worth of cabalistic jewelery and paints her fingernails black in lieu of wearing the standard witch's pointy black hat. The former apprentice of a research witch, she carries on that tradition by "writing down what works".

Note that her name isn't a variation on "Margaret", but is pronounced "magg-rat" (much to Magrat's regret).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garlick, Magrat}}

The Lady

2008-02-17T07:50:24Z

Khym Chanur:

{{Femchar
| Names = The Lady
| Species =
| Occupation = Goddess
| Works = [[Discworld series]] by [[Terry Pratchett]]
| Image =
| Caption =
}}

Lady Luck of the [[Discworld series]]. In real life trying to rely on luck is a recipe for failure. In the Discworld this takes the form of The Lady abandoning anyone who tries to rely on her or invoke her blessings (temples devoted to her worship are all destroyed by lightning or natural disasters very soon after their completion). To avoid even accidentally invoking her favor she is referred as "The Lady" rather than "Lady Luck". She is the eternal opponent of the god Fate, who often makes wagers with her over the life of the mortal wizard Rincewind. Occasionally the books hint that she might be an anthropomorphic personification rather than a goddess.

She has no fixed appearance, being able to take any form she wishes, with the limitation that her eyes will always be a solid green without pupils or irises. She most often takes the form of a human woman.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lady}}

Scientist's daughter

2008-02-17T07:15:14Z

Khym Chanur:

A common characterization for the female character in Golden Age science fiction was as the scientist's daughter, typically a [[damsel-in-distress]], rescued by the younger male protagonist.

==Examples==
* [[Miranda]], Prospero's daughter in Shakespeare's ''[[The Tempest]]''

==See also==
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter] at TV Tropes

[[Category:Relationship themes]]
[[Category:Characterization]]

Annoying Plot Conventions, Devices, Contrivances

2008-02-17T07:00:53Z

Khym Chanur: Making a female character helpless simply by grabbing her arm; some links to more detailed TvTropes articles

Plot Devices that Make You Roll Your Eyes

* a woman character is raped or is in danger of being raped -- the eternal [[rapability]] of female characters

* a female character dies in childbirth

* "convenient" circumstances prevent a female character from going through with her decision to have an [[abortion]] (cf. Robin in ''[[V]]'', whose alien hybrid fetus's invasive vascularisation made it impossible to remove without killing her; spontaneous miscarriages and so forth) -- therefore rendering women's reproductive choices inconsequent when that oh-so-controversial subject is broached

* using female characters to voice misogynistic and/or patriarchal ideas because it would be "too obvious" to use male characters — victim-blaming, in short

* using evolutionary biology or the selfish gene theory as the primary reason a male and female character are drawn together sexually (''Darwin's Radio'' by Bear), or why a female character cannot possibly resist the man's man that will make the best sire of her children (''Lucifer's Hammer'' by Niven)

* the competent female needs rescuing by the man
* damsel in distress / perils of Pauline - women set up merely to be rescued
* [[Women in refrigerators]] (see http://violetcorona.blogspot.com/2006/10/women-in-refrigerators.html ) — female characters of whatever level of characterization depicted as more apt to be rescued, more in need of rescuing, more often in physical danger, deaths or physical assaults more horrible or graphically described

* innocent and universally loveable female characters that do not develop a sex drive or sex appeal until they turn evil (Doppleganger Willow from earlier in [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]], Fred from [[Angel (TV series)]]) — where the sex drive is correlated with the amount of cleavage/leg shown.

* alien women of ANY species will inevitably be irresistibly attracted to the only mid-30s male on a particular starship ([[Star Trek]], I'm looking at YOU) — even if it causes an interstellar incident

** related: females of alien species always have extremely large breasts, located in the exact same location as those of human females (i.e. they look exactly like human women except for a charming set of pointy ears, forehead ridges or swirly haircut that serves only to make them more exotic to the male characters)

* a man's casual slap (or threatened slap) of a woman that is scarcely worth mentioning again in the story and apparently does not actually bother the woman; or maybe she likes it because he has now shown himself to be a real man. Seen in [[Frank Mille]]r's "[[Sin City]]" (she liked it); [[Rob Reiner]]'s "[[The Princess Bride]]" (He raises the back of his hand threateningly; she flinches. "That was a warning, Highness. The next time, my hand flies on its own, for where I come from, there are penalties when a woman lies."). This is entirely distinguishable from a man and a woman involved in a physical fight, as in [[Joss Whedon]]'s "[[Firefly]]" between Mal and Saffron, or Buffy and Spike, or any slayer and various villains. "The Slap" is often stated plainly as a representation of patriarchy, as when the woman has crossed a boundary; the man may say he doesn't like to hit women but he'll make an exception, or she's crossed a line, etc. An obvious use of gendered violence to police patriarchal rules, present in both representations of the protagonists and villains.

* The female member of the team whose skill or superpower is (by comparison) passive, defensive, weak, or <I>underutilized</I>; her real role is as [[token]] or [[love interest]] to the leading male characters. (See TvTropes' [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FauxActionGirl Faux Action Girl])

* The trade-in granddaughter or descendant: A long-lived or immortal male starts a relationship with the hot young descendant of his former lover (or occasionally his own hot young descendant)

* Simply grabbing the upper arm or shoulder of a superheroine or female fighter renders her helpless. (See TvTropes' [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFemaleGrabArea Standard Female Grab Area])

===Contiguous lists and related rants===

* "[[The Clichés from Outer Space]]" ([[1984]]), by Joanna Russ.

* ''See also [[Clichés, Archetypes, Stereotypes of Female Characters in SF]]''
* ''See also [[Gendered plot devices]]''

[[Category:Plot]]
[[Category:Plot devices]]
[[Category:Lists]]