Outline

*Subject to frequent changes

Introduction

Slash

• Explanation of what it is
• History- K/S
• Modern character pairings

Authors

• Who writes these stories?

• Why?

• For whom?

≈ Published and personal Theories

Readers

• Who reads these stories?
• Why?

≈Published and personal Theories

Impact of Queer community

Impact of the Sexuality of Women

Other?

Conclusion

Glossary of terms (i.e. slash, hurt/comfort, PWP, etc.)

Draft...sort of

Slash fiction is fan produced, amateur stories that feature non-heteronormative character pairings. These stories first appeared in the 1970s and took place between the well-known Star Trek characters Kirk and Spock. Initially they were available in “zines” or fan magazines. The distribution of these sources of fiction was very limited. Then the internet came into existence. This allowed a wider audience to have access to these writings. It also allowed for a greater range of writers, since it is now possible to self-publish a story by posting it on ones own website or in a fan fiction archive. The term slash comes from the / punctuation used to highlight that stories particular pairings. Kirk and Spock slash fiction, for example is shown like this, K/S or Kirk/Spock.

These fan fiction stories are queer not only in their sexual and romantic pairings, but also in what they are accomplishing. These stories are a complete “queering” of traditional romance novels. The characters are not the typical frail heroine who is rescued by her handsome prince. Unlike traditional romances these stories do not have characters that fall in love with and are subordinate to their lovers. In these fictions they are equals, not just in their physical sex, but also in looks, professions, decision making, and so on. These fan-written fictions also contrast vastly with traditional romances because the love is based out of years of trust and friendship and not simply having a guy sweep you off your feet. Another prominent characteristic is the “real world” quality that the characters have. They are usually flawed in one way or another. This, however, does not stop them from receiving the love of another. “They receive the love of their desired partner not because of their physical and psychological resemblance to the airbrushed Playboy (or Playgirl) centerfold, but because they trust their partners enough to show them all the hidden things and broken places. Slash characters receive love because they share themselves and their lives fully and without reservation” (Kustritz 380). These stories reject these heteronormative ideas on romance and love. They come from an oppressed group of women usually college educated, but in lower level position than their educations dictate. They create stories that express ways in which they desire to live.

Abstract

I've never written an abstract before, but I think this is what you were looking for.

Straight Girls/Queer Sex

In my senior project I will look in depth at fan fiction, more specifically focusing my concentration on slash fan fiction. Slash fan fiction, like all fan fiction, are stories that have been written by fans of a particular book, movie, or television show that utilizes the already established characters from the original work into new fan written stories. Slash fan fiction, or slash for short, differs in that the romantic pairing in the story takes place between two males not linked romantically in the original work. For example the first and most well known slash pairing is Kirk and Spock from the Star Trek series. I will be looking briefly at the history of the genre and then I will move into modern theory surrounding the phenomenon. These theories include the popular belief that these stories are all written and consumed by heterosexual women, there are now more theories emerging that argue against the belief that the authors are indeed heterosexual. I will also look at theories that try to explain the presence of gay male sex in female sexualities. I will also find any information available that theorizes on the effects of slash fan fiction on gay male sexuality and add my own agreements, disagreements, and original theories into the mix.

Notes on Works Cited

I can't get the formatting to look right for my works cited on the blog, so sorry about that. Also I do not have any books listed because I'm still waiting to see if they will be sent through interlibrary loan. My list did not make near the assigned 50, but there is not a ton of information out there on the subject for me to wade through. I'm stilling looking for sources which I will add as I find them and have the contact information for the Librarian who did my RAP session so I can contact her if I need help finding more reasources. I guess that's all for this post, that hopefully helped explain my previous post.

Works Cited

Chaney, Keidra and Raizel Lieber. “ Me, Myself, & I: Fan Fiction and the Art of Self-

Insertion.” Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. 2006: 52-57.

Colvile, Robert. “Boldly Go Where No One has Gone Before Imagine Harry Potter in a

Clinch with James Bond: Welcome to the World of Fan Fiction.” The Daily Telegraph 27 Jan. 2007. LexisNexis. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 4 Feb. 2007.

“Fan Fiction Glossary.” Lexington Herald-Leader 15 Sept. 2006. LexisNexis.

Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 4 Feb 2007.

“Fan fiction on the Internet.” Lexington Herald-Leader 15 Sept. 2006. LexisNexis.

Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 4 Feb 2007.

Jurgensen, John. “PURSUITS; Entertainment: Rewriting the Rules of Fiction.”
Wall Street Journal 16 Sept. 2006. ProQuest Information and Learning Company.

Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007

Kustritz, Anne. “Slashing the Romance Narrative.” The Journal of American Culture

Sept. 2003: 371-384. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007.

MacDonald, Marianne. “Harry Potter and the Fan Fiction Phenom.” Gay & Lesbian

Review Worldwide 13 (2006): 28-30.

Russell, Joel. “Entrepreneur Cashes In With Novel Take on 'Fan Fiction.'” Los Angeles

Business Journal 14 Aug. 2006. LexisNexis. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 4 Feb 2007.

Sathiyaseelan, Sindu. “Erotic Fan Fiction Finds Admirers in Women

Readers.” University Wire 24 Jan. 2007. LexisNexis. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 4 Feb. 2007.

Scodari, Christine. “Resistance Re-Examined: Gender, Fan Practices, and Science Fiction

Television.” Popular Communication 2003: 111-130. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007.

Thomas, Angela. “Fan Fiction Online: Engagement, Critical Response and Affective Play

through Writing.” Australian Journal of Language & Literacy Oct. 2006: 226-239. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007.

Truman, Cheryl and Heather Chapman. “Fan-written Stories Proliferate on the Internet.”

Herald News 22 Oct. 2006. LexisNexis. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 4 Feb. 2007.

Somogyi, Victoria. “Complexity of Desire: Janeway/Chakotay Fan Fiction.” 2002: 399-

404. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007.

Woledge, Elizabeth. “Decoding Desire: From Kirk and Spock to K/S1.” Social Semiotics

Aug 2005: 235-250. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007.

Young, Cathy. “The Fan Fiction Phenomena.” Reason Feb. 2007: 14-15. Academic

Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Appalachian State U Lib., Boone, NC. 1 Feb. 2007.

Research Ethics & Me

The way I see this most impacting my project is if I decide to create and distribute a survey. I do not see myself really being able to make good use of a survey in the time we have with the specific limitations that my project offers. I would personally like a response of about 50 people and given that I would have to rely on my participants cooperation via the internet I don't really see that panning out. People are more likely to help you out if they can actually see the poor undergraduate standing there with their surveys in hand. If however, anyone can forsee another way this might impact my project please comment to this post.

Project Ideas

*After presenting in class I have chosen to do my project on the first idea I presented in the following original post. I also decided to narrow my subject. Instead of focusing on the broad subject of queer sex in the entertainment industry and its influence on the sexuality of heterosexual women, I am focusing on one area I mentioned. I am going to focus primarily on slash fanfiction (fanfiction whose primary relationships exist between two male characters).

I have a few ideas for my senior project. All of these ideas will take the form of a research paper since that medium is most familiar to me and it also seems the most practical for my major. There is one topic that I really like and that is a major interest of mine and I will start first with that idea.

I am really interested in examining the relationship that exists between heterosexual women and queer sex. I would like to look at genres of entertainment for women that deal directly with homoerotic themes. These areas of entertainment, which are an ever growing market, include slash fan fiction, boys love/yaoi manga (Japanese comic books),a few novels, and anything else I can find. I want to use these popular genres of entertainment to discuss the importance of specifically gay male sex for an audience of straight women. That idea will hopefully pan out and reach the stage of being a complete and well done research paper.

If I am unable to find enough resources or if I meet an insurmountable obstacle, my backup plan includes a possible paper on genderqueer individuals and the importance of this rising new identity for not only the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, but for the community of all people trying to overcome the oppressive nature of our current binary gender system. I believe that the identity of genderqueer, while a relatively new development, is as important as intersexuality in helping people recognize the fucked up institution that is the binary gender system. I have not thought as much on this topic so I might do another direction, but the main topic would deal with the deconstruction of gender.