Slash meta #2: please discuss!

[thrihyrne]

Same rules apply for the first one: be considerate, be as honest as you can be, as long or short as you wish. Filament often talks about the female gaze, and the fact that women enjoy looking at men and men's bodies, not just reading about them. In regards to slash, thinking about characters with an inner eye to their bodies (written slash), or true visuals (fan art or videos), would you say that your enjoyment is more about sensuality or sexuality? Does it vary depending on the fandom and/or pairing? And the key question: do you know why you're drawn to slash? Are you someone who reads/looks at all ratings of slash, or only particular ones? If so, which?

Thanks so much for helping me out with this. I question these things myself, so I'm thrilled to be able to put some of these thoughts down and into a non-fandom centric readership. :)

Comments

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Hm... I was reading these questions, and realised that my motive for enjoying and writing slash had very little to do with looking at men, at or men's bodies... Truth is, I don't. Not in RL, and not in the form of explicit fanart or vids either.

I enjoy slash because it is throwing together characters I care about, and because it adds a sexual dimension to power struggles or power dynamics (which is what I enjoy most, and tend to write. Romance isn't so much my thing - I can read and enjoy it, if it has a bit of tension/conflict to it, but I don't write it).

I guess one of the reasons I like slash is that you don't have any established het power dynamics, and that male characters lend themselves better to more violent interactions... But even when writing porn, I have no clear image of how bodies actually look, apart from general features we know from canon...

Weirdly enough I read mostly NC-17 and R ratings. But your question made me realise that whatever draws me to slash, it's not bodies ;). No idea whether that helps, or is just weird :).