Once more, with fucking feeling!

[bubosquared]

Random rant brought on by something arkane156 linked to:

I really, really, really wish the anti-RPSers would STOP insisting that if/when we'd be slashed, we'd be upset about it.

One: No. We. Wouldn't! Argh! For fuck's sake, how many times do we need to say this? I don't kow about this person, but personally, I'm intelligent enough to be able to distinguish facts from fiction, and slander from stories clearly labelled as not true. If she lacks the cognitive abilities to do so, that's not my fucking fault.

Two: The standard response to our assertions that we don't give a rat's arse about being slashed ourselves is "But you can't apply your feelings to other people!" Hey, guess what? NEITHER CAN YOU!

Three: Honestly, I'm not that worried about celebrities being upset about (my) RPS. First of all because I happen to think that any celebrity whom I find interesting enough to write about has a sense of humour and some self-relativation. Really, I think Justin Timberlake ismore worried about the kind of fans who rummage through his garbage and follow him on a private holiday with his girlfriend, than about the kind who writes stories about him fucking his groupmates. And secondly, even if they should a) find this stuff and b) be hurt, ... well, not to sound insensitive, but so fucking what? Everyone is going to find something online that they'll be hurt by. It's not my fucking job to make the internet safe for anyone. That goes for little kiddies who might stumble onto my porn, and it goes double for adults, even if said adults happen to be celebrities. They're just people, folks. i'm not gonna treat them any different from the average Joe Shmob (or Jane Fangirl, as the case may be) who reads my stories and is "traumatised" by them.

I'm gonna go take a shower and make dinner now. When I come back, if I'm still this angry, I might write her an email. Or maybe I'll update the FMO, or something. (Sugestions appreciated.)

(Hm. Seems like my inner RPS-spokesperson has returned with a vengeance. ^__^)

(Edit: I must say, I also rather like (not) her assertion that "[slashers] are, almost without question, straight female[s]", considering that most of the RPSers I know are anything but straight, and quiea few of them aren't exactly white, either. Also, this was relevant to this rant in what way? Motherfucking bitch!)

Comments

[darksong.livejournal.com]

I may not write slash myself, but I do read it. And while I know it's out there, the majority of what I've read is not violent, and if things do get a little rough, it's consentual. This person is talking about writing violent rape scenes about people, and most slash doesn't involve that (it's a bit of a generalization, maybe, but I'm just going by what I've read). And since it involves celebrities with other celebrities for the most part (sure, some people may put themselves in the story, but I don't consider that to be really on the same level as most rps), I think this person's arguement is a bit off. I don't think I'd be bothered if someone was writing slash about me and someone else. If someone wrote something (such as rape) that could be seen as a threat towards me...that'd be different.

Some straight white girls do write slash, but that's definitely a generalization on this person's part.

And anyway, I don't like when people go "I support freedom of speech, but..." No. If you support freedom of speech, there is no "but" involved. You can dislike some speech, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a right to exist.

I'd say the general population has no idea what slash is, anyway. I didn't until I started interacting with people like you and Molly through LJ, and I get around quite a bit. I don't think it's something for anyone to be that upset over...I can understand to some extent the reasons it might bother some people, but it's not that hard to avoid.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Slash in general can contain a lot of disturbing elements. (Wax Jism, for example, will kill and maim without a second thought -- but she does it brilliantly; it's not meant to be violent towards the subject, it's ... well, darkfic. If that makes sense.) But RPS seems to be generally "tamer" than FPS.

(Partially, I think, because of a sense of propriety on a lot of people's behalf, but also because RPS is fairly new, so not everything has been done already, and you don't have to resort to gratuicious (sp?) violence to be original.)

I'm not sure how much the general population knows about slash. My collegue knew about it, and Sex Pistols RPS has been publicised in Q Magazine, one of the UK's leading music mags. I do know that every mundane I've talked to slash about a) doesn't make a distinction between FPS and RPS and b) thinks we're freaks, but doesn't really care.

Basically, the only people upset about RPS/RPF seem to be FPS/FPFers. Go fig. :/

And yeah, the "but thing. Argh. The funny thing is, I always use that argument in reverse. ("I don't agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say." (Voltaire))

Well, for me...

[coneyislandbaby]

(Partially, I think, because of a sense of propriety on a lot of people's behalf,

This is a big part of it for me. Do unto others, and all that. I really can't imagine writing any RPS that I wouldn't be perfectly happy to have written about me. I can go further with FPS, because I don't think about that with FPS. But that's just me.

[leici.livejournal.com]

Um, eep. That girl is beyond just annoying and short sighted. She's fucking scary. Honestly. She's written out a horrible punishment for people she hasn't met based on assertions from the minority of RPS fiction. I'm not talking about the fiction, though most RPS isn't anywhere near what she described in there, but the fact that she would stalk you down first and have you read it on a day where you were already grieving. And, just out of curiousity, if she's so opposed to RPS, how does she claim to know what's written in RPS fiction?

Why do people have to suck so much?

[meimi.livejournal.com]

Uh, no. Lemon is just smut, of all varieties. Yaoi is anime/manga slash. Though sometimes it's referred to as shonen ai (boy love).

[museaway.livejournal.com]

On a very random note, my sister (who thinks all slash is "sick") is convinced that the N'Syncers are fucking each other, so there you go.

[darksong.livejournal.com]

I've had friends who've told me that too, who know nothing of slash. I giggle and say "well, I could find you some stories about that..."

[girlinthecorner.livejournal.com]

Just a short note- if someone were to slash me, and do it in a complimentary way, man, I'd be fucking HAPPY. The anti-slashers are talking from their damn perspective. Wish they'd stop trying to convince us that we think the same way.

[sivan.livejournal.com]

Snarl.

I have said before, and will repeat as much as necessary, that if people wanted to write about me I wouldn't mind; that in fact it would make me happy that anyone might want to make the effort. (Again with the reservation that there might be "um" moments occurring if the fic didn't coincide with my personal preferences -- but nothing that I couldn't shrug off.)
Besides, how is RPS in any way worse than the rumours that are getting spread by the media anyway? I'd think that especially as a celebrity you'd have to get used to things like public misrepresentation very soon ... and press articles don't even usually come with disclaimers.

But that whole ongoing RPS argument is so terribly fruitless anyway. Meh. Will go drown the frustration in touchy LotR RPS now.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

You said it, it's incredibly fruitless. That's a big part of why I am/was so burnt out on it: it just never goes anywhere. I swear, I have yet to hear an anti-RPS argument that I didn't hear at some point during the first four or five months of RS-X. That was nearly two years ago. You do the math.

They're just fcuking prejudiced bitches who are pissed because they want us all to respect their squick barriers and it's not workig anymore. There's a new generation of slashers, and the vast majority of them could care less about RPS.

Thank god.

[gal-montag.livejournal.com]

Um, this individual is obviously very sick. Like in the head. (I'm basing this solely on her little story. *tiwtches*) I already popped an email off to her, but I thought of so many brillaint things after the fact. =p

Her suggestion that all RPS writers/readers should have a story like the one she described written about them is completely baseless. I have never in my life read such a horrible thing in any fandom, FPS or RPS. And to suggest that's what is being written by RPSers is uninformed at best.

Her argument is flawed, because if I had a stalker who had written such a thing and included my home address and sent it me, that is called harassment. (Even if it had a disclaimer.) I don't know where Justin Timberlake lives, and even if I did I wouldn't send him anything I'd written about him. And even if I did that, it sure as hell wouldn't inculde his rape and murder.

And I realized how mad it made me that she was comapring a story in which someone is depicted as gay (whether they are or not) to one where someone is raped, murdered in a horrible way and then raped again. Because there is no comparison. *seethes*

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

THank you, that's another good point -- We (RPSers) don't force our "subjects" to read our stories. In fact, a lot of us stash our stories away behind noindex tags and robot.txt files. And even those who don't ...

Does this person really think Justin Timberlake has nothing better to do than surf the web looking for fansites about himself? Honestly? And if he does, does she truly think he'd be more hurt and scared by us than by the teenies who stalked him and Britney on their vacation, who go through his trash, who get onstage and grab him and won't let go? (Dude, I was scared about that!)

A little perspective here would be nice. Grr.

Re:

[gal-montag.livejournal.com]

Well, and I find it hard to believe that a guy who gets called "faggot" to his face on a regular basis would have a problem with a story about him that says the same thing (more or less) in a more appropriate way.

[punkrawkpyro.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I just skimmed over what that idiot ranted about...its horrible, really.

I actually am a white, straight, female, but that is in no way an implication as to what the rest of the slash community is. I mean, half (maybe more) of the slashers I know aren't straight white females.

And, if someone wrote slash about me, I wouldn't try to kill them. Secondly to that, you can find information on celebrities much more easily than you can on "normal people". So, if they were picking out you average person on the internet, they would have to go to alot more trouble to find stuff out. But its easy to find, say, Bono's birthday or something. Its really not a good comparison. You can never tell how some people are going to react.

Now look Melle, you've got everyone ranting all over your comments page. Good job. :)

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

The thing is, back in the days, slash fen most likely were 99% Straight White Female. The 'Net has brought more diversity, but because people don't interact face-to-face, you can't actually see the diversity, and well. I guess people still assume that you're a SWF until provel "guilty". So to speak. :/

And that's actually a very good point, and one I hadn't thought about yet. It is a lot easier to find info on celebrities etc. online than about non-celebs. Because celebs give out that information (the majority of it, anyway) themselves, because that's a part of being a celebrity.

Also, if I may be shallow for a moment, "normal" people don't get paid the inane amounts of money that celebrities do. Face it, that's the way the star system works. They get paid, and in return they give us this image of them, someone to look up to or revile, someone to pretend we know.

[punkrawkpyro.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, I wasn't around back in the day. Thats bad in some ways, (I don't know what people are talking about sometimes.) and good in others (RPS has, from my point of view, always been around, to me, its really rather normal. And stuff that at one point may have seemed horrible to most people, isn't considered all that bad now. And when you're just dropped into that, you just figure that that's the way it is. Er...babbling again, aren't I?)

Oh yay! I made a point that makes sense!

Ah yes, one of the sacrifices of stardom. But when you become a celebrity, you kinda know you're gonna have to give up most of your privacy, whether you like it or not. And for most celebrities, thats a price they're willing to pay. Its just how it works. So, yes, completely agree with you on that one.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I wasn't around, either, but that's what I'm told. :)

And see, ... really, the only people who distinguish between FPS and RPS are the fanficcers themselves. I've talked about slash to "mundanes" (non-fen) and none of them made that distinction. Basically, to them, we're all freaky nerd people.

And the thing is, as a celebrity, you do have some choice as to which bits of privacy you give up and which you keep.

Gah!

[coneyislandbaby]

Who the fuck is this person to say that.

What a bitch.

And as for slash? Please, I've said it before, I'll say it again, I would love to be slashed.

I wouldn't care who with.

I wouldn't minde being hetted either.

And if it was with someone I didn't like? I'd just shrug and say that they didn't do enough research.