Just stumbled across this from metafandom and just wanted to throw in my two cents.
For me, it's all about the power dynamic. I started out in fandom reading Buffy/Spike, but liked Spike/Angel much better and haven't come out of slash yet.
I'm not entirely sure how to describe what I look for in a power relationship. It's not an imbalance or a struggle, it's interestingness. Unpredictability. Most het pairings don't do it for me because the assumption is that the woman will be the catcher and the man will be the pitcher, sexually and emotionally. Even if it's switched up there's still this thing where the ground level is always that the man will have more power than the woman. I like Buffy/Spike because canonically she has waaay more power than him, so every time he tries for a little bit of power it's unpredictable whether he'll get it. I haven't read much X-Files, but I like onscreen Mulder/Scully for the same reason--I'm honestly never sure which one of them will be right this time.
With slash relationships, it's always unpredictable. Maybe not within a given story, but within a fandom. Sometimes John's dom and sometimes Rodney is. Sometimes one of them performs the daring rescue and sometimes the other. Sometimes one of them pines, sometimes the other--you get the picture. I never know who's head is going to end up on who's chest.
Of course, this doesn't explain why I don't read femslash. Maybe I assume men have power to give up and women don't? I also don't know why I tend to enjoy het pairings on screen but not in fic.
This is a seriously awesome post, by the way. Both thinky and hilarious.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2008-01-26 06:01 pm (UTC)For me, it's all about the power dynamic. I started out in fandom reading Buffy/Spike, but liked Spike/Angel much better and haven't come out of slash yet.
I'm not entirely sure how to describe what I look for in a power relationship. It's not an imbalance or a struggle, it's interestingness. Unpredictability. Most het pairings don't do it for me because the assumption is that the woman will be the catcher and the man will be the pitcher, sexually and emotionally. Even if it's switched up there's still this thing where the ground level is always that the man will have more power than the woman. I like Buffy/Spike because canonically she has waaay more power than him, so every time he tries for a little bit of power it's unpredictable whether he'll get it. I haven't read much X-Files, but I like onscreen Mulder/Scully for the same reason--I'm honestly never sure which one of them will be right this time.
With slash relationships, it's always unpredictable. Maybe not within a given story, but within a fandom. Sometimes John's dom and sometimes Rodney is. Sometimes one of them performs the daring rescue and sometimes the other. Sometimes one of them pines, sometimes the other--you get the picture. I never know who's head is going to end up on who's chest.
Of course, this doesn't explain why I don't read femslash. Maybe I assume men have power to give up and women don't? I also don't know why I tend to enjoy het pairings on screen but not in fic.
This is a seriously awesome post, by the way. Both thinky and hilarious.