(no subject)

[swatkat]

Lovely post here that you all might want to read. I'm definitely one of the Cold Pricklies the OP is talking about. *g* "All slashers make the homoerotic subtext of their canon explicit, but not all think it's appropriate to also make the emotional subtext explicit" - this articulates the very reason that a *lot* of the fic in my favourite pairings (slash *and* het) have me gritting my teeth and pressing the back button.

Comments

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

I read fiction because it allows me to live many lives, experience many things that I wouldn't be able to do in RL. And when I read, I need a character to identify with – male or female. While it is a fact that there are more women characters I identify with than male ones, I *do* identify with men as well. I want to read about human experience, period. *g*

I can certainly understand that perspective. But I think there are some specific RL reasons why I prefer the narrower focus in my choice of fiction.

I am, in RL, completely surrounded by men. It wasn't even until I started responding to this thread that I thought about just *how* much that is the case. I live with a man. Share a business with a man. My four or five closest friends, and the ones whom my social life centers on, are all men. I am constantly interacting with them and dealing with male energy -- not that I think this is a bad thing, mind you, but that's the simply environment I live in.

My interests in fiction, I believe, are probably in part aimed at balancing that gender equation out a bit, at thinking about that other half of humanity who happen to be like me -- not because I don't like the men I spend my time with, but just because examining women's lives through the stories I read satisfies a curiosity and internal need that I don't get satisfied in RL.

Does that make any sense?

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Oh, it does!

When I was growing up, I was this incorrigible tomboy who would have nothing to do with girls. I had many girl friends, I did (got along pretty well with both boys and girls) - but I was always the outsider who didn't quite get them very well. And no, I didn't think I was missing anything - I was comfortable enough in my own dreamworld. Until the time I learnt to become comfortable with being a girl. And then it was all a very new experience (it still is sometimes; sometimes, surrounded by my closest girlfriends, it's difficult to believe how *much* I enjoy their company), and reading fiction certainly helped me a lot - to understand, to figure things about myself (I'm still doing that) and about being a girl. That's something I still do, which is probably the reason why I identify so easily with female characters. But there are experiences and sentiments that don't depend on gender, and I'm interested in them too, because it's all a part of knowing more about myself.

Which is my long-winded way of saying that I understand what you mean.

Swatkat