On being heteronormative

[fadagaski]

I sometimes feel like I need to carry a disclaimer with me in fandom. "Warning: this person is a heteronormative able-bodied white girl with no history of mental illness. Please excuse any faux-pas made through ignorance."

I mean. Ok. Being in fandom means I'm already more exposed to alternative lifestyles and modes of thought than 98% of The Sun readership. I enjoy reading about those alternatives. Spock as a girl. Esca as the dom. Cross-dressing Harry Potter. Blind Dean Winchester. Sociopath Jim Kirk. I like to think I'm open-minded, enough that even when something throws me for a loop, I don't immediately cringe or attack.

I deliberately avoid discussion, as I am distinctly unqualified to offer opinion, in the same way I cannot comment with any authority on gay quadraplegic or black woman or trans bipolar experience. Commentary on those experiences should come from those that are living them first, before anyone as privileged as me weighs in.

But. I have a plot bunny. Because a lot of genderswap is awesomely cracktastic and I love it. I just want something a little deeper. So I brainstormed (wait, is that term considered offensive by epileptics? Please advise). I've got an idea for a fic, a genderswap that isn't cracky. I just don't know if I can pull it off, because I am female in body and mind and happily so. What if I don't see a potential problem for the characters in my fic? What if I write it but someone is offended?

These are, of course, everyday considerations. I am mostly a pacifist, and deplore confrontation of any kind. I don't want to hurt anyone. But in the text-only world of the Internet, in a corner that attracts a lot of Other-identifying people as a safe haven, it becomes especially important to guard your words, explain your meaning, and hope that everyone is as open-minded as you try to be. Even to someone as 'normal' as me.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Comments

[shei.livejournal.com]

Word from me to everything except the writing and plot bunny bit.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

It can feel like a bit of a minefield sometimes, huh?

[shei.livejournal.com]

It feels that way.

[kaitlia777.livejournal.com]

I avoid discussions for similar reasons.

On the topic of your fic, go ahead and write it. Yes, most genderswap fic is crack-tastic, but it can be really good. I wrote a Castle gender-swap fic that, somehow, in attempting to be cracky and a bit meta, became a real fic. If anyone has a problem, address it in later chapters or something.

Good luck! :)

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

I'll give the fic a go. Not sure where it will lead, or how long it'll be, or even what the point is going to be (I don't really care for fics-as-mouthpieces for thinly veiled Issues; genderbending should serve and reflect on the characters, IMHO). Once I've got that figured out ... We'll see. I don't think I've ever finished a fic I haven't then posted; it would be a shame to break that tradition after 14 years!

[sistermu.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm with you. I am currently writing post-film X-Men: First Class fic because I need more Charles/Erik and I need them together after the film. But Erik is a holocaust survivor and, post-film, Charles is in a wheelchair. Two things of which I cannot possibly come to a deep understanding.

I didn't even think about not writing it because of that because I need to write it and I defend it thus :

1) almost all slash fiction is women writing about gay men. No, we do not have that life experience but we are celebrating our own love for the characters and the affection we see between them. As far as I know, if they don't like it, most gay men just ignore us. We just have to be careful not to start thinking that what are writing is a completely accurate portrayal of gay life.

2) I have done some internet research, I am not just making all of this up, but neither do I imagine I am writing some definitive piece on the disabled experience. (Or genocide survival experience). The characters I am writing about happens to be disabled, or to have gone through hell but that isn't the focus of my story. I will try to be accurate and sympathetic but I am not going to break a sweat over it.

3) If someone wants to correct me about wrong details or feels I have been offensive, then I will listen and take their comments on board. But the only sure way to avoid making mistakes/offending someone would be if I only wrote about straight, middle-class, able-bodied, English white women, who are somewhat academic, lazy, and full-time mothers. Which is it's own kind of wrong. And EVEN THEN, other s, m-c, a-b, E, w w might say I'm misrepresenting them because the final thing is

4) Everyone is different. I read an LJ where a black woman was talking about how a film had offended her and a black man had answered saying it hadn't offended him and they got into a fight. One person's experience of disability will not be the same as someone else's. Survivors of the holocaust dealt or did not deal in different ways. That is all about character. And we're not writing about real people either (are you?)

All of this sums up to, if there's something you feel driven to write, think carefully, do a little research and then write what seems right to you. If you are worried about offending either don't post the final version, just keep it for yourself, or put on appropriate warnings and something in the author's note about how you've tried and hope you haven't caused offense and would be glad to be set right by someone with personal experience.

Last of all (yes, almost finished) I would point out that I have heard some people from minorities complain that they are not sufficiently represented in fiction and the mainstream media. However, when the author Charles de Lint wrote stories with main characters who were black or Romany or American Indian etc, he drew fire from people saying, how dare you think you can tell our stories and how dare you use our experiences to sell your books. The moral is : you can't win. Appropriation vs Appreciation.

Just do your best with love.

Mu

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

I agree with all your points. Mostly I just needed to vent some anxiety. But thank you for your words of wisdom. It's good to know I'm not the only person wrestling with these kinds of issues.

[shabzilla.livejournal.com]

I figure as long as you realise your limitations, writing is interpretive. /shrug

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Good point! If we only write what we know, the world of literature would be hella boring. :)