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Apr. 19th, 2009 02:12 pmSmart Bitches, Trashy Books has a book published. I am so all over that.
Apr. 19th, 2009
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a book published. I am so all over that.
(no subject)
Apr. 19th, 2009 02:38 pmI just realized that the reason there wasn't an episode of Dollhouse this week was a long episode of the show best known for the male lead being mailed the female lead's head in a box after the actress got pregnant or something.
I think my faith in humanity just died. Or at least my faith in FOX. Did I have faith in FOX to start with?
So, last night, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
prozacpark, lyssieand I had a threesome watched Farscape. Close enough.
Anyway, if you read two of our journals, you know what the conversation probably eventually turned to during post-viewing chat. If you read all three, you know there was no escaping it. Namely, fiction and society and women. Not that the post's title isn't a dead giveaway. Now you know if you want to run.
Anyway, we were talking about how we all often have trouble getting into a fandom’s favorite male character. I mentioned that often, part of my problem is that the favorite’s personality and angsty backstory and goals and motives are rather a dime a dozen in romance novels. And it’s not that I dislike them, it’s just that I’ve seen them so often that I’m not as impressed as others tend to be. (Let’s face it, everyone has that reaction to some form of character, be it gender or genre or relationship related. Different tastes and all that.) Eventually, this turned to one of the defenses for slash being that it’s feminist because it’s predominantly romantic and/or sexual fiction being written by and for women. I’m not interested at the moment in getting into whether you or I agree on that stance. However, when I see that brought up, my immediate thought is “but what about romance novels?”
Because, guys? Romance novels? Are romantic and often sexual stories written by and for women, often with the added aspect of featuring a woman struggling against sexism in a society. More obviously so in historicals, but the element is also there in many contemporaries.
Please note here that I’m not about to say romance novels are feminist. Like many things, they can be feminist depending on the approach, but nothing about them is inherently feminist. Being about women doesn’t make something feminist, and being about men doesn’t make something anti-feminist. Ditto for being written by or for men or women. It’s all about what’s done with it. (Because, seriously. Otherwise? Devil Wears Prada is a feminist manifesto.)
( cut for length )
prozacpark, lyssieand I Anyway, if you read two of our journals, you know what the conversation probably eventually turned to during post-viewing chat. If you read all three, you know there was no escaping it. Namely, fiction and society and women. Not that the post's title isn't a dead giveaway. Now you know if you want to run.
Anyway, we were talking about how we all often have trouble getting into a fandom’s favorite male character. I mentioned that often, part of my problem is that the favorite’s personality and angsty backstory and goals and motives are rather a dime a dozen in romance novels. And it’s not that I dislike them, it’s just that I’ve seen them so often that I’m not as impressed as others tend to be. (Let’s face it, everyone has that reaction to some form of character, be it gender or genre or relationship related. Different tastes and all that.) Eventually, this turned to one of the defenses for slash being that it’s feminist because it’s predominantly romantic and/or sexual fiction being written by and for women. I’m not interested at the moment in getting into whether you or I agree on that stance. However, when I see that brought up, my immediate thought is “but what about romance novels?”
Because, guys? Romance novels? Are romantic and often sexual stories written by and for women, often with the added aspect of featuring a woman struggling against sexism in a society. More obviously so in historicals, but the element is also there in many contemporaries.
Please note here that I’m not about to say romance novels are feminist. Like many things, they can be feminist depending on the approach, but nothing about them is inherently feminist. Being about women doesn’t make something feminist, and being about men doesn’t make something anti-feminist. Ditto for being written by or for men or women. It’s all about what’s done with it. (Because, seriously. Otherwise? Devil Wears Prada is a feminist manifesto.)
( cut for length )