browngirl

This isn't really the evenhanded, reasonable, persuasive essay it should be. It's more of a stroppy little rant, because I got exasperated.

So recently there's been another panfandom round of Why Do You Like Slash/Gen/Het/Whatnot, with its dire followers Why My Chosen Genre Is the Best and Why This Other Genre Is Not Just Not To My Taste But Is Morally Wrong And Its Adherents Are Puppykickers.

mtgat said it beautifully when she said, "Slash is Like Pants". Those women who wear pants aren't viragos; those who wear skirts aren't antifeminist. We just all have different tastes in clothing, and also in fic. As someone who likes slash, het, *and* gen, and who believes that about tastes there really should be no arguments, I am beyond weary of watching people with a marked preference for one over the others disparage the other genres and their adherents. We can like what we like, we can discuss why we like what we like, without justifying it by attempting to prove all other choices Globally Wrong.

After all, for those of us who like fanfic, I think we should remember that much of the rest of the world has decided our hobby is freaky or pathetic if not outright theft. Maybe we should hang together before we hang separately. (See also, The Organization for Tranformative Works.)

This has been your daily rant. *curtseys and gets off soapbox*