What constitutes a slash story?

[lunabee34]

I have a question.

A few days ago, I read the delightfully funny The Awful Truth by blade_girl. The rec in which I found the story states: I rec this one with a caveat to slash fans - as a fan of both slash and gen, I must tell you this story contains apparently slashy elements, but is ultimately gen (regardless of the author's notes); and may prove unsatisfying to a slasher. That being said, I find it a plausible, positive, and touching take on the characters and their friendship.) I found this description intriguing and it was pretty much the impetus for me reading the story. The notes for the story itself state: A slash story AND a gen story at the same time. I can’t explain that without giving away the ending, so I ask you to read regardless of your preference. Both the writer of this story and at least one reader of the story (and I assume probably more) seem to think that labeling this fic as slash is problematic.

So my question is the following: what makes a slash fic?



In "The Awful Truth," John and Rodney attempt to have sex. Poorly. By the story's end, they have not had sex but they have kissed several times and rubbed each other's torsos awkwardly. Each reveals that although he had lately been wondering whether the deep and abiding McShep friendship was concealing sexual/romantic attraction, ultimately only friendship exists between them. This story is hilarious but also contains sharp character insights and very astute observations of the McShep friendship dynamic.

In my estimation, this story falls squarely in the slash camp. Even though John and Rodney don't have sex and even though they decide that they don't even WANT to have sex with each other, the fic is about them exploring the possibilities of a romantic relationship with each other. John and Rodney both legitimately believe at the fic's beginning that they might have romantic feelings for each other, feelings that they should act on. Just because when the fic closes, the two remain friends instead of lovers I can't handwave away that the majority of the fic is about them coming to terms with their feelings for each other and how they will proceed based on those feelings.

We all seem to agree that when a fic contains same sex sex, we've got slash. Elizabeth and Teyla necking in the Gate Room? Check. Slash. Sam blowing Dean in the backseat of the Impala? Check. Slash. Even when the characters having sex with each other don't like each other at all (Spike and Xander hate sex in the Basement of Doom? Check. Slash.), we still consider the story slash. When same sex characters are having sex in a story, we don't consider character emotions or motivations at all in labelling the fic. Two or more dudes doing it (for various definitions of doing it) or two or more chicks doing it (for various definitions of doing it) is slash.

When a story lacks sex, though, we run into differences of opinion. I think most of us don't believe that a story has to contain sex in order to be slash (but I might be wrong). I don't believe that. We don't think stories have to contain sex in order to be labeled het. Many excellent het love stories never expose more skin than a flash of delicately bared ankle. I think that when a story deals with at least one character's romantic and/or sexual feelings for another character of the same sex, we've got a slash story. These feelings may be unrequited or never admitted to the object of interest. They may be rebuffed. And like in "The Awful Truth," the characters may decide that they were mistaking deep friendship for something more.

So, what do you guys think? Am I way off base here?

Comments

[trobadora]

I think that when a story deals with at least one character's romantic and/or sexual feelings for another character of the same sex, we've got a slash story.

Hmmm. I was with you until this. I would call the story you cite slash, but not, for example, Dasha's Salt of the Earth, despite the fact that McKay's in love with Sheppard. I think for me, it's the focus of the story - "The Awful Truth" is all about the potential of romance, and Salt of the Earth is not.

And the labeling problems - I think they don't stem from the absence of sex (there's plenty of G-rated slash out there), but from the conflation of slash (or het) with shipper fic/OTP fic.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I would call the story you cite slash, but not, for example, Dasha's Salt of the Earth, despite the fact that McKay's in love with Sheppard. I think for me, it's the focus of the story - "The Awful Truth" is all about the potential of romance, and Salt of the Earth is not.

I'm not familiar with that story, but it sounds interesting. And because I'm not familiar I don't know what you mean by the focus of the story being elsewhere. :) Damn the internets for being too big for me to read everything! LOL

Just to play devil's advocate, what would you call a story in which Rodney is in love with Elizabeth but the story doesn't focus on their potential for romance?

[trobadora]

Let me pimp: Salt of the Earth part 1, part 2 and part 3. It's a John and Rodney friendship story, except that Rodney happens to be in love with John, and John happens to know it. But the focus is on the friendship, and Rodney's unrequited love is an obstacle, not the point or the focus. It's certainly not slash to me - at the end of the day I'd probably call it gen, but it doesn't sit entirely comfortably in any category.

Just to play devil's advocate, what would you call a story in which Rodney is in love with Elizabeth but the story doesn't focus on their potential for romance?

If it was along the lines of Salt of the Earth? Just the same - definitely not het, but not entirely comfortable in the gen category. *g*

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I have to read this story and decide where I think it should fall. :) Thanks for the link!

Just from what you've described here, I probably would label "Salt of the Earth" a slash story, but I want to read it and find out!

I know that I have labeled stories with sex in them as gen in the past (or porny gen maybe. Or maybe it's one of my own stories? I don't remember. I tried to go through my recs and find an example but came up trumps. I think glossing was kicking around a term a couple years ago to describe gen stories with sexual elements, but I can't remember what the term was.) because even though sex did occur or was mentioned it was tangential or far, far outside the focus of the fic. So, for me, a 7000 word story about Sam Carter in which she has a two paragraph rendezvous with a guy at a bar because she's upset after a mission, I might describe as gen. A story about a Sam Carter who is very much in love with Daniel but can't mention her feelings because they would hurt Jack, even if she never reveals them or the majority of the story is about them on a mission, I would probably label it as het because I have to assume that her feelings are informing her actions. That her love for Daniel is coloring her behavior and her motivation.

Maybe like executrix says below, we need to coin another term for a category. LOL If I was in the least bit clever, I would give it a go, but alas.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. I've read this story before and it is indeed a very good one. Thanks for reminding me of it. I personally would categorize it as slash, though. :)

[trobadora]

It's totally fascinating how differently people approach these things. Would you call a story with the same kind of het content "het", too?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

*nods*

I must caveat by saying that I didn't re-read the whole of Salt. I read the entire first chapter and about halfish of the second and I can't really remember where the story ends up.

But the strength of Rodney's feelings for John in the first half, the fact that John knows about them and discusses them with him and is even willing to perhaps attempt to give Rodney the erotic relationship he wants--that makes the story slash for me. And if we took out John and inserted Elizabeth, I'd feel that story was het as well.

It is fascinating how we all differ. I love that fandom is so varied.

[trobadora]

It's very fascinating! I don't classify stories by what they contain, otherwise I'd have to call 99% of published fiction het. *g* For me, it's what the story is about - and Salt is about friendship. It has some slash content, but it isn't slash to me, because for that it would have to focus on romance (failed or not) or sex.

[shannon730.livejournal.com]

I agree with you, sex in the fic isn't what makes it slash..or het. Of course, I also don't think every fic must have sex so I differ from many people in fandom anyway. Simply being a romance story can make it slash.

And you know, honestly this seems to come into question more with slash than het fic. I hate to say it and don't intend to start an argument with anyone else but I think some of it goes to the idea that entirely too many people still view homosexual relationships as only sexual.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

honestly this seems to come into question more with slash than het fic.

*nods*

I can't think of a single instance off the top of my head where someone was asking the same questions about het fic. (Which does not mean it hasn't happened. Internet big, yo.)

I think some of it goes to the idea that entirely too many people still view homosexual relationships as only sexual.

Or that male/male sexual relationships are all about the butt fucking. As if hand jobs or blow jobs aren't sex and all slash sex scenes have to include penetration.

This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine for Me Anymore

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I don't have stats on this (although I bet somewhere, somebody does!) but I'm pretty sure that if you took all the fanfic stories in which somebody has sex with somebody else, there would be a *lot* more stories about Twoo Wuv than about recreational sex or sex out of sheer boredom. (OK, Torchwood stories probably bias the results somewhat.) Even Hate!sex tends to turn into a revelation of Twoo Wuv.

And, for whatever reason, Fandom at Large identifies penetrative sex as "real" sex and other kinds of sex as foreplay or simply not in the equation.

Also, I don't think there are a lot of fics with kinky sex except in the specific context of a kink meme or a specialized comm.

Re: This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine for Me Anymore

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

And, for whatever reason, Fandom at Large identifies penetrative sex as "real" sex and other kinds of sex as foreplay or simply not in the equation.

This is unfortunate. Very unfortunate.

Also, I don't think there are a lot of fics with kinky sex except in the specific context of a kink meme or a specialized comm.

Again, unfortunate. I was going to say, we should remedy that. Have a fest. Which of course underscores the issue. *headdesk*

Re: This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine for Me Anymore

[zillah975]

See, this is why I both believe that I'm not actually in Fandom at Large and am rather glad about that. I had no idea that Fandom thinks only penetrative sex counts, or that there aren't a lot of kinky fics outside of specialized comms or memes. I guess I must be hanging out in a darker underbelly of fandom than I was aware, where there's lots of frottage and bondage and -- um. Maybe that's TMI.

Anyway, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not terribly observant, and I do have sort of a hard time with the concept of "fandom" being anything but a very loosely connected bunch of Venn diagrams. I'm probably the wrong person to weigh in on any question about fandom-as-a-whole. But it's just...I see these arguments about how to decide whether a story is gen, slash, het, etc, and eventually I start to feel sort of grumpy, and like, if I label it John/Ronon PG and someone gets shirty with me about how it can't be slash because there's not enough graphic penetrative sex, erm. This is where I start thinking dude, it's got the pairing and the rating, why do you care whether it's labeled slash or gen?

Argh. I sometimes believe that fandom and I are not well suited to each other.

Re: This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine for Me Anymore

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean.

I got into fandom via the Buffyverse and began by reading almost exclusively Spike/Xander. Spander was (and I'm assuming still is) pretty kinky. Pairings with vampires tend to be kinky, I believe. But there was this real fetishization of penetrative sex in the fic written for that ship. An author might include other kinds of sex but always, always the story included anal sex. And dude, anal sex is awesome and I like to read and write it. But most people also have sex in other ways sometimes and blow jobs and hand jobs and etc are just as fun TO DO and read about. There was one author at the time (glossing) who was writing this really long series that I don't think had any penetrative sex in it at all and I found that very refreshing.

For me, I think those lables aren't terribly useful because there's a real disconnect between what people who have been in fandom for a long time think a word means and what newbies often think they mean. For instance, when I got into fandom, I interpreted slash to mean--contains same-sex attraction and behavior. So Willow/Tara is slash and so is Giles/Ethan. It wasn't until that definition was firmly engrained for me that I realized that traditionally slash has not included canonical same sex pairings and that it has all these other conventions attached to it that I really don't care for.

Re: This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine for Me Anymore

[zillah975]

*nodsnods* When I first started reading porny fanfic, I was reading mostly in Buffy fandom, and was reading pretty much every combination of Willow, Buffy, Angel, and Spike that there was. And I kept seeing it referred to as "slash", so initially I had no idea that slash was even specifically same-sex -- I thought it was any character/character, just something to denote that there was a sexual or romantic pairing in the story. It took me a long time to suss out that that wasn't the case, and how glad am I that I'm in the habit of lurking a good long time? Can you imagine if I'd posted somewhere looking for Buffy/Spike slash?

Re: This Diamond Ring Doesn't Shine for Me Anymore

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh yes.

I think there is a deceptively high learning curve for fandom because, not only is it this thing with a long and largely invisible history, it is also, as you say, a very disparate set of communities rather than one overarching community.

I know people have made "Everything you Need to know about Fandom" posts before but how is a newbie supposed to find them unless they are friends with someone who points them there?

[shannon730.livejournal.com]

It comes up occasionally with het...I've seen it at SoGA, things being nominated as Gen because they're PG but are clearly a romance..

Very true. I have to say TW is slightly better about that, but then their slash is canon so...

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I think I've had this discussion before *bg*

I think the issue is slash as mere descriptor of m/m fanfic vs slash as generic category...like, I wouldn't like reading that story as a McShepper, bc it ultimately negates my personal investment. Just like I don't like reading betrayal fic. So if slash is meant to denote actually emotional investment cum sex, then it kinda fails...just like I'd never call Cowboy Days het, even though there's explicit het sex, bc there's no emotional investment attached to the sex and it's not a central plot point.

Now this story sounds different, but I can totally get why someone for their own idiosyncratic shipper methodology would call is gen...or maybe we should call it SMARM?>?????

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I think I've had this discussion before *bg*

No way.

*is all kinds of shocked*

LOL

I remember a few years ago people were bandying around a word for fics that have sex in them but that the authors wanted to label gen. Do you know what I'm talking about? *is so forgetful*

[executrix.livejournal.com]

gr0n (for "porny gen" by analogy with "pr0n"). Although I've also seen "Bob" used this way. No, really.

As far as I'm concerned, though, a plot-oriented fic that also has sex scenes is just following profic norms. F'rex, if you watch, say, Desperate Housewives or Footballers' Wives or Dirty Sexy Money or other prime-time soap, there'll be some machinations! then somebody will have sex! then somebody will get cancer! then somebody, possibly though not necessarily the first bunch, will have sex! then machinations! then slapstick! then some more sex!

PS--thank you!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes!!!! That's it exactly. Thank you, Exec. I had heard both of those before and could not for the life of me remember them.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Execetrix already filled in the terminology, but I still think it's an interesting distinction: slash as descriptor vs slash as genre.

I mean, we tend to do it in het, don't we? There are plenty of gen stories with het sex, but het usually implies romance. Except in slash any m/m sex often requires the slash label....

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I guess I tend to think of slash, het and gen as mere descriptors. If there is same sex sex going on or an exploration of romantic feelings, I'd call a fic slash. If there is het sex going on or an exploration of romantic feelings, I'd call a fic het. If the fic has no sex and doesn't deal with romantic or sexual feelings, then I'd catetgorize it as gen.

I think I've actually labelled very few stories with sex or romance in them as gen; if I have it's because the sex is very brief and fleeting in an otherwise long fic and seems to have no impact on characterization. This happens sometimes for me when say Sam Carter picks up an OC in a bar. I would probably hesitate to label the same fic gen if the 7 word encounter was with Teal'c instead because that encounter HAS to inform Sam's characterization. Or the fic might mention canonical pairings but not focus on them or explore them. They are very backgrounded. I might label that fic gen.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I certainly believe that there's such a thing as PG- or even G-rated slash, especially in a series context ("All right, Blake, can we finish liberating this planet so we can go back to the ship and have sex?" "Of course, Avon, it'll only take 19 more chapters"). For me, the dividing line is whether the story involves an erotic relationship rather than other kinds of love.

Hmmm, I wonder if there should be a category for "slash gambit denied"? There definitely should be a pairing marking for "X doesn't have sex with Y in this story."

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

For me, the dividing line is whether the story involves an erotic relationship rather than other kinds of love.

*nods*

I wonder if there should be a category for "slash gambit denied"?

I think you should coin the term, Exec. Let the wittiest amongst us lead!

[spikedluv]

I think most of us don't believe that a story has to contain sex in order to be slash

I totally agree! G-rated slash is still slash.

However, a caveat after reading the other comments: when pairings are listed, I sort of expect the story to *end up* with that pairing, no matter where it started, and if it doesn't, a feel a bit gyped having devoted my time to it. (Of course, I'm coming from the position of mainly reading slash pairing fic because of a) interest and b) time.) I prefer friendship fic or betrayal fic or break up fic to be clearly labeled so I know what I'm getting when I start reading. I think that, if I'd started reading this fic you mention, I would have been sorely disappointed in the ending, and therefore dissatisfied with the entire fic.

That said, I know that different people come to their fic reading with different desires and expectations, that's just mine. *g*

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

However, a caveat after reading the other comments: when pairings are listed, I sort of expect the story to *end up* with that pairing, no matter where it started, and if it doesn't, a feel a bit gyped having devoted my time to it.

That brings up a different but related story. friendshipper posted a story to sga_flashfic about Ronon/Rodney/Keller several years in the future as a threesome with a child. John and Rodney are still friendly in this story but their relationship has much less depth than it does in current canon. In short, they grow apart over time. Several of the commenters mentioned that because they expect McShep friendship stories from friendshipper, they were doubly disconcerted that John and Rodney weren't BFF in her story.

As we all know, Lorraine NOTPs and she loves the angst, so it bothers me not in the least if the characters don't end up together or if a writer chooses to showcase a strained or even outright hostile relationship between two characters usually depicted as friends or lovers in canon or fanfic.

*But* I think I'm in the minority. I think many if not most fans have expectations from stories based on who the author is or what the headers say or the comm the fic is posted to and if the fic goes elsewhere they are disappointed. (This is not a censure! Just an observation. I'm glad we all read differently.)

In friendshipper's story, the header clearly states the threesome pairing and so it didn't even occur to me that readers would be bothered by what does or doesn't happen between John and Rodney, but they clearly were. This intrigues me mightily.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Aaand now I'm just moseying through your comments, apparently!

It's interesting that you bring this up, because that whole experience was ultimately a bit of a watershed in my fandom experience -- it was the first time that the concept of a fannish "brand" was really brought home to me. I don't read that way; I like a writer to surprise me (in fandom or media in general) and I tend to get bored when a writer offers me a steady diet of similar fare. So it was really shocking for me to discover that readers reacted so badly to me writing something that's different from my usual offerings, because to me as a reader, that would be good! And I don't think I reacted very well, because I was very startled and upset by the reader response to what I'd considered a fairly fluffy pairing story.

In the long run, though, it gave me a better understanding of how other people read, and made me a bit more jaded as far as labeling my stories and being prepared for unexpected feedback!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I read similarly to you. I appreciate difference and subversion and genuine surprises far more than repetition. So I suspect I would feel as you did if I were put in the same situation with a feedbacker.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Huh. That totally sounds like slash to me.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Me too. :)

(BTW, I haven't commented in sga_talk yet, but your story really resonated with me. I loved it and I Points to Make.)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Yay! I hope some other people comment. I pimped it in my LJ, and obviously one person other than me voted for it, so... (Plus come on, 600 words! Who can't read 600 words? Easy!)

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Yes. You are right. In fact, preliminary commentation begins.....

NOW

(I have this strange urge to begin singing "The Race is On" but I will spare you.)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Whee! I want to respond to your comments right away but *sits on hands omg*.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Dude, you totally can.

*grins*

There's no law that says otherwise.

what makes a slash fic?

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

A slasher makes a slash fic. (A genner makes a gen fic? A heter certainly makes a het fic.)

Re: what makes a slash fic?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Yes. of course. :)

I owe you an apology. I began an experiment with folders for my email which clearly has failed. I put your last email to me in a folder and promptly forgot about it for three weeks. *headdesk*

What say you we read the David Eddings. I can get them through ILL in three days through the college. I'm not fooling around with the local lib anymore.

In other news, I finally obtained and read Tehanu. I'll be commenting to your post about that shortly.

Re: what makes a slash fic?

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

And I don't just mean in the sense of a person who writes slash will write fic with slash sensibilities or a person who reads slash will read fic and give it slash overtones; I mean more in terms of a person who sees slash will see slash regardless of the actual content of the show (Supernatural), and a person who sees het will see het regardless of the content of the show (SGA, John/Elizabeth, who have in my opinion negative chemistry). A person who sees gen will see gen even if the people involved are performing two girls one cup (and you know, I could easily make an argument that's gen, because it's certainly not lesbianism).

Some things make it easier to see what you want to see (Devil Wears Prada or Buffy/Faith, I'm looking at you), but some things really don't (one of my other favorite pairings, McGonagall/Hermione -- well, that takes a slasher. Because for me, it's in the text, even if it's not at all in the text).

And sure, David Eddings is a go. Wikipedia tells me Pawn of Prophecy is first. (No apology necessary, but yours is accepted anyway.)

Re: what makes a slash fic?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

No apology necessary, but yours is accepted anyway.)

And see, this is why we are friends. Because you are gracious. :) I know I have been neglecting everyone, even the people in my own house! because this semester has spanked my ass hard. I didn't realize it would be quite so difficult to adjust to teaching five classes, but it has been. I am hoping that next semester will be much, much easier because I'll only have one new prep.

I mean more in terms of a person who sees slash will see slash regardless of the actual content of the show

Oh, slash goggles, how we love thee.

What do we call a person (like myself), who watches a scene of SGA and sees gen, het, and slash possibilities for the same character simultanteously? One of the things I love so much about fanfic, is that one day I can write the Rodney/Keller epic inspired by "The Shrine" and the very next day write the Rodney/John one and the day after that, the gen fic with no pairing at all about the same events. (Although, I must admit, my lens is more oriented toward slash than anything else.)

Re: what makes a slash fic?

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

What do we call a person (like myself), who watches a scene of SGA and sees gen, het, and slash possibilities for the same character simultanteously?

A fan.

(And better luck next semester.)

[kitty-poker1.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that this story falls firmly and squarely into the slash camp, partly because of the paucity of any other description. It's not het, not gen, but gen slash. I'm a great fan of hot sex in my slash but it's not an essential.

John and Rodney thought about taking their relationship to a sexual level, and there's something to be said about confusion between very close friendship and sexual feelings. They can be easily confused in these days when sex is in our faces all the time.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

John and Rodney thought about taking their relationship to a sexual level, and there's something to be said about confusion between very close friendship and sexual feelings. They can be easily confused in these days when sex is in our faces all the time.

Yes, yes exactly!

And particularly because their daily lives are so full of adrenaline and near death and every moment could truly be their last. They have to trust each other and depend on each other to a degree that normal people NEVER have to. I trust my husband, but my life has never been in his hands, you know? Those situations alone have to complicate relationships to an extraordinary degree.

And I also agree with you that because sex is so pervasive in Western Culture, that is often the explanation we jump to when faced with complex or confusing feelings.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Coming late to the conversation...

It's very interesting to me that you used that example, because the author actually ran that story past me before she posted it and we went back and forth for a while on whether or not I thought, and she thought, that it ought to be posted as a John/Rodney story or not. I adore the story -- it's really one of my (many!) favorite stories in the fandom, precisely *because* it does such a nice job with relationship ambiguity and there's so little of that out there. And personally, I do consider it to come down more on the gen than slash side because of the affirmation of the gen and very specifically not slash relationship at the end. (When she asked me about it, one of the main criteria that I applied in trying to figure out how I'd label it was, "Would a slash or a gen fan be more satisfied/affirmed by the ending?" And I think it's a fairly gen-affirming story.)

On the other hand, I hadn't considered your argument that experimentation stories are inherently slash (or, as the case may be, het) -- because they specifically deal with the characters working out their own position on the sexuality spectrum -- and I think there's a lot of merit to that!

The above discussion of slash as descriptor vs. slash as genre really strikes a chord for me, because I do think of slash as a genre more than a descriptor (I wouldn't call most published gay lit "slash", for example, because it doesn't follow what I generally consider slash genre conventions). I wonder if the way that an individual fan would categorize a marginal or gray-area sort of story is very dependent on where ze falls in the descriptor vs. genre continuum!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

*nods*

I think so.

Also, I think how long a person has been in fandom and how the people around hir have defined words makes an impact. I don't think it's immediately clear what words mean and unless your flist is engaging in lots of meta or linking to it or what have you, you sort of pick up amorphous definitions for words that aren't necessarily as nuanced as the ways in which people are using them.

Also, I think it's really interesting that you looked to the ending to determine which segment of fandom would be more affirmed by the story discussed in this post. I don't think that way of looking at story labeling has ever occurred to me, maybe because I write so many unhappy endings?

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would occur to me in general to classify stories based on their endings, but since this story is very specifically about two characters exploring their sexuality and relationship in a way that ultimately does not affirm a slash reading, I don't think it feels right to me to call it slash. I felt that it settled fairly decisively on a gen reading of the characters, ergo it seems more appropriate to call it gen. On the other hand, I don't really like having to fit marginal stories into hard-and-fast categories anyway -- it tends to end up feeling like very awkward hair-splitting.

Re: nuance - hahaha, yeah. It's not just a time-in-fandom thing, but also how your particular social circle uses the words. There's been a lot of debate about the definition of gen over the last few years, and I think the only thing that's really been established is that different people draw the lines in different places -- but I think that the same is true of different fans' personal usage of "slash" and "het" (as well as other common fandom terms: h/c, for example, or smarm, or amtdi).

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh yes.

*nods*

And if you don't have a lot of aca-fen on your flist, you might not even realize that the terms are contested.