Gen and what it means

A friend of mine asked me why I didn't read gen fics. And I realized that she was right - lately, I've almost stopped reading gen stories. And that got me thinking. Why? Am I consciously avoiding them? I pondered and ruminated and then I realized what my problem was...

GEN is not HET! And yes, a lot of authors just DO NOT GET THAT! Labeling a story GEN but adding "Pairing: McKeller" is an oxymoron.

GEN --> no shipping at all, be that canon or fandom pairings
HET --> heterosexual shipping
SLASH --> homosexual shipping

It's that simple. When an author labels her fic as GEN but Rodney/Jennifer or John/Teyla or John/Elizabeth or whatever het is plastered all over it, I have to wonder: Is the author just ignorant, is she trying to grab attention or is she outright homophobic, lumping both GEN and HET into one big "safe" category? I mean, can you imagine the uproar if someone labeled even a G-rated SLASH fic as GEN?

And don't think that the homophobic thing is nonsense - I was told by a person who took over the archiving duties in one of the anime archives on the net that all SLASH/YAOI stories should be labeled NC-17 and therefor purged from the archive because they are not a safe reading for children! But tentacle porn was safe because she considered it HET.

So, to sum it up: I do prefer slash because I just love gay romances. But I do like gen - when it's actually gen, not het in disguise. For het, I have shows/movies/books.

Fandom meme

Stolen from misty_writes:

Your main fandom of the year?
Stargate Atlantis, closely followed by Supernatural and CWRPS.

Your favourite film watched this year?
Fast & Furious, hands down. This is the sequel that I've been waiting for! Dom and Brian and h/c and them together against the world once more!

Your favourite book read this year?
I've read 150 books this year so... *ponders* I would have to go with Clamp's "Card Captor Sakura" manga. It makes me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside.

Your favourite album or song to listen to this year?
Jen Titus' "Oh Death", both the Rising Appalachia version and the Supernatural remix.

Your favourite TV show of the year?
Old show: Supernatural, that show pushes all my buttons.
New show: White Collar, closely followed by NCIS:LA!

Your favourite LJ community of the year?
sgastoryfinders - all that spnstoryfinders tries to be but fails spectacularly!

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
amplificathon. And Jeeves&Wooster!

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
The bruhaha in the Stargate fandom. These days, when you don't watch SGU and pray at its altar, you aren't a "good fan," according to a big portion of the fandom. Which made me stop calling myself a Stargate!fan - now I'm just a SGA/SG-1!fan, not a fan of the franchise in general because I can't identify with the direction it took anymore.

Your TV boyfriend of the year?
Neal Caffrey of WhiCo! Come on, he broke out of prison just a few short months before his sentence was over to find Kate! If that's not love...

Your TV girlfriend of the year?
Does a wife count? If so, then Elizabeth Burke! She's rocking my socks. And Tiffany Thiessen is so beautiful!

Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Dom oh so gently checking Brian's wounds, crooning "You'll be alright" in Fast & Furious. And then the last scene in that movie! I couldn't believe that they actually went there! \o/

The most missed of your old fandoms?
Anime in general. I used to love it but then... I don't even know what happened. Now I prefer manga. It's really strange.

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
Hm, does a show count? I want to buy Warehouse 13 and The Vampire Diaries on DVD next year. My plate is too full to accommodate two new shows!

Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
I have two: Supernatural, of course - I mean, how will they stop the Apocalypse? And White Collar - how will the writers explain the last 10 seconds of the fall finale? /o\