Gen and what it means
Dec. 30th, 2009 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katikatA 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.
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.
