“Why can’t two guys/girls be friends on a show without people shipping them? Not everything’s romantic.”
Did you mean “why are people on the internet applying the same logic to same sex relationships that the media has applied to male/female relationships for decades”?
Yes, I’m talking to you.
You, person who shipped Kirk and Spock from day one. You, person who likes to pair up every two good-looking dudes who show up on the screen together. You, person who has that one gay OTP you can’t seem to escape. You, person who carefully looks at character interactions and picks out the pairing you just know would work. You, person who simply loves fanfiction.
All of you.
First of all, I don’t like the term “slash,” but there’s not really a more all-encompassing term other than the shipping of homosexual pairings, which lacks in brevity what slash lacks in felicity, so I’ll just keep saying “slash” against my better judgment for now.
I’m addressing you specifically — rather than people who don’t participate in slash shipping — because there’s a trend I’ve noticed among us. And, obviously, it’s a trend I don’t like.
It’s no secret that slash shipping isn’t exactly smiled upon by society.
We’re usually written off as delusional, horny, fantasy-obsessed fangirls who just want to see those two hot guys have sex, dammit. We obsess about it, write terrible fanfiction about it, draw pornographic fanart of it, painstakingly analyze every last lingering gaze between the characters in question. Delusional, delusional, delusional. It’s something to be ashamed of. Something no decent person who truly understands the show/movie/book/etc. would want to hear about, surely. Something that ought to stay within our private little pockets of fantasy. Something that would clearly never happen in the actual plot, and if you think otherwise, well, you’re a crazy fangirl — you should have known better.
We’re used to hearing all that. We expect it. In fact, we count on it.
But the truly disturbing part of it is, we’ve internalized it.
I don’t know about you, but stuff like slash and shipping two male characters? That’s not some weird, childish, feverish girl-crush thing. That’s not me being horny thinking about two men kissing, and I’m pretty tired of being labeled that way, as some frothing, hormonal fangirl. As crazy.
Men get to be default characters. In everything. They aren’t tied down. They aren’t “the girl.” They’re interesting.
They’re equal. They’re free.
When I ship male characters, it’s because I want that for myself. I wish I could be a man in a relationship with another man—because they don’t have the same baggage, the same limitations. They aren’t trophies or objects or accessories. I want to be equal and free, too. It’s the hottest thing I can imagine, really. And the fucking saddest thing, because I won’t ever get it. I will never get to be that equal or free.
I wish I could have a Dean/Cas or a Derek/Stiles or a House/Wilson for myself, and it’s not cute, and it’s not frivolous, and it’s nothing to laugh about.
But I’m a girl, so I’m stuck.
So that’s why I slash. And I’ll knock your teeth in if you treat me like I’m silly for doing it.
This. A million times this. Thanks for putting it in words.
But I want to add just a eensy-weensy footnote: I do find it really hot when two good-looking dudes kiss. It’s not the only reason I ship Dean/Cas or Garrett/Anders, obviously; in fact, it’s pretty far down on the list of reasons why I find these relationships so endlessly fascinating.
But I think as women, we tend to be shamed (and we shame ourselves) enough as is for our sexual preferences. So I won’t apologize for liking it when good looking men get filthy with each other, and I won’t pretend that I don’t like it (not that you were pretending anything, euclase!) if someone tries to shame me about it. And they’ve tried. Oh, how they have tried.
The way I figure it, if a guy can be aroused by two girls having sex without anyone accusing him of being weird and silly, or a crazy, childish fanboy, then surely I can demand the same treatment for the equal and opposite situation.
I love how all the best slash pairings in all of the history of television are always more passionate than any het pairing.
That should tell you some shit, right? Because people want equality in their characters. And until they become a couple (and therefore have to submit to the baggage and balance society prescribes a couple), het characters have amazing sexual tension and equality.
But as soon as a show hooks up the het couple, everything falls apart because suddenly the equality is gone, and the balance is gone, and the characters have to fit the roles of their couplehood, and the audience just doesn’t care anymore.
But take two male characters with copious amounts of unresolved homoromantic tension who are completely devoted to each other—who will never be unequal or have to fit any roles society prescribes and who will never be out of balance—and your show will shine like a beacon, and hearts will bust into teeny tiny little pieces.
I didn’t give a shit when Cuddy said she loved House, but I cried my eyes out when Wilson begged House to say it to him.
I mean, just random opinions and thoughts. I don’t know. I’m not really saying het couples on TV are shitty, but on the other hand, I am, because I hate it when it happens. It always seems as if the girl gets slotted into a role as the subordinate to the guy. She becomes an extension of him rather than his equal. As soon as they become a pairing.
It always feels like the guy won. You know?
That never happens to Spock. Or BJ. Or Merlin. Or Castiel. Or Wilson. Even as a sidekick, they’re still never reduced to an extension.
Idk.
strangepicturesofmishacollins:
I can’t help but laugh when I read someone complaining that talking about Dean/Castiel is going to make Misha “uncomfortable.” Misha Collins has been training his whole life for this, from studying meditation with Tibetan monks in Nepal, to doing an internship at the Clinton White House (Bill still asks him to wear a blue dress when he visits). Misha Collins is married to a feminist historian who writes about sex. Of course he’s okay with it! In fact, he’s really into making you feel uncomfortable about it.
[when asked about slash] “I think it is a great cultural asset that unites the world and makes it better.” Misha from Asylum Europe 2010
“Big thumbs up all round! Super awesome! Don’t worry about me judging. I don’t judge. I’ve done all sorts of pervy stuff too- not that I’m saying what you do is! I know it’s mostly totally platonic anyway, they’re just playing with Legos and stuff. Almost all of it is G-rated and totally for kids. And that’s awesome! Please don’t think I judge you.” Misha during Asylum 3, 2009
“It’s kind of a little bit of a weird line to cross, and I’ve mentioned it during the Q&As at the fan conventions. And you can sense the whole audience tensing up, like they don’t want you to talk about this slash fiction weird pervy stuff that they get into. So I do like to bring it up for that reason.” Misha in 2009
“Just to take a statistical sampling, if this were the general viewing public, pretty much all TV shows would have like really strong homoerotic overtures. Right? You would see guys making out, for sure. Which is great! I’m all for it.” - Misha from LA Con 2011.
“I’ve still only read part of one slash fic … Don’t talk about it? Right! Because there’s a line! There’s a line! And you’re crossing it! Right now! Don’t? Because it’s going to upset some people in this room if you talk about it! Don’t upset these poor people! The only thing I was gonna say about it is that it does exist - let’s face reality here - and apparently there’s a subsection of Dean/Cas/Pie. Haven’t read it. Probably not going to. But it haunts the back of my mind that it exists.” - Misha at VanCon 2009.
Q: Destiel or Wincest?
A: It’s nice to have someone cross that line so early in the morning! For those of you not up to speed, she’s asking me if I prefer the homoerotic writings involving this angel/human thing or the disgusting twin - no - what is it called? Brothers - incest! I have to say I still haven’t boned up on my slash fic so … I don’t know. What’s your preference? You obviously like both.
Q: I am a Destiel fan. [Cheers!]
A: This is the most “out” crowd I’ve ever … so there’s this phenomenon, I don’t know if you know about it or not, but some of you or probably most of you do it. But it’s like fans who write stories about the characters on the show. And not just this show, I think it started with Spock and Captain Kirk or something, a long time ago. Is that not true? I don’t care. And they write stories like “And then Spock spotted Captain Kirk’s glistening lips and leaned in for a kiss,” and I just spouted something that made me a bit uncomfortable. I mean, am I wrong?! No, I am not wrong? Lots of negatives in there, but I am right! So this carries on to this day with Sam and Dean doing things to one another, and - whatever. And when I first started coming to conventions, somebody told me about it and I was like “Really? What is this?” And someone got up - someone with perverse tendencies just like yourself - and asked a question, and the crowd went noooooooo. Boooo! Lynch her! Terrible! And now everyone is like “Yay! We do to!” So it’s like everybody’s coming out. It’s nice! Fucked up, but it’s nice. - Misha during Asylum 7
“Recently for the publicist for the CW said they were talking to somebody and they said ‘We want to interview Misha about fanfic,’ and she said, ‘He doesn’t know anything about that,” and they said, “No, that’s not right. He does. He studies it.’ As if I’ve got piles of books, and I draw the blinds close and I read all of these books! … I’ve got this curiosity about it. I think it’s interesting. But I haven’t gotten to the intensive Googling phase yet. I’ll know when the warning signs hit. Or maybe I already have and I’m lying. Maybe I’ve read all of your stories. And post comments. Some of them are badly written. You know who you are.” Misha at Salute to Supernatural Chicago 2009
[On what Supernatural would be if it was a movie] “Gay porn incest story with two brothers fucking the shit out of each other … directed by Kermit the Frog. ‘Why are there so many songs about rainbows?’” - Misha on this strange podcast
Interviewer: My wife is over there.
Misha: That doesn’t make you straight. - from the same as aboveInterviewer: Your character, Castiel, is accused by Anna [Julie McNiven] of not being able to feel real emotion, but he seems to have a real affection for Dean [Jensen Ackles]. How do you work with that sort of dichotomy?
Collins: Yes, how do you explain the homoerotic tension [laughs]? - le interview
I’m thrilled to know that I do have a following in the gay community. [laughs] I’m constantly trying to actually figure it out, without actually doing any research, but another thing that has kind of amazed me is how many die-hard Supernatural fans are lesbians too. [… ] It’s a really, it’s a very cool fandom. It seems like the fandom of Supernatural is very inclusive group, and I think that’s awesome. - from Misha’s interview with After Elton
