Femslash

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The symbolic slash, used to separate the two names in a romantic pairing, from which slash fiction takes its name.

Femslash (also known as saffic, femmeslash, girlslash, slash, yuri, or shoujo-ai) is a variation of slash fiction, which is homosexual or homoerotic fanfiction. In femslash fiction, female characters from fictional sources (such as TV or films) are paired in romantic or sexual relationships. Femslash covers numerous styles, such as epic romance, hardcore pornography, lighthearted romps, and horror.

Almost every fandom has some femslash contingent, the more prominent including Hex, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, ER, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, That's So Raven, and Firefly. Xena: Warrior Princess was the first primarily femslash fandom.^{[citation needed]} Older, more well-known fandoms have growing femslash contingents, such as Star Trek, The X-Files, and comic books such as Purgatori, Catwoman, and Harley & Ivy.^{[citation needed]}

Many femslash authors and readers belong to femslash communities, from which some professional authors have emerged.^{[citation needed]} Communities typically have their own behavior codes, traditions, definitions, and terminology. Unlike many other fan fiction communities, however, femslash lacks a strong fanzine backing.^{[citation needed]}

1 History
2 See also
3 Femslash sites

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings

Dani Morin wrote the first known story to involve femslash, "Kismet", which was published in the Star Trek-focused magazine, Obsc’Zine, in 1977. In the mid-1980s, femslash appeared again in the small Blake’s 7 community, whose membership included Jane Carnell, Barbara Tennison, M.J. Dolan, and Bryn Lantry. As fan terminology became popular in the community, these female/female stories became known as f/f slash. During the mid-to-late 1980s, some fandoms moved online in the form of university networks, Usenet, and mailing lists.

The femslash community developed late in comparison to gen-fan (non-pairing based) fiction and het-fan (heterosexual-pairing based) fiction. Fans of "m/m slash" soon followed femslash by forming communities, communicating on Usenet, and establishing mailing lists. There were no references to f/f slash at that time; they probably first appeared in Blake 7 fandom mailing lists in 1994.^{[citation needed]}

Most early femslash communities were separate from anime fandoms; the anime femslash community occurred in its own fanspace and had unique terminology and practices.^{[citation needed]} By 1995, it assumed the name "Yuri", which gradually faded over the next seven or eight years as eastern and western fandoms merged.^{[citation needed]}

By 1996, femslash became more prominent in fandom. Conventions, such as Media West, exposed femslash to a wider audience. The popularity of America Online made femslash more accessibile.^{[citation needed]} In 1996, the first X-Files femslash (still called f/f slash or female-female slash) was published online. Other communities published early femslash online during that year, including Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Doctor Who, and Xena: Warrior Princess^{[citation needed]} In the Xena: Warrior Princess fandom, fans called their femslash "Alternative".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Early influential themes

Femslash drew inspiration from several themes derived from television programs. In 1997, ERs characters Kerry Weaver and Kim Legaspi developed a close relationship. Xena: Warrior Princess was centered on the adventures of two female heroines and was popular among the lesbian audience. Sailor Moon inspired a large femslash community; it attracted Americans who were not steeped in eastern or Japanese fannish cultural practices and helped create a larger femslash audience for anime shows that were gaining popularity in the United States, such as Card Captor Sakura and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Eastern and western fandoms mixed to create a single femslash culture.

In 1998 and 1999, other femslash appeared, including Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Babylon 5, Roswell, and X-Files, which had small femslash communities. The accepted terminology changed as women like Kate Bolin started using terms like femslash, females, and saffic.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Increase in popularity

The femslash fandoms attracted bigger audiences, and at least partially defined their larger fandom communities. The Xena and Buffy communities were primarily femslash fandoms. Although they were not exclusively focused on the genre, they were recognized as "the place" to find femslash and lesbians writing lesbian fiction.^{[citation needed]} The increased visibility and definition of the Xena and Buffy communities as havens of femslash eventually led to media attention. The first media exposure of femslash material was in a 2000 edition of Wired Magazine.^{[citation needed]}

As attention grew, femslash material expanded into other fictional universes, and femslash became more acceptable. Writers from the older fandoms migrated to new fandoms, which had well-defined female characters, more than one attractive and interesting female character, or both. Smallville, Battlestar Galatica, Harry Potter, Queen of the Swords, The L Word, Bad Girls, and Firefly quickly gained femslash communities.

[edit] Evolution to the present

Changes in technology have forced some adaptations to the femslash genre. In the late 1990s, communities began to post more material on mailing lists, and femslash became less focued on Usenet.^{[citation needed]} Free mailing list services (such as YahooGroups), archives (such as FanFiction.Net), blogs, and audio or video clips are common across fandoms, including femslash. However, femslash communities have not fully embraced zines and conventions, which are common in other fandoms.

Individual fandoms continue to be developed, and several authors have become professional femslash writers. In some cases, such as Radclyffe's, femslash authors have transitioned from fannish culture to publish professional novels and become more entrenched in lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) culture.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External influences

The femslash community has been affected by numerous outside sources. Real-person fiction became less taboo, and real-person fiction based on the Lord of the Rings opened the door on the material.^{[citation needed]} However, the femslash community was not eager to embrace real-person fiction. The "old guard" in these communities actively discouraged this material^{[citation needed]}, but their voices were drowned out as more and more people accepted real-person fiction. Female-real-person slash-fiction communities began to exist^{[citation needed]}, particularly for Star Trek: Voyager, Broadway musicals, and women’s professional athletics, such as the WNBA and the professional women’s soccer league.^{[citation needed]} By 2006, very few in the femslash community would speak out against real-person fiction^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] See also

Lesbianism in erotica

[edit] Femslash sites

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Femslash

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings

[edit] Early influential themes

[edit] Increase in popularity

[edit] Evolution to the present

[edit] External influences

[edit] See also

[edit] Femslash sites

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