epiphany

August 14th, 2010 (10:12 pm)

Tags: meta

I've realized why I'm so annoyed by porn in fandom, when I'm not actually opposed to porn. And occasionally look at some. I think it's because I tend to compartmentalize my life a lot. Which means when I want porn, I go look at, y'know, *porn.* A lot of fen, particularly the younger ones, specifically come to fandom for the porn, but that's not why I came, and it's not what keeps me here. That's why I get annoyed when fandom produces porn after porn after porn after porn. Because IF I WANT PORN I WILL GO LOOK AT PORN, DAMMIT.

Briefly, my experience of fandom often is rather like Monty Python's Spam sketch.

ME. "Hi, what've you got?"

FANDOM. "Well, there's gen and meta; gen, slash, and meta; slash and porn; slash, het, and porn; porn, flamewars, meta and porn; porn, slash, vids, and porn; porn, slash, porn, porn, meta and porn; porn, meta, porn, porn, flamewars, porn, slash, and porn..."

VIKINGS. *singing* "Porn, porn, porn, porn!"

FANDOM. "...porn, porn, porn, slash, and porn; porn, porn, porn, porn, porn, porn, wingfic, porn, porn, porn..."

VIKINGS. *singing* "Lovely porn! Wonderful porn!"

FANDOM. "Or transformative culture that celebrates the original while revisiting aspects of it that are underserved in the source material or merely cherished by the author, with tense plotting, thrilling adventure, brilliant characterization, and porn."

ME. "Have you got anything without porn in it?"

FANDOM. "Well, there's porn, slash, meta and porn. That's not got much porn in it."

Originally posted on my DW. | people have commented there. | Do so yourself, if you like.

Comments

Posted by: madripoor_rose (

madripoor_rose)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 08:48 pm (UTC)

So very true.

Reply Link Thread

Posted by: Andrian (

andrian6)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 08:48 pm (UTC)

Note to self: Get recording of my as many men as possible singing "Porn, porn, porn, porn! Lovely porn! Wonderful porn!" This could come in handy at some point.

Reply Link Thread

Posted by: leftarrow (

leftarrow)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 09:10 pm (UTC)

This makes quite a bit of sense.

And, ok, I'm probably going to come off as girl!splaining or something, but I think I read (porny)fic when I want to think about porn, which is a completely different frame of mind from wanting to watch porn. Like, I can settle down with a bag of popcorn and a bunch of candy and read a smutty longfic for hours and, bizarre as this might sound, it's not an explicitly sex-related kind of entertainment to me. Watching porn? Yeah, totally different kind of entertainment, you're absolutely right.

So maybe that's some kind of third category of compartmentalization???

Anyway, having delivered my quota of TMI for the afternoon, if you give me a gen prompt, I'll tackle a short fic for you!!!

Reply Link Thread

Posted by: David Hines (

hradzka)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 10:48 pm (UTC)

I don't care much for porn on video. Sometimes, I guess, but mostly I just like to see boobies. AND THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET BECAUSE IT IS FULL OF THEM.

Reply Link Parent Thread

Posted by: David Hines (

hradzka)

Posted at: September 25th, 2010 05:25 pm (UTC)

Also: ooo! I meant to post a gen prompt, but I completely forgot. Mind if I store this for a rainy day?

Reply Link Parent Thread

Posted by: leftarrow (

leftarrow)

Posted at: September 27th, 2010 01:15 am (UTC)

I don't mind at all! Keep it 'til you need it :D

Reply Link Parent Thread

Posted by: Em (

framlingem)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 09:16 pm (UTC)

Stumbled across this, and, while I agree with you, I couldn't resist the urge to point out that you've written meta about porn, thereby continuing the trend. *grin*

Reply Link Thread

Posted by: David Hines (

hradzka)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 10:49 pm (UTC)

...

oh godDAMMIT.

Reply Link Parent Thread

(Deleted comment)

Posted by: David Hines (

hradzka)

Posted at: August 14th, 2010 10:54 pm (UTC)

I'm hiding nothin'! I've *posted* clips (or pics, anyway) from my BFF show SPARTACUS. That show has more dicks in it than the Pinkertons.

The truth is that I get pretty bored during the SPARTACUS sex scenes. I mean, I like seeing Viva Bianca and Lesley-Ann Brandt naked and all, but after a few moments I'm all, "OKAY, WE HAVE ESTABLISHED THEY ARE HAVING SEX NOW." Seeing sex scenes in movies and TV don't make me want to run out and have sex. When I was a teenager, sure, but as Joss Whedon pointed out, at that age looking at *linoleum* makes you want to have sex.

Reply Link Parent Thread

Posted by: corrinalaw (

corrinalaw)

Posted at: August 15th, 2010 12:52 am (UTC)

The one sex scene in Spartacus that seemed intense to me was gold-plated Spartacus. Seemed to be a lot of rage and anger on both sides. Then, of course, the big reveal.

The rest get kinda, well, silly. It's like a prose love scene: physical actions are dull, emotional intensity is what keeps my attention.

Reply Link Parent Thread

Posted by: tingirl (

tingirl)

Posted at: August 15th, 2010 01:06 am (UTC)

"The truth is that I get pretty bored during the SPARTACUS sex scenes."

YEEESSS! Sex scenes are horribly boring, unless they're being done comedically or have the people involved trying to knife each other or something. I mean, I like sex personally. I've enjoyed it before and plan to again. But I like eating and sleeping and painting too, and yet I have no interest in watching other people do those things.

Actually, I'd rather watch a really good painting scene. At least that might be informative. But no program forces me to sit through The Painting Scene to get to the next kaiju attack, you know?

Reply Link Thread

Posted by: David Hines (

hradzka)

Posted at: August 16th, 2010 04:13 pm (UTC)

I like sex personally. I've enjoyed it before and plan to again. But I like eating and sleeping and painting too, and yet I have no interest in watching other people do those things.

THIS. So much, this.

I've seen so many people saying, "Sex is an essential part of the human condition! It is a fundamental drive! It's really IMPORTANT to write about." Which always makes me think about food. I mean, if I don't get laid for a really long time, I get grumpy. If I don't eat for a really long time, I will *die.* But nobody ever writes fanfic about characters' relationships with food. People are writing porn because they enjoy porn, not because porn is essential to our understanding of humanity.

Reply Link Parent Thread

Posted by: Sara LaKali (

sara_lakali)

Posted at: August 15th, 2010 04:00 am (UTC)

Yeah. I'll read porny fanfiction, but most of the time that's not what I'm looking for. I mean, I have an imagination. I can write my own porn in my head and it's always exactly what I like. When I go to read other people's work, I'm looking for adventure.

Reply Link Thread

Posted by: masgramondou (

masgramondou)

Posted at: August 15th, 2010 11:00 am (UTC)