Xanphibian, thank you.

[icarus]

Thank you, xanphibian.

For the record, I too am an incest survivor and I write about incest. heatherly's post... I have no words. Fortunately, xanphibian does.

Xanphibian sums up a lot of what I feel.

Yes. heatherly misses the point entirely. Yes. Many incest and rape survivors aren't just "okay" with these stories -- they actively seek them out. But to understand that, I think you should read xanphibian's post.

For the record, I'm bothered by heatherly's opportunistic fear-mongering about "outsiders" on the heels of the latest scares. There's potential for a fandom backlash against writers of incest, non-con, and chan. If that happens, no one's going to care if it's a good story or a bad story, or if it's "realistic" or not. We'll just be targeted based on the warnings.

If that happens, I'd do the same thing we did in LJ. I'd take all the warnings off my stories.

Lastly... "writing responsibly"? What the heck is that even supposed to mean?

Comments

[stewardess.livejournal.com]

I am bugged by her conclusions because they put a burden on fanfiction that shouldn't be on any art form. Creative works do not have to make the world a better place. Sometimes they can simply be enjoyed.

I believe in writing fanfiction responsibly, but I am coming from a different direction than heatherly. I want to be responsible to fandom, to my readers, not a possible "victim."

For instance, when a heated discussion of unconscious racism in SGA fanfiction occurred a couple of months back, I agreed it was a serious problem the SGA fandom needed to talk about. The point was not "Don't write about racism!" but instead suggesting a writer think twice about creating an AU where Teyla is a maid and Ronon a chauffeur. I don't think stories like that necessarily "victimize" anyone, but I do feel they are inaccurate characterizations of Teyla and Ronon, based on the writer's unconscious prejudice. Therefore, stories like that are a disservice to fandom. It would be entirely possible to write a realistic SGA AU about racism -- Teyla and Ronon on Earth and dealing with prejudice at Stargate command, for instance. Can anyone rec a story like that?

But how is a racist SGA AU irresponsible when a rape story is not? Both racism and rape have the power to victimize, after all.

There is a important difference between racist SGA AUs and rape stories. The racist SGA AUs contained real racism, unconscious or otherwise. Rape stories do not, however, contain real rape, no matter how much a story may glamorize or trivialize the subject.

I think the only responsibility I have as a fanfiction writer is to write stories with accurate characterization.

P.S. I typed "victim" as fictim by accident. We could use that to refer to the "writing responsibly" argument. I was fictimized by your story! Heh.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Fictim! Ha!

As for the race thing, I wasn't involved. I can't remember what I was doing at the time but I think I was writing Necromancy For The Living.

Hmm. I guess you can't really say, "Don't write this" but you can say "I don't like this and here's why." One of the commenters in heatherly's post supported public censure. I pointed out, "Don't we already have that? It's called reviews."