- Gayfic
Gayfic is
fan fiction that tends to be written aboutgay ,lesbian andbisexual characters, by gay, lesbian or bisexual authors, for a gay, lesbian and bisexual audience.Within the slash community gayfic can refer to
femmeslash pairings such as Willow/Tara, gay pairings such as Jack/Toby inDawson's Creek or to non-canon pairings such as Will/Jack in Will and Grace.Outside of the slash community gayfic exists as a subgenre of
pastiche within lesbian and gay literature.Slash is often used as a catch-all term for
homoerotic fanfic . However, slash has historically been written by and forheterosexual women. Many have a profound distaste for stories about gay lifestyles or even canon depictions that go beyondsubtext . It is a common argument within the slash community that fiction about canon gay or lesbian relationships are not slash.Fact|date=August 2008 It was once common that self-identifyingqueer s were not allowed participation within the slash community.Fact|date=August 2008Gayfic focuses on the gay experience and gay lifestyle while slash tends to be focused on a disconnected romantic relationship. Some of the common themes in gayfic are
coming out ,gay-bashing ,AIDS andGay Pride . It is more common for gayfic to be about (idealized) peer relationships than about hierarchical.Clarifyme|date=August 2008 It is also more common that gayfic will be about casual and/or group sex as opposed tosoulmate stories.Gayfic as a social expression
As attested to in "
The Celluloid Closet " queer people hunger for representation within popular culture. Fanfic works with exploring neglected subtext and alternate story-lines within mainstream culture.On slash lists, and in slash research, it is acknowledged that slash functions as an expression of heterosexual female desire. Just as the 'lesbian' fantasies portrayed in men's magazines serve as titillation to the heterosexual male gaze rather than as an accurate depiction of lesbian lives, the gay romances in slash titillate the female reader. Unlike male 'lesbian' fantasies, heterosexual women normalizing gay relationships and expressing themselves as sexual subjects rather than sexual objects are also seen as committing subversive actions.
Gayfic can serve to re-insert queer cultures that had been censored out of history. Many literary historians consider the stories of
Robin Hood to be ripe with homoerotic imagery. Other popular subjects for reclamation are cowboys, the California Gold Rush, Renaissance Italy, ancient Greece/Rome and Victorian England.In present day, loud and often shrill denials of homosexuality by closeted or formerly closeted celebrities such as
Liberace ,George Michael ,Elton John ,Rock Hudson andFreddie Mercury has led to a desire to 'Out' celebrities. This has been extended to fictional couples who are read as gay such as Frodo/Sam, Batman/Robin, Lex Luthor/Superman, Skipper/Gilligan, Pinky/Brain, and Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd. Obviously, (or is it hopefully) the titillation value is not as pronounced.Fact|date=August 2008There were also a number of stories in films and TV that are rumoured to have removed gay scenes. Sometimes the story is damaged with the removal of a sexual component to a relationship.POV-statement|date=August 2008 Missing scene fiction is a method of improving a damaged story by restoring missing motivations and interactions.
ee also
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Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures
*LGBT literature References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
