Simsecret Discussion

[strangetomato]

Man, it's been a while since I've been so involved in a discussion in simsecret (about warnings for gay content, and how this contributes to homophobia vs. it being a legitimate warning for the "genre" of slash). I don't always jump into the fray of these debates, but gender and sexuality are the topics where I can't help but suit up and yell, "Okay, let's play ball!" :P Yes, you could say they are my pet isms, in the sense that they are the ones I am mostly tuned in to.

If anyone wants to toss out their two cents (or more) here, we can continue the chat. Feel free to discuss and debate among yourselves. Just keep it clean, folks.

ETA: After using the sports metaphor above, I ended up with Centerfield by John Fogerty in my head. Argh! It's like I'm stuck at a family wedding back home in The Cove (name of hometownvillage has been changed to protect the guilty). :P

And I've added a music suggestion to hopefully lighten the mood (and because my SO has amassed something of a Big Fat Gay Music Collection).

Comments

[dinuriel.livejournal.com]

*emerges from the shadowy corner of lurkers*

Okay, potentially incoherent comment coming right up (errr... I just woke up, okay? Sorry):

I have to agree with everyone else. With a heterosexual couple, there probably won't be a warning unless somebody takes their clothes off, but the "slash" warning goes on for something like a kiss or hand-holding between characters of the same sex? What's wrong with this picture? It does make you stop and think. Like you said, if someone stumbles across a piece involving homosexuality and has a problem with it, they know where the back button is, and they know how to use it. Homosexuality doesn't have to be implied as being "bad" just for the comfort of homophobes; all that does is encourages them, and I doubt that any slash writer intends to do that.

In all honesty, though... personally, I barely even notice warnings on other people's stuff, so I don't really see them as being all that powerful. I can't speak for anyone else, obviously, but I'm probably not the only one. I don't really bother looking, because I'm not really disturbed by much in fiction and I always read from the privacy of my own home. With my own stuff, I just put obnoxious blanket warnings up on my sites, because I find warnings on individual chapters can potentially act as spoilers. On individual posts, I'll warn if the sims get naked, just as a courtesy to those who might be reading in a public place, and I try to warn for potential triggers (though that does often come into conflict with the spoiler thing), but that's about it. Warnings for language, violence, implied sexual situations regardless of hetero/homosexuality... I don't know, those just sort of strike me as unnecessary.

Then again, maybe I just make the mistake of assuming people don't read the warnings just because I don't read the warnings. Obviously, someone noticed the homosexuality warning, hence the reason for this discussion. I don't know. If an author wants to warn, I suppose it's their story, but they should definitely think about what does and what doesn't merit a warning. As someone mentioned before, anything that gets warned about is automatically labeled as being "bad", which homosexuality is most certainly not, and it seems to me that the last thing any slash writer wants to do is imply that it is.

I hope this comment sort of made sense. Sorry if it didn't :(