Ontario Slashers!

[ivyblossom]

Okay, serious question: who lives in Ontario?

I've been contacted by the CBC. They want to do a story about young people writing in slash fandoms, and they're looking for a few good women. I've offered to help them find some. I just got off the phone with a researcher for the show and she's really really cool. I'm sorry that I'm too old for the program (over 25), because I want to go to meet her! She's just discovered slash fanfiction and she thinks it's amazingly cool and has lots of respect for the girls writing it. So she'd like to talk to some.

If you're in Ontario and interested, please let me know! Post and tell me how old you are, if you don't mind. COOL OPPORTUNITY, GUYS!

If you have another fandom, please please link to this post somewhere where slash writers might see it. I think if the CBC does this story with this particular researcher that we'll end up with a really good program about fan culture, since she's so positive and so impressed by us. :)

WHEE LET ME KNOW!

Edited to add: I just got another call from their researcher. She says their plan is to dress people up for the interviews, so you'd totally be anonymous. They're thinking of camping it up too, dressing you up as whatever you want. Marilyn Monroe, TV characters, big glasses, whatever. Make it all the more hush hush and cool.

Dude. I wish I could do this.

Comments

[darkflame173.livejournal.com]

I read stuff like this when I was around that age as well. Personally, I have no problems with it. But considering we have enough problems with President Bush and his crusades as of late, I just worry about anything like this. -_-;;;

[allsunday.livejournal.com]

I started reading slash at age 11. I think there needs to be more emphasis on the fact that our sexual development and experimentation does NOT begin at 18. Some people may have issues with any sort of sexualization of minors, but the more people publicly acknowledge the fact that teens are sexual beings (moreso even than adults), the less stigma will become attached to things like slash and porn.

[darkflame173.livejournal.com]

The only real problem there is that while you might have been mature enough to handle the subject matter at such a young age, I see far too many teenagers who are NOT mature enough and shoudn't have access to adult materials.
There will be stigma on the sexualization of minors for a long time, mostly because of the dangers inherent in it. Too many older adults would willingly take advantage of youths in sexual situations. I'm not even sure if I'm phrasing all of this coherently, but I hope you understand what I mean?

[allsunday.livejournal.com]

I get what you're saying, but in a world where girls are getting their periods at age 10, it shouldn't be inconcievable to so many people that an 11 or 12 year old (or even an 8 or 9 year old) would be interested in looking at or reading porn or other sexualized material. And frankly, if a child knows enough about sex to be curious about it and want to look at or read about people having it, then they are mature enough to handle it. If a child is not mature enough to learn about sex (or certain aspects of it), then they won't understand what they're seeing if they see it- it's just that simple. Seeing sex won't "damage" them. And no matter how many dangers are inherent in the sexualization of minors, the fact remains that minors are becoming sexual beings sometimes even before they hit double digits, and that needs to be acknowledged.

Obviously, the more extreme aspects of sex shouldn't (and probably won't) be explored until they're older and looking to expand their knowledge base (BDSM and the like), but the basic act itself? Learning about how love does and doesn't factor into it? How arousal feels, and how you should be comfortable about masturbation, and that's it's okay if you find yourself attracted to someone of the same sex...these are all things that children not only should, but NEED to learn at an increasingly younger age in order to keep them from doing something stupid as a result of ignorance. It should be basic education.

Saying that a 16 year old shouldn't talk about slash on TV because it might give slashers a bad name... well that's just perpetuating and supporting a society that fears to acknowledge sex as something normal rather than sinful. You're inadvertantly supporting the conservative Christian hold on society by giving into their opression of underage sexualization in fear that they might be upset with us. After all, who are the only kind of people who would be mad at us for letting teens read and write slash? Only conservative Christians, of course. I imagine most other people wouldn't have a problem with it.

[darkflame173.livejournal.com]

You have good points here. I agree with you about the need for education at younger ages. Without proper education, it's far more dangerous, with all the diseases out there, and of course underage pregnancy.
Honestly, I don't think it's just conservative Christians that are completely prudish, though. I've seen people who don't really claim a religion, but would protest minors being involved in slash. And unfortunately, as much as forward thinking would be good for the slash fandom, too many people are still squeamish with the ideas nowadays. I'm not entirely sure the average parents of a 16 year old girl would approve of their daughter being a part of mature subject matter such as a slash panel. Mind you, that's the average parent. Fortunately, there are plenty of parents more open minded than that.
My mother in law, who lives with my husband and I, is a strict Republican/Christian Coalition member. So I see how the other half thinks on a daily basis. And no, she doesn't know about my slash habit. Not because I'm afraid of her knowing, she has no say in my life, but she is in her 60's, and I see no reason to cause familial strife for something that honestly will never change her mind. She will never change my mind, nor I hers, so some things are best left not discussed.
At this time in the United States, though, it's a government that thinks just like my mother in law that is currently in power. Fortunately, this panel is taking place in Canada, whose goverment is a bit more forward thinking, so the problems I am putting forth are really moot for this whole discussion ^^
But I don't think the same thing could happen in the US. It would be shut down before it had a chance to start.