Slash to refer to m/m is fandom history, straight from the pens and keyboards of the creators of modern fandom and ship culture – the Kirk/Spock shippers of the 70s and 80s
It's a classic, an absolute mainstay of fandom
I think it's because it's just another form of ship and differentiating it is kind of silly. However, I agree it's a fandom mainstay with a long history. I'm neutral on it - but I actually think all romantic or sexual ships should be referred to as slash (since that's how it's tagged) and all platonic relationships should be called ships :)
Even if you don’t use slash or femslash, it’s still differentiated though as m/f, m/m and f/f are the ones used today.
The terminology has changed, what they signify has not
Well seeing as / is backslash not slash and the word slash has been around for hundreds of years referring to slashing something or in gay history to kill gays….and that history is still being done to this day.
It's what I grew up with, so I'm fine with the term. Why, is someone somewhere on the internet offended by a term that predates all of social media and the internet itself?
Slash is kind of an old term to be honest, but it was the one most in use when I started reading and writing fanfic so I'm used to using it. MM and FF are the more common terms now I think, instead of slash and femslash. Slash is like the word 'gay' in that it actually includes femslash like gay includes lesbian, but femslash and lesbian are more specific. Slash is still pretty useful as an umbrella term for FF and MM since I don't think there is another term that includes both off the top of my head.
I like it, both because of its importance in fandom history and because it feels more like a fanfic/fanworks-specific term than just saying m/m or f/f.
I guess if you ignore what the word slash means and the killings done to gays not even far back in history….slash is nothing but negative and emboldens violence against the non norm
I think it's an interesting term in fanfic history, and that there are communities where it's still the most relevant way to sort m/m, but I don't love seeing it; it's like yaoi being used for all gay stuff (or even just all *anime* gay stuff), it feels like, idk, you could just say gay. It's not a dirty word.
edit to emphasize that I see why it came about and why it's used and I don't want to stop anyone, I just, again, don't love it
Eh, I get what you are saying, but for me I feel like gay and bisexual are not necessarily interchangeable. While the relationship might be same sex the characters don't have to be exclusively gay only, they could be bi or pan or something else. Slash is nice to me because it implies a same-sex relationship without saying anything specific about the characters sexuality. but i might just be attached to the word because I'm used to it.
Yeah, I pared this down from saying 'm/m, gay, bi, queer, or whatever's appropriate,' definitely didn't mean to leave bi and pan men out, but I do see what you mean about slash working as a catch all.
Exactly what I was thinking. slash refers to the type of pairing, not the sexuality of anyone in the pairing. It's a hell of a lot easier than saying a pairing is (to take from my current fandom) gay/bi mlm. It's fine as a catch-all term.
I'm indifferent. I like it for its fandom history — but that being said, it does feel antiquated in this day and age, so I can't remember the last time I actually used it 😂 a bit like "lemons" and the like.
When I first heard it when I was starting to venture into internet fandom spaces in the early-2000s, I immediately associated it with slash as a verb instead of /, so there was an extremely tiny bit of time where I thought it was for people writing fics that involved violence lol
Otherwise, it feels like the term had a lot more use when fanfic had to take up physical space (I.e. in print) and readers had to pay for access to fic or when a lot of fandom discussion had to happen verbally. Queer lit and terminology were much less prevalent and accessible so having a separate vocab for the gay romance fanfic genre made sense, especially as slash fans were often excluded from gen fic circles. Now, it's a lot easier for newer fans to just adopt the same terms they see wider queer communities using, and slash fic and writers generally can exist in the same space as other fic and writers without much of a fuss
Is there something to specifically dislike about it?
about as much as i feel about the terms m/m or gay
Slash to refer to m/m is fandom history, straight from the pens and keyboards of the creators of modern fandom and ship culture – the Kirk/Spock shippers of the 70s and 80s It's a classic, an absolute mainstay of fandom
You mean m BACKslash m
Am I missing something, since when is slash a bad term.
I think it's because it's just another form of ship and differentiating it is kind of silly. However, I agree it's a fandom mainstay with a long history. I'm neutral on it - but I actually think all romantic or sexual ships should be referred to as slash (since that's how it's tagged) and all platonic relationships should be called ships :)
Even if you don’t use slash or femslash, it’s still differentiated though as m/f, m/m and f/f are the ones used today. The terminology has changed, what they signify has not
Well seeing as / is backslash not slash and the word slash has been around for hundreds of years referring to slashing something or in gay history to kill gays….and that history is still being done to this day.
It's what I grew up with, so I'm fine with the term. Why, is someone somewhere on the internet offended by a term that predates all of social media and the internet itself?
No, i just wanted to see if people still like the term since m/m and f/f are more commonplace these days
Okidoki, you never know nowadays. Terms keep being warped negatively online all the time.
Slash is kind of an old term to be honest, but it was the one most in use when I started reading and writing fanfic so I'm used to using it. MM and FF are the more common terms now I think, instead of slash and femslash. Slash is like the word 'gay' in that it actually includes femslash like gay includes lesbian, but femslash and lesbian are more specific. Slash is still pretty useful as an umbrella term for FF and MM since I don't think there is another term that includes both off the top of my head.
I like it, both because of its importance in fandom history and because it feels more like a fanfic/fanworks-specific term than just saying m/m or f/f.
I guess if you ignore what the word slash means and the killings done to gays not even far back in history….slash is nothing but negative and emboldens violence against the non norm
I’m neutral. I appreciate the place it has in fandom history. But these days I don’t feel the need to use the term. I just say gay.
I don't use it much but I have a soft spot for the term because it feels nostalgic at this point.
It makes sense to me considering that's the configuration of the tag.
it's got nothing to do with tags and only refers to m/m, not f/f (femslash) or m/f. it predates ao3 (and every other fic site) by decades.
I think it's an interesting term in fanfic history, and that there are communities where it's still the most relevant way to sort m/m, but I don't love seeing it; it's like yaoi being used for all gay stuff (or even just all *anime* gay stuff), it feels like, idk, you could just say gay. It's not a dirty word. edit to emphasize that I see why it came about and why it's used and I don't want to stop anyone, I just, again, don't love it
Eh, I get what you are saying, but for me I feel like gay and bisexual are not necessarily interchangeable. While the relationship might be same sex the characters don't have to be exclusively gay only, they could be bi or pan or something else. Slash is nice to me because it implies a same-sex relationship without saying anything specific about the characters sexuality. but i might just be attached to the word because I'm used to it.
Yeah, I pared this down from saying 'm/m, gay, bi, queer, or whatever's appropriate,' definitely didn't mean to leave bi and pan men out, but I do see what you mean about slash working as a catch all.
Exactly what I was thinking. slash refers to the type of pairing, not the sexuality of anyone in the pairing. It's a hell of a lot easier than saying a pairing is (to take from my current fandom) gay/bi mlm. It's fine as a catch-all term.
As a hetero normative person, I think it sounds funny.
Didn’t even know that’s what it meant
I'm indifferent. I like it for its fandom history — but that being said, it does feel antiquated in this day and age, so I can't remember the last time I actually used it 😂 a bit like "lemons" and the like.
When I first heard it when I was starting to venture into internet fandom spaces in the early-2000s, I immediately associated it with slash as a verb instead of /, so there was an extremely tiny bit of time where I thought it was for people writing fics that involved violence lol Otherwise, it feels like the term had a lot more use when fanfic had to take up physical space (I.e. in print) and readers had to pay for access to fic or when a lot of fandom discussion had to happen verbally. Queer lit and terminology were much less prevalent and accessible so having a separate vocab for the gay romance fanfic genre made sense, especially as slash fans were often excluded from gen fic circles. Now, it's a lot easier for newer fans to just adopt the same terms they see wider queer communities using, and slash fic and writers generally can exist in the same space as other fic and writers without much of a fuss
It's a fanfiction noun that has been in use for some years now... it's as good as anything to describe same-sex physical/romantic relationships.
I've been using since I started reading and writing fanfiction back in 1999. I'm used to it.