this week's linky linky

[baratron]

One of these days, when I have Copious Free Time, I'm going to go back through my journal and completely redo my lj memories, indexing everything I've ever written. I'll separate out all the linky bits and make that a weblog which you'll be able to view through my web site. However, before that, I have a thesis to write and several important things on my things-to-do list which have sat there for a long time, so who knows when this will happen?

Anyway, here's (some more) links for the week:
An Open Letter to PC Game Developers. Link of the day on User Friendly. Some interesting points are raised.

John Lewis's in Addams Family shocker. Amusing. From the ever-cute matthewp.

The Extreme Teen Bible. Serious, not a parody. I believe the only applicable phrase for the flash animation is "Oh my God!". Seen in a very brief scan of j00j's LJ: I will need to look at all her other links sometime.

RestrictedSection.org (a site featuring "adult" Harry Potter fanfics) gets threatened by JK Rowling's lawyer. More info here and here. I'm just reading and watching for the moment, as I try to avoid commenting before I have all the facts. It looks like the concern is only with fanfic that features explicit sex, but it could well set a precedent.

Comments

Terminology

[baratron.livejournal.com]

"Underwater Light" is an absolutely classic example of the sort of slash fiction I like. Lots of long, lingering glances - everyone but the principals realising what's going on. I find that far more erotic than explicit descriptions of bodily parts and fluids, which is why I insist there is a distinction between erotica and porn. I like erotica, but porn is if anything a turn-off. If the word "cum" is involved in something spelled like that, you can guarantee I won't like it. (As an aside, there is a chain of restaurants in south east London called "Cummin' Up", and the name always makes me shudder. This is unfortunate, as there is one almost opposite Tim & Peter's new house.)

Anyway, yes, slash fiction refers particularly to "stories involving homosexual pairings", and usually only to gay male pairings. Slash may involve explicit sex, but often doesn't: looks and thoughts are usually more important. The term is sometimes used for heterosexual or lesbian stories too, but this is not so common and (some argue) it is not correct. "Femslash" is sometimes used for lesbian pairings.

The word "slash" comes from the way in which stories are described in shorthand. Harry/Draco implies a romantic and/or sexual pairing between Harry and Draco, Gollum/Dobby involves a romantic and/or sexual pairing between Gollum and Dobby. And apparently the latter example exists in real life and is not just a figment of my warped imagination. I am too scared to do the Google search myself.

The other terms you see used a lot are the Japanese words "hentai", "yaoi" and "yuli". Hentai is stuff featuring heterosexual sex scenes. Yaoi and yuli are equivalent to slash and femslash, so may or may not involve explicit sex. Sometimes the term "little yaoi" is used to signify that there is only kissing included. Japanese fics usually write the names of the principals separated with an x rather than a slash, so you see things like Squall X Vincent.

Re: Terminology

[damerell.livejournal.com]

"If I like it's erotica and if you like it it's pornography"? Not that there isn't a lot of rubbish out there, but I think it's bad because it's bad, not because it's "pornography".

[and I suspect reserving "hentai" for het fiction is a similar exercise. Many H doujinshi are yuri in nature, albeit for the benefit of a male audience (but then, yaoi is done for the benefit of a female audience.)]

Which reminds me, do you have/want a copy of our parody fansub of Boku No Sexual Harassment?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not passing any kind of judgement. I have no problem with the existence of porn, as long as the people in it gave full consent. I just think that as there's a difference between erotic writing and more visual media, that it's useful to have two different names for it.

Of course, sex-oriented photography can be described either as erotica or porn, and then often people do assign value judgements. I think that erotica is more arty than sexual and porn is more sexual than arty - a black and white stylised photo would be more likely to be erotica whereas a full-colour glossy photo with glistening bodily fluids would be more likely to be porn, but I'm really not hung up on the wording. I'm just the sort of person who thinks that a long skirt with a slit in it so that you only occasionally see a bit of leg is far more interesting than a short skirt where you can see everything all the time, and thus go for the type of erotic writing and photography where more is implied than described.