Know your fandom history!

Is it slash if the characters are canonically a couple? by Discofurby on 2021-02-18 22:13:31 UTC Reply

Like, we can all agree that KirkxSpock is slash, but... using another example from the Star Trek continuum, what about StametsxHugh? They're canonically together, so if someone writes a fanfic about their relationship, is it slash?

And what about if they're canonically compatible but not a couple (say, a Doctor Who fanfic that ships Jack Harkness with Ricky)?

Consider what Slash means in this context. by Novastorme on 2021-02-18 22:58:17 UTC Reply

When talking about Slash in a fanfic context it means an explicit Male x Male partnership (unless it's Femslash which is Female x Female of course). Although yes, it is the case more often that not that Slash 'fics are written about two characters of the same gender that do not canonically have a same sex relationship, it doesn't stop explicit 'fics about canonically same-sex couples from being counted as Slash, because that does fall within the definition of a Slash 'fic.

And of Course, Bad Slash doesn't really matter if it's canonical or not, Bad is Bad regardless.

Nova

Know your fandom history! by Neshomeh on 2021-02-19 01:18:30 UTC Reply

The reason slash is called slash is because pairings are traditionally written Character A/Character B. Note the slash mark. {= )

Note also that any pairing can be denoted this way, not just same-sex ones. According to Fanlore, "slash" came to refer to male/male pairings via the Star Trek fandom:

Fannish tradition holds that the word "slash" originated with Star Trek: The Original Series fan fiction, when K/S was used as the label for a story where the relationship between Kirk and Spock was laced with sexual tension, whether it was acted on or not. This label allowed fans to differentiate those sexual relationship stories from the ones about Kirk and Spock's friendship, which were sometimes labelled using "&". As fandoms gathered around new films and television series, the / mark became common as an indicator of a sexual relationship between same-sex characters.

Read more here!

And, yes, seconding Nova's answer: slash is still slash regardless of canonicity and quality. Well-written slash is good. Poorly-written slash is bad. QED. {= )

~Neshomeh