I think there's some point to it, but really, not enough to stop someone who's moved to write a fic from going ahead and feeling good about it. There are sensitive ways to do it, I think. Ways that don't erase that person's queer identity. For example, Adam Lambert fics where he has casual sex with a or many women, because it just ends up happening to him as part of his crazy rockstar life on the road, or because, hey, blowjob, etc., but where it's still clear he's *into* guys and his primary attraction and love orientation is toward guys. Or where he gets together with Kris's wife Katy because that's how Kris and Katy are willing to let him have Kris, and it's not just to do a duty but because he loves her as a person and his attraction for Kris can include her as being a part of the Kris package, and someone Kris loves and is hot for. It may not be realistic, but it doesn't pretend Adam isn't a big out queer.
What I might find problematic would be more the kind of fic where an out gay person was portrayed in RPF as an always-straight character, with no mention of queer sexualities or addressing the fact that a change had been made from that person's life canon. That's along the same spectrum as that whole wank about the bandom fic where the author wrote a Jewish performer as Christian. Without going down that slope, at the time I remembered thinking that she could probably have done that story, if she felt compelled to do it, and still not erased his Jewishness, by deliberately using the story to explore the what-if. What would this character be like if he didn't grow up as part of a religious/sexual minority? or a *different* minority? How would it change what we know about who he's become? Take Adam again, and explore if he would have the same drive if he hadn't grown up different from his peers in several ways. Would the Adam who grew up straight and Lutheran have been OK with stage success and not taken the Idol leap to try for superstardom?
If I were trying to write that kind of story, I'd want to be open from the start, in the notes, about what I was doing / exploring and why. Basically, also, warn for a non-canonical change to the character's core identity. If the fic then turned into a wish fulfillment Mary Sue, it would be hard to justify posting it if it was standard practice to include notes about why you made that kind of change. OTOH, if a fic says up front, "I am shamelessly pretending this person likes women so I can write him boinking my fictional stand-in" then everyone who cares would know to avoid it anyway. I think it comes down to acknowledgment, even just the very minimum of noting that you're doing something controversial and that you recognize it may offend some people that you've done it. IMHO that goes a long way to making it not feel like an erasure.
If it started becoming a huge trend - ie, a huge chunk of fic about Adam Lambert has him written as always-het - I'd start to see it as a more systemic rather than individual issue. Then it would be edging into collective practice of erasure. But for just a handful of fics, looking into the what-ifs? It's not a lot different than writing always-a-(straight)-girl fic about a gay man, either, and that's pretty commonly accepted.
People who think that not tinhatting their favorite RPF ships or their beloved closet cases is homophobic are, quite frankly, nuts. If Quinto hasn't said anything about his sexuality, then it's as much up for grabs for discussion as anyone else's. Heck, even Anderson Cooper isn't truly canonically gay if he never comes out.
I see erasure as problematic if it has the effect of undermining the claimed identity of a person or character. If an identity is unclaimed, it can't be undermined.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-03-09 08:16 am (UTC)What I might find problematic would be more the kind of fic where an out gay person was portrayed in RPF as an always-straight character, with no mention of queer sexualities or addressing the fact that a change had been made from that person's life canon. That's along the same spectrum as that whole wank about the bandom fic where the author wrote a Jewish performer as Christian. Without going down that slope, at the time I remembered thinking that she could probably have done that story, if she felt compelled to do it, and still not erased his Jewishness, by deliberately using the story to explore the what-if. What would this character be like if he didn't grow up as part of a religious/sexual minority? or a *different* minority? How would it change what we know about who he's become? Take Adam again, and explore if he would have the same drive if he hadn't grown up different from his peers in several ways. Would the Adam who grew up straight and Lutheran have been OK with stage success and not taken the Idol leap to try for superstardom?
If I were trying to write that kind of story, I'd want to be open from the start, in the notes, about what I was doing / exploring and why. Basically, also, warn for a non-canonical change to the character's core identity. If the fic then turned into a wish fulfillment Mary Sue, it would be hard to justify posting it if it was standard practice to include notes about why you made that kind of change. OTOH, if a fic says up front, "I am shamelessly pretending this person likes women so I can write him boinking my fictional stand-in" then everyone who cares would know to avoid it anyway. I think it comes down to acknowledgment, even just the very minimum of noting that you're doing something controversial and that you recognize it may offend some people that you've done it. IMHO that goes a long way to making it not feel like an erasure.
If it started becoming a huge trend - ie, a huge chunk of fic about Adam Lambert has him written as always-het - I'd start to see it as a more systemic rather than individual issue. Then it would be edging into collective practice of erasure. But for just a handful of fics, looking into the what-ifs? It's not a lot different than writing always-a-(straight)-girl fic about a gay man, either, and that's pretty commonly accepted.
People who think that not tinhatting their favorite RPF ships or their beloved closet cases is homophobic are, quite frankly, nuts. If Quinto hasn't said anything about his sexuality, then it's as much up for grabs for discussion as anyone else's. Heck, even Anderson Cooper isn't truly canonically gay if he never comes out.
I see erasure as problematic if it has the effect of undermining the claimed identity of a person or character. If an identity is unclaimed, it can't be undermined.