![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sekritomgThere was some arguing on Tumblr and you know me, I love arguing. It's a long thread, or whatever, so start here and read back. A lot of people there have covered all the points I would make really well, but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
formerdinosaur mentioned that she is sick of seeing the conversation about bottoming and characters who are depicted as bottoming. She's right, it's an old discussion that keeps coming back, over and over again. So quickly, I jotted down a few points that came to mind on the topic, some of which are only loosely related:
It’s been done before. I got into this fandom on Christmas Eve 2007. That is six years ago. Six years. Part of me at all times is like, what the fuck, how did this go on for so long? Another part of me is just like, wow, it’s amazing that I’ve been in this fandom for six years and people are still arguing over the same stuff, namely the top-bottom dynamic between Stan and Kyle. I have heard this conversation so many times. It’s not in any sense the fault of people who keep starting this argument that they don’t realize it’s been had before, but it has. It’s good to acknowledge that this fandom has been around for a while and ask around to see what kinds of responses you get. Many of us have been here for a while, watching the same topics get rehashed over and over again. I would be happy to discuss almost anything, and I’m sure most people would be, too.
Just because something is mainstream doesn’t make it bad. It’s perfectly natural to want to make a trope your own by inverting it or to get sick of the mainstream way things seem to be done. But something being pervasive doesn’t make it wrong. Clichés are often cliché because they reflect some amount of truth. I think if Kyle is so frequently written as a bottom, you might ask why it’s so popular. People have before, but I don’t know that there’s any good answer, and that means the conversation remains relevant. Anyway, taste is personal, but something being cliché or well-tread or done-to-death doesn’t make it bad or wrong in and of itself.
Doing something just to be different isn’t worth much. We’re dealing with fan fiction. Moreover, we’re dealing with fiction. Novelty and rebellion can be qualities of excellent and revolutionary fiction, but there are so many other aspects of writing that are arguably more essential to the creation of a good piece of writing. It’s fine to pursue inversions and subversions of perceived tropes, but you’d better have something else going on in your story or it’s going to be pretty boring and unmemorable.
Characterization is subjective. Within reason, I mean, let me come up with something. … Okay, I think it’s pretty clear that Kyle’s parents aren’t crazy homophobes who’d kick him out of the house for being gay, yet I’ve read that a lot. If I see that, I consider it out-of-character. On the other hand, I’m willing to accept that Kyle’s parents have a range of possible reactions to his coming out, because even in real life people are unpredictable, and viewed somewhat differently by everyone they know. On this show we’re dealing with 17 years of sometimes inconsistent ‘canon.’ So maybe you and I see the same traits in Kyle and ascribe different readings to him based on these similar observations.
Gender roles can be restrictive and conforming to them can make us miserable, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It’s admirable to think that gender roles are bad, but, listen, they’re not always bad. Not on their own. What’s bad is forcing people to conform to your gender expectations, individually or systemically. Gender roles are one tool people have for defining themselves, and so long as people use them as needed, and not as coerced by a patriarchal society, they’re not inherently harmful. Moreover, you can argue that gender roles are bad and forcing people to conform to them is bad, but that doesn’t mean gender roles don’t exist and a character on South Park won’t identify with some kind of gender expression in a fan fiction.
Some gay men are effeminate. You know what, some men conform to whatever harmful stereotypes we collectively have about gay men. Not all gay men! And a lot of the ones who do are not pervasively butch, or effeminate. Most people are an amalgamation of traits. In some senses, playing out extreme gender roles can be a response to or a subversion of restrictive stereotypes. From one standpoint, effeminacy calls into question what defines manliness. It can be viewed in that way as an act of rebellion, as an effeminate gay man can force those who do believe in conforming to strict gender dichotomies to reassess what is male. Quentin Crisp used his effeminacy as armor, as it forced people to confront his difference. (ETA: I had a line here about post-1980s butch aesthetics as a response to AIDS and it disappeared. Hello, where'd it go?) It’s not like the gay community isn’t accutely aware of and in many cases ready to embrace gender roles.
But, look, when you say you are not a fan of gay men in fan fiction conforming to gender roles, you probably mean you are not into reading about femmey men. Some might argue that condemning effeminacy and valuing it to be of lower status than butchness is a kind of sexism, for it sees traditionally female roles as lesser than male ones. This isn’t a new point. People have been making this point in SP fan fic for a long, long time, alongside the people who have been arguing that SP fan fic is sexist and Wendy is devalued by Stan/Kyle shippers who hate her. And that Bebe isn’t a slut. And that Cartman is fat so stop writing and drawing skinny!Cartman. If you are going to make these gripes, consider constructing them around actual evidence from the show and/or fandom so that alongside your passion there is some actual (meta)textual substance to digest. Remember when we called this shit “meta”? Me neither.
In conclusion, fiction tells truths. People write fiction because it’s escapist and amusing, but we also enjoy it for its truths. The fact is that there are some femmey gay men who like to bottom, and that doesn’t make them weak or girly. And even if it does, so what? Weakness isn’t always a fault. To call girliness an inferior quality is to be sexist. I genuinely believe that everyone in this fandom has their heart in the right place, and that we all love these characters and at least tolerate the show. The thing that makes anything in life interesting, but fandom especially, is a multiplicity of readings, ideas, and ways of expressing truths. Some of these truths are universal and some are personal. An author writing a story with bitchy Kyle wanting to bottom and having some femmey traits is what some of us want to read because it reflects some aspect of how we see Kyle and how we value ourselves in relation to gender roles. There are also a number of fics where Stan bottoms, and while I don’t really see him that way it doesn’t mean there’s no value in that presentation. It’s just something different.
In fandom, the best way to get what you want is to write it yourself. This advice is cliché, but it’s cliché because it’s true. If you write enough of it or you write it well enough or you just make friends who want you to be happy and stick around, others will follow. If you’re frustrated that no one’s writing enough of what you want to see, the best way to start a conversation about it is to openly ask why. None of this is new or groundbreaking, but that doesn’t make it any less legitimate.
formerdinosaur mentioned that she is sick of seeing the conversation about bottoming and characters who are depicted as bottoming. She's right, it's an old discussion that keeps coming back, over and over again. So quickly, I jotted down a few points that came to mind on the topic, some of which are only loosely related:It’s been done before. I got into this fandom on Christmas Eve 2007. That is six years ago. Six years. Part of me at all times is like, what the fuck, how did this go on for so long? Another part of me is just like, wow, it’s amazing that I’ve been in this fandom for six years and people are still arguing over the same stuff, namely the top-bottom dynamic between Stan and Kyle. I have heard this conversation so many times. It’s not in any sense the fault of people who keep starting this argument that they don’t realize it’s been had before, but it has. It’s good to acknowledge that this fandom has been around for a while and ask around to see what kinds of responses you get. Many of us have been here for a while, watching the same topics get rehashed over and over again. I would be happy to discuss almost anything, and I’m sure most people would be, too.
Just because something is mainstream doesn’t make it bad. It’s perfectly natural to want to make a trope your own by inverting it or to get sick of the mainstream way things seem to be done. But something being pervasive doesn’t make it wrong. Clichés are often cliché because they reflect some amount of truth. I think if Kyle is so frequently written as a bottom, you might ask why it’s so popular. People have before, but I don’t know that there’s any good answer, and that means the conversation remains relevant. Anyway, taste is personal, but something being cliché or well-tread or done-to-death doesn’t make it bad or wrong in and of itself.
Doing something just to be different isn’t worth much. We’re dealing with fan fiction. Moreover, we’re dealing with fiction. Novelty and rebellion can be qualities of excellent and revolutionary fiction, but there are so many other aspects of writing that are arguably more essential to the creation of a good piece of writing. It’s fine to pursue inversions and subversions of perceived tropes, but you’d better have something else going on in your story or it’s going to be pretty boring and unmemorable.
Characterization is subjective. Within reason, I mean, let me come up with something. … Okay, I think it’s pretty clear that Kyle’s parents aren’t crazy homophobes who’d kick him out of the house for being gay, yet I’ve read that a lot. If I see that, I consider it out-of-character. On the other hand, I’m willing to accept that Kyle’s parents have a range of possible reactions to his coming out, because even in real life people are unpredictable, and viewed somewhat differently by everyone they know. On this show we’re dealing with 17 years of sometimes inconsistent ‘canon.’ So maybe you and I see the same traits in Kyle and ascribe different readings to him based on these similar observations.
Gender roles can be restrictive and conforming to them can make us miserable, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It’s admirable to think that gender roles are bad, but, listen, they’re not always bad. Not on their own. What’s bad is forcing people to conform to your gender expectations, individually or systemically. Gender roles are one tool people have for defining themselves, and so long as people use them as needed, and not as coerced by a patriarchal society, they’re not inherently harmful. Moreover, you can argue that gender roles are bad and forcing people to conform to them is bad, but that doesn’t mean gender roles don’t exist and a character on South Park won’t identify with some kind of gender expression in a fan fiction.
Some gay men are effeminate. You know what, some men conform to whatever harmful stereotypes we collectively have about gay men. Not all gay men! And a lot of the ones who do are not pervasively butch, or effeminate. Most people are an amalgamation of traits. In some senses, playing out extreme gender roles can be a response to or a subversion of restrictive stereotypes. From one standpoint, effeminacy calls into question what defines manliness. It can be viewed in that way as an act of rebellion, as an effeminate gay man can force those who do believe in conforming to strict gender dichotomies to reassess what is male. Quentin Crisp used his effeminacy as armor, as it forced people to confront his difference. (ETA: I had a line here about post-1980s butch aesthetics as a response to AIDS and it disappeared. Hello, where'd it go?) It’s not like the gay community isn’t accutely aware of and in many cases ready to embrace gender roles.
But, look, when you say you are not a fan of gay men in fan fiction conforming to gender roles, you probably mean you are not into reading about femmey men. Some might argue that condemning effeminacy and valuing it to be of lower status than butchness is a kind of sexism, for it sees traditionally female roles as lesser than male ones. This isn’t a new point. People have been making this point in SP fan fic for a long, long time, alongside the people who have been arguing that SP fan fic is sexist and Wendy is devalued by Stan/Kyle shippers who hate her. And that Bebe isn’t a slut. And that Cartman is fat so stop writing and drawing skinny!Cartman. If you are going to make these gripes, consider constructing them around actual evidence from the show and/or fandom so that alongside your passion there is some actual (meta)textual substance to digest. Remember when we called this shit “meta”? Me neither.
In conclusion, fiction tells truths. People write fiction because it’s escapist and amusing, but we also enjoy it for its truths. The fact is that there are some femmey gay men who like to bottom, and that doesn’t make them weak or girly. And even if it does, so what? Weakness isn’t always a fault. To call girliness an inferior quality is to be sexist. I genuinely believe that everyone in this fandom has their heart in the right place, and that we all love these characters and at least tolerate the show. The thing that makes anything in life interesting, but fandom especially, is a multiplicity of readings, ideas, and ways of expressing truths. Some of these truths are universal and some are personal. An author writing a story with bitchy Kyle wanting to bottom and having some femmey traits is what some of us want to read because it reflects some aspect of how we see Kyle and how we value ourselves in relation to gender roles. There are also a number of fics where Stan bottoms, and while I don’t really see him that way it doesn’t mean there’s no value in that presentation. It’s just something different.
In fandom, the best way to get what you want is to write it yourself. This advice is cliché, but it’s cliché because it’s true. If you write enough of it or you write it well enough or you just make friends who want you to be happy and stick around, others will follow. If you’re frustrated that no one’s writing enough of what you want to see, the best way to start a conversation about it is to openly ask why. None of this is new or groundbreaking, but that doesn’t make it any less legitimate.
Delivered grown-up galleries
Date: 2016-11-25 05:22 (UTC)http://dating.club.adultnet.in/?stage.madison
transsexual dates dating sites f dating catholic girls brands of adult diapers local casual sex
Grown up placement
Date: 2016-11-25 06:15 (UTC)http://shemales.xblog.in/?personal.katerina
shemail sex clip freeshemale.cum free shemaile sex sehmale movies free p or n sex
My supplementary website
Date: 2016-11-25 06:29 (UTC)domestic abuse awareness dirty jokes 1 liners yellow lace panties
http://sissythings.pornpost.in/?read.joy
girls dress sandals cheap clothes uk swimsuits for big busts behavioral theory blouse collection elounda villas large girl dresses puppy names for a boy
Pictures from venereal networks
Date: 2016-11-25 11:34 (UTC)erotic city prince korean erotic sexy storД±es erotic lounge erotic asphyxiation
http://yaoi.erolove.in/?dania
indian erotic art shunga erotic art erotic online books erotic ebooks erotic romances
Communal pictures
Date: 2016-11-26 07:42 (UTC)http://shemale.replyme.pw/?profile-anissa
sex video shemal semales.com shemals sex movie shemels pic shemail sex move
Delivered matured galleries
Date: 2016-11-26 12:30 (UTC)http://futanari.blogporn.in/?private.tess
shemaile sex video shemalevideos.com sex shemen freeshemale movie sex videos
Free galleries
Date: 2016-11-26 14:00 (UTC)film erotic erotic fitness erotic jokes erotic drama online nudes
http://stripclub.erolove.in/?annika
images erotic erotic dances define erotic erotic flowers erotic fiction authors
Grown up position
Date: 2016-11-26 16:04 (UTC)http://sissyblog.twiclub.in/?register.yvette
erotic workout romance erotic erotic canvas art phone erotica erotic touch
Sexual pictures
Date: 2016-11-26 17:43 (UTC)http://rivera.femdom.twiclub.in/?diagram.eileen
erotic comedy movies erotic strangle free adult video erotic theater erotic jobs
Pictures from social networks
Date: 2016-11-27 20:12 (UTC)to develop an andorid app free apk download games store games free top mmo games free sexi videos download
http://erotic.googleplay.twiclub.in/?leaf.madalynn
girl photo sexy android app go launcher theme hd tubemate fur android download learning android development from scratch
Adult site
Date: 2016-11-28 01:40 (UTC)http://arabgirls.adultgalls.com/?in person-melany
son rape mom free porn tubes adult hentai videos for iphone and ipod touch indian facial products hovorkova oral anal
Loose galleries
Date: 2016-11-28 07:02 (UTC)surgeon cosmetic center crossdress fashion teen love quizzes
http://sissies.purplesphere.in/?read.abbigail
gay sex prison porn sexy pics gay training submissive men sexy womenh costume speech about gender equality gowns shop boy images free download antonyms for dictionary
Public pictures
Date: 2016-11-28 10:11 (UTC)http://hotties.pictures.erolove.in/?entry.alex
mobile porn vedio butt pain feet pain and fever porn on blackberry sex bukkake dans un train jap principal and teacher sex vidxeo
Open grown-up galleries
Date: 2016-11-28 16:42 (UTC)http://futanari.blogporn.in/?private-amanda
shemels pic shemail sex clip sexuality videos free hardcore shamle sex movies
Pictures from social networks
Date: 2016-11-28 17:18 (UTC)http://bdsm.adultnet.in/?blog.reagan
erotic trance erotic bath emma watson erotic free erotic wallpapers
Adult galleries
Date: 2016-11-29 00:03 (UTC)http://pattaya.girls.blogporn.in/?entry.tessa
penfriends decor igiebor newsweek county
Grown up galleries
Date: 2016-11-29 13:24 (UTC)http://gayfiles.xblog.in/?info.reginald
gay shops gay fuckbook gay dating websites ice-gay.com gay chat lines
Open adult galleries
Date: 2016-11-29 15:35 (UTC)http://brazil.porndairy.in/?alexis
romance erotic erotic epub erotic star adult dvd erotic book excerpts
Social pictures
Date: 2016-11-30 02:45 (UTC)http://elite.dating.blogporn.in/?post.avery
cheap adult nappies disability dating sites young man older woman dating dating over 50 free black dating websites
Callow Protrude
Date: 2016-11-30 09:07 (UTC)http://gayfiles.xblog.in/?info_winston
elena kagan gay joseph gordon-levitt gay gay gran canaria is dumbledore gay gay superheroes
Recent plat
Date: 2016-11-30 16:15 (UTC)http://assjob.tobuy.in/?post.nyasia
erotic downloads porns erotic wall youporn video xxx naked women
Full-grown galleries
Date: 2016-11-30 20:41 (UTC)http://men.sexblog.pw/?page.julien
gay holidays cary grant gay gay saunas love gay gays gone wild
My supplementary website
Date: 2016-12-01 23:20 (UTC)http://whipme.yopoint.in/?mail.meghan
erotic puzzle adult sites erotic chinese massage erotic photo shoots xxx sex por
Renewed install
Date: 2016-12-02 05:30 (UTC)http://best.amatuer.erolove.top/?entry.eden
austin texas porn site free anime porn vieos porn black suck teen black lesbian porn exteme small porn
Social pictures
Date: 2016-12-02 23:01 (UTC)http://gayfiles.xblog.in/?profile_alden
is dumbledore gay kristen stewart gay marvin gaye biography gay chat room free matt lanter gay