Okay, I am willing to refrain from the headdesk reaction to ask my flist theirs
mood: 
contemplative
contemplative"Cause Slash Honey, ain't all that gay." Now ignoring the errors in English grammar that makes me want to smack the writer. My initial reaction was WTF?? ::Headdesk:: And then I thought wait statistically, slash is written by heterosexual females.
So I ask you my academically and sexually diversified flists, what is your reaction to that statement???
edit: I really should have reread that before hitting submit/
After thinking about it:
You know, I have heard similar statements. And given that it is true that most slash fic is written by heterosexual ladies, maybe it isn't "all that gay." I mean, what do heterosexual women know about a homosexual relationship between two men outside of guy on guy porn and fiction? Perhaps slash fic written by gay men is the only gay slash fic. This, of course, supposes that only a specific group of people can write truthfully about that group. It would mean, for example, that only white middle class women can write about white middle class women, only skinny women can write about skinny women, only brunettes can write about brunettes (because, truly, who else could know what it's like to be a brunette in a "blonds have more fun" world than a real brunette?), etc. It's both a valid argument and a ridiculous argument. The premise of this argument is that empathy outside of your social group/sexuality/gender/generic classification of randomness isn't possible. The flip-side of this is that empathy does not equal experience. Which is more valid? I think the real is "what is the point of the fic?" If the point is entertainment, then willing suspension of disbelief applies and it's okay (and "gay") for straight women to write slash fic. If the point is to inform about the feelings and lifestyle(s) of gay men via fiction, then the only "gay slash" is written by gay men.
It's midnight here, so I have no idea if any of this makes sense or not. I guess I'm saying that "Cause Slash Honey, ain't all that gay," isn't a completely invalid statement, but at the same time isn't the definitive opinion.
Off the top...*snort*
Then, after a second or two, when the brain actually kicked in, I started thinking about it. But since I'm still on the first cuppa, here's a list instead of actual put together 'arguments.'
* The statement itself, is too open ended. I mean, I'd ask, "What about it isn't?"
* If we are talking the majority of the writers, true enough. Most are females, in conventional relationships. But most romance writers are, so it is almost to be expected. Plus, there are plenty of times people write about something that have not experienced. They generally research it. And, like with pro fiction, you can tell when someone is just writing off-the-cuff without trying to learn, be it gay sex or how to train your dog. So for me, the statistics are a non-issue. Just sayin'.
* If we are talking about the fact that a lot of people, myself included, only use the word 'slash' for non-canon, homosexual relationships, then yeah, they are right. Cause the characters aren't gay. I refuse to call a canon pairing slash. Refuse. Brian and Justin from QaF... not slash, just who the fuck they are. Harry and Draco, on the other hand, are slash. They are put together because of the subtext rampant in the books. To me, that's apples and oranges. And, again, needs clarification of what the comment was supposed to be geared to before I'll agree or disagree.
* All that said, on the whole, at a glance, slash is nothing but gay because that is exactly what it is associated with. And no matter what is said to prove or disprove it, a majority of people out there will always pair the word slash with gay fic. And, in the end, that's what will last.
Sorry for the delete and repost. It was jut too cluttered. *g*