The Most Flamed Genre On Mibba

Most of the members on Mibba either write, read or do both on the site. Understandably, they're quite defensive about the kind of stories they're into. You've seen it: the snide comments someone will make, and the flaming that ensues after-wards.

On to my main point: the hatred (and quite the persistent insulting) of heterosexual stories. Now, I understand that certain people only like slash; I myself only like het, so it would be hypocritical of me to get mad about that. What irks me to no end though, is the fact that some of the exact same people that get upset over someone insulting slash, have no problem what-so-ever bashing heterosexual stories. I've seen it on the boards numerous times, and quite a lot in journals as well: "Het stories are gross."; "Straight couples make me sick."; etc.

It's really hypocritical, and not to mention rude, when people say things like this. There are people on the site that like them, even though they don't. Not to mention, they don't like their stories flamed, yet they feel they have the right to say that. Sensing the hypocrisy yet?

I'm aware everyone has their opinion, and they have a right to such. They have no right, however, to insult these stories, and then go around getting mad and calling people "homophobes" for saying the same thing about slash. If this is true, are they 'heterophobic'? It would seem so, even though the term doesn't technically exist. It's still a problem that is quite apparent on Mibba.

On to a few examples of the things I've seen posted about heterosexual stories:

Female characters are annoying.

How do you come to this conclusion, without reading a certain story? Have you read every het story ever posted on the site? I'm sure there are quite a few 'annoying' male characters as well. Just because a fictional character happens to have a vagina, doesn't mean they're going to be irritating. Any character - no matter their age, sex, race, etc - could be annoying. You can't say that a character is annoying for merely being female. That makes no sense. The writer is the one making the character annoying, and their gender doesn't have anything to do with it.

Het is gross.

First and foremost, you wouldn't want someone saying 'slash is gross', so why is it you think it's okay to say het is? If you don't like it, then that's your little red wagon. Don't insult the entire genre just because you have an aversion to it though. Just don't read it.

Also, a lot of the people that say they hate het, happen to be straight females. I won't elaborate on this one. I think you get where that's a tad strange.

Reading/writing about myself with a rock star is disrespectful.

Yet reading and writing about these same rock stars having sex with their band mates and/or family members isn't? Lust is lust; it doesn't matter that you're not using yourself in the story. It's no different or less disrespectful than writing about yourself with them. If you think about someone having sex with anyone - male or female - you've crossed the same line as if thinking of it with yourself. If you find it 'sexy', then it's lust.

Het is always full of cliches and/or badly written.

As before, this all depends on your author. If the story is like that, it's not because the main character doesn't have a penis. It's because the author is not creative or just can't write. It has nothing to do with gender of the characters. With as many slash stories as I've seen on Mibba, I'm quite sure at least a few of them are cliche or badly written. Not to mention, I've read quite a bit of well-written heterosexual stories with good plots.

The main point of this article is not intended to try and make people read het. I understand that some people just don't like it. My point is, if you're not into it, you have no more right to insult het than anyone does to insult slash. Hate is hate, and it's wrong, no matter who, or what, it's directed towards.