Misogyny in Gay Fiction? - Comments

I kind of dislike blanket statements. Like a lot. Just saying. I can only speak for myself so I can't pretend I've read everything out there but I know personally in my own case and all of what I have read inside and outside of mibba, I have only seen this misogyny one time and that was in a satire of the slash genre.

Maybe you're reading the wrong slash. That sounds seriously. Maybe you just haven't read something that tries seriously to be good fiction, because I have never had this problem in what I read and write. I mean that. Speaking for myself personally, I tend to make the female roles in my slash strong, accepting characters because of the dynamic you see between gay guys and girls in real life. How many gay guys do you see with a stronger relationship with their parents (mothers especially and when they aren't estranged for coming out) and about twenty female best friends? Even if they're more of a manly guy rather than these efiminate ones that plague 90% of gay fiction (because even in slash it seems people cant escape putting a "girl" in the relationship...), there are still females a gay guy will have relationships with. Not all gay fiction has these awful female characters (mine don't), is my point...

Also, what about the misandy in fiction across the board? This idea that all men do is live to objectify women and if they don't, they must be gay. This seriously pisses me off. When the only strong, loving male characters are the gay guys and/or the lead because the rest of the men know how to use and abuse women and that seems to be their sole purpose in life. They take the female lead, break her down, abuse her, rape her, (a lot of times this character will be her own father, or a teacher, or some other older male who has authority over her) then prince charming has to come ajd pick up the pieces because magically, he is fhe last man on earth with a heart amd our beautiful-but-self-conscious female lead just happens to be the lucky lady he falls in love with even though he could have literally any girl he wants- even the bitchy ice queen who bullies our female lead- and even the gay guys. Yeah, what about these stories? I really hate this, too.

Preach it! Although I am not a slash person (not because I dislike it, just because I am a more 'swords and dragons and magic' kind of person and that is not very present in the slahses I have come across. Plus, I am not that into romance stories either, which as you pointed out, are prevalent in slashes. I just like adventure and epics xD), I can understand where you are coming from with this. At least the 2D catty girl. But I see that girl in like every story, slash or not. I seems to me that if the female character is not the main character, they turn into the unreasonable mean girl.

This. So hard. I struggle to continue reading stories (any, not just slash) that depict almost all women that way. It's awful and obnoxious to be honest. I know in my own slash I put a lot of effort into my female characters, just to combat it. Two of them were even characters who'd normally be cast in super bitchy, superficial roles.

Anyway, I'm glad that someone else has recognised quite a big problem, on Mibba and outside of Mibba even, and posted this blog. It's fabulous

There's a lot of misogyny in all types of fiction and it's really sad. A lot of the misogyny in fiction stems from the way people feel in real life. Many women have hidden feelings of hatred towards women because of how often our society degrades women. It's a shame many women hold their own gender to such low standards.

@ hyrule.
Yes, yes, yes. Some slash writers seem to think real girls with real personalities don't exist in the context of a gay romance or something which is crazy.

@ The Real Mitt Romney
Yeah, I definitely believe it's a big thing in het fics as well. I just wish the default 'normal girl' wasn't a raging bitch that breaks up relationships and stuff. WHY DO THESE THINGS HAPPEN?! and by the way, i really really love your username.

Can I marry this and you?
I hate how in so many slashes the only mention of a girl and there's a 90% chance that all she's there for is to try and steal the love interest way in the bitchiest, cattiest way possible where she's basically the incarnation of Satan. And every other character is a boy. If they stopped demonizing all the girls they could add some really awesome and cool characters but they don't even try.
Sure, there can be bitchy girl characters but it's one thing to have a diverse cast of both male and female 3D characters and one happens to have a bitchy side, and there is one girl who actually has more than 3 lines and all she is, is a bitch.
I love this, seriously. I wished every person who wrote slash would read it.

It is not just slash, though. It's het fics too. I'm speaking from a fanfiction view, I don't read original fiction online, but for example, many heterosexual A7x fanfictions have those types of female characters. They're usually the ones the males have an affair/cheat with or that's how their real life significant other is portrayed.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all. Everything you wrote kind of went over my head because I'm guilty of this, too, but in reality I think most girls have at least one characteristic of a "normal girl", but in fiction we do tend to over dramatise it.

Seriously thank you for this. I'll make sure not to make any of my female characters in my upcoming slash too stereotypical