What is Slash Fan Fiction?

To put it simply, slash means a m/m pairing. Some people say it goes back to K/S which means Kirk/Spock, from Star Trek, The Original Series. Others say it goes all the way back to Sherlock Holmes and Watson. What do I know? It might even go back to Homer’s stories about Achilles and Patroclus. The stories can be about affectionate glances exchanged between young boys or hardcore porn between two consenting adult males. And also rape and other non-consensual sex and S/M.

Guys, before you throw up, there’s also femslash or femmeslash, which of course means a f/f pairing. There’s no historic background really, because frankly, it’s a less popular type of fan fiction.

Oddly enough, slash, meaning m/m sex, is very popular with lesbian writers/readers. Huh? Yes, it’s true. Don’t ask me why. I mean, as a straight woman, I can’t find much interest for femslash, and I would have thought it would be the same thing, only the other way around, for lesbians. But obviously not.

Of course, you also have straight males devouring femslash and naturally, straight females who love slash. But that’s hardly the same thing, is it? It would kind of be like gay men loving femslash, and believe me, that’s probably never been heard of in fan ficion.

I’ve read all kinds of explanations of why women write and read slash. A popular one is that there simply aren’t that many good female characters in any fandom. Why that is, I really don’t know. Others say that female readers tend to identify with their favorite male characters, and obviously it would be hard for them to feel very worked up about a female love interest. There are also some who simply enjoy reading stories about two hot males together. I mean, if one hot male is cool, then two must be even better.

I’m not exactly sure why I love it so much myself. All I know is that I’ve been getting ideas about slash fan fiction or original fiction for ages. Ever since I was a teenager. It’s probably a combination of the three above explanations. On the other hand, I also love writing about a pairing that includes one hot male and a female who is at least a little like me. I’m only human. 😉 This, of course, falls under the heading het adult, or even gen, if it’s totally lacking in sex.