I Am Femslash
This post is part of Femslash Revolution’s I Am Femslash series, sharing voices of F/F creators from all walks of life. The views represented within are those of the author only.
i love writing. maybe not in the moment, but afterwards, when i can go back and read and appreciate what i’ve written. and definitely after i’ve posted something. i’ve been writing fanfic for basically forever- though when i started i didn’t have a name for it (also it was mostly self-insert, but you gotta start somewhere right?). i started in straight parings- mainly percabeth (percy/annabeth) but also original characters, which were poorly developed. again, you have to start somewhere.
thinking back, i’m pretty grateful for the positive responses i got. my writing was nowhere near great, but it was there and people read it. the thing is, while fanfiction gets a lot of draw, femslash gets very little of it.
so here’s some thoughts
honestly: i’m at fault too. i’ve skipped over a lot of wlw fics, even those written by authors i like. and it’s hard writing femslash in the fandoms i’m in- with so few female characters, forget about ones that actually interact. but the important thing is trying, so here’s a shoutout to everyone that does. you’re doing wonderfully.
seriously: my initial disregard for femslash was rooted in some pretty nasty internalized misogyny. this appears to be true for a lot of people, regardless of whether they write or draw or consume. it’s not easy to get over, but trust me on this, when you do, you open a door into a wonderful world. it’s not easy, and you may discover parts of yourself you don’t really like, but it is definitely worth it.
personally: femslash helped me with my first wlw crush. i had a lot of thoughts about how pretty this girl was, and how nice she was, and how soft her hands were that one time i touched them- and then i read all these wonderful fics about the characters i loved to read thinking the very same thing. it helps. don’t underestimate the power a well worded fic can have over someone’s heart- and i don’t just mean in terms of shipping
and importantly: i hold my femslash to a different standard then my other fics. i think it needs to be better, for some reason. but the thing is, it doesn’t. it’s fic, just like everything else. it doesn’t have to be radical or revolutionary. the most important thing is that you like it. and if you do, so will so many other people. (i may be talking to myself here, but the point still stands.) you don’t have to write with great political prowess to write femslash. you just have to write femslash. and then, amazingly, you are femslash.
i’m a pan girl who takes pleasure in the simple things in life, like squealing over fluffy fics and also sometimes writing them. find me on tumblr and ao3.
