If you grew up as a teen on the internet, odds are you came across fanfiction of your favorite band – whether by accident or on purpose. And if you dove even farther in, you wound up discovering Slash Fiction… Reading/writing fanfiction is a totally normal way to participate in fandom! And with the creation of SlashFic, fans truly said “fanfiction but make it gay. And as per usual, this was judged, because anything loved by teen girls is always stigmatized.
But why was Slash Fiction so popular within the emo music scene? What came first, the fictionalized romances of favorite band members or the on stage homoeroticism? How far is too far when you’re writing fanfiction about real people? And did slash fiction really ruin Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles’ friendship?
We’re unpacking all of this and so much more with the help of Dr Judith Fathallah, cultural studies academic specializing in fandom and emo music. And if you’ve read this far and have no clue what we’re talking about – don’t worry, we’re breaking it down piece by piece.
Follow the links to learn more about Judith’s work on fanfiction, emo culture and stage-gay.
Loved this episode? Well lucky for you we have more just like it… Check out our episodes such as, Pete Wentz to Harry Styles: How Assumed Queerness has Changed and Challenging Masculinity: A History of Gender Expression in Music
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Sources for Fanfiction But Make it Gay: From the Emo Scene to Larry Stylinson
On RPF and Why People Love to Write Stories About Public Figures (Teen Vogue, Stitch, 2021)
On The Fetishisation Of Gay Men By Women In The Slash Community (The Mary Sue, Kiri Van Santen, 2015)
Do Women In Fandoms Fetishize Men-Loving-Men Relationships? (Study Breaks, Abigail Campos, 2020)
Fetishizing Gay Relationships: When Ship and Fan Fiction Turn Toxic (Magdelene, Tabularasa, 2018)
5 Things You Should Know About Slash Fiction (Bustle, JR Thorpe, 2015)
The Promise and Potential of Fan Fiction (The New Yorker by Stephanie Burt, 2017)
The Evolution of Homoerotic Behavior in Humans (Journal of Homosexuality Volume 40 by Frank Muscarella PhD, 2000)
The boys’ love phenomenon: A literature review (Journal of Popular Romance Studies by Ágnes Zsila and Zsolt Demetrovics, 2017)
Fanfiction and LGBT+ Representation (The Artifice by Eden, 2019)
Why we’re terrified of fanfiction (Vox by Constance Grady, 2016)
“And Then They Boned”: An Analysis of Fanfiction and its Influence on Sexual Development (A Thesis by Lindsay Mixer, 2018)
For the love of shipping: how fan fiction cultivates community and creativity (MTV News, Crystal Bell, 2019)
Welcome To The Sex-Positive Wonderland Of Erotic Fan Fiction (Huff Post, Claire Fallon, 2015)
Louis Tomlinson reveals pain of One Direction break but says ‘it’s what Harry wanted’ as he opens up about band’s future (The Sun, Dan Wootton, July 2017)
Louis Tomlinson on loss and love: ‘The dark side I’ve been through gives me strength’ (The Guardian, Emine Saner, September 2019)
“It’s affecting the way me and Harry are in public”: Louis Tomlinson pleads for the gay rumours to stop (The Mirror, Rachael Wheeler, 2012)
Larry Stylinson, the One Direction conspiracy theory that rules the internet, explained (VOX, Aja Romano, 2016)
Harry Styles & Louis Tomlinson ‘Ships’ Into a Delusional Twitter Trend (CCN, Bernadette Giacomazzo, 2020)
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