That's fabulous! And I totally agree--that's what those words always sound like to me as well, a sexist dismissal. In fact, I think they creep me out more because it gives the impression that somehow the male characters are being corrupted or corroded in the hands of icky females--well, the word "weak" pretty much says it all.
Whereas for me, it's just as you said--it has nothing to do with gay men. It is what it is. It maybe also seems very natural to me because I'm one of those women/people (and I now know there are many of us out there but didn't growing up) who has sort of always slashed even when I was very very young. I always had certain male characters that I wrote stories in my head for this way and it never occurred to me that they'd been weakened. Sometimes I would be aware that I was putting them into experiences more often associated with females (or myself!) but so what? They were my character in my head and so were just as they were meant to be-they weren't just the best I could do, being a girl or something like that.
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Date: 2004-11-16 01:39 pm (UTC)Whereas for me, it's just as you said--it has nothing to do with gay men. It is what it is. It maybe also seems very natural to me because I'm one of those women/people (and I now know there are many of us out there but didn't growing up) who has sort of always slashed even when I was very very young. I always had certain male characters that I wrote stories in my head for this way and it never occurred to me that they'd been weakened. Sometimes I would be aware that I was putting them into experiences more often associated with females (or myself!) but so what? They were my character in my head and so were just as they were meant to be-they weren't just the best I could do, being a girl or something like that.