Also, yes to the analysis of fantasies! I mean, I do not think that all fantasies should be self-analyzed and gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Nor do I think all fantasies should be politically perfect. But I think there's a difference between the unthinking acceptance of a fantasy and the acknowledgment that a fantasy is problematic but that it's still your fantasy. Ok, part of why I say this is because I personally enjoy looking at problematic gender and race issues, but I keep running into discussions in which people are critiquing problematic aspects of text and hit the "But I like it!" reaction.
I think that demonizing desire is dangerous (whee, alliteration!) and I absolutely think that it's a good thing to have a space where that stuff can be owned and articulated; but I don't quite know how to approach it ethically and politically.
Yes, definitely! And I run into even larger problems when it comes to authorship, since I generally come to things as a consumer, not a creator. Because then you get into muddly issues of intent and if that intent should be stated (I generally don't think it should have to be) and then what about times when the intent is there, but the execution fails, and etc. And of course there's all the larger context of fandom being a female space but not always a feminist one, of the demonization of desire and sexuality (particularly female desire) in most spaces, with the fetishization of some race/gender combos (black men, Latin@s, Asian women) and the desexualization of others (black women, Asian men).
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-24 09:54 pm (UTC)Also, yes to the analysis of fantasies! I mean, I do not think that all fantasies should be self-analyzed and gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Nor do I think all fantasies should be politically perfect. But I think there's a difference between the unthinking acceptance of a fantasy and the acknowledgment that a fantasy is problematic but that it's still your fantasy. Ok, part of why I say this is because I personally enjoy looking at problematic gender and race issues, but I keep running into discussions in which people are critiquing problematic aspects of text and hit the "But I like it!" reaction.
I think that demonizing desire is dangerous (whee, alliteration!) and I absolutely think that it's a good thing to have a space where that stuff can be owned and articulated; but I don't quite know how to approach it ethically and politically.
Yes, definitely! And I run into even larger problems when it comes to authorship, since I generally come to things as a consumer, not a creator. Because then you get into muddly issues of intent and if that intent should be stated (I generally don't think it should have to be) and then what about times when the intent is there, but the execution fails, and etc. And of course there's all the larger context of fandom being a female space but not always a feminist one, of the demonization of desire and sexuality (particularly female desire) in most spaces, with the fetishization of some race/gender combos (black men, Latin@s, Asian women) and the desexualization of others (black women, Asian men).
Oof. Still thinking about a lot of this ;).