Femslash

{{short description|Subgenre of slash fan fiction}} thumb|100px|The symbolic slash, used to separate the two names in a romantic pairing, from which slash fiction takes its name {{Sex in SF mini}} '''Femslash''' (also known as "f/f slash", "f/f", "femmeslash", "altfic" and "sapphic")<ref>{{cite web |author1=Lawrence, K. F. |author2=schraefel, m. c. |year=2006 |url=http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/11800/01/wbc2006KFLawrence.pdf |title=Web Based Semantic Communities – Who, How and Why We Might Want Them in the First Place |publisher=University of Southampton |access-date=12 August 2007 |archive-date=24 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824192253/http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/11800/01/wbc2006KFLawrence.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> is a genre of fan fiction which focuses on romantic and/or sexual relationships between female fictional characters.<ref name=afterellen />

== Characteristics == Typically, characters featured in femslash are heterosexual in the canon universe; however, similar fan fiction about lesbian or bisexual female characters is commonly labeled as femslash for convenience.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Herzing |first=Melissa |date=April 2005 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/51291784.pdf |title=The Internet World of Fan Fiction |publisher=Virginia Commonwealth University |access-date=April 24, 2021}}</ref> The term is generally applied only to fanworks based on Western fandoms; the nearest anime/manga equivalents are more often called yuri and shōjo-ai fanfiction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.lunaescence.com/index.php?cat=9 |publisher=Dictionary of Anime Fandom |title=Lunaescence |access-date=19 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704015723/http://dictionary.lunaescence.com/index.php?cat=9 |archive-date=4 July 2007 }}</ref> "Saffic" is a portmanteau of Sapphic from the term Sapphic love and fiction.<ref>Tosenberger, Catherine (2008) "Homosexuality at the Online Hogwarts: Harry Potter Slash Fanfiction" ''Children's Literature'' 36 pp. 185–207 {{doi|10.1353/chl.0.0017}}</ref> "Altfic" as a term for fanfiction about loving relationships between women was popularized by Xena fans.<ref name=afterellen />

There is less femslash than there is slash based on male couples;<ref name=Bitch/> for example, in ''The Lord of the Rings'' fandom, only a small number of femslash stories are written about the Arwen/Éowyn pairing in comparison to slash between the male characters.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood|last= Thompson|first= Kristin |year= 2007|publisher= University of California Press|page= 178 |isbn=978-0-520-24774-1}}</ref> It has been suggested that heterosexual female slash authors generally do not write femslash,<ref name=Bitch>{{cite web |url=http://bitchmagazine.org/article/fan-tastic-voyage |title=Fan/tastic Voyage |website=bitchmedia |date=April 1, 2003 |access-date=April 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215150953/http://bitchmagazine.org/article/fan-tastic-voyage |archive-date=2009-02-15}}</ref> and that it is rare to find a fandom with two sufficiently engaging female characters.<ref name=afterellen>{{cite web |url=http://www.afterellen.com/Print/2006/1/fanfiction.html?page=0%2C1 |title=Fan Fiction Comes Out of the Closet |last=Lo |first=Malinda |publisher=afterellen.com |date=January 4, 2006 |access-date=April 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516121400/http://www.afterellen.com/Print/2006/1/fanfiction.html?page=0%2C1 |archive-date=16 May 2008}}</ref> Janeway/Seven is the main ''Star Trek'' femslash pairing, as only they have "an on-screen relationship fraught with deep emotional connection and conflict".<ref>{{cite book |url=http://j-l-r.org/asmic/fanfic/print/jlr-cyborgsex.pdf |title=New Voy "cyborg sex" |author=Julie Levin Russo |date=August 2002 |publisher=j-l-r.org |access-date=2009-03-05 |archive-date=2010-12-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227004418/http://www.j-l-r.org/asmic/fanfic/print/jlr-cyborgsex.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although it is debated whether fanfiction about canon lesbians such as Willow and Tara of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' counts as "slash", their relationship storylines are more coy than heterosexual ones, which entices Willow/Tara femslash authors to fill in the gaps in the known relationship storyline.<ref name=afterellen/> It is "relatively recently" that male writers have begun writing femslash, and this entry of males into femslash has occurred within ''Buffy'' femslash. The femslash authorship is mostly female.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://slayageonline.com/Volumes/Slayage_Volume_4.pdf |title=Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies |volume=4 |publisher=slayageonline.com |access-date=19 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716091719/http://slayageonline.com/Volumes/Slayage_Volume_4.pdf |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref> As of 2008, femslash was enjoying increasing popularity and was the "dominant form" of slash in some fandoms.<ref name=Lawrence>{{cite web |author=K. Faith Lawrence |date=March 2008 |url=http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/14704/2/thesis.pdf |title=The Web of Community Trust |publisher=University of Southampton |access-date=19 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225065919/http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/14704/2/thesis.pdf |archive-date=25 December 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

== History == Femslash was relatively rare in fanfiction communities until the 1990s. The show ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' served as one of the first major femslash fandoms, with the relationship Xena/Gabrielle, and also served as one of the first major fandoms where alternative universe fics were widely written.<ref name="Gizmodo">{{cite web|date=4 August 2016|title=The History of Femslash, the Tiny Fandom That's Taking Over the Universe|url=https://gizmodo.com/the-history-of-femslash-the-tiny-fandom-thats-taking-o-1765143690|author-last=Cranz|author-first=Alex|access-date=26 June 2022|work=Gizmodo}}</ref>

The television show ''The L Word'' set up a contest at the website FanLib.com where fans could submit a femme slash fanfic. The winner's story was incorporated into a scene of a third-season episode.<ref>Hibberd, James (December 5, 2005), "Lights! Camera! 'L Word' Action!". ''Television Week''. '''24''' (49):4</ref><ref>(December 5, 2005), "At Deadline".''MediaWeek''. '''15''' (44):3</ref>

For more recent TV series, femslash fans have focused on shows with significant platonic female relationships such as ''Once Upon a Time'', or with canonical queer women in ''Orange Is the New Black'' and ''The 100''.<ref name="Gizmodo"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last1=Millward |first1=Liz |last2=Dodd |first2=Janice G. |date=January 2016 |title=Mid-course correction: ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ and Stargate SG-1 femslash |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/qsmpc.1.1.41_1 |journal=Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=41-59 |doi=10.1386/qsmpc.1.1.41_1 |url-access=subscription }}

Category:Slash fiction Category:Fan fiction Category:Lesbian fiction Category:Fiction about sexuality