all things considered.

AO3: antigonewinchester

dreamwidth: antigonewinchester

discord: antigonewinchester

"Part of Dorn’s lack of precision in critique comes from a misunderstanding of the diversity of fan fiction as a genre. Are these supposed lost Djuna Barneses writing yaoi or yuri or hetslop or an OC or /reader or gen? Arguably, much of the published “slop” Dorn laments comes from the world of OC driven heterosexual romance, but her analysis excludes this entirely. It is interesting as well, the way the blame is always to lay with the women who write this stuff and not with the marketing executives who now scour AO3 for the next big thing. ... This brings me to my second point: the language of shame and taboo latent in these tweets precludes our ability to engage in the world as fully realised artists. Dorn elaborates that her objections come from being “moderately involved” in fandom culture, which “so bad for [her] on multiple levels.” She cites the fact that she is “a gay woman could quite visibly read & recommend books by & about women and LGBT people allll the time” and therefore is not perpetuating homophobia or misogyny, but this argument feels so flimsy I feel almost rude quoting it out in full form. If anything, Dorn is recreating the very lazy relationship liberal identity politics produces when it comes to critical evaluation of art which she rightfully critiques in her tweets on the topic. Belonging to a certain demographic does not an ironclad argument make. ... There is a distinct lack of curiosity to Dorn’s argument which I find fascinating. The objection I hold is not one of oppression. It’s an objection instead on the grounds of aesthetics, related to a particular disposition toward the world. Indeed, the question of what makes something “objectively lame” is so much more interesting to me than Dorn explaining why she isn’t—what makes aesthetic judgements objective? What does lameness mean, how does it relate to cringe or disgust? How can we manipulate elements of lameness to make interesting or cohesive works? All of these questions go unanswered because Dorn is more preoccupied with separating herself as one of the “not lame” young female authors than she is with actually digging into the question at hand. ... The most powerful part of engaging in artistic practices is precisely when we can suspend the baggage of life–the guilt, the shame, the arbitrary taboos–and engage in those raw elements of the human condition which are impossible to put words to. Where these feelings come from is not the point, rather that we are alive and have the capacity to feel at all. Yes it’s difficult not to feel bitter when the chips are down, not to get upset when art of genuine merit is passed over for slop. But has this not always been the case? Is this not the reward of the whole process of seeking, of being able to pluck a gem for yourself from the never ending torrent of shit that is the internet? See, even this sentence will be classed as “tumblr” but there is something more freeing and more interesting about overindulgence than the same carefully curated personas you can see running through some people’s heads. Heaven forbid a bitch be weird sometimes."

one: I'm slightly more sympathetic than I used to be to arguments against the commodification of fandom, esp related to huge media companies using corporate IP to cultivate fan energy to earn more $$$. is fanfiction & fandom mainstreaming (crossing over of fandom writers to mainstream publishing & how fandom is explicitly being used to advertise, 3 D/amione-fics-turned-original-Romantasy-stories advertised as such this year) a part of this dynamic? well, it's not not a part of it. but blaming fanfiction and shipping culture for, uhh, the decline in quality of 'women's literary culture' is a swing and a miss while accidentally hitting the catcher and then arguing it was her fault for squatting too close to your bat. are publisher monopolies / the improbability for most people of making a living from writing/freelancing/publishing their own books / reduced oversight from publishing houses, ala asking authors to get their own agents/marketers/editors versus working in-house with authors, the problem? no, it's the young women too interested in romantic relationships who are wrong.

two: social shaming--and its little siblings, scolding & criticism--are very useful for getting people to stop doing something. but all of these emotions/actions are very bad at motivating people to do something. as such, you are never ever going to shame young women into being better writers**. trying to shame women away from writing fanfiction doesn't mean they'll suddenly start writing modernist masterpieces instead; it means some women will just stop writing.