From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Subject: Re: Porno for women vs. Women's porno
Originator: elf@halcyon.com
Reply-To: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 23:56:02 GMT

In article <1992Dec13.094148.13922@reed.edu>
     nelson@reed.edu (Nelson Minar) writes:

>In article <1992Dec12.202734.3324@u.washington.edu> rhiann@carson.u.washington.e>du (Sandra Hereld) writes:
>
>>Blake's 7 also has a huge amount of fan fiction.  Much of this is straight
>>but again, much of it involves same sex characters on the show.  Virtually
>>all of these stories are written by women, virtually all of these stories
>>are read by women, and much of it is the best porn I can find!
>
>Can you give us fandom-ignorant folks an idea where we could acquire
>slash? How does one tell if it's going to be good? I get the
>impression this is not the sort of thing that's published widely..

   No, but go to any convention and you can find *lots* of it.  It's on
it's way to being an accepted standard nowadays, although a much-
disdained one (some fans object strongly to the 'homosexualization' of
their heroes, and many fans are *still* raving conflicts of desire and
erotophobic socialization.  And so it goes.) some of the time.  One of
my *absolute favorite* examples of slash fandom wasn't a story, but
art.  At Baycon there were some completely gorgeous drawings of
Napoleon Solo and his sidekick (whos name I can never remember) in some
gorgeously romantic (and sometimes blantanly sexual) poses.  The faces
were nearly perfect, too.

>>Maybe the pacing as well.  For those out there (who got this far)
>>does the pacing seem slower than 'real' male porn?

>Hard for me to say from the sample you posted - it seems like a small
>vignette from a much larger story. For that matter, I don't know that
>I know enough about `real' male porn to make an authoritative
>statement about the way it is paced.

   Three things I read recently that intrigue me in this respect were
"The Erotic Naiad," "Macho Sluts," and "Herotica," all self-described
examples of "Porn by women for women," the first two being lesbian-
oriented specifically.  The last, "Herotica," is written for a more
mainstream audience, and of the three, was the most terminally boring.

   "Macho Sluts" was the most mechanical of the three, almost as if
this 'fiction for butch women' was written to prove women can write
empty, sexual experiences as well as men can.

   "The Erotic Naiad..."  Now THIS book really hooked me.  Although the
women writers can often be accused of vicious teasing and metaphor
abuse, the stories are hot.  Not in the mechanistic, four-letter word
variety replete through most erotic fiction (my own included), but in
the buildup and climax (ahem) of the plots themselves.  Good stuff.
Probably the best story in the book was "The Darkroom."  *Growf*.

   All of which only proves the conundrum that straytz can't write hot
porn.  And I refuse to believe Anne Rice is strayt.  :-)

         Elf !!!
--
Elf Sternberg.   (elf@halcyon.com)
Due to a bureaucratic error, you are offered the job of county coroner.
You seriously consider accepting the job because it offers:          __
A. Unclaimed watches and wedding rings.                              \/
B. Gold fillings and bridges.
C. Free blood.
D. A constantly changing array of new friends who aren't at all stuffy
   about what happens to their genitalia.