Het

Het (heterosexual) is a subgenre of romantic or erotic fanfiction. It can also be used to describe other types of fanworks. The label het generally indicates that a fanwork is focused on a heterosexual relationship or male/female encounter. 
The relationship may be stated explicitly or merely hinted at. In terms of ratings, het fanworks can range from hand-holding to graphic sex. If a story is labeled "het," the het pairing contained within may or may not be canon. 
Like other such labels, there's a certain amount of subjectivity involved: a story might be labeled gen by one fan and het by another.
== Debated Use ==
The term 'het' is often used to describe any M/F relationship, even if one or both of the characters aren't heterosexual (such as being bi, pan or ace). Some fans, who may take issue with this, will sometimes refer to ships in which one or both are not het as 'm/f', or another term that doesn't refer to a specific sexuality.
==History==
The earliest romantic fan fiction -- what would today be called "het" -- were sometimes called "lay" stories (lay-Spock, lay-Kirk, and so forth, also "get 'em laid"). "Lay-Spock" is also found in a transcript of a Star Trek convention panel interview with Devra and Debra Langsam, Joyce Yasner and Sherna Burley, reprinted in the Langsams' Masiform D 3, September 1973. This is possibly the earliest published usage of the term. Camille Bacon-Smith also uses "lay-" in her discussions on romantic fan fiction in her book Enterprising Women.Discussion of early Hurt/Comfort in LJ, and its relationship to "het."
In zines, the term 'Adult' has often been used for more explicit het content, with non-explicit m/f relationships falling under 'gen'. At times, MPAA film ratings are used, as in the years prior to the age statement and labeling.
An early use of "het" in a discussion about slash was at alt.sex newsgroup on February 16, 1994. In that post, Claire Maier uses the term "het" in an interjectory conversation about slash. In context, the poster was talking about fans rather than fandoms or genres, but it's the earliest citable reference linking the term and fandom found via publicly accessible search.
Labeling fiction with "het" appears to have begun around 1999. Some fan comments from that time: 
==Meta/Further Reading==
* seperis you have got to be kidding me on LiveJournal you have got to be kidding me on Dreamwidth; archive link (August 1, 2006)
: ... Every time--every time--this debate is dragged out and aired--the number of x/x or x/y fic compared to another is a big one, but also always fun is the infrequent challenges that exclude this or that pairing/group for one reason or another, or the archive that says no whatever pairing/rating/genre or the random troll that wanders by with homophobic or heterophobic commentary that are somehow--and don't even ask me how this happens--are immediately proclaimed The True Voice of the Other Side. Like there is some secret cabal of slashers (hetters) out there quietly working to eliminate everyone who doesn't write their pairing and take over fandom so the one true vision is revealed.
: Does anyone--and I'm serious--actually believe that? I mean, really, truly, you sit down and think to yourself, those *slashers* (hetters) are destroying fandom by tying the hands of hetters (slashers) or trolling them off the net?...
* Why does het fic get such a bad rap? by Ivana Spankoff (iamtheliquorr) (August 28, 2006)
* Fandom Wank's tongue-in-cheek and highly sarcastic het definition (archived)
* Het--the Other white meat (and me, a vegetarian): essay by metamiri (2006)
* Thoughts on canon het by melannen (2018)
==References==
Category:Glossary
Category:Fandoms by Community
Category:Media Fandom
Category:Relationships Glossary
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