The Generic Slash Defense Letter

The Generic Slash Defense Form Letter is an open letter written by Susan Beth and posted to the Lysator Blake's 7 mailing list in 1995. 
The letter, which was a compilation of Susan's thoughts and quotes from many other fans gathered from two mailing lists (Lysator and the Virgule-L mailing lists, was written to address some of the many arguments raised by fans who were against slash fan fiction. The letter had many elements of a mailing list FAQ with the objections placed in the form of commonly asked questions followed by answers. 
Shortly after the letter was posted, Susan Beth went on to form Space City, the Blake's 7 slash mailing list and the letter was posted to the Lysator FTP server, and later website, where it has resided ever since. 
Over the years many fans have simply linked to the letter whenever anti-slash fans debated the merits of slash rather than responding to, what many feel, is an endless parade of the same tired old objections being raised over and over again. From the Department of Redundancy Department by cesperanza, dated Jun. 21st, 2005.
Because the letter was initially posted to the Blake's 7 mailing list, many of the quotes reference the characters, actors and creators of the Blake's 7 TV show. However, the arguments against slash predate the mailing list and can be found in early Star Trek and Starsky & Hutch letterzines almost verbatim.
==Timeline Surrounding The Letter==
* written at a time when there had been almost 30 years of the same anti-slash objections raised by fans across multiple fandoms
* Jan 2, 1995 - Susan Beth proposes the letter on Virgule-L after watching yet another anti-slash debate take place on Lysator
* March 5, 1995 - Susan posts her first draft which includes quotes from mailing list members on Lysator and Virgule-L and requests feedback
* March 29, 1995 - Sue posts the letter to Lysator
* Feb 4, 1996 - Sue posts to Virgule-L that she is updating the letter using additional quotes from Virgule-L members.
* November 28, 1996- Slash is now a defined term on Yahoo's website index with links to web pages discussing slash. The Generic Slash Defense Letter is the first website listed, presumably because, by then it has been posted to the Lysator website. Other slash webpages listed:
**Pass the Crisco, Spock - an essay about slash 
** Satyricon au go-go - Jen Riddler's website for her slash fan fiction
** Slash Fiction Index 
** Slash Summary (1997) by Kathryn Andersen 
** What is Slash?, essay by K.S. Nicholas (1998) here 
** Index - Slash - information about slash fan fiction and television shows (later called Slash Fan Fiction on the Net)
* September 30, 1999 - The Generic Slash Defense Letter is referenced in a Spock Does Mulder a SF Gate article about fan fiction 
* May 7, 2004 - The Generic Slash Defense Letter is cited in What if Kirk had a three-way with Leia and Xena?, Metafilter threads discussing slash WebCite for What if Kirk had a three-way with Leia and Xena?.
==The Generic Slash Defense Form Letter (text)==
==Receptions to the Defense Letter==
===Initial Reactions===
===Later===
==== 1999 ====
* The Slash Tutorial - incorporated the letter as part of the tutorial
====2007====
Some fans felt that the letter served its purpose well, by reducing the amount of circular debates regarding the existence of slash. A fan in 2007 wrote: 
====2010====
Years later, the letter has found a positive reception amongst slash fans, even those unfamiliar with the mailing list or the Blake's 7 fandom. A fan in 2010 wrote: 
====2011====
From 2011: 
====2018====
From 2018: 
====2019====
Even 24 years later, the letter stirs strong reactions, especially among Blake's 7 fans. On September 20, 2019, a fan wrote a personal essay titled "Some Comments/Observations on Inaccuracies etc in the Defence Letter". In it, they claimed that the show creators' did object to slash. In support, they argued that actor Paul Darrow created the character of Avon, not the show's creator Terry Nation, so Paul's objections to slash should be the deciding factor. In addition, the fact that Terry Nation read a letter from Paul Darrow during the Gambit convention about why Paul could not attend and Paul's feelings of betrayal by members of the fandom community, meant that Terry supported Paul's objections to slash.
They also claimed that the Blake's 7 male characters were not gay, citing numerous examples where the characters kissed women on screen.
Many of the arguments in this personal essay echoed the anti-slash arguments raised both in the 1995 Slash Defense letter as well as during the Blake's 7 Wars of 1988. You can read the full essay here.
==References==
Category:1995 Meta
Category:Slash Meta
Category:1995 Open Letters
Category:Meta on Mailing Lists