Strange Bedfellows (APA)/Issue 003

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Strange Bedfellows 3 was published in November 1993 and contains about 202 pages. 
There were 34 members sharing 21 subscriptions. 
This issue contains some fiction, a 3966-word story by Jane Carnall called "The Tragedy of Romeo and Tybalt." 
This issue contains a full clipping of an article (in the September 5, 1993 issue of "Observer Magazine") called "OUT on the Force: - "Is there any environment more difficult for gay men than the police force? DUNCAN CAMPBELL meets a policeman who has shocked conservatives throughout the service with his frank - and courageous - remarks about his homosexual experiences in the force."
==From the OE==
==Some Topics Discussed in "Notes from Tomorrow" ==
* males in slash fandom spaces
* some zine comments/reviews
===Excerpts from "Notes from Tomorrow"===
Men in female fandom spaces:
Zine and fic recs:
More on zines and fic, ones to avoid: 
Some Michael J. Fox:
==Some Topics Discussed in "But, T-shirt Slogans ARE Intellectual Discourse" ==
* comments about songtapes, watching them, making them
* why fic with virgins may be appealing
* being polyfannish
* early use of the terms slash slut and My Fandom's OK, Your Fandom's OK
* comments on The Terranova Situation 
* comments on two Pros created universes with the same name: Fox and Wolf
* origin of the term Sci Fi
* comments about Total Eclipse of the Heart
===Excerpts from ""But, T-shirt Slogans ARE Intellectual Discourse""===
Songtapes:
Thwarted by technology:
Why virgins?
 
Being polyfannish: 
Fannish monogamy, plus an early use of the term slash slut and My Fandom's OK, Your Fandom's OK:
The Terranova Situation:
Some Foxes and Wolf
The origin of the term "Sci Fi":
 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Works Well Under Pressure But Only Works Under Pressure" ==
* this fan uses the term "StarDreck" to mean Star Trek
* fondness for Blake's 7
* liking one character at the expense of another
* definitions of slash
* the appeal, and non-appeal, of the actors portraying the characters (stage personas)
* cultural jamming
* songvids
* comments on specific fanworks: Never Let Me Down, Look Through My Eyes, Double Visions, and The Fox and Wolf Trilogy, see those pages
* a request for more information about The Blake's 7 Wars
===Excerpts from "Works Well Under Pressure But Only Works Under Pressure" ===
Likes a lot, but not Starsky & Hutch:
It was the songvids:
Character preferences:
Cultural jamming:
Stage personas, actor slash/real person slash, fourth wall violations:
Wants to know more about The Blake's 7 Wars:
Fandom and community:
==Some Topics Discussed in "Strange Tongues" ==
* camp and the questions of gender and sexuality raised by Nazi imagery, the books "Goodbye to Berlin" (Isherwood), "Divine Decadence" (Mizejewski), what are fictional characters, where does the desire for slash come from?
* some brief comments about a panel at Worldcon on "women writing about gay men," AIDS as a derailing topic
* cyberpunk and slash
* hurt/comfort
* tone of a show and the fanworks it inspires
* "Yes, fans analyze because they're fans. Or are we fans because we analyze?"
* comments on the Open Letter to Fandom by Alexis Fegan Black Regarding Zine Pirating
===Excerpts from "Strange Tongues"===
Slash, writing as an active process:
Cyberpunk and slash:
Men and emotion: 
Regarding the recent open letters regarding zine piracy, specifically Open Letter to Fandom by Alexis Fegan Black Regarding Zine Pirating:
Why slash?:
Mixing the tone of fandoms, cross-pollination:
The "tone" of shows and the fanworks they attract:
Regarding hurt/comfort:
More on hurt/comfort: 
Gender, assumptions, and please explain Illya and Napoleon:
Mary Sue:
Looking for the good: 
 
Being studied by academics:
St. Seiya:
Prior, first-hand knowledge of canon:
Seeing slash: 
On fanzine production:
Comments on The Weight:
Misogyny and slash:
Slash, writing, and control: 
==Some Topics Discussed in Cat's Darkling Zine" ==
* female writing/women's writing
* a bit about Wiseguy
* a Miguel Ferrer filmography
* why some epithets work and others don't work
===Excerpts from "Cat's Darkling Zine"===
Female and women's writing: 
Watching "Wiseguy" in France:
Regarding people who criticize other people's reading choices:
Regarding The Terranova Situation;
William Bodie as a rent boy?
Regarding epithets:
hurt/comfort and sex:
==Some Topics Discussed in "Cat's Spawn" ==
This trib is a sub-trib of "Cat's Darkling Zine" and is not listed in the list of tribs at the beginning. It consists of a long response to , and was a letter that the fan intended to send to The LOC Connection but did not.
===Excerpts from "Cat's Spawn"===
"[This is a] long letter to THE ZINE CONNECTION, an ad zine that some of you must know (and a good one at that). I had been baited by a letter published in that zine, signed by (amongst others) Alexis Fegan Black. The following is a slightly rewritten version of this letter."
==Some Topics Discussed in "Menage a Deux (by C J)" ==
* honesty and consistency in sex surveys
* acafans, acafandom, and effect on fans and fandom
* discovering meta about fandom: "Reading about was suddenly more fun than reading fiction."
* the terribleness offered to Star Trek fans in the pro books and Blish adaptations
* there is MUCH discussion about the differences between porn and erotica
* is slash porn when removed out of context
* judging people's porn
* hurt/comfort: roles and appeal
* Nancy Friday's books and observations
* academics, acafans, and views on
* copying fanfic out of zines for friends
===Excerpts from "Menage a Deux (by C J)"===
Regarding acafandom: 
 
The enjoyment of reading about fandoms: 
Finding the fans:
Aligning characters in your head as you read:
Regarding Nancy Friday's book "Women on Top": 
More on Nancy Friday's books: 
Regarding art, fiction and profit:
About a fan's previous comments on acafadom: 
Labels, porn, and erotica:
Re copying zines:
May I have some more please?
Academics, what is slash, context:
* slash, erotica, porn, and hurt/comfort: {{Quotation|
In many ways slash can be seen as the ideal "feminine erotica." It is relationship oriented as hell, oh so caring and tender, and all about love. The hiccup comes in with some of the harder edged slash that has started to surface more recently. There is a temptation to see romantic slash as good porn, which is to say as reflecting a feminine sensibility, as erotica v. harder edged slash as bad porn, which is to say reflecting a more masculine sensibility, to see it as pornography in the negative-value-laden sense of the word. [...] When slash develops s&m or b&d it usually does so in the context of the same relationship that structures more vanilla stories about sex and love. The relationship is consensual and the sex is the expression of a very mutual, caring and usually permanent bond. Part of what is curious is that the anti-porn argument suggesting that inherent power inequalities make it impossible for women to give real consent to participate in sexual games involving power (like s&m scenes) falls to pieces if both characters are acknowledged as masculine. [...] But slash stories assume that games can be just that: games. Or they assume that roleplaying can serve some therapeutic purpose. But they virtually always see the people as controlling the games, not the other way around. They actively construct an argument against anti-porn fears that power differential is fixed, that it is invariably harmful, and that pain- or power-centered imagination and bedroom practice will corrupt the way we interact outside the bedroom. The point of the stories is to situate these practices in the context of a relationship and examine how they function as a part of that relationship. [...] Rape stories, though they may start out with male porn cliches about desire overwhelming control, or some such, usually go on to deal with the ramifications of the act. The point of the story isn't the rape; it's how the characters deal with the rape. Can they salvage anything from the wreckage created by the violence? Do they want to? Alternatively, if the rape is rewritten (either within the course of the narrative, or within sequels) so that it isn't really a rape (he really liked it) the narratives still focus on the dynamics of the relationship. [...] Hurt/comfort stories often contain enough gore to send shivers down the back of activists concerned with the conflation of sex and violence. [...] How can anyone get off on seeing a character suffer from gunshot wounds or auto accidents? Why does this so often lead to sex, and so often to highly improbable sex, at that, while the wounded partner is still suffering to a degree that renders erotic response improbable? It is as if the vulnerability of the physical body is being used symbolically to illustrate the vulnerability of the emotional makeup of men. The breakdown of the physical body leads to a breakdown of personal barriers, of emotional defenses. And this (in slash) leads to a breakdown of physical barriers and to sex. Yes, there is lots of pain and suffering, sometimes very precise descriptions of which bones are broken or which internal organs are bruised, or how bloody the wound is, or how labored the breathing patterns are. But once again, unlike the material I suspect h/c is implicitly being analogized to, the hurt is not so much directly erotic as it is the means by which a sufficient degree of vulnerability and openness is achieved that an intimate relationship can develop. So the sub-genres of slash that all too often provoke wondering looks, or less polite queries as to how the fan could like that, strike me as curious hybrids of romantic feminine-style sex and elements of masculine porn that are central to debates concerning the availability and impact of sexually explicit material. Those elements of the pornographic imagination that are least accessible to many women are co-opted and explored within the context of the familiar romantic relationship. True, romantic stories are seen as acceptably feminine, but I would argue that slash stories about beating your partner until his backside glows in the dark are also "feminine" by the same criteria.
==Some Topics Discussed in ""Menage a Deux (by H J)"" ==
* very detailed analysis of letters by readers to the magazine "Penthouse, focus on the possible queerness of them, focus on f/f scenarios and imagery (Penthouse does not call them "lesbian"), the magazine is marketed "the straight male who uses the woman's body as a site for his heterosexual erotic fantasies"
* male friendship and gay panic
* comments on the Tailhook scandal
* comments on Noam Chomsky and Neil Postman "I am not tiov anyone who is a television fan can simultaneously embrace Chomsky or Postman. Neither of them provide much space for resistance or creative reworking of media content."
* comments about dolls (marketed for girls) and action figures (marketed for boys)
* commentary on The Left Hand of Darkness and influence on slash
* the care and feeding of the male sex organ: slash tips for writers, complete with explicit, detailed hints and descriptions
* the differences in definition and description among the terms sex, sexuality, and gender
* comments on the book “Iron John”
* comments on the movie The Crying Game
* comments about a professor named Mulvey at UEA
===Excerpts from ""Menage a Deux (by H J)""===
Some of the many comments about the "Penthouse Letters":
Male friendship and gay panic: 
About Science Friction: 
Favorite slash pairings: 
The difference between porn and erotica:
Comments on the zines Outrider and The Weight: 
Some Trek f/f possibilities: 
The Left Hand of Darkness and its influence on slash: 
Textual Poachers and fans' appreciation: 
Depends on what you borrow from:
More on Science Friction: 
About Fourth Wave slashers: 
Why do men fear gays: 
What makes a story slash? 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Ghost Speaker" ==
* the Blake's 7 War
* different apas and their "flavours"
* disappointment in a fan's turn of fictional allegiance
* real person's slash 
* death stories
* a substantial story by this fan is included: title "The Tragedy of Romeo and Tybalt” 
===Excerpts from "Ghost Speaker"===
Different apas and their flavours:
Disappointment in a fan's turn of fictional allegiance
A dislike of death stories... but: 
About the The Blake's 7 War and some about actor slash:
 
Blake's 7 as a tragic universe and the appeal and power of Make It Better Stories:
==Some Topics Discussed in "Vice Files" ==
* zine piracy and photocopying zines
* does pornography induce violence
* the anti-slash, anti-gay stance of the majority of the Robin of Sherwood fandom
* popular pairings in Miami Vice: racial?
===Excerpts from "Vice Files"===
 
Comments on zine piracy and photocopying zines:
Regarding the Robin of Sherwood zine Longbow 5: 
Miami Vice and pairings: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Yamibutoh" ==
* some comments about two gay Japanese films that recently premiered: "Kiri, Kiri" and "Okoge"
* Alias Smith and Jones
* much about Japanese manga and slash
* comments regarding hurt/comfort
* "feminization," gay porn, S/M, and characterization
===Excerpts from "Yamibutoh" ===
Too many APAs, so little time! 
Alias Smith and Jones: 
Japanese slash: 
Regarding "zines" in Japan: 
Man/boy fiction and power: 
Slash, women, and Japan: 
zine piracy discussion: 
Regarding hurt/comfort: 
Genderfuck: 
Comments on "feminization," gay porn, S/M, and characterization: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Mardi Gras Favors" ==
* Dream On, an essay by Paula Smith
* a Suzan Lovett illo that still resonates, see Liaisons Dangereux
* disagreeing with Henry Jenkins about fandom and visibility
===Excerpts from "Mardi Gras Favors"===
Paula Smith's article, Dream On: 
A fan suspects a bit of fancasting: 
Still thinking about an illo: 
Fandom and visibility: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Paradoxical Ramblings" ==
* much about attending some Led Zeppelin concerts
* assimilating another new slash fan named Heather
* slash, h/c
* fucking and love
* making some buttons at ZebraCon that referenced The Wave Theory of Slash: "For the fun of it, we had made up several buttons that said"X wave, and proud of it!" (for X=1-4, of course.) We had several requests for all four, Agnes wanted "Permanent Wave" and someone requested "Tsunami". In the end, we were left with only one third wave button, and one first wave. Who wants to make up some scientific explanation for that?"
===Excerpts from "Paradoxical Ramblings"===
About zine awards: 
What is slash, and the fannish tradition of over-analysis: 
Men and slash and men at cons: 
people charging a lot for duping: 
Alias Smith and Jones and slash fic: 
The Kinko's Crowd: 
Some Wave Theory of Slash comments: 
 
Comments about real-person slash: 
[[Hurt/Comfort]: 
Imagining canon further, slash, S/M, and homophobia: 
Does quality = enjoyment? 
Fucking = Love? Love without fucking? 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Lunatic Fringe" ==
* some quotes from, and comments on, the slashiness of "Teot's War" and "Blood Storm" by Heather Gladney
* comments on gender, portrayals of such, and the movie Terminator
* many comments on hurt/comfort, domestic abuse, rape, and the fic Snowbound
* a weariness of being personally analyzed
* fandom, specifically slash, and visibility and some of the possible benefits
* sexual objectification and a desire
* safe words and power
* liking the We're not gay we just love each other trope
* a retraction on comments regarding actor slash
* the pro books by Heather Gladney (the Teot's War books), and the slash therein
 
===Excerpts from "Lunatic Fringe"===
Acknowledgements of this apa's size: 
Liking a trope and not being ashamed: 
Actor slash: 
Regretting some prior generosity: 
The pro books beginning with "Teot's War": 
Sexual objectification and desire: 
Some gender equality and desire comments, includes flats with rubber soles: 
Fucking and emotional fulfillment: 
Thank you for your easy confidence and competency: 
Does a fic have to be good? 
Safe words and Wiseguy: 
Comments on Snowbound, and the essay by Shoshanna: Angst and emotional dynamics in slash, as exemplified in Helen Raven's "Heat Trace": 
Mary Sue? 
"I'm getting tired of being analyzed": 
Fandom and visibility: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Sukebei" ==
* Star Trek: TOS way sexier than Star Trek: TNG
* a long reprinted clipping from an unknown publication: "Working the Kinks Out: Fetish-film mogul Bob Jones and leading man Rick Bolton tickle the porn buff's fancy"
* underage characters in slash fic
* hurt/comfort
* copying zine fic for others
* comments about Heat-Trace, see that page
===Excerpts from "Sukebei" ===
Star Trek: TNG needed to have sexier uniforms: 
Jim Kirk: "a pale pink blob of unappetizing": 
Need some reasons to fuck, or to talk about fucking, especially underwater: 
Napoleon Solo, blamed for looking for love in all the wrong places: 
Fandom, slash, and mundanes, plus acafandom: 
Slash and underage characters: 
"Support the press, or not, as you think best": 
Please, more H/C: 
Del Tarrant and his brave and gallant liver: 
Comments on Heat-Trace: 
Would rather have entertainment: 
A comment regarding the Observer Effect: 
Combining meeting the celebrities with fandom? 
Femslash: 
No thanks to too much therapy, would rather have Magical Healing Cock: 
 
The narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy, and wasted opportunities in Robin of Sherwood fandom: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Evolving Zine Title: Slash is Everywhere" ==
* these comments are by Kathy Resch and used with permission
* men at slash cons
* unconvincing hurt/comfort
* the use of fancasting in professional writer's books
* comments on The Crying Game
* disappointments in the men's movement
* gritty, darker K/S from the past 
* comments regarding The Wave Theory of Slash
* pros and cons of increased visibility of slash
* "obligatory orgy-on-the-Enterprise" stories
* the unified theory of "/"
===Excerpts from "Evolving Zine Title: Slash is Everywhere"===
Unconvincing hurt/comfort: 
The Crying Game: 
Gritty, darker fics: 
If Star Trek: TOS had been created today: 
The Wiseguy female characters: 
The men's movement and male slash fans: 
The use of fancasting in professional writer's books: 
Fandom and visibility: 
Comments regarding The Wave Theory of Slash: 
Why Slash?: 
The "unified field "/" theory": 
Men at cons, men buying slash: 
"Obligatory orgy-on-the-Enterprise" stories: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Desert Blooms" ==
* MUCH about Batman
*a fan is worried that this apa will lose the interest of two fans who have now joined Virgule-L 
* men's involvement in slash
*fandom as a safe space to explore difficult topics
===Excerpts from "Desert Blooms"===
Batman:
Men's involvement in slash: 
The lure of the "net": 
Fandom as a safe space to explore difficult topics: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Untitled by M G" ==
* men at slash cons
* slash and mainstream visibility
* comments on the replacement actor in Alias Smith and Jones
* the Quantum Leap character, Al Calavicchi and women
===Excerpts from "Untitled by M G"===
Regarding the Quantum Leap character, Al Calavicchi and women: 
Men at slash cons: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "Two Heads Are Better Than One" ==
* comments about poor ethnography by Camille Bacon-Smith 
* a very, very long negative review of Ember Days, see that page
* "feminization" of males in fanfic
===Excerpts from "Two Heads Are Better Than One"===
==Some Topics Discussed in "Lavender Lilies" ==
* some zine reviews, including Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink #3, Leather and Blue Jeans #1, and Science Friction #1
* an apology
* comments on figure skating and baseball, and somewhat by default, Figure Skating RPF and Baseball RPF
* fan writing as argument
* one fan's turkey read is another fan's favorite masterpiece
* defining slash and f/f
===Excerpts from "Lavender Lilies"===
An apology: 
Figure skating thoughts: 
Some baseball thoughts, including Baseball RPF: 
Thank you, not... 
On defining slash and f/f]: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "For the World is Hollow and I Fell Off the Edge" ==
* some fics: Dreams of the Sleepers, Heat-Trace, Paper Flowers
* an essay that this fan wrote: Angst and emotional dynamics in slash, as exemplified in Helen Raven's "Heat Trace"
* comments on male porn and the set-ups in the Forum letters there
* "No, no, [Henry Jenkins], academic slash is where we get you in bed with, oh, John Tulloch or somebody."
* bindings on zines
* comments on the recent STIFfie Awards
===Excerpts from "For the World is Hollow and I Fell Off the Edge"===
About an essay this fan has written: 
Degrees of [[closetation]: 
[Zine bindings]: 
Awards: 
Photocopying fic: 
The fic Surrender: 
H/C and slash: 
Comments on Heat-Trace: 
Not a fan of "mainstream" literary erotica: 
On studying fans: 
A famous quote: 
Quoting fic: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "To Be Announced" ==
* comments about h/c
* men and slash and fandom
* fanfic worlds and acceptance of same sex relationships
===Excerpts from "To Be Announced"===
Fanfic worlds and acceptance of same sex relationships: 
Men and women and slash and cons: 
Regarding photocopying zines: 
Comments on the essay: The Mary Sueing of Hurt/Comfort: 
Violence and realism: 
==Some Topics Discussed in "A Different Eye" ==
* This very lengthy trib includes much intensely personal info about sexuality, S/M, abusive relationships, rape, victimization, and slash -- it ends with "P.S. Everythhg above s pubic domain. Feel free to probe/question as you would anything else, separately if you wish!" The excerpts below, however, have been chosen for their fannish, rather than personal, content.
 
===Excerpts from "A Different Eye"===
==Some Topics Discussed in "Weirdness on a Swan's Song" ==
* "Off the Hook," the story this fan brought to Writeshop, is included in this trib
* a con report for Writeshop
===Excerpts from "Weirdness on a Swan's Song"===
==References==
Category:Slash Zines