Other venues in which slash was, and still is, published are Facebook and private groups.
With the advent of the Internet, slash fiction writers created mailing lists which gradually took the place of amateur press associations (APA), and websites such as FanFiction.Net (which gradually started taking the place of zines).įorum boards and message boards were active during the first half of the first decade of the millennium, and sites such as Angelfire and ProBoards were quite successful. It was published only in fan-edited non-profit fanzines (often called only "zines"), which were usually priced just high enough to recoup printing costs, and were sold via adzines or at conventions. Until the Internet became accessible to the general public in the early 1990s, slash was hard to find. Some slash fiction readers and writers tend to adhere closely to the canonical source of their fiction, while other participants may follow the slash content without being fans of the original source material itself. There is some correlation between the popularity and activity of each variety of slash fiction and those of the source of the material. Slash fiction follows popular media, and new stories are constantly produced. However, other large bodies of slash fiction, such as Starsky and Hutch or The Professionals, are based on non-speculative sources. Slash sources įrom its earliest days, slash fiction has been particularly inspired by popular speculative fiction franchises, possibly because speculative fiction may lack well-developed female characters or because the speculative elements allow greater freedom to reinterpret canon characters. Star Trek slash fiction remained important to fans, while new slash fiction grew up around other television shows, movies, and books with sci-fi or action-adventure roots.Įarly slash fans in England feared that they would be arrested, because slash violated the obscenity laws there at the time.
Greater subsequent tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality and increased frustration with the portrayal of gay relationships in mainstream media fed a growing desire in authors to explore the subjects on their own terms, using established media characters. Later, authors such as Joanna Russ studied and reviewed the phenomenon in essays and gave the genre some academic respectability. The first K/S stories were not immediately accepted by all Star Trek fans. Many early slash stories were based on a pairing of two close friends, a "hero dyad", or "One True Pairing", such as Kirk/Spock or Starsky/Hutch conversely, a classic pairing between foils was that of Blake/ Avon from Blake's 7. Slash later spread to other fan groups, first Starsky and Hutch, Blake's 7, and The Professionals, then many others, eventually creating a fandom based on the concept of slash. For a time, both slash and K/S (for "Kirk/Spock") were used interchangeably. The name arises from the use of the slash symbol (/) in mentions in the late '70s of K/S (meaning stories where Kirk and Spock had a romantic relationship), as compared to the ampersand (&) conventionally used for K&S or Kirk and Spock friendship fiction.
So, let’s take a moment to shine a spotlight on the men of Hollywood who are out and proud - and gorgeous.Ī version of this article was originally published in April 2015.It is commonly believed that slash fan fiction originated during the late 1970s, within the Star Trek: The Original Series fan fiction fandom, starting with " Kirk/Spock" stories generally authored by female fans of the series. There is this very insidious casual homophobia that exists in the fabric of everything, including the music industry.” Particularly for less privileged members of the queer community.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without all the gay artists that have come before us and broken down so many barriers. “In many ways, this is the very best time to be a gay artist ever,” he said. In an interview, he hit the nail on the head. In the music space, Years & Years vocalist Olly Alexander looked amazing on the cover of Paper magazine. Even if you don’t know if you’re loved by yourself & by others in a community that are waiting for you.” And now we love him more than ever. “Whoever you are & wherever you are in a coming out process you are loved. “ Coming out can be scary, it also can be completely life affirming, both or neither,” Van Ness said. In particular, Jonathan Van Ness has emerged from the Fab Five as an activist for queer community - and we can’t forget about his gorgeous hair. The revival was a huge success, resonating with virtually everyone, spreading the message that beauty truly comes from within, regardless of your background, sexuality or gender.