Girls who like Boys who like Boys – Ethnography of ... - Yuuyami.com

and strong and heroic and loved, without any of that nasty
backpack of self-perceived faults that might intrude if the
situation were in any way comparable to “real life.” (Ibid.)
It is very clear in these passages that MacGeorge is writing for herself mainly,
but for that perceived target audience of heterosexual women and fellow-fans
in particular; It is one of the first meta-texts I had ever read, and I read it about
four years ago, near the beginning of my own infatuation with fandom. I
remember then that it captivated me and that I thought I agreed with her
premises and conclusions. If she was not writing for all sorts of nonheterosexual-females
who equally enjoyed slash, I thought, that was
unimportant, as the majority of fans were of that persuasion. As we fastforward
yet again, some fans are getting very tired of the “why slash? Why
women?” questions, as they maintain that slash/yaoi fans are of a variety of
backgrounds, hetero-, bi- or homosexual men, women, or young adults (I have
recently stumbled across one or two heterosexual male fans on LiveJournal –
and these of course are active fans). Truthfully, the fandoms grow
increasingly politicized, and there are many new theories brought forth by
fans, some debating “why slash?” others asking “why not slash?”, in all
permutations and from all fields.
I found MacGeorge’s initial reaction to slash (“eeeeuw!”) fascinating,
when reading the essay for the first time; it was completely different from my
own reaction, and from Maygra’s vivid descriptions of hers. As I was talking
to Barb in one of our hours-long interview sessions, I realized that she did
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