![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Babylon 5 Not!Secrets
Sep. 3rd, 2009 11:41 pmI swear, half the reason I keep reading ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandomsecrets is because every now and then someone bashfully confesses to 'shipping Londo and G'Kar and I get to point and laugh. (Not in a mean way, I hasten to add, just at the whole idea of fandom shame. We all know I have none.)
Anyway, this time there's a comment thread about it, complete with incipient wank, over here. Some anony-mouse makes that argument about slash I always find rather confusing: Believe it or not, no matter what our sex-obsessed culture tries to tell us, men can have extremely close and--*gasp*--even physically affectionate friendships that are COMPLETELY PLATONIC. It's beyond sad to me that people constantly feel the need to warp them into something pervertedly sexual.
First of all, I don't think Londo/G'Kar tentacle sexorz is perverted in anything but the 'hooray! perversion!' sense, although I don't expect everyone to agree with me on that. Second of all, there's a flaw in this logic that's especially obvious in this particular case. I think most people who ship Londo/G'Kar are well aware that men can have close friendships that are platonic, because Vir is standing right there. Most Londo/G'Kar 'shippers I know are also very invested in the Londo & Vir relationship, and don't see it as sexual. Many of us write fic about it! Moreover, I haven't noticed anybody slashing either Londo or G'Kar with Garibaldi, whom both of them are close friends with at different points in canon. They both have other important bonds with members of their own gender: Londo with Sinclair and Urza Jaddo, G'Kar with Ta'Lon and Marcus Cole. (I did write a story where Londo and Urza were friends-with-benefits during their youth, but it's hardly the only way to interpret things.)
Slashers do acknowledge that men can have platonic relationships with each other. Yes, even those who don't also write gen. Sometimes I want to write ampersand about platonic relationships between guys, sometimes I want to write slash. Sometimes I put both in the same story! The two are not mutually exclusive.
fandomsecrets is because every now and then someone bashfully confesses to 'shipping Londo and G'Kar and I get to point and laugh. (Not in a mean way, I hasten to add, just at the whole idea of fandom shame. We all know I have none.)Anyway, this time there's a comment thread about it, complete with incipient wank, over here. Some anony-mouse makes that argument about slash I always find rather confusing: Believe it or not, no matter what our sex-obsessed culture tries to tell us, men can have extremely close and--*gasp*--even physically affectionate friendships that are COMPLETELY PLATONIC. It's beyond sad to me that people constantly feel the need to warp them into something pervertedly sexual.
First of all, I don't think Londo/G'Kar tentacle sexorz is perverted in anything but the 'hooray! perversion!' sense, although I don't expect everyone to agree with me on that. Second of all, there's a flaw in this logic that's especially obvious in this particular case. I think most people who ship Londo/G'Kar are well aware that men can have close friendships that are platonic, because Vir is standing right there. Most Londo/G'Kar 'shippers I know are also very invested in the Londo & Vir relationship, and don't see it as sexual. Many of us write fic about it! Moreover, I haven't noticed anybody slashing either Londo or G'Kar with Garibaldi, whom both of them are close friends with at different points in canon. They both have other important bonds with members of their own gender: Londo with Sinclair and Urza Jaddo, G'Kar with Ta'Lon and Marcus Cole. (I did write a story where Londo and Urza were friends-with-benefits during their youth, but it's hardly the only way to interpret things.)
Slashers do acknowledge that men can have platonic relationships with each other. Yes, even those who don't also write gen. Sometimes I want to write ampersand about platonic relationships between guys, sometimes I want to write slash. Sometimes I put both in the same story! The two are not mutually exclusive.