Figure 4b: Slasher stereotype pet comparison table

[resonant]

Wow. I really figured introverts would be 99%. What are all you extroverts doing on the computer all alone? Or do you, like, have computer parties where you and all your friends work at the computer together?

Obviously I screwed up all my chances of scientific accuracy by the wording of that "small tattoo" question. There goes the Nobel.

Also, I can see that it's going to be necessary to come up with a single standard measurement for pets, for slasher stereotype purposes. So I've taken the liberty of developing one.

The standard unit of slasher stereotype petness is the Cat, or C. Obviously a domestic feline is equal to one C.

An exchange rate allows us to translate all other pets into units of C.

One rat = 2 C
One mouse = 0.5 C
One reptile of any kind = 4 C
One ferret = 2 C
One rabbit = 1 C
One dog = 0.2 C
One fish (exceptions below) = 0.05 C
One fish (piranha or miniature shark) = 3 C
One carnivorous houseplant = 2 C
One hedgehog = 2 C
One hamster, gerbil, or other preschooler-type pet = 0.25 C
One budgie, parakeet, or other small domestic bird = 0.5 C
One parrot or other talking bird = 2 C
Any non-domesticated animal (e.g. squirrel, toucan, leopard) = 5 C

So those of you who have five dogs, four budgies, or two mice can answer "yes" to the question, "Do you have a cat?" And those of you who have a gecko or a skunk can answer "I have several."

Equivalency ratings for tattoos, piercings, and other forms of body modification I leave to the discretion of the reader.

Comments

[cursive.livejournal.com]

There has been more recent work on slash-writers, but that image still dominates. As the subsequent discussion indicates, more recent research suggests two distinct demographic "bulges", the one discussed by TP (middle-aged straight mothers), and a teen-young adult group who split over straight/queer. Although I'm not really interested in approaching the who writes slash question at an academic level -- though I am rather interested in what gets written as slash -- I'd say that claim is more or less born out by my experiences in two different fandoms, but I think that was because both of those had a very specific "young adult" appeal.

One of the problems with those redundant books on slash is that they're looking at it when it was disseminated rather differently, for the main part, and at specific fandoms as if they would provide a rule for all. More recent work acknowledges that the net has made fanfiction an outlet far more available and amenable to younger demograohics. That doesn't address the straight/'queer' and marital and parental identifications, which will obviously be about the fandom rather more than about access to means of publication or communities of readers. Personally if I was going to think about that carefully I'd want to first factor in the more general inclination to identify as gay, lesbian, bi, queer outside of fandoms, and this is particularly true among young women. Education is a very interesting variable in this because I'd say the older bulge is almost exclusively university/college educated, at least as far as I can see without having made more effort to think about it. I'll stick to my initial response -- almost everyone writing about slasah is obsessed with who and why and I think this just perpetuates a kind of pathologisation (I mean when pursued as academic study not when raised in a community like this) and I'd like to see more people not giving a toss about that and thinking about what slash is and why slash works. That's just me though.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

would you mind sharing some of the references of the "more recent work"? i have looked quite a bit and have found very little...

That doesn't address the straight/'queer' and marital and parental identifications, which will obviously be about the fandom rather more than about access to means of publication or communities of readers. ...do you really think sexual orientation and marital status statistically differ greatly between fandoms? how would that work? any examples? (even anecdotally)

thinking about what slash is and why slash works ...as someone who is academicallu fascinated both with the why and how as well as the what, i think the problem with the latter might be that we tend not to look at specific texts or often not even at specific fandoms...though i've seen presentations that have narrowed in that closely, overall, we still tend to look at fan fiction as a homogenous creature, often trying to find the least common denominators rather than realizing that it's close to impossible to make generalized and generalizing statements (it'd be kind of like trying to theorize all literature of a given decade...regardless of genre, theoretical approaches, nationalities, etc...)

[cursive.livejournal.com]

I'd be referencing mainly unpublished papers at this point, but at least one or two of the published essays on BtVS slash do this. I'm at home today, so academic library free, but let me know if you're really interested and I'll find a ref or two.

On marriage and sex, like I said, it's not my thing or my kind of approach, but... I would think so. The fact that non-straight identification is most popular amongst younger women means anywhere you have that demographic tendency you're going to find more non-straight identification. Those are also, for straightforward social reasons, less likely to be mothers.

You're right that the problem with writing about fanfiction is often its attempt to speak about all fanfiction all the time, though I think it's also the obsession with *why* do this, which gets hung up on the pathology and never notices much about what's really going on with it. All of which reminds me why I don't write on fanfiction.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

oh yes, i definitely would be interested...

as to the fandom demographics...i totally agree with the younger crowd being more able/willing/eager/comfortable to identify as non-straight...personally, i think that might account for the high popslash identification...but i thought you might actually be arguing that there were certain types of fandoms (possibly with certain motifs?) that would entice more straight/queer or married/unmarried women (for example, i cannot stand domesticity, b/c that's my life...why would i want to read about it...as a result, i tend to not read too much established relationships and tend to shy away from a lot of the friendship couplings (i.e., harry/ron)...then again, i had serious ts and ds bouts, so there goes that reasoning :-)...and again, it's almost impossible to generalize [though i do think, we might be able to say at least a few things about certain types of couples, esp. in multi-couple fandoms like hp, btvs/ats, or popslash..it seems to me that certain otp's draw specific crowds...similarly, certain marginalized genres (mpreg, bdsm,...) also draw a more particular crowd...]

maybe we should take that off-lj...i'll email you...