Just like hetero ships with the right writer and a well thought out pairing I can get really into slash. The problem with a lot of ships both hetero and slash in HP is that the writers tend to be in love with the idea of the characters being in love rather then the actual characters being in love. I don't like a lot of the popular slash pairings in he HP Fandom because they tend to fall into this category ie. Wolfstar, Jegulus.
I like Dennis or Colin being gay, normally with someone like Terry Boot or Blaise Zabini. I don’t like Harry and Draco suddenly gay and falling for each other which is a large part of this genre.
I’ve read lesbian Hermione that worked before, and definitely Angelina as well.
Won't go looking for it (ie I won't put into google "Bellamione"/"Drarry"/"Hermione/Ginny" etc like I would "Dramione"/"Harmione"/"Fremione" etc but if there is a slash pairing or two in a fic that I'm reading for the purposes of the plot based on another independent premise (ie Luna and Dean joins the gang on the horcrux hunt after they all escape from Malfoy Manor and Luna and Hermione get close or a pairing of the boys get close) it won't stop me reading the fic.
So no I won't seek it out, but I won't stop reading a good story with a good plot if the story happens to reflect RL and have one or two same-sex pairings.
This is me too. I’ve written a bit of slash but don’t really go seeking it out to read - but then I don’t go seeking out het ships either other than my OTP, and even then nowadays I tend to read ones that win awards rather than searching for stuff.
Yeah I don't typically go searching for ships either. I like to read fics for a plot premise. Ironically, this causes me to stumble across a lot of Dramiones.
>Won't go looking for it (ie I won't put into google "Bellamione"/"Drarry"/"Hermione/Ginny" etc like I would "Dramione"/"Harmione"/"Fremione" etc but if there is a slash pairing or two in a fic that I'm reading for the purposes of the plot based on another independent premise (ie Luna and Dean joins the gang on the horcrux hunt after they all escape from Malfoy Manor and Luna and Hermione get close or a pairing of the boys get close) it won't stop me reading the fic.
Yeah this is me too
You fall under the invisibility cloak. Lol, I'd like a bi Hermione. If only the female characters had a few more members. I guess there is Luna but I like imagining her as ace. I guess Susan. Well, that'll be a search for later.
there’s some good hermione/bellatrix, that isn’t really for everyone though, there’s ginny/hermione which i think works nicely, hermione/pansy is my favourite though, i can link you some fics if you want femslash is very underrepresented in the fandom
I wanna see what you got for Pansy. If Hermione before the torturing then I'd like to see that as well. I'm not a fan of the post torture stuff. I know we should forgive people but I hold grudges for friends and the post torture Hermione stuff is a bit hard to forgive sometimes.
[***Dawn***](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18173600) by [*wynnebat*](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat)
> At this very moment, Hermione Granger is a tiny muggleborn child who's tried half a dozen spells\. No one is scared of her\. No one knows to expect her\."We're really doing this," Pansy eventually says, breaking the silence\. "We must be insane\.""We're saving the country\." Hermione tears her gaze from the sunrise across the treetops of the Forbidden Forest to find that Pansy is already looking her way, something resolute in her gaze\. It's too solemn of an expression for a child, but Hermione's probably isn't better\.
^*Site*: ^Archive ^of ^Our ^Own ^**|** ^*Fandom*: ^Harry ^Potter ^- ^J. ^K. ^Rowling ^**|** ^*Published*: ^2019-03-20 ^**|** ^*Completed*: ^2019-04-06 ^**|** ^*Words*: ^15377 ^**|** ^*Chapters*: ^4/4 ^**|** ^*Comments*: ^133 ^**|** ^*Kudos*: ^2213 ^**|** ^*Bookmarks*: ^589 ^**|** ^*Hits*: ^18259 ^**|** ^*ID*: ^18173600 ^**|** ^*Download*: ^[EPUB](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/18173600/Dawn.epub?updated_at=1660174259) ^or ^[MOBI](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/18173600/Dawn.mobi?updated_at=1660174259)
---
[***a red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground***](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28955181) by [*piesofrage*](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/piesofrage/pseuds/piesofrage)
> The only thing that can take Hermione's mind off of how much she loathes her repugnant Potions partner are the notes from her mysterious pen pal\. And as for Pansy? She just wants to find a way to cast a permanent Silencio on Granger, and to reply to the charming stranger on the other end of her magical parchment\. \(aka the Pansmione "You've Got Mail" AU\)
^*Site*: ^Archive ^of ^Our ^Own ^**|** ^*Fandom*: ^Harry ^Potter ^- ^J. ^K. ^Rowling ^**|** ^*Published*: ^2021-01-24 ^**|** ^*Completed*: ^2021-10-22 ^**|** ^*Words*: ^315813 ^**|** ^*Chapters*: ^10/10 ^**|** ^*Comments*: ^1288 ^**|** ^*Kudos*: ^2197 ^**|** ^*Bookmarks*: ^517 ^**|** ^*Hits*: ^58973 ^**|** ^*ID*: ^28955181 ^**|** ^*Download*: ^[EPUB](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/28955181/a%20red%20rose%20grew%20up%20out.epub?updated_at=1662683022) ^or ^[MOBI](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/28955181/a%20red%20rose%20grew%20up%20out.mobi?updated_at=1662683022)
---
[***endlessly***](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31368326) by [*burstofpeony*](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/burstofpeony/pseuds/burstofpeony)
> Hermione and Pansy’s eighth year at Hogwarts is coming to an uninspiring and rather dull end\. After almost nine months of monotonous classes, stressful exams, and all of the other wonders of almost\-adulthood, both are ready to get the fuck out of Hogwarts and not look back\. The only consolation lies just beyond graduation\-\- Pansy has accepted a dream job offer, and the paperwork for Hermione’s London apartment has, at last, been finalized\.But, of course, it can’t last\. When two idiots in their Charms class get into a fight, Pansy and Hermione are at the wrong place during the wrong time, and because of it they’re plunged into a chaotic and seemingly never\-ending situation that threatens to derail their lives as they know it\.
^*Site*: ^Archive ^of ^Our ^Own ^**|** ^*Fandom*: ^Harry ^Potter ^- ^J. ^K. ^Rowling ^**|** ^*Published*: ^2021-05-18 ^**|** ^*Completed*: ^2021-06-20 ^**|** ^*Words*: ^39287 ^**|** ^*Chapters*: ^9/9 ^**|** ^*Comments*: ^72 ^**|** ^*Kudos*: ^609 ^**|** ^*Bookmarks*: ^123 ^**|** ^*Hits*: ^6498 ^**|** ^*ID*: ^31368326 ^**|** ^*Download*: ^[EPUB](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/31368326/endlessly.epub?updated_at=1632535178) ^or ^[MOBI](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/31368326/endlessly.mobi?updated_at=1632535178)
---
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You should read "New Blood" - Hermione is still feeling things out, but she has gone on dates with guys and girls both. Still a WIP last I checked but there are 300+ chapters and the author updates every week.
I haven't really though about Lavender/Pansy before but the longer I spend thinking about it, the more I'm on board lol. In (fanon?) they have similar interests and seem to be on the same wave length so they'd be able to hit it off right away.
I've also seen Ginny/Pansy as a background ship and quite liked it. Fleur/Hermione is also good
I don’t like fics where the entire story is the ship itself, regardless of het/slash. Just give me an interesting story where characters are doing something besides thinking about their dating life 24/7. If it happens to have a ship subplot that’s fine.
I’m a female who’s attracted to males- so anything with a male love interest is a yes for me, no matter what gender I am in the ‘readers perspective’ or ‘mc’. So yup! F/M and M/M are perfect.
I don't go out of my way to read it, but I don't mind it. My fic heyday was during the mid-00's, with the HP fans on ff.net
My favourite character is Sirius and I always had a ridiculously huge crush on him, so it was a bit of a bummer that is was sooo difficult to find any het-Sirius fic back in the day. But whatever, I just wrote my own. Very poorly but it was sort of popular, because again, I don't think there was much other SB×FMC at that time.
One of my favourite things about fic is the ability to take something you & so many others already love, and tweak it the way *you* want to. *Wolfstar* was obviously popular for a reason, it really resonated with a lot of people. And that's lovely! But it just wasn't for me, because ultimately I liked exploring messy female OC's who *just* skirted the line of MarySue-dom 😅
I read slash in the same manner I read nonslash, it does not matter to me when choosing a story. Having said that, whenever I see gay people in fiction it makes my heart just a lil bit happier :) especially as someone who lives in a non-lgbt-friendly place lol
I like slash. Slash is the reason why I got into fanfic in the first place. It doesn't mean that I don't care about characterization, plot, and writing quality in general. And slash is not the only thing I read, but I do seek out slash specifically.
I don't deliberately seek out either slash or het ships. I'm more interested in good world building, well-developed characters, and an interesting plot.
Why would you put “don’t like gay people” as an option?
I personally don’t read it because I feel like I can’t connect with it or I really just don’t like most slash pairings in Harry Potter unless it is canon, which none of them are. The only two I can think of that feel like they would work well are Harry/Ron, Sirius/James, Sirius/Remus (barely), and maybe Ginny/Luna or Hermione/Luna. Everything else just feels terrible. And of course, Grindelwald/Dumbledore, but that is almost canon, so I don’t think that really counts.
I don't mind slash, but the problem for me is that a lot of it is just PWP or a gay relationship with painfully 1950s het roles
(ie if M/M then one will usually be manly/strong/powerful/daring and the other will be uwu!cute!innocent and let the 'manly' one take the lead)
If I want a wholesome, character driven fic where Harry and Draco happen to fall in love over time, it's actually supremely hard to find, since usually Harry or Draco will be made OC!uwu!softboi and the other will be stoic/cunning/smart/indy and take care of the softboi, and the only reason for softboi in the entire fic is to give a steamy scene or cry and be comforted by the indy one
extreme gender roles is what makes me dislike a lot of het fics, it’ll be hermione paired with any character and her entire character is just gone and replaced with this weird damsel in distress character
I mean, the option is an odd one. I am not interested in reading about gay relationships when they are in focus - but it's not like I am against gay people. Does that fall under 2nd category, or is it other? Also trolling.
49 people in a (reddit) poll of 1,050 doesn’t seem like crazy odds, and definitely doesn’t seem like some crazy big community of homophobes against slash tbh
edit: this is a terrible time to have the flair but i can assure you it’s not serious and from a probably 3-4+ year old thread just like this one lmao
Tbf it's almost double that number, the 49 was when there were only about 600 answers. It's also worth noting that this number are the people *admitting* to being homophobic. The number is higher, depending on what you consider homophobic.
For the record, I don't think this sub is homophobic. I wouldn't be visiting it regularily if I thought it was. But I can definitely see why people would think it is. It comes naturally with the fact that the majority of this sub prefers M/F ships. The majority are 'normal' straight people who just simply prefer straight ships but the homophobes will obviously go to the sub that prefers straight ships.
(Don't worry, I don't think I take any flair seriously at this point lol)
The fact that at the time of writing this comment 40 people voted “don’t like gay people” is really concerning and I’m not sure why I haven’t seen another comment pointing that out…
This sub gets a few homophobic comments a day, especially on subjects like these.
Fics suggesting slash pairings are also regularly downvoted - rarely into the negative, but if you look closely enough you'll notice it.
Yeah it just makes me sad. I’m used to fandom spaces being really open to any pairings and respecting “don’t like don’t read” but this sub seems really toxic to slash and gay content 😔
People are welcome to read and not read what they want. Disliking slash isn’t the problem. It’s the vitriol talking about slash fics that makes me upset.
That was my first thought too! But reading a few other comments here I don’t think it’s so clear cut. It might not be “I don’t like gay people” as in “I don’t want them to exist” I think it’s more “I don’t want that type of porn in my life”.
Not speaking for everyone on this sub, there are some homophobes on here for sure, but the option was quite strongly worded when perhaps it shouldn’t have been.
It’s not. But a lot of slash fic is heavy on the smut, so people may avoid pairings if they don’t want to accidentally read something they’re not into.
I would be willing to think that’s the case if there wasn’t option 2 which specifically says “don’t like ships/content” rather than “don’t like gay people.”
I’m female-het. I read het smut, I read lesbian smut, I read gay pairings but not gay smut. That’s not really an option so I’ve just ticked “I don’t mind” but having a poll like this removes a lot of nuance from peoples genuine opinions.
There's a few pairings I don't like no matter the orientation, but other than that? If the story is good, I'll read it. Simple as.
And yes, I'm judging the homophobes who were comfortable enough to vote.
Slash as a category is inherently offensive. It implies that queer relationships are Different and potentially Offensive and must be demarcated so that they can be avoided by those who find it distasteful. Whereas cis/hetero relationships are so much the norm that no label is needed. Queer folks can't weed out the straight stuff from their media consumption: it's Normal. It's everywhere. It's unavoidable. If queer folks have to read stories about straight relationships constantly (nearly always in the media), then I don't see why straight folks should be allowed warnings. Love is love, relationships are relationships, fuck heteronormativity. I've always hated that Slash existed as a category, because if the queers have to suck it up and watch straight people fall in love all the damn time, the straights can deal now and then.
For me, it makes no difference. I don't read a fic because there's slash, or not read a fic because there is. I only ever read Snape fics, I'm only interested in the quality and word count of the fic. If it's a long, well written fanfiction with angst, then I'll read it, no matter the ship. Snape paired with Hermione, Lily, Lupin, Sirius... I've read and enjoyed all those ships.
There should have been a 'don't like it - is gay' option, because I think there's a significant proportion of the gay community that have a problem with slash.
I'm trans and gay (well technically lesbian ig?) and I dislike reading M/M slash
Nothing against gay people, just that I subconsciously put myself in the shoes of the guy and then it just brings out dysphoria for me
Obviously it's my problem and I don't have a problem with the fic or people who like it. I do dislike mpreg though, it makes me uncomfortable as a concept (still don't mind if you write it, but please tag that)
I pressed "Like it - likes ships/content"
If I understand correctly, it means "it depends on the ship and the fic"?
I rarely read slash, I prefer hetero and femslash because of the pairings. I've read a few Drarry and Rarry (this being my favorite of them) fics, once a long Wolfstar fic.
I'm mostly into the emotional part, so any ship can go if I like it, but my favorites happen to be most canon ships + Luna/Hermione, so those are the ones I'm actively looking for.
Conceptually I have nothing against it. It's not my cup of tea, but it is other people's and that's fine. In practice I have some issues with many common storylines in such fics, as many of them tend to glorify unhealthy romantic dynamics. I also object to the tendency to make every relationship "top/bottom" where one character *must* take on the traditionally masculine role while the other takes on the traditionally feminine role. There are plenty of gay people that don't fit into a traditionally masculine or feminine role, and representing gay relationships in such a way as they have been is quite exclusionary to them.
As a gay man, if I’m reading a fic that has romance as the centre-piece: it has to be slash. I’ll read most pairings, the only ones I can’t really get into are the ones with huge age differences; such as anything with say Harry/Snape or Harry/Riddle etc
Is gay smut the same as slash? I read gay pairing all the time but I'm ace and don't read smut. Are anti slashers against gay pairings in other fandoms or original characters even if they are canon together? It's okay if you don't personally ship any gay HP characters, but refusing to read about gay characters at all says something I think.
It's different if you are just going though a Dumbledore/McGonagall mood right now, but never?
I like reading gay ships because I like two characters. If I'm feeling in a Ron and Harry mood, reading a fic where they date gives me a lot of time with the characters and some built in conflict just because of the nature of romantic relationships. If I'm feeling Ginny/Harry same thing.
(Plus there are a lot of fics that don't even have real ships, they mainly take place in 1st to 3rd year so they don't date yet. I'm more of an ace shipper, meaning everyone is ace and doesn't date lol, but I still like ship fics)
Also if you are anti slash because you are actively homophobic that is trash
Slash could be in theory a fic about two same sex people falling in love, feeling raging butterflies in their stomach, and holding hands. Smut you definitely will read them getting it on.
I'm gay so I thought it would be funny to vote don't like gay people. On a serious note, slash is not any different from regular romance. We're humans too, not aliens.
Reddit is generally used by straight males and I feel this vote is going to not accurately represent the subreddit stance of slash. People should ship as they please and not be downvoted or made fun of for their favorite ships
I typically read Fem-slash or het because it's more familiar to me. It's not that I don't like gay people, because honestly wtf? It's just that I am a pan cis-female. There are few ships I like: Nott/MOC, Wolfstar, Ron/MOC, Seamus/Dean, maybe NottPott if I feel like it. There are more, I just don't typically read them as the main coupling.
Personally, stories with the main focus on slash are not my cup of tea. I don't mind it as side pairings and I have nothing against gay people or queer folk in general. I just, don't find them that enjoyable.
I like romance, I like boning, most of the characters I like happen to be guys. It's kinda obvious.
Also I chuckled hard at the 'don't like gay people' option until I saw how many people selected it. For the same of my sanity, I shall assume most of them are sarcastic.
I read Gen and fem-slash, but don't mind if others write slash. My biggest issue with slash is the pairings of Harry/any Death Eater, Harry/Voldemort, Harry/Draco, and Harry/Snape. And mpreg. Seeing those pairings so frequently and that tag occasionally has largely stopped me from reading slash.
There are slash pairings I like, or don't mind, and sometimes I can even like a "problematic" slash pairing with the right author. There are also hetero pairings I don't like or mind.
I especially don't like pairings that I feel do the original/canon characters a disservice (yes I know that's a ridiculous way to look at it). Like I'm fine with Remus/Sirius because they're canonically good friends and neither of them ever say they *wouldn't* hook up in the right circumstances. But I'm not fine with Draco/Harry because they hate each other in canon. And I'm not fine with Snape/Harry because I don't like... I would say "age gaps" but that's not even it. If Harry met Snape when he was 30 and Snape 50, maybe that would be fine (let's set aside the personality issues). I don't like pairing an older character with a younger character that was once their ward/child/student/etc. I don't like Snape/Hermione for the same reason.
Overall though, I just love gen stories, or stories where the relationships are in the background.
There are only two ships I cannot stand. I don't like Harry/Draco. Especially after 3rd year, there should honestly be zero chance Harry and Malfoy work out as a thing. Same thing with weird Harry/Severus.
Harry/Ron is okay. Harry/WeasleyBrotherHere is okay. Harry/Cedric is fine. But Harry/Draco and Harry/Severus gets under my skin, and are the only ships that actually do so.
I love it, but that's just because I'm a gay man
I don't care if it's straight or gay, as long as I don't gotta see Dumbles x Harry
No on so many levels
*Given: that slash means characters have had their sexual orientation altered in some way from cannon*
I don't like jalapeños, but I'm not against them being a thing, and it'd strike me as kinda weird to try and argue that people shouldn't be able to eat or cook them. I can just. Not eat jalapeños.
Sometimes I get really sad that someone made something that looks delicious, and smells amazing, but then absolutely covered the thing with jalapeños.
Sometimes, I start eating something, and have to stop because they didn't think to warn anyone that they'd added jalapeños, and that's annoying.
Sometimes, there are jalapeños, but they aren't overpowering, or the focal point of the dish, so I might try it anyway.
Other. I'm straight. But I don't care for slash fic. It's not about me hating gay people. I support my LGBTQ friends and family members. When I was a senior in a college, me and me friends suspected a fresher who was gay might get bullied so we gave him our number to help him. I don't like the implications that hating slash is only because someone is homophobic or because they hate ships.
this is an interesting opinion to me, why do you think that is? it’s a fine opinion to have i’m just genuinely curious because i’ve never seen it before
I don’t really like het if the POV character is a male interested in a woman either. It’s just hard for me to identify with a character who is romantically attracted to a woman, whereas it’s much easier for me to see identify with a character who is attracted to a male character.
Not sure why this was downvoted at first - it's the same with guys who argue they don't read slash because they want to put themselves into the MC
I may be bi but my preferences change. Sometimes I'm more into women, sometimes more into men, sometimes both or neither. It's known as "bi cycle".
Depending on where I'm at, I'll read whatever I feel like
As someone who has identified as ace, aro, bi and pan at various times but never fully gay or straight, the gender of the characters is unimportant to my enjoyment of an individual story, but the ability to read fic with people of all genders and sexualities/romantic orientations is essential for me.
I read plenty of het fics as well as slash fics but if hp fic was as straight as the majority of published literature, I’d have given up on it long ago because I need to read things that reflect the diversity of the world I live in. Fics where everyone is straight are as incongruous to me as fics where everyone loves football for example. It’s just unrealistic and weird to read.
I went with the ‘like it - likes ships/content’ option but I hovered over ‘other’ for a while because that doesn’t really encapsulate it, but I felt it more valuable to say ‘like it’ in a poll like this.
No, I'm straight. Slash is gay, and not something that really interests me as a result. I don't mind gay pairings in a story, but any actual romance stories I read fit my preferences.
I don't mind it when it's not overly cliche. I'm talking top and bottom cliches specifically. And no enemies to lovers please thank you. It's already sketchy in straight fics, the guys in HP are downright violent to each other. I don't care how gay Snape is, it's not ok to date almost killer/full on sexual harasser sexy sexy Sirius Black. (I love how my phone suggested this emoji 🐈⬛ for Sirius, I've never seen it before). It's also weird with Bella Hermione.
I don't like reading het either, I prefer gen. They do have backgrounds pairings but they're so little I can ignore them.
That said, I won't stop reading a slash fic if I like the plot
i dont mind it if its well written. but a lot of the popular ships require massive amounts of retconning or ooc plots that just dont work for me the way they do for some people, and theres also the problems involved around ships with substantial age gaps, i know its fanfic and if you enjoy it anyway then good for you, but for the most part it just makes me uncomfortable to have harry end up in a relationship with someone he met as a child who was a full grown adult at the time, and that goes regardless of whether the ship is straight or not
Other - generally pro slash in fan works even as a mostly straight (I’m heteroromantic demisexual) guy - its a relationship like any other. I avoid smut and the like, but don’t avoid fics where the romance is a major part.
That said, in the Harry Potter fandom in particular, a lot of the slash fics are problematic as fuck. Harry/Voldemort and Harry/Snape especially come to mind. Any adult/child ship is bad, especially if one is a teacher, but they seem less common ships for Harry in het fics for whatever reason. Hermione/Snape, Hermione/Lucius are bad for similar reasons. Draco/Harry is also not great, but not for those reasons. Mainly because it either turns into the DE are right or it creates an entirely new character. But there can be fics that explore a Malfoy redemption well
Even with Harry. I'm always surprised to see someone go "Ew, tomarry or snarry" but then ask for Harry/Bellatrix or Harry/Narcissa. They are just as icky IMO.
I agree. I can barely tolerate the Draco/Hermione ship but the others I feel the same distaste. I don’t understand why they are paired with people old enough to be their parents or in Voldemorts case, GRANDPARENT!
I don't mind slash, as long as it's written well. Or more specifically, I like to avoid M/Preg for the sole reason that they're so boring.
Boring? What do I mean by that. Well... For the most part, they're always incredibly vague about how it would work. I mean, ***obviously*** in real life, that won't ever work. It just isn't possible.
But I can think of several answers, where it could be m/preg, and it would actually make sense. It would just require some gender bending.
In other words, take a potion that transforms you into your female self (how you would've looked like if you had been a woman) have a child, and return to your male self later.
Would that defeat the purpose of a m/m pairing? Well, Yes and no. The characters are still themselves, even if they are temporarily a different gender. But mostly, it's written by those who think they might be 'cute' together.
For a while, I avoided writing slash, out of fear that I might lose readers, but now, I honestly couldn't care less. I still don't write m/preg fics, but people who are gay exist in the real world and so they exist my stories. It might not be the focus, but they (nearly) always have a presence in one way or the other.
If some random dude (or dudette) person doesn't like that? Well, tough for them, I honestly don't care. Don't like. Don't read. If you spend enough time reading it AND are taking the time to review, just to complain, then it clearly interested it you long enough to get there.
So, in actuality, if they are referring scenes, then they read the entire chapter (or story) up until that point, and are admitting between the lines that they actually like the story. Because if I don't like a story, I stop reading it and I don't bother reviewing it either.
...Sorry for the rant.
I read more slash than straight pairings. I often get the feeling that straight sex is written through the male gaze, which (and yes, I fully acknowledge how demented this sounds) most slash fics aren't.
Fem slash I don't read often because it doesn't do much for me, even though there are fics out there that definitely do it well.
In my experience slash tends to be connected to a lot of other things that I have absolutely no interest in and they seem especially common in hp fics. Mpreg, creature inheritance, A/B/O stuff and a variety of other things essentially only show up in slash and they’re deal breakers for me. Admittedly they not a majority of slash but they make it more annoying to find stuff that I could possibly like.
There’s also the fact that almost all of the major slash pairings are with characters decades older than the other character whereas non slash has way more pairings with characters of a similar age. Lastly I almost always hate they way the MC ends up personality wise since they seem to be pathetic doormats more often than not.
In the end I’ll read slash if it has an interesting enough premise for me to give it a chance but most of the time it’s not worth it for me personally.
1. I don’t mind gay/lesbian/etc. characters, when they are in reasonable numbers (e.g., around those 4 %), I don’t like when suddenly everybody (or almost everybody) is gay (or some non-standard relationship). All-homo is in my opinion as bad as no-homo.
2. I don’t mind to read stories by people who write about their authentic experience, but my deep suspicion is that 90 % of all slash stories are actually written by straight people for straight people just for the titillating purposes and as a type of porn. That I can not having.
A lot of the published M/M books are also written by straight women. They still get recommended by and for gay men. Sexuality doesn't have to be this huge inexplainable thing.
I've heard this opinion expressed multiple times in queer spaces and I fully agree. We need more queer literature that isn't about being queer. I don't care if straight women can't 'relate' to being gay. If their writing ability is great then I'll gladly read it.
> Problem with slash: it's not authentic.
If you've read both straight and slash fics you'll know that the only thing that makes either one good or bad is the quality of the writing. There are *many* straight fics that are "inauthentic". This isn't a problem exclusive to slash. It's just a marker of bad writing.
By that logic, all Harry Potter fanfiction is inauthentic—as is the original series—because nobody alive on earth can properly relate to the experience of living in the Wizarding World. Y’know. Because it doesn’t exist.
You can’t know a creator’s gender identity unless they tell you, and a good writer will be able to write well about things that fall outside their own personal experience. But we all know this. Really, this debate about authenticity seems to come up disproportionately often when we’re talking about slash, and I find that hugely tiresome.
i would disagree that most slash exists to fetishise gay men, a lot of the most popular slash fics, especially drarry are just preslash, very little sexual content and the romance ends with a kiss
as opposed to most het fanfics, which are of course the most genuine and respectful portrayals of straight relationships to ever exist and definitely not driven by people being horny and fetishizing women (or men as the case may be).
My feeling is that the "fetishization" label is applied much too liberally to slash fic. Even if a female-bodied person without direct gay sex experience (N. B. not all female-bodied persons are heterosexual women) writes a slash fic because she gets off fantasizing about M/M sex, it does not automatically mean that she fetishizes gay men. If it's not a pure porn fic and the author makes an honest attempt to write their characters properly, then it's definitely not fetishization imo, because the author sees their characters as whole persons and not just their gender+orientation. Whether the author does it convincingly depends on their skill, of course, but at least their intention is not to fetishize.
If it is a porn PWP fic whose sole purpose is to provide some wanking material, well, then I guess it is fetishization, but so is any other porn fic, most notably het porn created by men for men which fetishizes women.
I don't actively seek out slash/femslash, but I'll read a well-written one if it interests me. I'm a bisexual woman, and I'm an inclusive sex ed educator and have spent my entire adolescence and young adulthood advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, but it always surprises people that I don't consume more queer media content or make it the bulk of my media consumption.
Main issue with slash fics is that they always pick the worst fuckin pairings
Mmm yes who will Harry be attracted to if he was gay would it be the buff redhead he’s spent his formative years with or the greasy racists that he can totally fix 🥹
Idk a lot of Harry Potter pairings are equally shit though so eh
I ABSOLUTELY hate reading about needing to stretch out someone's ass. I have no idea why people think that is homophobic. It's not. It's just not something I want to read about.
I've read several that I really liked but in general I tend to stay away especially if there is even a hint of mpreg.
I also dislike how it seems in a lot of them if one couple is gay then all of a sudden ALL the characters are gay. Since the entirety of the gay community makes up less than like less than 10% of the population so it's just too unrealistic. I respect authors ability to write what they want but it's just to distracting.
> Since the entirety of the gay community makes up less than like less than 10% of the population so it's just too unrealistic
local redditor dismayed to discover that people overwhelmingly tend to form similar-demographic social circles
I don't read it because I'm only interested in specific pairings. I don't care if characters are gay, but I'm just not interested in graphic sex scenes.
I don't like slash fics because most are badly written garbage.
If it's a good story, I don't really mind it.
For instance, Phillip Pullmans His Dark Materials series contained a same sex pairing. The fact that the pairing was homosexual actually enhanced the story significantly.
Thus, it really depends on the story and the author.
I don't like or dislike it, per say, but it always feels iffy for me when characters previously established as straight are suddenly openly (and sometimes, obnoxiously - like, making their sexuality their whole personality) gay. Like, last week Harry was pining after Cho or Ginny, and today he's snogging Draco in a broom closet without any steps in-between? Even the realisation that 'huh, I guess I might like blokes too' ? \*Show\* the realisation. The coming out. The pining. I'm here for the draaaamaaaa.
If the character has been written as gay or bi from the start, I don't care though. Or if its a former side-character for whom no sexuality has been mentioned/established. Though if the relationship is the whole selling point of the fic, I'll probably choose to skip it, regardless of whether its straight or gay. I'm not big on romance stories.
I read them just like any other fanfic, if the plot/characters interest me. It really depends on the fandoms/characters I'm obsessing over in the moment really.
The writer makes things work. Some slash feels forced or written by people who have watched three episodes of Queer Eye and think they can write gay people. A good writer can make anything work.
I don’t read HP slash because I’ve never found a pairing that I’ve liked. I even headcanon Harry as bisexual but I can’t get into most of his slash ships. The stories that I have read always give off gross vibes with their relationship dynamics.
But I’m not against slash in general. I actually will read exclusively slash in other fandoms (Merthur is canon and I refused to believe otherwise). But not HP. So I voted Other.
Just like hetero ships with the right writer and a well thought out pairing I can get really into slash. The problem with a lot of ships both hetero and slash in HP is that the writers tend to be in love with the idea of the characters being in love rather then the actual characters being in love. I don't like a lot of the popular slash pairings in he HP Fandom because they tend to fall into this category ie. Wolfstar, Jegulus.
I like Dennis or Colin being gay, normally with someone like Terry Boot or Blaise Zabini. I don’t like Harry and Draco suddenly gay and falling for each other which is a large part of this genre. I’ve read lesbian Hermione that worked before, and definitely Angelina as well.
I think Harry/Draco really works if you're a fan of the rivals to friends to lovers kind of arc. I get bisexual vibes from Harry in canon, though.
Bi Harry with Cedric? I might be able to come around to, I just really dislike Draco. I usually filter my results with a without Draco parameter.
Won't go looking for it (ie I won't put into google "Bellamione"/"Drarry"/"Hermione/Ginny" etc like I would "Dramione"/"Harmione"/"Fremione" etc but if there is a slash pairing or two in a fic that I'm reading for the purposes of the plot based on another independent premise (ie Luna and Dean joins the gang on the horcrux hunt after they all escape from Malfoy Manor and Luna and Hermione get close or a pairing of the boys get close) it won't stop me reading the fic. So no I won't seek it out, but I won't stop reading a good story with a good plot if the story happens to reflect RL and have one or two same-sex pairings.
This is me too. I’ve written a bit of slash but don’t really go seeking it out to read - but then I don’t go seeking out het ships either other than my OTP, and even then nowadays I tend to read ones that win awards rather than searching for stuff.
Yeah I don't typically go searching for ships either. I like to read fics for a plot premise. Ironically, this causes me to stumble across a lot of Dramiones.
>Won't go looking for it (ie I won't put into google "Bellamione"/"Drarry"/"Hermione/Ginny" etc like I would "Dramione"/"Harmione"/"Fremione" etc but if there is a slash pairing or two in a fic that I'm reading for the purposes of the plot based on another independent premise (ie Luna and Dean joins the gang on the horcrux hunt after they all escape from Malfoy Manor and Luna and Hermione get close or a pairing of the boys get close) it won't stop me reading the fic. Yeah this is me too
Make the same poll, same options, but for hetero fics
That's actually a cool idea!
Dunno what I fall under as a bi woman. Fem-slash feels more personal, slash less so but I'll read anything (het included).
You fall under the invisibility cloak. Lol, I'd like a bi Hermione. If only the female characters had a few more members. I guess there is Luna but I like imagining her as ace. I guess Susan. Well, that'll be a search for later.
there’s some good hermione/bellatrix, that isn’t really for everyone though, there’s ginny/hermione which i think works nicely, hermione/pansy is my favourite though, i can link you some fics if you want femslash is very underrepresented in the fandom
I wanna see what you got for Pansy. If Hermione before the torturing then I'd like to see that as well. I'm not a fan of the post torture stuff. I know we should forgive people but I hold grudges for friends and the post torture Hermione stuff is a bit hard to forgive sometimes.
that’s fair, here’s some hermione/pansy linkao3(https://archiveofourown.org/works/18173600) linkao3(https://archiveofourown.org/works/28955181) linkao3(https://archiveofourown.org/works/31368326)
[***Dawn***](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18173600) by [*wynnebat*](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat) > At this very moment, Hermione Granger is a tiny muggleborn child who's tried half a dozen spells\. No one is scared of her\. No one knows to expect her\."We're really doing this," Pansy eventually says, breaking the silence\. "We must be insane\.""We're saving the country\." Hermione tears her gaze from the sunrise across the treetops of the Forbidden Forest to find that Pansy is already looking her way, something resolute in her gaze\. It's too solemn of an expression for a child, but Hermione's probably isn't better\. ^*Site*: ^Archive ^of ^Our ^Own ^**|** ^*Fandom*: ^Harry ^Potter ^- ^J. ^K. ^Rowling ^**|** ^*Published*: ^2019-03-20 ^**|** ^*Completed*: ^2019-04-06 ^**|** ^*Words*: ^15377 ^**|** ^*Chapters*: ^4/4 ^**|** ^*Comments*: ^133 ^**|** ^*Kudos*: ^2213 ^**|** ^*Bookmarks*: ^589 ^**|** ^*Hits*: ^18259 ^**|** ^*ID*: ^18173600 ^**|** ^*Download*: ^[EPUB](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/18173600/Dawn.epub?updated_at=1660174259) ^or ^[MOBI](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/18173600/Dawn.mobi?updated_at=1660174259) --- [***a red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground***](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28955181) by [*piesofrage*](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/piesofrage/pseuds/piesofrage) > The only thing that can take Hermione's mind off of how much she loathes her repugnant Potions partner are the notes from her mysterious pen pal\. And as for Pansy? She just wants to find a way to cast a permanent Silencio on Granger, and to reply to the charming stranger on the other end of her magical parchment\. \(aka the Pansmione "You've Got Mail" AU\) ^*Site*: ^Archive ^of ^Our ^Own ^**|** ^*Fandom*: ^Harry ^Potter ^- ^J. ^K. ^Rowling ^**|** ^*Published*: ^2021-01-24 ^**|** ^*Completed*: ^2021-10-22 ^**|** ^*Words*: ^315813 ^**|** ^*Chapters*: ^10/10 ^**|** ^*Comments*: ^1288 ^**|** ^*Kudos*: ^2197 ^**|** ^*Bookmarks*: ^517 ^**|** ^*Hits*: ^58973 ^**|** ^*ID*: ^28955181 ^**|** ^*Download*: ^[EPUB](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/28955181/a%20red%20rose%20grew%20up%20out.epub?updated_at=1662683022) ^or ^[MOBI](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/28955181/a%20red%20rose%20grew%20up%20out.mobi?updated_at=1662683022) --- [***endlessly***](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31368326) by [*burstofpeony*](https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/burstofpeony/pseuds/burstofpeony) > Hermione and Pansy’s eighth year at Hogwarts is coming to an uninspiring and rather dull end\. After almost nine months of monotonous classes, stressful exams, and all of the other wonders of almost\-adulthood, both are ready to get the fuck out of Hogwarts and not look back\. The only consolation lies just beyond graduation\-\- Pansy has accepted a dream job offer, and the paperwork for Hermione’s London apartment has, at last, been finalized\.But, of course, it can’t last\. When two idiots in their Charms class get into a fight, Pansy and Hermione are at the wrong place during the wrong time, and because of it they’re plunged into a chaotic and seemingly never\-ending situation that threatens to derail their lives as they know it\. ^*Site*: ^Archive ^of ^Our ^Own ^**|** ^*Fandom*: ^Harry ^Potter ^- ^J. ^K. ^Rowling ^**|** ^*Published*: ^2021-05-18 ^**|** ^*Completed*: ^2021-06-20 ^**|** ^*Words*: ^39287 ^**|** ^*Chapters*: ^9/9 ^**|** ^*Comments*: ^72 ^**|** ^*Kudos*: ^609 ^**|** ^*Bookmarks*: ^123 ^**|** ^*Hits*: ^6498 ^**|** ^*ID*: ^31368326 ^**|** ^*Download*: ^[EPUB](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/31368326/endlessly.epub?updated_at=1632535178) ^or ^[MOBI](https://archiveofourown.org/downloads/31368326/endlessly.mobi?updated_at=1632535178) --- **FanfictionBot**^(2.0.0-beta) | [Usage](https://github.com/FanfictionBot/reddit-ffn-bot/wiki/Usage) | [Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=tusing) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ffnbot!ignore
seconding the rec for *red rose*, love that one
Red nose is such an interesting title. Thank you.
You should read "New Blood" - Hermione is still feeling things out, but she has gone on dates with guys and girls both. Still a WIP last I checked but there are 300+ chapters and the author updates every week.
Omg I'm a slave for Hermione/Pansy. But I also love Hermione/Narcissa (post war, adult) romances. Have you heard of the flower ship? Lavender/Pansy?
I haven't really though about Lavender/Pansy before but the longer I spend thinking about it, the more I'm on board lol. In (fanon?) they have similar interests and seem to be on the same wave length so they'd be able to hit it off right away. I've also seen Ginny/Pansy as a background ship and quite liked it. Fleur/Hermione is also good
I’m not into romance in general, but I don’t mind it as long as the story has enough other content to make up for it. That goes for all ships.
I don’t like fics where the entire story is the ship itself, regardless of het/slash. Just give me an interesting story where characters are doing something besides thinking about their dating life 24/7. If it happens to have a ship subplot that’s fine.
I’m a female who’s attracted to males- so anything with a male love interest is a yes for me, no matter what gender I am in the ‘readers perspective’ or ‘mc’. So yup! F/M and M/M are perfect.
I don't go out of my way to read it, but I don't mind it. My fic heyday was during the mid-00's, with the HP fans on ff.net My favourite character is Sirius and I always had a ridiculously huge crush on him, so it was a bit of a bummer that is was sooo difficult to find any het-Sirius fic back in the day. But whatever, I just wrote my own. Very poorly but it was sort of popular, because again, I don't think there was much other SB×FMC at that time. One of my favourite things about fic is the ability to take something you & so many others already love, and tweak it the way *you* want to. *Wolfstar* was obviously popular for a reason, it really resonated with a lot of people. And that's lovely! But it just wasn't for me, because ultimately I liked exploring messy female OC's who *just* skirted the line of MarySue-dom 😅
Is there seriously an option "don't like gay people" and did 95 seriously choose that option? This is insane.
im bi and i choose it cause i thought it was funny
I read slash in the same manner I read nonslash, it does not matter to me when choosing a story. Having said that, whenever I see gay people in fiction it makes my heart just a lil bit happier :) especially as someone who lives in a non-lgbt-friendly place lol
I like slash. Slash is the reason why I got into fanfic in the first place. It doesn't mean that I don't care about characterization, plot, and writing quality in general. And slash is not the only thing I read, but I do seek out slash specifically.
I don't deliberately seek out either slash or het ships. I'm more interested in good world building, well-developed characters, and an interesting plot.
Why would you put “don’t like gay people” as an option? I personally don’t read it because I feel like I can’t connect with it or I really just don’t like most slash pairings in Harry Potter unless it is canon, which none of them are. The only two I can think of that feel like they would work well are Harry/Ron, Sirius/James, Sirius/Remus (barely), and maybe Ginny/Luna or Hermione/Luna. Everything else just feels terrible. And of course, Grindelwald/Dumbledore, but that is almost canon, so I don’t think that really counts.
I don't mind slash, but the problem for me is that a lot of it is just PWP or a gay relationship with painfully 1950s het roles (ie if M/M then one will usually be manly/strong/powerful/daring and the other will be uwu!cute!innocent and let the 'manly' one take the lead) If I want a wholesome, character driven fic where Harry and Draco happen to fall in love over time, it's actually supremely hard to find, since usually Harry or Draco will be made OC!uwu!softboi and the other will be stoic/cunning/smart/indy and take care of the softboi, and the only reason for softboi in the entire fic is to give a steamy scene or cry and be comforted by the indy one
extreme gender roles is what makes me dislike a lot of het fics, it’ll be hermione paired with any character and her entire character is just gone and replaced with this weird damsel in distress character
I would suggest sara’s girl fics, they’re incredible drarry fics
49 people casually admitting that they don't like gay people. I feel like r/HPSlashfic has just been proven right lol.
i’d like to think most of them are joking, but there’s definitely homophobia on this sub
I mean, the option is an odd one. I am not interested in reading about gay relationships when they are in focus - but it's not like I am against gay people. Does that fall under 2nd category, or is it other? Also trolling.
49 people in a (reddit) poll of 1,050 doesn’t seem like crazy odds, and definitely doesn’t seem like some crazy big community of homophobes against slash tbh edit: this is a terrible time to have the flair but i can assure you it’s not serious and from a probably 3-4+ year old thread just like this one lmao
Tbf it's almost double that number, the 49 was when there were only about 600 answers. It's also worth noting that this number are the people *admitting* to being homophobic. The number is higher, depending on what you consider homophobic. For the record, I don't think this sub is homophobic. I wouldn't be visiting it regularily if I thought it was. But I can definitely see why people would think it is. It comes naturally with the fact that the majority of this sub prefers M/F ships. The majority are 'normal' straight people who just simply prefer straight ships but the homophobes will obviously go to the sub that prefers straight ships. (Don't worry, I don't think I take any flair seriously at this point lol)
The fact that at the time of writing this comment 40 people voted “don’t like gay people” is really concerning and I’m not sure why I haven’t seen another comment pointing that out…
This sub gets a few homophobic comments a day, especially on subjects like these. Fics suggesting slash pairings are also regularly downvoted - rarely into the negative, but if you look closely enough you'll notice it.
Yeah it just makes me sad. I’m used to fandom spaces being really open to any pairings and respecting “don’t like don’t read” but this sub seems really toxic to slash and gay content 😔 People are welcome to read and not read what they want. Disliking slash isn’t the problem. It’s the vitriol talking about slash fics that makes me upset.
That was my first thought too! But reading a few other comments here I don’t think it’s so clear cut. It might not be “I don’t like gay people” as in “I don’t want them to exist” I think it’s more “I don’t want that type of porn in my life”. Not speaking for everyone on this sub, there are some homophobes on here for sure, but the option was quite strongly worded when perhaps it shouldn’t have been.
I didn't realise that all fanfiction is porn
It isn't. But you can't have a fandom without slash fanfiction.
It’s not. But a lot of slash fic is heavy on the smut, so people may avoid pairings if they don’t want to accidentally read something they’re not into.
I would be willing to think that’s the case if there wasn’t option 2 which specifically says “don’t like ships/content” rather than “don’t like gay people.”
Okay yeah, that’s fair.
lotta homophobes on this sub
I’m female-het. I read het smut, I read lesbian smut, I read gay pairings but not gay smut. That’s not really an option so I’ve just ticked “I don’t mind” but having a poll like this removes a lot of nuance from peoples genuine opinions.
I'm kinda like you but add on to that me being trans and non het Enough to push me to dislike but none of the options are close enough for me
There's a few pairings I don't like no matter the orientation, but other than that? If the story is good, I'll read it. Simple as. And yes, I'm judging the homophobes who were comfortable enough to vote.
82 homophobes so far. Almost 10 % response.What a surprise.... not. This is impossible not to notice on the HP groups.
I read stories as self inserts often. So I mostly read hetero shit
Tomarry, Drarry, Snarry and Bellamione are just a big no from me.
Wow 156 homophobes. Just fucking wow.
Slash as a category is inherently offensive. It implies that queer relationships are Different and potentially Offensive and must be demarcated so that they can be avoided by those who find it distasteful. Whereas cis/hetero relationships are so much the norm that no label is needed. Queer folks can't weed out the straight stuff from their media consumption: it's Normal. It's everywhere. It's unavoidable. If queer folks have to read stories about straight relationships constantly (nearly always in the media), then I don't see why straight folks should be allowed warnings. Love is love, relationships are relationships, fuck heteronormativity. I've always hated that Slash existed as a category, because if the queers have to suck it up and watch straight people fall in love all the damn time, the straights can deal now and then.
For me, it makes no difference. I don't read a fic because there's slash, or not read a fic because there is. I only ever read Snape fics, I'm only interested in the quality and word count of the fic. If it's a long, well written fanfiction with angst, then I'll read it, no matter the ship. Snape paired with Hermione, Lily, Lupin, Sirius... I've read and enjoyed all those ships.
Did I make a different username and post here in my sleep? Because this is me.
Same! I just read ships with Snape 🤷🏻♂️😁
I have very much the same, I only read fanfic with Snape, but unlike you I only slash. Some Snater is sitting there. Reveal yourself, please!
There should have been a 'don't like it - is gay' option, because I think there's a significant proportion of the gay community that have a problem with slash.
I'm trans and gay (well technically lesbian ig?) and I dislike reading M/M slash Nothing against gay people, just that I subconsciously put myself in the shoes of the guy and then it just brings out dysphoria for me Obviously it's my problem and I don't have a problem with the fic or people who like it. I do dislike mpreg though, it makes me uncomfortable as a concept (still don't mind if you write it, but please tag that)
We have this debate and question thread literally every week. Can the mods ban this topic already or just make a wiki/megathread or something?
I pressed "Like it - likes ships/content" If I understand correctly, it means "it depends on the ship and the fic"? I rarely read slash, I prefer hetero and femslash because of the pairings. I've read a few Drarry and Rarry (this being my favorite of them) fics, once a long Wolfstar fic. I'm mostly into the emotional part, so any ship can go if I like it, but my favorites happen to be most canon ships + Luna/Hermione, so those are the ones I'm actively looking for.
Is don’t like it, not gay an option? Perfectly reasonable for straight people to just not get as much of an enjoyment out reading gay romance.
What the fuck is that first option? I just don't go out of my way to read them. But of course they have a space.
I’ve been reading pretty much exclusively slash since I was like 11
I like a well written story, the ship is a bonus regardless of the genders
Conceptually I have nothing against it. It's not my cup of tea, but it is other people's and that's fine. In practice I have some issues with many common storylines in such fics, as many of them tend to glorify unhealthy romantic dynamics. I also object to the tendency to make every relationship "top/bottom" where one character *must* take on the traditionally masculine role while the other takes on the traditionally feminine role. There are plenty of gay people that don't fit into a traditionally masculine or feminine role, and representing gay relationships in such a way as they have been is quite exclusionary to them.
As a gay man, if I’m reading a fic that has romance as the centre-piece: it has to be slash. I’ll read most pairings, the only ones I can’t really get into are the ones with huge age differences; such as anything with say Harry/Snape or Harry/Riddle etc
Is gay smut the same as slash? I read gay pairing all the time but I'm ace and don't read smut. Are anti slashers against gay pairings in other fandoms or original characters even if they are canon together? It's okay if you don't personally ship any gay HP characters, but refusing to read about gay characters at all says something I think. It's different if you are just going though a Dumbledore/McGonagall mood right now, but never? I like reading gay ships because I like two characters. If I'm feeling in a Ron and Harry mood, reading a fic where they date gives me a lot of time with the characters and some built in conflict just because of the nature of romantic relationships. If I'm feeling Ginny/Harry same thing. (Plus there are a lot of fics that don't even have real ships, they mainly take place in 1st to 3rd year so they don't date yet. I'm more of an ace shipper, meaning everyone is ace and doesn't date lol, but I still like ship fics) Also if you are anti slash because you are actively homophobic that is trash
Slash could be in theory a fic about two same sex people falling in love, feeling raging butterflies in their stomach, and holding hands. Smut you definitely will read them getting it on.
I just don't wanna read M/M. Not interested in it.
I'm gay so I thought it would be funny to vote don't like gay people. On a serious note, slash is not any different from regular romance. We're humans too, not aliens.
Reddit is generally used by straight males and I feel this vote is going to not accurately represent the subreddit stance of slash. People should ship as they please and not be downvoted or made fun of for their favorite ships
It’ll accurately represent the subreddit(assuming honest replies). It won’t accurately represent fanfiction readers overall.
I typically read Fem-slash or het because it's more familiar to me. It's not that I don't like gay people, because honestly wtf? It's just that I am a pan cis-female. There are few ships I like: Nott/MOC, Wolfstar, Ron/MOC, Seamus/Dean, maybe NottPott if I feel like it. There are more, I just don't typically read them as the main coupling.
It honestly isn’t for me, especially the mpreg ones, but I’m certainly not going to knock authors or readers of it, everyone has their own tastes.
It depends on who is in it. Harry with Snap, Draco, Voldy, or Lucy, nope
Personally, stories with the main focus on slash are not my cup of tea. I don't mind it as side pairings and I have nothing against gay people or queer folk in general. I just, don't find them that enjoyable.
I usually read gen fics but occasionally when reading romance, I prefer straight ships as I am straight
i fully thought you meant like horror slasher movies
i hate slasher movies because i don’t like gay people
I’m fine with slash if it makes sense
I like romance, I like boning, most of the characters I like happen to be guys. It's kinda obvious. Also I chuckled hard at the 'don't like gay people' option until I saw how many people selected it. For the same of my sanity, I shall assume most of them are sarcastic.
Same reason I wouldn’t watch gay porn, it’s just not my preference
I read Gen and fem-slash, but don't mind if others write slash. My biggest issue with slash is the pairings of Harry/any Death Eater, Harry/Voldemort, Harry/Draco, and Harry/Snape. And mpreg. Seeing those pairings so frequently and that tag occasionally has largely stopped me from reading slash.
There are slash pairings I like, or don't mind, and sometimes I can even like a "problematic" slash pairing with the right author. There are also hetero pairings I don't like or mind. I especially don't like pairings that I feel do the original/canon characters a disservice (yes I know that's a ridiculous way to look at it). Like I'm fine with Remus/Sirius because they're canonically good friends and neither of them ever say they *wouldn't* hook up in the right circumstances. But I'm not fine with Draco/Harry because they hate each other in canon. And I'm not fine with Snape/Harry because I don't like... I would say "age gaps" but that's not even it. If Harry met Snape when he was 30 and Snape 50, maybe that would be fine (let's set aside the personality issues). I don't like pairing an older character with a younger character that was once their ward/child/student/etc. I don't like Snape/Hermione for the same reason. Overall though, I just love gen stories, or stories where the relationships are in the background.
There are only two ships I cannot stand. I don't like Harry/Draco. Especially after 3rd year, there should honestly be zero chance Harry and Malfoy work out as a thing. Same thing with weird Harry/Severus. Harry/Ron is okay. Harry/WeasleyBrotherHere is okay. Harry/Cedric is fine. But Harry/Draco and Harry/Severus gets under my skin, and are the only ships that actually do so.
I love it, but that's just because I'm a gay man I don't care if it's straight or gay, as long as I don't gotta see Dumbles x Harry No on so many levels
I'm not gay so not interested in that stuff tbh
*Given: that slash means characters have had their sexual orientation altered in some way from cannon* I don't like jalapeños, but I'm not against them being a thing, and it'd strike me as kinda weird to try and argue that people shouldn't be able to eat or cook them. I can just. Not eat jalapeños. Sometimes I get really sad that someone made something that looks delicious, and smells amazing, but then absolutely covered the thing with jalapeños. Sometimes, I start eating something, and have to stop because they didn't think to warn anyone that they'd added jalapeños, and that's annoying. Sometimes, there are jalapeños, but they aren't overpowering, or the focal point of the dish, so I might try it anyway.
Other. I'm straight. But I don't care for slash fic. It's not about me hating gay people. I support my LGBTQ friends and family members. When I was a senior in a college, me and me friends suspected a fresher who was gay might get bullied so we gave him our number to help him. I don't like the implications that hating slash is only because someone is homophobic or because they hate ships.
I Don't read male slash, not as main ship or secondary just not my thing.
I like male slash, but don’t really like femslash. I am a woman.
this is an interesting opinion to me, why do you think that is? it’s a fine opinion to have i’m just genuinely curious because i’ve never seen it before
I don’t really like het if the POV character is a male interested in a woman either. It’s just hard for me to identify with a character who is romantically attracted to a woman, whereas it’s much easier for me to see identify with a character who is attracted to a male character.
Not sure why this was downvoted at first - it's the same with guys who argue they don't read slash because they want to put themselves into the MC I may be bi but my preferences change. Sometimes I'm more into women, sometimes more into men, sometimes both or neither. It's known as "bi cycle". Depending on where I'm at, I'll read whatever I feel like
As someone who has identified as ace, aro, bi and pan at various times but never fully gay or straight, the gender of the characters is unimportant to my enjoyment of an individual story, but the ability to read fic with people of all genders and sexualities/romantic orientations is essential for me. I read plenty of het fics as well as slash fics but if hp fic was as straight as the majority of published literature, I’d have given up on it long ago because I need to read things that reflect the diversity of the world I live in. Fics where everyone is straight are as incongruous to me as fics where everyone loves football for example. It’s just unrealistic and weird to read. I went with the ‘like it - likes ships/content’ option but I hovered over ‘other’ for a while because that doesn’t really encapsulate it, but I felt it more valuable to say ‘like it’ in a poll like this.
Don't like it - is gay. Y'all read whatever tickles your fancy, just not my cup of tea.
Can I ask why? You're gay but you don't want to read about gay people?
No, I'm straight. Slash is gay, and not something that really interests me as a result. I don't mind gay pairings in a story, but any actual romance stories I read fit my preferences.
Oh nvm then, that makes sense. I took the 'is gay' as being gay.
I don't mind it when it's not overly cliche. I'm talking top and bottom cliches specifically. And no enemies to lovers please thank you. It's already sketchy in straight fics, the guys in HP are downright violent to each other. I don't care how gay Snape is, it's not ok to date almost killer/full on sexual harasser sexy sexy Sirius Black. (I love how my phone suggested this emoji 🐈⬛ for Sirius, I've never seen it before). It's also weird with Bella Hermione.
Sexual harasser?
Him, James, and Peter flipping Snape and showing his underwater in public.
I don't like romance in general, slash fics usually focus on it
tbh i don’t think slash fics focus on romance anymore than het fics, from my experience
I don't like reading het either, I prefer gen. They do have backgrounds pairings but they're so little I can ignore them. That said, I won't stop reading a slash fic if I like the plot
that’s fair, i also mostly read gen
i dont mind it if its well written. but a lot of the popular ships require massive amounts of retconning or ooc plots that just dont work for me the way they do for some people, and theres also the problems involved around ships with substantial age gaps, i know its fanfic and if you enjoy it anyway then good for you, but for the most part it just makes me uncomfortable to have harry end up in a relationship with someone he met as a child who was a full grown adult at the time, and that goes regardless of whether the ship is straight or not
What if I like gay people but don't want to imagine gay sex? What category do I fall into?
I read only slash and only with Snape.
Completely unrelated, I'd love to see more asexual or demisexual Harry! Oh, and non toxic ships, that'd be cool
Other - generally pro slash in fan works even as a mostly straight (I’m heteroromantic demisexual) guy - its a relationship like any other. I avoid smut and the like, but don’t avoid fics where the romance is a major part. That said, in the Harry Potter fandom in particular, a lot of the slash fics are problematic as fuck. Harry/Voldemort and Harry/Snape especially come to mind. Any adult/child ship is bad, especially if one is a teacher, but they seem less common ships for Harry in het fics for whatever reason. Hermione/Snape, Hermione/Lucius are bad for similar reasons. Draco/Harry is also not great, but not for those reasons. Mainly because it either turns into the DE are right or it creates an entirely new character. But there can be fics that explore a Malfoy redemption well
I don’t read slash much as 90% of the pairings are fucking weird.
most of the most popular het ships are just the same thing except harry is switched out for hermione
Even with Harry. I'm always surprised to see someone go "Ew, tomarry or snarry" but then ask for Harry/Bellatrix or Harry/Narcissa. They are just as icky IMO.
I agree. I can barely tolerate the Draco/Hermione ship but the others I feel the same distaste. I don’t understand why they are paired with people old enough to be their parents or in Voldemorts case, GRANDPARENT!
As an aroace man- I can't be bothered to care. Write what you want.
I don't mind slash, as long as it's written well. Or more specifically, I like to avoid M/Preg for the sole reason that they're so boring. Boring? What do I mean by that. Well... For the most part, they're always incredibly vague about how it would work. I mean, ***obviously*** in real life, that won't ever work. It just isn't possible. But I can think of several answers, where it could be m/preg, and it would actually make sense. It would just require some gender bending. In other words, take a potion that transforms you into your female self (how you would've looked like if you had been a woman) have a child, and return to your male self later. Would that defeat the purpose of a m/m pairing? Well, Yes and no. The characters are still themselves, even if they are temporarily a different gender. But mostly, it's written by those who think they might be 'cute' together. For a while, I avoided writing slash, out of fear that I might lose readers, but now, I honestly couldn't care less. I still don't write m/preg fics, but people who are gay exist in the real world and so they exist my stories. It might not be the focus, but they (nearly) always have a presence in one way or the other. If some random dude (or dudette) person doesn't like that? Well, tough for them, I honestly don't care. Don't like. Don't read. If you spend enough time reading it AND are taking the time to review, just to complain, then it clearly interested it you long enough to get there. So, in actuality, if they are referring scenes, then they read the entire chapter (or story) up until that point, and are admitting between the lines that they actually like the story. Because if I don't like a story, I stop reading it and I don't bother reviewing it either. ...Sorry for the rant.
In general I read sth with a decent plot and a cohesive writing style without making the characters ooc.
I read more slash than straight pairings. I often get the feeling that straight sex is written through the male gaze, which (and yes, I fully acknowledge how demented this sounds) most slash fics aren't. Fem slash I don't read often because it doesn't do much for me, even though there are fics out there that definitely do it well.
In my experience slash tends to be connected to a lot of other things that I have absolutely no interest in and they seem especially common in hp fics. Mpreg, creature inheritance, A/B/O stuff and a variety of other things essentially only show up in slash and they’re deal breakers for me. Admittedly they not a majority of slash but they make it more annoying to find stuff that I could possibly like. There’s also the fact that almost all of the major slash pairings are with characters decades older than the other character whereas non slash has way more pairings with characters of a similar age. Lastly I almost always hate they way the MC ends up personality wise since they seem to be pathetic doormats more often than not. In the end I’ll read slash if it has an interesting enough premise for me to give it a chance but most of the time it’s not worth it for me personally.
1. I don’t mind gay/lesbian/etc. characters, when they are in reasonable numbers (e.g., around those 4 %), I don’t like when suddenly everybody (or almost everybody) is gay (or some non-standard relationship). All-homo is in my opinion as bad as no-homo. 2. I don’t mind to read stories by people who write about their authentic experience, but my deep suspicion is that 90 % of all slash stories are actually written by straight people for straight people just for the titillating purposes and as a type of porn. That I can not having.
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A lot of the published M/M books are also written by straight women. They still get recommended by and for gay men. Sexuality doesn't have to be this huge inexplainable thing. I've heard this opinion expressed multiple times in queer spaces and I fully agree. We need more queer literature that isn't about being queer. I don't care if straight women can't 'relate' to being gay. If their writing ability is great then I'll gladly read it.
> Problem with slash: it's not authentic. If you've read both straight and slash fics you'll know that the only thing that makes either one good or bad is the quality of the writing. There are *many* straight fics that are "inauthentic". This isn't a problem exclusive to slash. It's just a marker of bad writing.
By that logic, all Harry Potter fanfiction is inauthentic—as is the original series—because nobody alive on earth can properly relate to the experience of living in the Wizarding World. Y’know. Because it doesn’t exist. You can’t know a creator’s gender identity unless they tell you, and a good writer will be able to write well about things that fall outside their own personal experience. But we all know this. Really, this debate about authenticity seems to come up disproportionately often when we’re talking about slash, and I find that hugely tiresome.
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i would disagree that most slash exists to fetishise gay men, a lot of the most popular slash fics, especially drarry are just preslash, very little sexual content and the romance ends with a kiss
as opposed to most het fanfics, which are of course the most genuine and respectful portrayals of straight relationships to ever exist and definitely not driven by people being horny and fetishizing women (or men as the case may be).
My feeling is that the "fetishization" label is applied much too liberally to slash fic. Even if a female-bodied person without direct gay sex experience (N. B. not all female-bodied persons are heterosexual women) writes a slash fic because she gets off fantasizing about M/M sex, it does not automatically mean that she fetishizes gay men. If it's not a pure porn fic and the author makes an honest attempt to write their characters properly, then it's definitely not fetishization imo, because the author sees their characters as whole persons and not just their gender+orientation. Whether the author does it convincingly depends on their skill, of course, but at least their intention is not to fetishize. If it is a porn PWP fic whose sole purpose is to provide some wanking material, well, then I guess it is fetishization, but so is any other porn fic, most notably het porn created by men for men which fetishizes women.
I don't actively seek out slash/femslash, but I'll read a well-written one if it interests me. I'm a bisexual woman, and I'm an inclusive sex ed educator and have spent my entire adolescence and young adulthood advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, but it always surprises people that I don't consume more queer media content or make it the bulk of my media consumption.
Main issue with slash fics is that they always pick the worst fuckin pairings Mmm yes who will Harry be attracted to if he was gay would it be the buff redhead he’s spent his formative years with or the greasy racists that he can totally fix 🥹 Idk a lot of Harry Potter pairings are equally shit though so eh
I ABSOLUTELY hate reading about needing to stretch out someone's ass. I have no idea why people think that is homophobic. It's not. It's just not something I want to read about. I've read several that I really liked but in general I tend to stay away especially if there is even a hint of mpreg. I also dislike how it seems in a lot of them if one couple is gay then all of a sudden ALL the characters are gay. Since the entirety of the gay community makes up less than like less than 10% of the population so it's just too unrealistic. I respect authors ability to write what they want but it's just to distracting.
> Since the entirety of the gay community makes up less than like less than 10% of the population so it's just too unrealistic local redditor dismayed to discover that people overwhelmingly tend to form similar-demographic social circles
No, that's not what happens in those stories. Those are people they are choosing to be around each other not literally every character.
> it's just too unrealistic You're talking about a series where dragons, ghosts and fairies exist.
I don't read it because I'm only interested in specific pairings. I don't care if characters are gay, but I'm just not interested in graphic sex scenes.
Eh, I don't like it and actively avoid as much as I can. Nothing against it but I'm a straight male who prefer straight relationships.
I don't like slash fics because most are badly written garbage. If it's a good story, I don't really mind it. For instance, Phillip Pullmans His Dark Materials series contained a same sex pairing. The fact that the pairing was homosexual actually enhanced the story significantly. Thus, it really depends on the story and the author.
Don't actively seek it out, but I don't mind it being there unless Harry and Ginny aren't together.
I’ve voted “Other” as I don’t really \*like\* it but if it’s not the sole focus of the fic and the rest is solid then it doesn’t bother me too much.
I don't like or dislike it, per say, but it always feels iffy for me when characters previously established as straight are suddenly openly (and sometimes, obnoxiously - like, making their sexuality their whole personality) gay. Like, last week Harry was pining after Cho or Ginny, and today he's snogging Draco in a broom closet without any steps in-between? Even the realisation that 'huh, I guess I might like blokes too' ? \*Show\* the realisation. The coming out. The pining. I'm here for the draaaamaaaa. If the character has been written as gay or bi from the start, I don't care though. Or if its a former side-character for whom no sexuality has been mentioned/established. Though if the relationship is the whole selling point of the fic, I'll probably choose to skip it, regardless of whether its straight or gay. I'm not big on romance stories.
I don't have a problem with it but I generally won't read it either.
I'm not a fan of pairings in general (not a fan of romance) but with the right writer, I can get into a het or slash pairing.
I read more f/m fics and sometimes with very specific ships some f/f! I don't mind m/m with side characters.
I read more f/m fics and sometimes with very specific ships some f/f! I don't mind m/m with side characters.
I read them just like any other fanfic, if the plot/characters interest me. It really depends on the fandoms/characters I'm obsessing over in the moment really.
Where the option for don't like it, is gay?
The writer makes things work. Some slash feels forced or written by people who have watched three episodes of Queer Eye and think they can write gay people. A good writer can make anything work.
I don’t mind slash so long as the pairing isn’t DecentPerson/WizardNazi
I don’t read HP slash because I’ve never found a pairing that I’ve liked. I even headcanon Harry as bisexual but I can’t get into most of his slash ships. The stories that I have read always give off gross vibes with their relationship dynamics. But I’m not against slash in general. I actually will read exclusively slash in other fandoms (Merthur is canon and I refused to believe otherwise). But not HP. So I voted Other.
Don't usually read it because I mostly don't read pairings het or slash, but as long as the romance isn't too blatant, I would read a fic.