Editing Slash fiction (section)

==Critical and queer attention==
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Slash fiction has received more academic attention than other genres of fan fiction.<ref name=CHot20thcent799/> Slash fiction was the subject of several notable [[fan studies|academic studies]] in the early 1990s, as part of the [[cultural studies]] movement within the humanities: most of these, as is characteristic of cultural studies, approach slash fiction from an ethnographic perspective and talk primarily about the writers of slash fiction and the communities that form around it. Slashers have been configured as fans who resisted culture.<ref name=Allington/> Some studies – for example by Italian anthropologist Mirna Ciconi – focus on the textual analysis of slash fiction itself.

Slash fiction was often ignored by [[queer theory|queer theorists]].<ref>{{cite journal
 |author1=Dhaenens F. |author2=Van Bauwel S. |author3=Biltereyst D. | year = 2008
 | title = Slashing the Fiction of Queer Theory
 | journal = Journal of Communication Inquiry
 | volume = 32
 | issue = 4
 | pages = 335–347
 | doi = 10.1177/0196859908321508
 |s2cid=143260104 }}</ref> However, slash fiction has been described as important to the [[LGBTQ]] community and to the formation of queer identities, as it represents a resistance to the expectation of heterosexuality.<ref>{{cite book |title=Science Fiction Curriculum, Cyborg Teachers, & Youth Culture(s) |last1=Weaver |first1=John A. |first2=Karen |last2=Anijar |first3=Toby  |last3=Daspit  |page=84|year=2003 |publisher=P. Lang |location=US |isbn=978-0-8204-5044-5}}</ref> In a society in which heterosexuality is the norm and homosexuality is highly stigmatized, an online forum is sometimes the only space where young members of the LGBTQ community can be out. Young members of the community go through a time in which they are still exploring their identity, labels, and pronouns. By writing slash fiction, queer youth can use their favorite characters and stories in order to create scenarios that allow them to explore their feelings, thoughts, and selves. Slash fiction, in this sense, offers queer youth a low-risk chance to explore who they are. They can stay anonymous while creating a world in which they can express themselves creatively and freely.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Importance of Fanfiction For Queer Youth|url=https://theestablishment.co/the-importance-of-fanfiction-for-queer-youth-4ec3e85d7519#.rsbnznbs4|first=Jane|last=Hu|website=The Establishment|access-date=15 Mar 2017}}{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> However, slash fiction has also been criticized as being unrepresentative of the gay community as a whole,<ref>{{Cite journal|title = 'Fandom is full of pearl clutching old ladies': Nonnies in the online slash closet|last = Brennan|first = Joseph|date = 2014|journal = International Journal of Cultural Studies|doi = 10.1177/1367877913496200|issue = 4|volume = 17|pages = 363–380|s2cid = 145482477}}</ref> and as being used as a medium to express feminist frustration with popular and speculative fiction.<ref>{{cite book |title=Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader |last=Sean  |first=Redmond |page = 279 |year=2004 |publisher=Wallflower Press |location=US |isbn=978-1-903364-87-1}}</ref>

The predominant demographic among slash fiction readers is female, the majority of whom identify as other than heterosexual.{{Citation needed|reason=Previously cited source was an online unreliable poll||date=February 2023}} Science fiction writer [[Joanna Russ]] (herself a lesbian), author of ''[[How to Suppress Women's Writing]]'', is one of the first major science fiction writers to take slash fiction and its cultural and literary implications seriously.<ref>[http://jprstudies.org/2011/03/interview-joanna-russ/ Francis, Conseula and Piepmeier, Alison. "Interview: Joanna Russ" "Journal of Popular Romance Studies" #1.2; March 31, 2011]. Jprstudies.org. Retrieved on 17 October 2011.</ref> In her essay "Pornography by Women for Women, with Love," Russ argues that, in regard to the Kirk/Spock relationship, slash fiction combines both masculine and feminine traits of emotional vulnerability. Such an equal relationship, she contends, negates the power imbalance typically seen in regular fan fiction.