muenchjack_00

Upon reading Star Trek slash fanfiction, many may come to ask the question: Why are the relationships almost always between two men? This is the question that Penley attempts to answers. To begin, we must ask the opposite: Why not male and female? In many typical romance novels today, a woman must do the mental work to comprehend reasons for a man’s aggressive behavior and ultimately forgive him for them in the end. In this situation, the relationship between the man and the woman are completely unequal. From this, we can interpret that Star Trek slash, specifically that of K/S, was made out of response to this inequality. Writing about two men avoids this typical inequality that is commonly found in so many of these romantic novels. A woman can write two men in the way that they see ideal for them. Kirk and Spock are often made sensitive, yet not to the point where it compromises their humor or strength. In addition, their equality extends to their own race. In fanfiction, Spock is often depicted as feeling humiliated by his appearance and his race, yet Kirk still accepts him as his lifelong mate. The marrying of two different races celebrates the idea of miscegenation, even if no direct parallels to the races we know are made. Through doing so, Slashers are able to eliminate racism and ensure the respect of female characters by not using them as a device to further male-male relationships. It’s a surprising revelation that something like Star Trek fanfiction would be making such a bold, cultural statement as to recast these typical roles in response to the unequal stereotypes found in so many romance novels today.