From: Penberriss Wendy S. penberriss@yahoo.com
I prefer to think of myself not as a shit-stirrer but as a crap-defuser.
Very noble, very idealistic, but above all very futile. You're not going to change anyone's perceptions of anything by forcing your own on them. Rather you're going to get them digging their heels in.
In that case, why watch B7 at all, and not some male version of Baywatch?
To some fans, B7 *is* a male version of Baywatch.
It's turning a savvy show about terrorism into some sort of sex fantasy
I'm not sure it's really all that savvy, and certainly not all of the time.
I like people who THINK about what they're saying...
This whole tone reminds me of someone. A short and hairy hedgehog who has managed to get up more than nose in his wretched excuse for a life...
Exactly. If somebody wrote about one of the girls being sadistically tortured, there'd be an outcry. But somehow if you tortuer Avon, it's supposed to be erotic.
There is an added dimension to victimisation where female characters are concerned. It is difficult, for a male writer at least, to injure a woman without some misogynistic subtext being implicit. This would go double for a hurt/comfort scenario. I have personally shot Cally in the leg in one published story, and was working on another where several women got gruesomely killed (though not for being women, per se), and in another published story I had Dayna slashed by an alien monster, an OCF having her leg ripped off and a little girl pulled in half (several male characters suffered badly too. Including Avon, who apparently suffered beautifully whereas Dayna didn't).
On the other hand, you can leave the women alone and have them unrealistically impervious to any kind of injury whatsoever. It's one of those charming double binds that us writers have to struggle with.
This also fits in badly, IMHO, with the whole "My Darling" thingy. ON the one hand you call him all these cutesy names, and on the other you want to beat him up? It's a weird mix of sugary sentiment and terrifying cruelty.
They have to beat him up to get away with calling him all these cutesy names. It's a way of putting him where they want him.
Neil (thinking of doing a zine sometime in which no
story is allowed to
feature Avon or have him mentioned by name or even
elliptically alluded to)
No, have him in there, please! Just write him well and honestly.
But the CJs who BUARA him think they are doing just that.
Neil (who actually enjoys Wendy's posts)
PS Not just to Wendy but to all those others who do it - please don't cc to me when you post to the Lyst. If it goes to the Lyst I'm going to read it anyway, so I don't need a duplicate.