From: Kathryn Andersen kat@foobox.net
If characters I respect and like are made by the author to do something very wrong, and it is treated as something right, then I hate what the author has done to the characters. It's character assassination at the least.
I can't really answer that in terms of slash, since homosexuality doesn't really bother me all that much. But there are things that I consider to be very wrong yet are practiced daily by many, many people, probably including most of the Lyst. As far as I'm concerned, eating dead animals when your survival isn't on the line is Wrong, period. No argument, no compromise.
But if Avon tucks into a steak, or Cally munches on a bit of chicken, I can hardly call it character assassination. People do these things, and I just have to accept it. If I object to the spit-roasted rabbit in 'Blake' (and I do), it's not because Blake eats it, it's because a real life rabbit had to be killed to provide the prop. Likewise the squirrel in Rumours.
Admittedly this is not a direct parallel with Kathryn's position. Eating meat is socially sanctioned in a way that homosexuality is not, or at least not yet. Nor can I cite any higher authority to validate the proscriptions I would most certainly enforce if it were in my power to do so. And, of course, there is no body of fanfic that celebrates carnivorous inclinations. But taking Kathryn as quoted above, the analogy does stand.
Neil