Leah wrote:

Most actors and actresses nowadays are aware of the existence of both

adult

hetero and slash art and fanfic on the web (as well as elsewhere).

But we don't know how many do in the B7 case-- also we don't know quite how much they know about what goes on in them.

They generally ignore it as part of the down side of celebrity.

So we're agreed, it's a down side.

For one thing, celebrity itself is an adaptation of the human process for selecting a

mate,

albeit an unattainable one. When one falls in love with a celebrity, the chemical process of 'love' has been triggered toward an individual one

wants

to mate and bond with for purposes of procreation.

Excuse me, I may not have a degree in biology but as a gay man I find this statement frightening.

Fanfic, fan art or any

other sort of fantasy that satisfies that unattainable bond is inevitable,

So what you're saying is you're catering to a market, providing a service? Cars need petrol, houses need insulation, people need pornography, is that it?

OK, now this is a genuine and serious question. If slash fiction is meant to satisfy the unrequited procreative urges of female fans with regard to male actors, why does it revolve around male/male couplings?

No one seems to be immune, whether we label it something harmless like a 'crush' or worry that it's reached a dangerous obsession.

If it has reached dangerous levels, though, surely there's a problem. This is why we have limits, censor boards, warnings and sex-addiction support groups-- because unrequited lust can turn dangerous, and there needs to be ways of recognising this and heading it off before someone or several someones get hurt.

Isn't anyone here aware of 'boy-band' fanfic on the web? Thousands of

teens,

unable to realistically have a relationship with the boy groups they

idolize,

are writing and posting adult fanfic and slash about groups like N' Synch

and

the others.

Bit of a difference between a teenager with a teenage crush and a long-term fan who has been obsessing about an individual for decades.

The groups are well aware of it, and seem to use it as a guage of their popularity.

Nice to know that the exploitation is mutual. But as I said to huh, there's a difference between a boyband member with mansions, millions and security guards, and a jobbing actor with a wife and a dog and a semi-detatched house.

Shane

"The host stirs..." --Zil

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