I have a strange relationship with K/S. I was a Star Trek fan from a young age, and raised in a fairly repressed household. The concept of homosexuality wasn't one I was familiar with until late in junior high; hell, I didn't even know how het sex worked until 5th grade. But I can remember watching TMP, the recovery scene, and thinking "it's normal. it's just friendship, really it is." I had to work hard to push down the slashy thoughts that even my naive brain could see.
I discovered fanfic and slash about relatively the same time, my second year of college. By then I was way ok with the concept of sex, both het and homo. When I first saw a slash story (Picard/Q, I think) I quickly closed the file and hid my eyes. But I was curious, and soon got sucked in to the world of slash.
I knew there were people who slashed K/S, and learned that was where it started. But I held a certain...reverence for the two, and so I tiptoed around any stories. Until for some reason (I can't remember now) I read Turning Point.
I was totally blown away. You opened my eyes, made all the onscreen moments between the two come home. It was no longer sacrilegious, but worship to acknowledge the love between the two. Wow.
Strangely, I didn't really become a die-hard K/S fan. I read stories from time to time, but I mostly ran in other fandoms. But K/S is always special to me, like their love is so beyond bounds that I don't necessarily have to read about them to know that it's there. Weird, huh?
All of this is to express how much I enjoyed reading your essay. I haven't really watched a lot of eps since my conversion to a slashaholic, so I appreciate the recap for my opened eyes. You did a really great job fitting so much into one little essay. Very readable, and I'll be sure to check out the links.
Just a little more gushing--that video! Just watched it, and I literally had tears running down my eyes. I've never cried at a video before. I loved the fades into the early trek moments. Just beautiful.
And I remember hating The Entropy Effect when I read it oh so many years ago. I'll have to put it on my reread list!
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I have a strange relationship with K/S. I was a Star Trek fan from a young age, and raised in a fairly repressed household. The concept of homosexuality wasn't one I was familiar with until late in junior high; hell, I didn't even know how het sex worked until 5th grade. But I can remember watching TMP, the recovery scene, and thinking "it's normal. it's just friendship, really it is." I had to work hard to push down the slashy thoughts that even my naive brain could see.
I discovered fanfic and slash about relatively the same time, my second year of college. By then I was way ok with the concept of sex, both het and homo. When I first saw a slash story (Picard/Q, I think) I quickly closed the file and hid my eyes. But I was curious, and soon got sucked in to the world of slash.
I knew there were people who slashed K/S, and learned that was where it started. But I held a certain...reverence for the two, and so I tiptoed around any stories. Until for some reason (I can't remember now) I read Turning Point.
I was totally blown away. You opened my eyes, made all the onscreen moments between the two come home. It was no longer sacrilegious, but worship to acknowledge the love between the two. Wow.
Strangely, I didn't really become a die-hard K/S fan. I read stories from time to time, but I mostly ran in other fandoms. But K/S is always special to me, like their love is so beyond bounds that I don't necessarily have to read about them to know that it's there. Weird, huh?
All of this is to express how much I enjoyed reading your essay. I haven't really watched a lot of eps since my conversion to a slashaholic, so I appreciate the recap for my opened eyes. You did a really great job fitting so much into one little essay. Very readable, and I'll be sure to check out the links.
Just a little more gushing--that video! Just watched it, and I literally had tears running down my eyes. I've never cried at a video before. I loved the fades into the early trek moments. Just beautiful.
And I remember hating The Entropy Effect when I read it oh so many years ago. I'll have to put it on my reread list!