Disclosures: I am not personally an academic by trade, although there are probably going to be a lot of acafans and possibly even people outside the slash community coming to see this, if it gets bounced around a lot. I am setting the poll to display full results (that's the part that displays your username with your answers) only to me, and I'm not sharing that. (Since I get to see yours, it's only fair that you get to see mine: I will disclose my own responses in a footnote after the survey proper.) I do not have formal training in queer theory, gender theory, or the like, just what I've picked up from the internet and various readings. I owe a lot to the Dreamwidth volunteer community for whipping my ass through disability-friendly language (and website) design features, and axelrod for questioning the gender binary persistently and loudly and in my face. I also do not have formal training in poll creation, though this is mitigated by the many years I spent as a phone goon administering consumer research surveys to the general public as well as narrower audiences, and the various critiques of the surveys from the public and my fellow interviewers and my own critical skills. This survey has not been overseen by a review board of any type other than the concerned interest of select of my fellow fans in the drafting process. This survey attempts to be inclusive of people with disabilities, people who don't fit the gender binary, and people who engage the world and slash fandom through other means than reading text although a whole lot of slash fandom is text-based. (Please tell me if you think I've got something wrong, though if this gets spread around a lot, I may not have time to fix things, I may review your feedback and disagree, and since one can't edit polls I may not be able to entirely fix it, and it's bad practice to edit a survey instrument mid-survey anyway.) The purpose of this poll is curiosity, and to find out whether slash fandom is as straight as many people assume it is. Hello, non-slashy portions of my internet association! This is possibly not relevant to your interests, though you're welcome to poke at it if you feel like it.
For the purposes of this survey, Slash is defined as fandom-based romantic and/or erotic narratives (fanfiction, podfic, vid, static art) about or heavily involving male/male, female/female, and pairings that otherwise do not fit the heterosexual gender binary, although these narratives do not have to be explicit. Since many fandoms now have canonically non-heterosexual characters (not something that existed in the early K/S days), whether the character is heterosexual or of undefined sexuality in canon is of no consequence. You can count popslash/bandslash/RPS here if you want, though there's a big enough section of "celebrity fantasies" at Literotica and other places that makes it clear that there are people who read and write what I would call fannish slash and het that aren't engaged with the fannish community.
Since this survey is about your involvement, whether something is slash or not is up to you. If you are not the author, you can let authorial intent go hang: do you think this is a slash piece? Then it is. If you are the creator, do you see it as slashy? (Whether you intended it as slashy, or came to see that it was slashy after you created it.) (Also, if your adoring fans say something you created is slashy but you don't see it that way, you can merrily disregard that for the purposes of this survey.)
Works that contain LGBTQ characters and relationships (particularly as a background feature, but occasionally as the protagonist but doing things that are in no way related to their sexuality) are not necessarily slash unless you declare that they are so. (For example, fic about Dumbledore working up lesson plans is more likely to be classed as gen rather than slash; fic about Adam Lambert writing a song that mentions a boyfriend, entirely possibly also gen.) Go with however it reads to you when you're thinking about it. Nor does heterosexual-gender-binary romantic and erotic content disqualify something from being slashy, if you're noticing the slash.
Slash community involvement I am a fan of slash, whether or not I engage heavily in this fandom, and whether or not I read/watch/listen to same-sex romantic and erotic material that is outside of the slash paradigm. I read/watch/listen to slash at least occasionally (more than once, or if once, would not be opposed to trying it again), although I would hesitate to call myself a slash fan for one or more reasons. I read/watch/listen to same-sex and/or other non-het-gender-binary romantic and/or erotic narratives that are not slash, but do not expose myself to slash. (Including: I have never encountered slash / That must have been slash but I found it in context of non-fannish same-sex romance/erotica / I have met slash in the past but I would avoid it.) I avoid same-sex and other non-het-gender-binary romantic and/or erotic narratives, even if I do not object to (or skim over) same-sex and/or other non-het-gender-binary romantic and even erotic content in works that I am consuming for other reasons.
no subject
Disclosures: I am not personally an academic by trade, although there are probably going to be a lot of acafans and possibly even people outside the slash community coming to see this, if it gets bounced around a lot. I am setting the poll to display full results (that's the part that displays your username with your answers) only to me, and I'm not sharing that. (Since I get to see yours, it's only fair that you get to see mine: I will disclose my own responses in a footnote after the survey proper.) I do not have formal training in queer theory, gender theory, or the like, just what I've picked up from the internet and various readings. I owe a lot to the Dreamwidth volunteer community for whipping my ass through disability-friendly language (and website) design features, and
Gender categories:
(Primarily) Female (includes transgendered women)
(Primarily) Male (includes transgendered men)
Other/fluid (your binary gender paradigm cannot handle me!)
Decline to specify
For the purposes of this survey, Slash is defined as fandom-based romantic and/or erotic narratives (fanfiction, podfic, vid, static art) about or heavily involving male/male, female/female, and pairings that otherwise do not fit the heterosexual gender binary, although these narratives do not have to be explicit. Since many fandoms now have canonically non-heterosexual characters (not something that existed in the early K/S days), whether the character is heterosexual or of undefined sexuality in canon is of no consequence. You can count popslash/bandslash/RPS here if you want, though there's a big enough section of "celebrity fantasies" at Literotica and other places that makes it clear that there are people who read and write what I would call fannish slash and het that aren't engaged with the fannish community.
Since this survey is about your involvement, whether something is slash or not is up to you. If you are not the author, you can let authorial intent go hang: do you think this is a slash piece? Then it is. If you are the creator, do you see it as slashy? (Whether you intended it as slashy, or came to see that it was slashy after you created it.) (Also, if your adoring fans say something you created is slashy but you don't see it that way, you can merrily disregard that for the purposes of this survey.)
Works that contain LGBTQ characters and relationships (particularly as a background feature, but occasionally as the protagonist but doing things that are in no way related to their sexuality) are not necessarily slash unless you declare that they are so. (For example, fic about Dumbledore working up lesson plans is more likely to be classed as gen rather than slash; fic about Adam Lambert writing a song that mentions a boyfriend, entirely possibly also gen.) Go with however it reads to you when you're thinking about it. Nor does heterosexual-gender-binary romantic and erotic content disqualify something from being slashy, if you're noticing the slash.
Slash community involvement
I am a fan of slash, whether or not I engage heavily in this fandom, and whether or not I read/watch/listen to same-sex romantic and erotic material that is outside of the slash paradigm.
I read/watch/listen to slash at least occasionally (more than once, or if once, would not be opposed to trying it again), although I would hesitate to call myself a slash fan for one or more reasons.
I read/watch/listen to same-sex and/or other non-het-gender-binary romantic and/or erotic narratives that are not slash, but do not expose myself to slash. (Including: I have never encountered slash / That must have been slash but I found it in context of non-fannish same-sex romance/erotica / I have met slash in the past but I would avoid it.)
I avoid same-sex and other non-het-gender-binary romantic and/or erotic narratives, even if I do not object to (or skim over) same-sex and/or other non-het-gender-binary romantic and even erotic content in works that I am consuming for other reasons.