Slash

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Dean & Castiel
Sam and Dean in 1.21 Salvation
Screencap of Dean and Demon!John from 1.22 Devil's Trap
Jared and Jensen at the Chicago Con in 2007

The term slash refers to stories in which a gay relationship between two characters is portrayed, whether the sexual part of the relationship is explicitly described or not. Slash generally refers to male character; female characters together is usually called Fem Slash.

Possibly due to its emphasis in canon on emotions and relationships, Supernatural became one of the major slash fandoms from 2006 onwards. It also has a very high proportion of Gen fic, although much less Het. Fem Slash is very rare.

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Based on an analysis of over 35,000 stories fanfiction listed in the LJ Supernatural newsletter, approximately 58% of Supernatural fan fiction is Slash. Pairings between characters on the show make up 36% and RPF pairings 21% of stories written.

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For fic written up to late 2007, over 90% of slash was Wincest. By August 2009, this had dropped to 82%. In the seven month snapshot shown above, Wincest made up around 46% of fic with Dean/Castiel stories now comprising 47% . The remaining 7% was other slash pairings.

While proportions of the genres have shifted, absolute numbers of fics have increased as well – the growing popularity of Dean/Castiel has been additive rather than substitutive. As the line graph above shows, the rate at which Wincest and Gen fics are written remains steady. The snapshot period here had nearly 30% more fic being written per month than in early 2008.

Occasionally one or both of the brothers will be slashed with minor and/or recurring male characters; original male characters or characters from other fandoms, including characters that have been portrayed by either Jensen Ackles or Jared Padalecki in another tv-series or movie (e.g., Sam/Jake from Devour, Sam/Alec from Dark Angel, Dean/Dean from Gilmore Girls). (See also: Crossover).

Although the pairing had been utilized from the beginning, after the airing of 1.22 Devil's Trap on May 4th 2006 significantly more John/Dean fanworks appeared (possibly due to the chemistry between Dean and the possessed John). John/Sam is rarer. Both pairings often explore issues of authority and consent.

Slash fiction can cover any genre of fiction. There slash relationship may not be the focus of the story, in fact because of the intense relationship between characters like Sam and Dean on the show, these stories may be indistinguishable from Gen fic. In other cases the story may be all about the relationship. Some stories may contain no sex, or may have allusions to it, others are purely porn and are known as PWPs or porn without plots.

Some fans seek support from canon (or real life) that the slash relationship portrayed in fiction exists, while most are happy to use their stories to provide what canon doesn't.

See also: Wincest Dean/Castiel RPS Tin hats Ship Wars

and you can search through the Pairings category for other slash pairings

Supernatural Slash escapes fandom

Wincest got its first bit of official recognition at the Asylum fan convention in England in the Spring of 2007. When Jensen Ackles was asked what he thought of fan fiction, he replied:

"Some of those fan fictions have some very, very crazy ideas. And sometimes very...disturbing ideas. One of my favorites is, uh, Wincest...I-I only hope that my grandmother never reads those. Jared and I had a good laugh about that one. It was only brought to our attention because Kim Manners posted it. So um...that's that." Video of quote

When asked about Wincest and fanfiction at EyeCon April 2008, Jared proved diplomatic - and eloquent: "with fan fiction and RPGs, it's like what I was talking about earlier, that everyone's taking a part and they're not just watching it.. ..and they're really passionate about the show, and especially the fans of Supernatural it's great learning tool, and exploring tool to explore this world. So I'm supportive." Video of quote

Jim Beaver proves he knows about the porn!

At the same Con Jim Beaver wore a t-shirt that said "I read Bobby/John"

Misha Collins has mentioned Slash at a number of conventions - eg: at the Salute to Supernatural Vancouver 2009 where he said he'd heard about "Dean/Castiel/Pie fic" and at Collectormania London 2009 he said he had read some slash fanfic but "stopped at the part where Cas choked... on someone's cock" Source.

The episode 4.18 The Monster At The End Of This Book aired in which specific mention was made of Sam/Dean fanfic.

Dean: There's Sam Girls and Dean Girls and...what's a slash fan?
Sam: As in Sam slash Dean, together
Dean: Like together, together? They do know we are brothers right?
Sam: Doesn't seem to matter.
Dean: Well that's just sick!

There followed much discussion in fandom whether this exchange indicated the Show's support or condemnation of Wincest. It is certainly the first time on a TV show that incestuous gay porn has been mentioned by the characters about whom it is written.

In Season Five, the character of Becky Rosen is introduced. 5.01 Sympathy For The Devil She is a fan of the "supernatural" novels and runs a website called morethanbrothers.net. She is first seen writing a Wincest fic which can be read here.

In 5.09 The Real Ghostbusters at the Supernatural Convention, the MC announces that there will be a session on "The homoerotic subtext of Supernatural". The two fanboys featured in the epsiode Demian and Barnes, who are role playing as Sam and Dean at the convention, are revealed at the end of the episode to be lovers.

Perhaps because of the mentions in Canon, Wincest is mentioned more often in the media in association with the fandom than other Slash pairings or even fanfiction generally.

Brief Overview of the History of Slash Fiction

In general, fandom scholars agree (Jenkins, Brooker, Bacon-Smith) that slash was introduced with Kirk/Spock homoerotic fan fiction in the early to mid-70s in Star Trek fandom. The name "slash" fiction comes from the / between the names of the pairing in fan fiction, and was also presumably coined in Star Trek fiction. Even though initially timidly introduced and confronted with ideas of masculinity and heroism, "slash" gained a wider audience over the years.

Much has been said about why fans (the majority of them women) write slash fiction, and it always stands in relation to the concept of slash fiction itself.

Camilla Bacon-Smith understood slash fiction as a way of helping women deal with traumatic love relationships by utilizing a non-threatening, non-aggressive form of male sexuality as means of comfort. The notion that fans write slash as means of therapy and to write about their own hurt and their need for tenderness seems quite antiquated today, and has been challenged by fans and acafans alike for decades.

In the mid-80s some scholars, most notably Henry Jenkins, introduced the idea of slash fiction as a possible reaction to traditional mainstream pornography; that it was a form of fiction liberating itself from gender hierarchy and genderized images. This form of transgression is also often cited as one of the joys of writing slash fiction.

The transgression of gender in slash fanfiction has also raised question as to whether or not slashed characters should be considered gay, or rather have their own sexuality fluent between male and female characteristics.

Slash fiction is not widely considered to be conventional lesbian or gay fiction, as the characters portrayed rarely identify as homosexual or queer.

Jenkins was the first academic to define slash not as merely concerned with representations of sexuality: "Slash is not so much a genre about sex as it is a genre about the limitations of traditional masculinity and about reconfiguring male identity."Jenkins, Henry (1992), S. 191 Furthermore, the emphasis of sex is identified in its emotional quality.

Over the last 15 years, with the emerging and widespread use of the internet, increased visibility of and participation in fandom, as well as social changes, fans have become bolder in describing their enjoyment of slash. While older generations of slash writers prided themselves on belonging to a sub-culture, inventing a new form of pornography and transgressing gender lines (and being generally very conscious about all this), a new generation of writers has joined slash fandom. This new generation finds itself in a more slash-friendly environment, and seems understandably a bit more confident about writing erotic fiction, often claiming that they write slash mainly because it's a turn-on to see two men fuck.

Transgression and recontextualization (see Jenkins, 1992) still seem to play a part, but this new confidence (fueled by generally more acceptance of both female sexuality and lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered people in Western society) often reduces the feelings of shame authors and readers of slash fanfiction may have experienced in the past. Nowadays, slash seems to be a very public, very well-known chapter of fan involvement.

Small Bibliography and Suggested Further Reading (chronological)

  • Bacon-Smith, Camile (1991). Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1379-3.
  • Jenkins, Henry (1992). Textual Poachers. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-90572-9.
  • Lewis, Lisa A., ed. 1992a. The adoring audience. London: Routledge.
  • Penley, Constance (1997). NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America. New York: Verso. ISBN 0-86091-617-0.
  • Cicioni, Mirna (1998). "Male Pair Bonds and Female Desire in Fan Slash Writing." In C. Harris & A. Alexander (Eds.) Theorizing Fandom: Fans, Subculture and Identity. Cresskil, New Jersey: Hampton.
  • Harris, Cheryl, and Alison Alexander, ed. 1998. Theorizing fandom: Fans, subculture and identity. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
  • Busse, Kristina/Hellekson Karen. Fan Fiction and Community in the Age of Internet: New Essays. North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN-13: 978-00-7864-2640-9

Links of Interest

Articles on the Internet

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