Heated Rivalry, Part 2 -- Women and M/M Fanfiction

Fans of famous novels, movies, and TV shows have been writing "fanfiction" for decades, essentially creating their own new stories and plot variations using their favourite characters from them. However, because those characters are subject to copyright, fanfiction cannot be legally published for profit. In ye olden days, even free copies of fanfics had a limited audience because there was no easy or viable way to circulate or distribute them on a large scale.

But then the internet was invented.

Fanfiction EXPLODED.

Although men write fanfiction too, of course, the vast majority of it is written by women, particularly if the fanfic focuses on relationships (friendly, romantic, or sexual) between favourite characters. This is true even where the relationship is between two male characters. And so arose the phenomenon of M/M (male/male) fanfiction about characters who, in their original source material, are actually or ostensibly straight but in fanfics are recast as gay/bi.

Women fanfic authors have become extremely adept at writing gay male sexual romances. The ins-and-outs (so to speak) of gay male sex are no longer a mystery to anyone with access to porn videos. And women are as observant as anyone else. But what makes M/M fanfics more than "simply porn" is their equal and invested emphasis on exploring deep emotional issues and complex love stories between the characters. "The female gaze" is brought to bear on these characters and situations. Women have been socialized since birth to focus on the analysis and understanding of emotions and relationships. This has even been called a "critical survival skill" for us. In any event, women authors bring the full force of this ability to fanfiction.

Fictionalized M/M relationships are also attractive to women, I believe, because of the absence of gender issues between the two males involved. Gender issues between men and women are always and inevitably present in any heterosexual relationship. Many women like to explore what it would be like to relate to someone without those particular issues skewing intimacy and roles. M/M fanfiction offers that freedom to explore.

Heated Rivalry is very much in the M/M fanfiction tradition. It is absolutely rife with standard, favourite tropes of the genre, all of which have their own specialized terminology, references or abbreviations. One such trope is precisely . . . wait for it . . . The Hockey AU! (AU means "Alternate Universe"). And yes, I've personally read quite a few hockey AU fanfics involving Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes on skates, LOL.

Speaking of my Captain America/Winter Soldier fanfiction obsession, Heated Rivalry actually has its very own Steve/Bucky connection!

I'll tell you about it tomorrow in this post's Part 3 finale.