Ok, normally I'm a sensible person. I recognize the fact that slash and yaoi isn't what floats everyone's boat. I'd guestimate that 75% of the world would rather all homosexual folks went away.
I can handle that. Really.
But when people decide that they can't handle the fact that their characters are portrayed in situations that they didn't originally intend, and they get their panties in a twist AND they accuse one group of people (in this case hetero women) of being interested in (and producing) child pornogrophy just because they write stories expressing their opinions about something... That's where I start to have a problem.
Personally, I don't understand the HP yaoi fandom. I don't see it in the books, on screen I see vague hints (if you reach for it), but I prefer to keep my reading characters to the pairings the author has them in IN THE WORKS THEMSELVES. In other words, it looks like Ron and Hermione are going to start going out eventually. However, we all don't know because the book series isn't done being published!
*sighs* Slash is something that will always exist. It isn't what the author originally intended, but hey, the writers give you free publicity and they do works of fiction based off of your characters because they liked them. This means, as the author, your work is done! Let people enjoy the work! As long as they give you credit for it and don't make money off of it then who gives a shit!
As for disclaimers giving credit where credit is due, every page I've seen has one on the entry page itself AND at the beginning of the work. If they've done the header correctly on a fic, they have the pairing listed AND they've mentioned if it's explicit, moderate, or rated G for everyone.
And, for those parents that MIGHT read this, if your kids are surfing the net and clicking links, somewhere along the line they will be warned. If you don't trust your kids judgement, I suggest you take steps to make sure they won't ever have to use it. That way we can have more ignorant pig headed people in the world with no tolerance for anything/anyone different.
Parent's, first and foremost, you need to be PARENTS! If you don't think your kids are ready to find out what's there for them to see on the net (which is pretty much everything if the spam I get is any indication) use a watchdog program so your kids can't go to certain sites on the net. Limit their computer online usage time. Only let them online for research or to purchase presants. Be parents!
And as for it being hetero women that write all the slash out there, please. Yes, hetero women write a LOT of it. Yes, hetero women read it. But do you know what? MEN READ AND WRITE IT TOO! Though most of the men that read slash are most likely reading the yaoi anime slash and not the Harry Potter slash. People that are gay (that certainly doesn't qualify folks as hetero in my book- dunno about yours) read and write slash. Most of the folks who read or write it try to create situations where the improbable happens in a probible way. For those of us looking to one day be published as book authors our selves, this is a way for us to try out story ideas on a small scale using characters we wouldn't normally write to see how well it works and how well recieved it is.
Trust me, we all know that a 13-year old and a 30-something year old wouldn't be getting it on in a book and CERTAINLY not in a homosexual relationship... but personality type A might with personality type B. The age becomes a distant second and in the writer's mind, the age of the kid becomes something closer to that of the writer. The small diminutive stature of the younger individual in the relationship provides a... a natural submissive for the story so the writer doesn't have to work so hard.
With 2 13-14 year olds, it becomes a test to see if opposites attract, how probable the relationship would be for lasting, and who would end up being submissive to the other (if either). I would hope that no one would get aroused and jack off while reading it, but I know someone probably does. The fact that in some of the stories the characters have sex, well, people like seeing love. Even if it's all in their heads. The fact that it could happen between two (admittedly young) individuals and be a good, possitive thing in the story, well... if they want to write and people want to read it, I'll leave them to it. I have my favorites already and those favorites don't match up with this line.
J.K. Rowling has the right to ask people not to write ff for her works, however, stopping them through legal works and sheer distaste for the fandom... well... Let's just say I dissagree. If she wants people to stop, she can ask, but forcing people to stop writing is like asking someone to stop playing some song about sex for people who aren't sure what it is that don't want to go out playing around until they know what they'd be in for.
Stories that have lemons, sexual acts in graphic detail, are labeled with a warning (NC-17, Warning: sex, yaoi, lemon, lime (lime=not quite as graphic sex) boy1/boy2, boy1 + boy2, boy1xboy2, don't read unless you're over 18!!!) and the authors expect those to be adhered to. Some sites password such stories so unless you can prove your age, you can't read them.
But that just takes us back to the whole "parets safe guard your own kids!" thing.
But here's a side of the equation that I noticed the article left alone. The straight sites. Here's some news, EVERY fandom has the yay-gay side and the yay-straight side. If you attack one, you might as well attack the other. So if a fic pops up where Ron and Hermione, or Harry and Hermione, are getting it on in full view (as per the writing style), that's when you have to ask the question if you want your kids learning about hetero sex that early!
One isn't better or worse than the other, BUT I'm willing to bet that if the yay-straight sites out there out numbered the yay-gay sites, the furor over the fandom wouldn't be NEAR as pitched. Personally, I think that most of the world doesn't want to think about their darling kids learning about sex and ending up gay.
Lets put things this way, if the kids are gonna "decide" to be gay, chances are, they've been gay since day 1 and they're just now figuring out that they don't like girls the way little Tommy does, they like girls as friends and they like little boys the way little Tommy likes girls! Likewise, if your kids are gonna be straight, they aren't gonna like little Jake the way little Jake likes boys, they're gonna like GIRLS the way little Tommy likes girls. What the kids read isn't going to change their sexual identity.
So if you're gonna call slash and yaoi bad, evil bits of pornography, I suggest you take a look at a little something called HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVELS! And those are sold in the book store and you don't need an id. for those.
Conclusion, leave the slash/yaoi sites alone. They have warnings. Parents, do your duty as parents. Kids, if it says any of the following: NC-17, LEMON, LIME, SEX or character+character, character x character, character/character... DON'T READ IT! Ms. Rowling, for you, I suggest you get the rest of your stories written and published and sold in stores near the fans. Reading the books will take some wind out of their sails if you pair up your main characters with someone. They won't be able to write slash then unless they REALLY make an effort (or go into the realm of alternate realities aka. AU/AT). Oh, and since you want Harry and co. to experience the tradgedies of life (death, lies, the loss of friends, the gain of friends, the gain of family, etc.), I suggest you tackle the attraction some kids and adults have to the same sex. Half of my female friends have turned out to be gay, this makes 3 out of 12 people in my close circle of friends. Chances are, SOMEONE at a school as large as Hogwarts would be hot for someone and then you could use that particular situation to tell kids how to PROPERLY and POLITELY respond to someone when they hit on them.