Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Shipping news: Slash (and femSlash) gets a moment in the sun thanks to AfterEllen and AfterElton


Hello lonely shippers (and those soon to be shippers), I’m sure you’re all still a little bit upset with what happened at EW.com but have no fear because I bring you good news. This week in the wonderful world of shipping we get our very own poll and we never ever have to go to the EW website again.


If you remember from the last installment of shipping news, slash shippers of the world were uniting against Entertainment Weekly because they failed included the slash ship Sterek (Stiles and Derek from Teen Wolf) in their “Couples we’re shipping like crazy” poll. They quickly learnt that hell hath no fury like a shipper scorned. While the whole event was upsetting it wasn’t all that shocking.  Shippers, and slash and femslash shippers in particular often get dismissed.

It sucks but the truth is we have a long way before the mass media starts to take shipping seriously, they still see us as silly little girls that can’t control their emotions and get too attached to fictional characters – OK maybe we are that sometimes, but we’re also intelligent fans with interesting analysis of television series. I have no doubt that one day our time will come shippers, but until then we will just have to take what we can get. 

Actually what we can get is better good, I already told you about the poll that EOnline did, which had a number non-canon, same sex pairings. It was even more awesome because the final was between a femslash and a slash couple… and the femslash couple won! The moment was awesome and slash shipper rejoiced. Basically everything was rainbows and nothing hurt, well everything except the ship wars that the poll incited. Can’t we all just get along! The answer is no of course, but honestly where would be the fun in that anyway. 

So, getting back to the point, I am excited to say that After Ellen and After Elton are each about to hold a competition which celebrates all things slash and femslash. Which means that you all get to voted exclusively on all your fav same sex pairings! Oh and to clarify they are defining Slash and Femslash as NON-CANON couples only. They can have subtext, we love the subtext, but they can’t have an acknowledged romantic relationship in their fictional world (forget your headcanon). 


Before you go getting all uppity because they are discriminating against all the amazing heterosexual ships out there close your mouth, put down the keyboard and think for a moment. For starters AfterEllen and AfterElton are concerned with LGBT representation in the media, so they, and their readers, are not going to be interested in the abundance of heterosexual couples out there for your shipping pleasure. Also think about ALL the best couple polls and lists that there have been since the Internet began, they happen all the time and the almost exclusively deal with heterosexual couples. Quick whining and learn to embrace the slash, or go and find one of the many best heterosexual couple polls that I’m sure are happening all over the internet right now.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the world of slash shipping (find an explanation of shipping here) why not come along and enjoy the ride anyway. You might find that you have been shipping slash without even knowing it.  Head over to After Ellen and After Elton right now because they are asking for nominations and you wouldn’t want your ship to miss out. The competition itself will open later in the week. 

I’ll try to keep you updated as to what’s happening as the competition progresses but I may be so distracted by voting for my own ships that I forget. 

That’s all for today, check back later in the week for more shipping news.Oh and feel free to tell us about which slash and femslash ships you will be voting for and why in the comments. You never know you might be able to recruit some voters.