[Poll] The Science of Slashiness

[thefourthvine]

Recently, cimness posted a graph of genius, comparing level of canon gay and quality of canon writing across several fandoms.

I, of course, immediately looked at it and thought: this calls for science. Because clearly what we need are definitive numbers for each of these values for many, many fandoms, so that they can be plotted on graphs. This will make me HAPPY. Possibly it will also make you happy - or perhaps you are just interested in increasing overall happiness in the universe! - in which case I direct you behind the cut.

ETA: lolitakun has provided us with some preliminary scientific results here. Go and behold!



A quick note on the selection of the fandoms: I picked ones I thought a lot of people would have opinions on. If I left something critical out, feel free to tell me in the comments.

A quick note on voting: When I say "slashy," I include femslash. Buffy/Faith, Gabrielle/Xena - these are pairings worth considering! Also, if you haven't seen an episode of the show, please don't vote on canon writing quality. (Ideally, you would have seen three! Or even more!) But if you think you can make a fair estimate of slashiness based on vids or YouTube pieces or transcripts, by all means, vote on that.

ETA: For quality, 1 = worse than anything you could find on fanfiction.net, even if you were funded by a grant solely for the purpose of finding the worst writing the world has ever known. 10 = genius unparalleled. For slashiness, 1 = straighter than a ruler. 10 = they could suck cocks or finger each other right there on the screen and it would only reduce the overall slashiness. Thanks for pointing out the ambiguity, lolaraincoat!

And now it's time for...SCIENCE.

[Poll #1352713]

Comments

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Well, but the poll couldn't have fifty fandoms in it. So I tried to limit it to just ones I thought a lot of people would have opinions about. And I don't see much discussion of Starsky and Hutch on my friends list, so I have no idea how many people would have seen it or even know enough about it to rate the slashiness of it.

(Although, for the record, having seen some vids - I would rate the slashiness very high indeed. It is not at all uncommon for Best Beloved and me to turn to each other, totally stunned, and say, "Did they just DANCE? Did they just weep in each other's arms? Were they about to KISS? And, oh my god, were they dressed up like COWBOYS?" when watching Starsky and Hutch vids.)

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

Did they just DANCE? Did they just weep in each other's arms? Were they about to KISS? And, oh my god, were they dressed up like COWBOYS?

For Best Beloved's edification - Yes, somewhat, yes, and yes.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I...kiss? Really?

And if they did cowboys, did they do the rest of the Village People, too?

Also: there will be an addendum to the poll. Starsky and Hutch will be in it. If there are other fandoms I have tragically overlooked, now is a good time to say so!

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

They have each other in an almost-kiss clinch in several eps - and the outtakes in one ep actually do show Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) lunging forward to kiss David Soul (Hutch) on the lips.

did they do the rest of the Village People, too?

Well, they are cops, Starsky did ride a motorcycle, they did go undercover with Huggy in a construction crew thing, and they went undercover as sailors. So the only one I don't think they covered was Indian Chief.

Seriously, if you're looking for canonical-but-not-quite slash, S&H is just miliseconds behind Xena.

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

Starsky and Hutch practically defined slash (after ST: TOS)