A month or so ago I learned about the existence of Obama slash; fan fiction stories devoted to the apocryphal gay sex life of our current President. There’s apparently a fair bit of it, with numerous pairings — Obama/Biden and Obama/Rahm Emanuel being two of the most popular.
I was intrigued because…well, it’s so wrong, isn’t it? It seemed like the sort of thing that *somebody* should want to pay me to write about. Sure enough, the good folks at Bitch magazine expressed interest. So I hunkered down to read me some Obama slash.
There was only one problem. What was that problem you ask? Well, here’s the semi-contrite, semi-agonized email I wrote to my esteemed Bitch editor Andi Zeisler:
Hey Andi. So I started reading some Obama slash…and I think I’m going to have to bow out. I kind of can’t take it. It’s really viscerally upsetting. Obama/Rahm is horrible enough, but there’s Barack/Michelle which I actually can’t even bear to look at, and god, Obama/Hillary Clinton. Argh.
Sorry; I didn’t quite realize I was going to find it quite so unpleasant. I’ve read other slash before, and found it entertaining, but there’s something about the real people…it’s just not worth the psychic trauma, I’m afraid.
So there you go. I’m just not enough of a man for Obama slash, basically.
Did I mention that I think Hillary Clinton is the person in the world that I *least* want to imagine having sex? *shudder*
Anyway, if you’re made of sterner stuff, below are some links to Obama slash communities:
At first I was tempted to call you a pansy, but then I saw the links and realized that I lacked the courage to follow them, at least on an empty stomach.
On the other hand, the abyss beckons…
Well … I guess. I checked out those links, and the few bits of prose I found were pretty tame.
The ratings vary from story to story. There’s some quite explicit stuff, never fear.
But obviously it isn’t the explicitness that’s the problem. It’s having to contemplate Joe Biden and…just never mind. I don’t even want to talk about it.
http://larrysinclair.org/
No, I didn’t see any Obama/Sinclair slash…the pictures of Sinclair online look kind of doughy and his online commentary seems fairly rabid… I just doubt he’d have a lot of appeal for the slash community.
You know, I’ve always had this precise reaction to fanfic slash about real people (or RPS, as the community calls it). It makes me queasy in a way that nastier stories about fictional people don’t.
There’s a long history of fighting about RPS and general real-person fic in the fanfiction community every so often, and it’s kind of interesting to observe the way ficcers who deal with fictional canons often are unwilling to even share the same forums with real person writers.
Whoops! Didn’t know I’d stumbled on an internecine conflict! I should make it clear…I don’t have any aesthetic or philosophical objection to real person slash. I don’t wish its practitioners ill. My reaction is entirely visceral. I just can’t take it.
Alicia, if you’re around — what are the ficcers’ objections to the real-people stuff? Do they think it’s unfair to the people involved, or do they think it’s an aesthetic cheat?
Noah — “Visceral.” I’ve got to start using that word. My objections to manga and Ralph G. Peter are visceral.