and addition to what is and is not gen

[jmtorres]

I am really confused at how a story that is about several times Dean thought he was in love with girls he was fucking--I am really confused about how the author decided that was gen.

Comments

[tazlet]

Was he...uh...actively f'ing them in the story? If so, no Gen. Bad Writer. No praise.

[jmtorres]

I think it was PG-13ish? But the structure of the entire fic was:

Girlfriend. Reasons why Dean likes her. What caused Dean to break up with her. Next.

[tammylee]

The genfic I write rarely has anything to do with sex but... definitions in fandom tend to slide all over the place.

[jmtorres]

But the entire story was about Dean's relationships. Why he likes each woman, why he broke up with her. Like, it wasn't the dressing on a demon-hunting plot, no, it was a story about Dean's love life.

[tammylee]

I have noticed some people define 'gen' as 'not containing explicit sex'. I define 'gen' as 'the story does not centre around a romantic storyline'.

I understand where you're coming from.

[flourish]

Perhaps they have only seen 'gen' as contrasted to 'existing ships with large followings' like Wincest and Dean/Castiel? It's still wrong but it might be out of ignorance, not malice.

[jmtorres]

Maybe? But, buh?

[rydra_wong]

There are certain older fannish circles where "gen" used to mean "everything that is not slash or NC-17 het". However, I'm surprised to find that in a recent fandom like SPN.

There are also some people who feel that "gen" does (or should) encompass stories which are primarily gen but have minor references to sexual relationships. But in this case, it sounds as if the relationships were the point of the fic, so ... I have no clue.

[jmtorres]

On the plus side, this author doesn't classify everything with mild subtext as slash? But still. I would expect a story in which Dean is fucking Cas and wrangling with whether or not he loves him to be classed as slash. Like, that ain't subtext. So how on earth is the same story with Dean and five women gen?

[flourish]

Well, I mean, 'gen' does encompass stories which have minor references to sexual relationships - at least, to canonical relationships. I mean, if I write a gen fic about Mulder and Scully's kid, it will probably also reference the fact that hey! They had sex! Because otherwise how would the kid be there? They might even hold hands or something! But that doesn't necessarily mean I'd think of it as MSR, yknow. Actually, pretty much all kidfic is complicated like this, even fic that's about canonical kids. Because it often obligates you to treat the parents' relationship somehow, even if only by signalling that they're happy together in a subtle way, which can make some people feel like the fic's not gen...

Anyway. But of course yes to the "relationships the point of the fic" thing.

[medie]

Possibly they thought that if they focused on Dean, more so than "Dean and X" then it was Gen. I've seen some people make that definition before.