But before I go to bed...

[wickedwords]

Femslash is derived from "female slash," so is femmeslash...girly-girl slash?

Comments

this is totally not helpful or based on any actual information

[pentapus.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was just a cooler looking way to spell femslash. It makes me think of... hm, steampunk. Mmm, that thought makes me happy.

Re: this is totally not helpful or based on any actual information

[copracat]

Mmmm steampunk ladies. I like the way you think.

Re: this is totally not helpful or based on any actual information

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Interesting. And steampunk is always cool. :)

[copracat]

I never thought of that. I thought it was just a preferred spelling. You could be right, though.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

For some people, Femme can be fairly political, so I wasn't sure if it was a thing or not.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

LOL

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Yes. The protagonists have go shopping for pretty bows and have pillowfights (to misquote Seinfeld, I'm sure).

I hate "femme" as a prefix; it seems pretentious to me...

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Huh. I never looked at it from that angle. The pillowfights, though, I'd believe.

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

Isn't that pretty much the definition of a con room party?

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

Funny, I was wondering about the same thing a few months ago. No one seemed to have much of an idea how it became 'femme' rather than fem, other than the 'French version sounds better' one.

[frogspace.livejournal.com]

Well, it didn't became one or the other, both were pretty much there from the beginning (I think the femslash mailing list is a little bit older than the femmeslash mailing list, but not by much) and showed different preferences. I had the impression the femmeslash mailing list was more interested in anime and more "girly" source texts and femslash was more common in the m/m parts of fandom. If you google the terms, you get 223,000 hits on femslash and only 102,000 hits for femmeslash.

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I had never heard that explanation before. Being an experimental guy, I tried a few fandoms

Xena: fem 15K femme 681
Buffy: fem 57K femme 15K
Dragon Ball Z: fem 4K femme 1800
SGA: fem 11K femme 4800
Star Wars: fem 21K femme 16K

So far I haven't found one where femme beats out fem. Other suggestions of fandoms to check?

[frogspace.livejournal.com]

So far I haven't found one where femme beats out fem. Other suggestions of fandoms to check?

I don't know if there is a fandom where femme beats out fem, sorry. (However, the numbers for Xena don't count because the term for f/f in that fandom has always been alt. ;)

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. Okay, I am going to have to fix this in the new fanlore wiki. If Femslash is the dominate spelling, it should be filed under that header, with Femmeslash as an alternative choice.

[grey-bard.livejournal.com]

Personal taste, I guess?

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

It looks like a 2-to-1 split, with the preference to Femslash.

[frogspace.livejournal.com]

The "femme" connotations are why I can't stand the term femmeslash and never use it at all. For me it's femslash or f/f slash.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I keep stumbling over the connotations too. Most of the time, I can let it slide, but some days it's a real big 'hmmmm.'

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Girlslash, to be equivalent with boyslash. (Yes, I plan to CHANGE THE WORLD, bwahahahahaha.)

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

And you know what? Someday, I am sure you will. You have the drive and energy for it. I envy you that.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

*grin* Thanks. I have plans, you know? I really dislike that slash is seen as male by default, even if it is in the majority. In my personal usage I make slash the umbrella term and specify if I mean one or the other. And when I run challenges or tag my lj entries or comment on something, I use my categories. Perhaps it will spread.