Lady Geek Girl & Friends’ Best of the Blog Saturdays

We’re still on hiatus until January 6^th. Happy New Year, everyone, and we’ll be back soon!

Sexualized Saturdays: A Genderqueer Take on Slash Fanfiction. Pan reflects on their experience with slash fanfiction.

As a genderqueer person I’m fairly certain that my own experience with slash fanfiction differs somewhat from the norm. Only recently have I begun reflecting on how formative both writing and reading fanfiction was at a time in my life when I felt isolated and frustrated by my own seemingly incongruous feelings. Knowing now that there are a surprising number of people for whom the gender binary doesn’t hold true, I like to think that for some small portion of the fan community fanfiction has been an important tool for self-discovery, as it was for me.

Sexualized Saturdays: Teen Wolf and the Turmoils of Male Puberty. Pisces talks about how the cis male werewolf experience is analogous to the cis male puberty experience.

Lycanthropy also serves as a metaphor for the inherent state of physical transition and transformation that is a defining part of puberty. For most able-bodied, non-chronically ill people, puberty is the first time we actively feel out of control of our bodies (potty training notwithstanding). The changes are sudden, violent, bizarre; simple changes in height are nothing compared to the fundamental, irreversible changes to the character and nature of our bodies that happen during puberty. It’s rooted in the same basis that makes all body horror so terrifying—the involuntary changing of and lack of control over the body.

In Brightest Day: Teen Wolf’s Erica Reyes and Chronic Illness

Hey all, today marks the beginning of Invisible Illness Awareness Week, and I wanted to draw attention to invisible, chronic illness in pop culture media, if indeed there was any representation. Since I am someone living with a chronic illness, this is very important to me. As you may know by now, Teen Wolf is a show that is near and dear to my heart (i.e. an obsession) and Season 2 introduced the character of Erica Reyes, an epileptic high school student who becomes a werewolf. Despite the fact that lycanthropy acted as a cure for her illness, she still helps paint a picture of some of the issues surrounding those with chronic illness. But how accurate was her portrayal? What was problematic and what was done well?