Buffy gets a mention on the sex map - BtVS

I'd think it's more than "possibly" NSFW. Also, it's stupid. IMHO.

someone has too much free time and photoshop

I think it's a telling comment on the (over?)sexualised aspects of our fandom, but that would just be me.

This seems a bit thin so may not stay but I have to wonder, where would you have to work for words to be considered "Not Safe", the frikkin' Vatican ?

(or do we also include the sort of thing you might not be able to view at work cos of filters etc. ?)

ETA: OK, given the orange postage it seems this is staying ;).

Must admit, I think it's quite entertaining. I mean, I consider myself a fairly broad-minded sort of fella but i'm at a bit of a loss to see the "play" aspects of toothpaste ;).

[ edited by Saje on 2008-10-24 23:31 ]

Saje | October 24, 14:26 CET

I think it's a telling comment on the (over?)sexualised aspects of our fandom

That's what I meant by "stupid".

@theonetruebix | October 24, 14:34 CET

Well it is part of us. Whedonesque is somewhat of an anomaly in that we don't really discuss slash, mpreg or adult fic that's set in Joss' shows. There's not that much mainstream media/entertainment blog coverage of it, and what there is tends to be "wacky fans make Buffy and Faith kiss". But it is a huge element of our fandom and right now. I would love to see a breakdown of the online fandom in terms of non fanfic/fanfic writers & readers.

Simon | October 24, 14:42 CET

I think it's a telling comment on the (over?)sexualised aspects of our fandom

It's a more telling comment about the Harry Potter fandom in that case, their dot's bigger.

Of course it's part of us and not a part we should be ashamed of IMO, doesn't seem to be hurting anyone. These "pursuits" are real, it's a huge landscape, slash fiction gets a mention and, presumably because it's popular, Buffy slash fiction gets a specific mention. It is what it is.

(i'm actually more bothered by it as a 'Star Trek' fan - not even a mention ? Bloody kids today ;)

Saje | October 24, 14:48 CET

I agree with Saje. Unless you could click on each section of the map and get photographic examples, I'm not sure how this is NSFW. Unless your work also bans all psychology journals.

witchlover | October 24, 15:43 CET

Hell, I was looking up guitar parts from my office a couple weeks ago, and tried to go to GuitarFetish.com, and found it blocked (but I can go to Musician's Friend, Stewart-MacDonald, etc.) As was the site where I was looking for a pair of wakizashis. I swear, people are so spineless these days I don't know how they manage to stand upright...

Rowan Hawthorn | October 24, 15:52 CET

I'm pretty sure a lot of workplaces would not appreciate a giant .gif with PENETRATION FETISH and ASS PLAY written on it splattered across employee's computer screens.

@theonetruebix | October 24, 16:09 CET

No, but, as with the "Guitar Fetish" site, context is everything.

Rowan Hawthorn | October 24, 16:15 CET

It's not complete. Where's TheKittenBoard-ville?

quantumac | October 24, 17:17 CET

Where is Buffy mentioned on this map? Am I missing something here?

electricspacegirl | October 24, 18:35 CET

Like the post says: "On the island of Slash Fiction you can find the town of Buffyville, close to the island of Vampire Erotica." (Although I notice now that's not actually what's on the map.)

@theonetruebix | October 24, 18:40 CET

NWS also includes terms and words that your employer might deem inappropriate.

BrownCoat_Tabz | October 24, 18:50 CET

b!X, I still think the headline is misleading. Bored now. Yeah bored even with a country called "Vaginal Fisting" staring me in the face. Yikes. And I don't think I even want to look up the word "felching" in the dictionary. Eek.

electricspacegirl | October 24, 18:55 CET

electricspacegirl (and anyone else) - Take my word for it, you absolutely do NOT want to look up the word "felching". I was unwittingly exposed to it's meaning a while back and believe me, there is nothing to be gained from the knowledge.

witchlover | October 24, 19:28 CET

Witchlover, you can't just say that and expect me to resist the temptation. Now I know what it means. I actually knew of the act but by another term.

Thanks, sex map! Now on to other, less disgusting thoughts.

electricspacegirl | October 24, 19:31 CET

As an employer, I henceforth deem "NSFW" as an inappropriate term in the workplace. Heh heh heh.

AlanD | October 24, 19:41 CET

I'm pretty sure a lot of workplaces would not appreciate a giant .gif with PENETRATION FETISH and ASS PLAY written on it splattered across employee's computer screens.

Yeah, my work computer faces the public/customers/whatcacallem. This would not be good to look at while at work.

Lioness | October 24, 19:44 CET

I edited it to correct the place name: Township of Buffy.

Suzie | October 24, 19:58 CET

I edited it to correct the place name: Township of Buffy.

Oops! My bad, I honestly could not see the small text before. I'm on vicodin due to dental surgery, and my attention span is all over the map (no pun intended, seriously). I just did not see the Whedon connection at all with this post; now I do. *sheepish grin*

[ edited by electricspacegirl on 2008-10-25 06:09 ]

electricspacegirl | October 24, 21:08 CET

I'm conflicted. Yes, I understand that it is a fantasy-land, and a joke. On the one hand, having separate territories where none of us have to deal with what we find disturbing or irritating or hateful would be nice, in some ways. On the other, I think integration and tolerance are ultimately much better than separation. Though we'd have to agree that there are unsubsumable categories, such as those lying over the unpassible on the map.

My thoughts are totally merging with my obsession with Balkan politics, that I have right now, and I'm not claiming a big on their validity.

dreamlogic | October 24, 21:19 CET

Its interesting, the eggshelliness, considering the blatant sexuality of the vast majority of Whedondom..

Consider: Inara, "Run on Batteries", "Spread beneath my Willow Tree", watch Spike's hand in the first 10 mins of "Wrecked", (Didn't Buffy actually get an FCC thingy), The basic premises in Alien: Resurrection, Darla and Angel, Angel and Buffy, Buffy and Riley had a whole episode of nothing but Sex, "The hammer is my penis", "When I think about the two of them doing a spell I want to go and do a spell all by myself" (Xander Harris).. etc, etc.

SPOILER ALERT:

You don't need slash fiction to get Buffy naked in bed with another woman, or Random hookups between a mother figure and her son (Hi Connor)

END SPOILER.

Still.. I wouldn't want it to denigrate into Penthouse Letters: "Dear penthouse, he *** then became an evil Vampire and killed my friends. I never thought it would happen to me"

I don't disagree with you any particular point (,Captain) but its an interesting Dichotomy.

Nightshot | October 24, 21:33 CET

Its interesting, the eggshelliness, considering the blatant sexuality of the vast majority of Whedondom.

There's a difference between work that's not afraid of sexuality, and fans of that work who turn it all into sexuality.

@theonetruebix | October 24, 22:33 CET

Yeah but as Simon mentions, do we actually know how many fans purely read/write sexual fanfic ? Cos I bet it's vanishingly small. And I also don't see why this map implies anything about the existence or prevalence of people like that.

Think 'felcher' featured as an insult in some comedy show years and years ago so that's old news to me. I couldn't resist looking up 'figging' though. Ow. I defy anyone not to pucker when they find out what that means ;).

Saje | October 24, 23:17 CET

There's a difference between work that's not afraid of sexuality, and fans of that work who turn it all into sexuality.

You say that as if it's a bad thing. *snort*

There's a large section of fans who via various mediums explore the erotic side of the Buffyverse and thats been going on since the show aired and I have to say so what? It's not exactly 'frightening the horses' eh? *G*

The Buffy/Angelverse has always been ripe for that kind of thing due to the erotic aspects in both shows, and a very popular side of fanfic/fanart it is too. :0

sueworld2003 | October 25, 00:24 CET

Now I see the issues that cats have with curiosity!

I just had to look up "felching" and sadly, I now also know about "snowballing" and "shrimping" - and sincerely wish I didn't! I think I need to increase my order of eye bleach again!

ETA: amnesia sex? WTF? If I forget about it, how would I even know that's my fetish?

[ edited by catalyst2 on 2008-10-25 09:34 ]

catalyst2 | October 25, 00:31 CET

You could leave yourself a Post-it.

Saje | October 25, 00:41 CET

Or go all Leonard Shelby and tattoo a reminder on your body.

Winther | October 25, 01:46 CET

The map contains abusive forms as if it were normal sex and therefore is sickening to me.

cleveland | October 25, 01:46 CET

Even though I am a self proclaimed ficcer who isn’t into elaborate fetishes, I might make a guess at the “amnesia sex” angle. Amnesia is used a lot as a plot device to bring two characters (or more) closer by getting rid of all that nasty ‘I know who you are and thus I would never touch you with a ten foot pole unless it was to stake you with it’. So, one or the other (and sometimes even both) forget their past prejudices (well-founded as they might be) and start fresh. Tabula Rasa if you well ;) During that time, I would assume that they get madly *cough* attracted to each other and have crazy amnesia sex – afterwards one or both would remember their past and either end up in utter angst or forge through it, recalling their happy amnesia filled time together in which they have seen the ‘real’ person (please, just go with it, its fun ;) and live happily ever after (or at least that’s where the story ends.)

Now, doesn't that make much more sense than having sex and then forgetting about it? Although, this is a plot-device all in its own, hmmm...

Mirage | October 25, 01:57 CET

You win again, Saje. I puckered.

NSFW? On the one hand, having weathered seven seasons of Sex and the City, the world really ought to be able to handle anything, and words are just words until used...

Yeah, ok, I can't remember the other hand anymore. I think the map is hilarious and great vocabulary fodder, but not anything I'm going to be using. Considering that I once downloaded a picture of a "shaved pussy" at work (It was a drawing of a shaven cat.) and used it to great effect getting a scream out of a collegue, I'm not all that worried, but I don't live in the US anyway. Mostly though, I'm just fascinated by the fact the Miriam Webster Online Dictionary wanted me to pay to look up these words while Wikipedia gave them up for free.

As for the fanfic, it doesn't really interest me. To each his own, I guess. (Then again, the Harry Potterville reference is tempting. It does make the mind wonder.)

[ edited by MysticSlug on 2008-10-25 11:27 ]

MysticSlug | October 25, 02:02 CET

Actually, "Bay of Unawareness" could be part of any number of fantasy maps, even non-"xual" ones.

electricspacegirl, witchlover, catalyst2 ; I hadn't really planned on looking it up, but I appreciate the warning. As a sophomore at uni I made the mistake of allowing one of my dorm mates to tell me what a socket job was and I still get unwanted images from it over 33 years later.

quatummac:It's probably one of the villages in the Township, closer to tha main road than Crimsonandcloverville. The map isn't to that scale :-).

Nightshot :I dunno, "spread beneath my willow tree" doesn't have to mean..."something." Heck, if I were a professional recording artist I'd probably still be fighting trying to convince my producer into doing a country version of it >snerk<.

DaddyCatALSO | October 25, 07:22 CET

OMG! There's clown fetish? That's just evil and wrong! Like clowns!

I write fic. Some of it is naughty. No clowns.

redeem147 | October 25, 08:00 CET

OMG! There's clown fetish? That's just evil and wrong! Like clowns!

Well, some people really like clowns. I knew a guy in my youth who grew up to be a clown pornographer. He dressed as a clown (worked as a clown wrestler in town), and filmed female clowns...being, well you know, pornographic.

It's very bizarre, but yeah, there's a fetish for everything. The weirder the better, I guess.

electricspacegirl | October 25, 08:37 CET

After looking at that, I learned that I am not nearly as non-judgmental as I thought I was. Yep, I'm pretty damn judgy. Also, I really hate fanfic with all of my being. I really wish folks could put their creativity into their own original stories rather than just coloring by numbers. Meh.

IrrationaliTV | October 25, 08:39 CET

Ouch, TamaraC, I won't take that personally - you don’t need to hate *wink*. It isn't like Joss himself encouraged fanfiction ;) all in good fun, not to mention it helps a lot of people in improving their writing&editing skills'. I personally know those who actually learned English in a fun way because of it. Also, I know a lot (one or two you might know) who have turned pro after it -maybe it helped them along the way.

Although, I do have to admit I've said many a times "to each his own" and do get a tad judgy from time to time on some people's fic notions. But, unless they corner me and force me to read it, I just avoid them and focus on the lovely reads that please me.

Mirage | October 25, 09:02 CET

There's some very badly written fan fiction. For that matter, there's some very badly written published original fiction. There's also some excellent fan fiction. I know professional writers who also write fic.

I remember the first time I heard about fan fiction (through Beauty and the Beast) and how excited I was that people were finding this outlet for their creativity. Most of my online friends (most of whom I also now know in person) are Buffy fanfiction writers. I'm proud to be one of them.

I was an English major, btw, if that means anything.

redeem147 | October 25, 09:13 CET

Didn't Joss once say, "If vampires couldn't get erections, we wouldn't have a show"?

Pandora Spox | October 25, 09:18 CET

Ok, Now I'm shocked. It had actually never occured to me that that might be a problem. Ithink you're right, Pandora.

Redeem147, absolutely. Also, some of that published original ficiton is considered "classic". I used a fanfick exercise to teach a combined manuscript/oral exercise for ESL students last spring. They got really creative and had a great time. And I'm thinking of doing something similar again this year.

Not so long ago, someone posted an interview with a professional fanfic writer. In the interview, the author said that fanfic was a great way to get kids reading, and she's right. Literature doesn't need to be good or original as long as it gets them reading/writing. Right now I've got two girls at school running around with 400+ page novels about teenage vampires (not my doing). Good for them.

MysticSlug | October 25, 09:55 CET

redeem147, I have a degree in English Lit (like a good many folk here), still can't bring myself to appreciate fan fiction. I'm glad others seem to enjoy and benefit from it since I don't think I can wave my magic wand and make it all go away (as much as I would dearly like to). Nothing personal to anyone, the whole concept just irks me. Always has.

IrrationaliTV | October 25, 14:48 CET

As said above luckily it doesn't irk Mr Whedon or my fandom would be all the poorer. :)

sueworld2003 | October 25, 17:21 CET

I think for me half of the Buffy fandom has always been the fanfiction. It's amazing what people beyond Joss, et al., can do with the characters (and by that I mean good *storylines*, development, character insights, continuations, etc., since I realize this could be read, well, other ways) and it's just another way to keep the stories alive.
As long as you find the right authors and stories for you, it can suck you in, and soon you'll be doing wacky things like trying to write novels and appreciating the difficulty of staying true with characterizations and wanting to major in English.

Then again, this might be because I dived into Buffy by reading the transcripts, never seeing an actual episode until after major exposure to the online fic-writing community and offering up my own 30-chapter fic (yes, it sucked, I was young and clueless about writing) but it gave me the start I needed to love writing and appreciate others' work in and out of the fandom.

Don't hate on it so much; I'm sure many passionate writers got their start with 'fanfic writing' whether fanfic.net existed or not. Besides the fact that there truly is a lot of bad fic out there (along with bad movies, bad TV, bad people), I really can't see it as something to, well, hate. :)

Jav | October 25, 18:38 CET

So the double entendres were in my mind, not Joss'? He would be truely appalled if he know what I was thinking? OMG If this is the case, then I am very sorry. However I do have a suggestion for Joss: For purity of mind, you might want to watch your casting.

cmbackshane | October 26, 18:40 CET

October 24 2008