Winchesters and Wokeness: Comments on Critical Theory – with sarcasm

The following was originally written as part of an introduction to a blog, but these paragraphs took on a sarcastic tone that was inconsistent with the rest of the post (and it was way too long), so I extracted this passage and present it here separately. The complete introduction also appeared on my Substack under the title: “On Fanfiction and Annoying Wokeness: What is your personal victimhood score?” which I hope you will visit and maybe subscribe. It’s totally free.

Currently, I have been fascinated with Supernatural (the TV show) and fanfiction written about it. I even wrote some of my own fanfiction. I wanted to get beyond the usual romantic affair of Dean and Castiel falling in love and having sex that most “Destiel” (Dean/Cas homoerotic slash fiction) seems to be about. For instance, my fanfiction has Jesus in it. I’m not saying it’s great, but I wanted to do something a little more literary (and the historical Jesus has been one of my longtime interests), so it made sense for Jesus to make an appearance in a world already populated with monsters, angels, demons, a god who writes his own fanfiction about the Winchester brothers, his sister, a Nephilim child, and the four archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Lucifer.

It was, however, woke female writers of Destiel fanfiction that dragged me into critical theory. I remember this stuff from graduate school but was surprised to find it in fanfiction. I had not realized how far outside of the university it had spread in recent years. I remember how much I disliked it then and find it even more insidious now. It may have seemed respectable in the past, but now it just feels exploitive and manipulative. Its jargon ladened, double-speak vocabulary and opportunistic claims to “Social Justice” I think have misled and corrupted many young people who are well-meaning and want to do the right thing. This wokeness has made them meanspirited, intellectually ill-equipped, emotionally volatile, ungrateful, glib, sanctimonious, facile, and easily exploited by academic and political militants. Their universities and professors didn’t really do them any favors. They were cheated out of a good education. I will be “canceled” for this, but it doesn’t matter, if I wasn’t good enough for the academy before, I’m surely not good enough for them now either.

Here are my sarcastic comments on Critical Theory.

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I want to start with an example of Woke media criticism of the show and its main protagonists, the Winchester brothers. This criticism comes from a female, “queer,” person of color, who is a fan of the show and the “problematic” nature of the show she discusses. However, I will have to hide her name. The current nature of woke “call-out” and “cancel” culture could easily get me hit with a “hate speech” charge for criticizing someone from a marginalized group. Woke ethics currently demands that unflattering speech be considered hate, and hate speech is seen as a form of violence that is harmful and dangerous to minorities. Certain words and ideas constitute physical, psychological, and emotional threats to minority persons and compromise their safety. My words might endanger this person or put her life at stake. Words are violence; hurting someone psychologically or emotionally is the same as violence. I will keep her anonymous to protect her from my words.

New Genders and Fragile Identities: Reassessing My Experience with “Women” FanFiction Writers

In the title of this post, I put the word “women” in quotation marks because many younger female persons no longer identify as women anymore. Woman no longer exists as a designation for someone with an adult female body. For many young gender activists, woman is no longer a biological fact but rather exists only as a subjective identity. Many younger females (as assigned at birth) today now identify as queer, trans, and non-binary, non-gender conforming, and have rejected the label of woman. In the past, these young women would probably have been more likely to identify as lesbians (women who are sexually attracted to other women). This seems particularly prevalent for females under the age of thirty. Among males, these identifications are less pronounced, but many younger males are identifying as queer, trans, and non-binary, non-gender conforming instead of as gay men.

When identifying their sexuality, most of these “women” are probably heterosexual but prefer to label themselves as pansexual, bisexual, demisexual, and so forth. The term “heterosexual,” like the term “women,” they consider limiting and oppressive to them.

These shifting patterns of identification raise two significant issues in my mind: first that ideas and concepts about sexuality and gender have shifted and been redefined, and second, this is a generational shift. Concepts of sex and gender are no longer shared between older and younger people.

For people who have not been following my blog posts, a few months back, I was developing a project to read Destiel fanfiction written by gay men based on the paranormal TV show Supernatural that aired on the CW network from 2005-2020. My intent was to compare how women and gay men approached their fanfiction differently, and how being gay influenced men’s writing. The world of fanfiction, especially Destiel (Dean/Castiel) is overwhelmingly female, although some gay men also write Destiel. When I approached some Facebook groups dedicated to Destiel fanfiction and asked some questions, I got a lot of push back, including accusations that I was a misogynist and a transphobic bigot when I asked about women and gay men writing Destiel fanfiction. I didn’t understand this reaction.

And Cas Loved Dean: Gay Men Writing Supernatural Fanfiction

It’s strange sometimes, being a gay male listening in on women talking and writing about gay men, like some kind of voyeur. I often sigh and mutter to myself: “oh, if gay men really were like that.” Yeah, gay men have romantic fantasies too, but the reality of gay dating rarely resembles the scenarios that play out in women’s m/m romance fictions. So, when I read the Destiel romances that ladies spin out, I sometimes get caught up in the fantasy too.

When I first stumbled into Destiel fanfiction (Dean/Castiel slash fiction) I didn’t realize that the vast majority of fanfiction writers in this “ship” were women. “Ship” is short for “relationship,” and “shippers” are fans that enjoy reading and writing about a certain romantic pairing (usually between two men) regardless of whether this pairing appears as an actual couple in the “canonical” work in which these characters appear. In the case of Dean/Castiel, from the TV show Supernatural airing on the CW (2005-2020) the writers of the show “queer baited” Dean/Castiel for several seasons and ended the show’s run with the two of them stopping just short of becoming an acknowledged gay/bi couple.

This whole “shipping” fan culture grew out of what was known as “slash” fanfiction, the name “slash” references the (/) between the two names of a usually homoerotic pairing. The original slash pairing being Kirk/Spock, and is the underlying source of contemporary m/m romance (male/male slash), which is written primarily by women (mostly straight women, but not entirely) and for a female audience. While some gay men write m/m romance, they are a small minority compared to the number of women writers.

In reading women’s Dean/Castiel romantic slash, I’ve noticed a lot of their stories tend to place these characters in locations and plotlines that are way out of character than how they are presented on the TV show from which these characters are adapted. Often Castiel and Dean’s (and his brother Sam’s) occupations, living arrangements, and on occasion, even gender (particularly in A/B/O stories set in the OmegaVerse) are considerably altered. Women writers often place Sam, Dean, and Cas into a kind of Hallmark world where they play out their romances. Which is ok; it’s romance after all. It’s amusing to read about Dean, Cas, and Sam as chefs and poets, rock stars and police officers, marine biologists, mechanics, lawyers, academics, and businessmen. Dean and Cas (and occasionally Sam) get pregnant and bear children (it’s called an MPreg), while watching them navigate professional restaurant kitchens, college campuses, corporate offices, and church marriages, all the while residing in idyllic small towns, penthouse suites, vacations paradises, remote romantic cabins, and cozy homes with white picket fences.

I love Dean and Castiel together too, and reading all these variations on Destiel writing by women, made me wonder, how do gay men reimagine Dean and Cas in their gay male romantic fantasies? How do they handle Dean/Castiel in a manner that might be different than women? How might a gay man’s perspective inform how they might handle an m/m romance?

Romancing Destiel: Women Writing Gay Supernatural Fanfiction

I’ve been reading Supernatural fanfiction for a while now. When I first started, I didn’t know anything about fanfiction and the people who write it. I started by looking at m/m (male/male) romance and eventually found my way to Destiel slash (Dean/Castiel). I love Dean and Cas as a gay/bi couple especially because the TV show on which this pairing is based got so close to making them a canonical couple, stopping just short, and leaving the rest to the fan’s imagination at the ending of the show’s 15-year run. I hated and felt traumatized by the show’s finale (I wrote about that in a different post), and made my own ongoing attempts to write my version of the end of the show.

In investigating m/m romances and slash fiction, I discovered that it’s mostly written by women, not gay men. Some gay men write m/m romance, but the field is completely dominated by women writers, both the formally published m/m romance and unofficial slash fanfiction, including Destiel fanfiction. I discovered that the closely related genres of m/m romance and slash fanfiction were essentially created by women writers for women audiences. Gay men had very little to do with them. In fact, gay men produced a separate genre of fiction all their own that had little to do with what women were writing. Gay male fiction has a long tradition in its own right and grows out of literary fiction. Whereas, m/m romance grew out of slash fanfiction and has become a full-fledged sub-genre of traditional romance with all of its tropes. It’s important to make a distinction between m/m romance and gay male fiction. Failure to do so will lead to a lot of confusion on the part of readers, and anger and resentment between women and gay men over who has the right to speak and write on behalf of gay men.

The dominance of women in reading and writing m/m fanfiction is demonstrated in the Fansplaining Shipping Survey (conducted in April 2019) that focused primarily on m/m slash fans. Of the respondents, 72% identified themselves as female, whereas only 9% identified as male and another 9% as transgender. Respondents were allowed to select multiple categories, of those categories, 21% identified themselves as non-binary/genderqueer and only 20% identified as cisgender. It seems reasonable to conclude from these numbers that the vast majority of m/m slash fans are women, and of those women, they are generally evenly divided between women who identify as cisgender and those who identify as non-binary/genderqueer.

When it comes to sexuality (presuming that the vast majority of respondents are women) 43% identify as Bi/pan and 24% as queer. Only 13% identified as gay (I’m presuming that most of the men in the survey will probably fall into this category). Like with gender, respondents were allowed to select from multiple categories. Of the remainder, 19% identified themselves as straight and interesting 29% identified as asexual. What is most notable here is that of the women who make up so much of the m/m slash fanbase, the majority of them don’t identify as heterosexual and a sizeable minority identify as asexual. Women who do not identify themselves with traditional gender classifications make up a substantial portion of the m/m fanbase.

Supernatural FanFiction by Gay and Bi Male Writers

Click here for a list of Gay and Bi male writers of Supernatural fanfiction. As far as I’m able to tell, all these writers are men, and they mostly write Destiel (Dean/Castiel slash). Continue reading for the story of how this list came about.

This project started as a well-intentioned attempt to compile a list gay/bi male authors who write gay-themed Supernatural fanfiction to read, based on the CW’s popular long-running paranormal drama, especially Destiel fanfiction. Unexpectantly, making a list, encountered a lot of resistance, not only from gay men themselves, but particularly from female Destiel fanfiction writers. I seemed to have ran afoul of political correctness and offended many people’s Woke sensibilities. I eventually had to abandon much of my project. Most of the push back came from women.

Since most writers of fanfiction write under pseudonyms, it’s impossible to identify their gender. I was specifically looking for male writers, and so I had to ask readers and writers (mostly women) of Destiel fanfiction if they knew of any gay or bi male writers (who were open about their gender) so I could make a list and go read some of them. That was a big mistake.

Many women accused me of misogyny for wanting to recognize gay/bi male writers separate from women writers. Others accused me of being transphobic for only asking about gay/bi men. Others accused me of trying to out gay/bi men. I didn’t comprehend the level of suspicion in the fanfiction community, so I didn’t know to be on the lookout for it. Many were just offended for me noting that Supernatural fanfiction as a genre of writing that is dominated by women, which it is, but they were upset at me saying so.

[FYI: Scroll to the post script below for a link to my side of the story.]

During the final season of Supernatural, I had been reading fanfiction based on the show, mostly Destiel, that pairs Dean Winchester and the angel Castiel as a gay/bi couple. Most of the fanfiction was written by women, so, as a gay male myself, I started to wonder, what kind of fanfiction were gay and bisexual men writing, and how their stories might be different from what women were writing?

I went into some fanfiction groups on Facebook and asked for nominations of gay/bi writers, and received several suggestions. I tried to ask for permission from each of the writers I could find contact information for, and if they would like to contribute a statement about themselves to accompany their entry on the list. Only two positively responded. Their statements can be read below. Some never responded, some I wasn’t able to contact, and some of the male writers didn’t want to be part of my project. I make an honest attempt to get their approval.

[FYI: I finally got tired of dealing with people’s shit. Click here for the complete “unauthorized” list.]

Finding Some Consolation After the Ending of Supernatural

I think this should be my last blog on the subject. I’m starting to feel calm again, regaining my composure after an emotional week following the series finale. Finding some consolation.

I have been reflecting, reading comments on fan sites, following the controversy about censorship and silencing. I’m not going to ascribe ill motives to the CW network, or argue that the principle stars of Supernatural: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins are being manipulated and gagged with NDAs, and so forth. I’m sure Jared, Jensen and Misha are having conflicted and mixed emotions about the finale of the show. The show was a big part of their lives for a long time, and many of the fans are not happy with how the show ended.

We will see over time how things work out, and if there were any ill intent or manipulations, those will eventually come to light. The stars will eventually speak to the fans on social media and at conventions and share their feelings.

For me, I’m trying to wrap my mind around what happened with Supernatural’s finale and get a sense of closure, so I can happily go back to being a Destiel shipper without any angry feeling toward the show and those who made it. And maybe look forward to a reboot or reunion where that awful ending can be revisited.

As you know from my previous post, I wanted Dean to Live and Love Castiel, but that’s not the ending we got. So I have been thinking, why did we get the ending we got? What were the consequences of ending that way?

I Want Dean to Live and Love Castiel: Another Supernatural Blog

I’m still not done grieving the loss of Dean and Cas. The CW aired it series finale of its long running paranormal show Supernatural last week (Nov. 19, 2020) leaving me an emotional wreck and in grief and morning for Dean and Castiel. Cas was lost to the Empty in episode 15×18, and Dean was killed in a hunting accident in the final episode 15×20.

This is the fourth blog I have posted on this subject. The ending of the show hit me really hard. And the way in which the show concluded its story seemed wrong to me.

Here are the previous three posts for anyone who wants to review:

• Supernatural is Ending (2020) (written before the show concluded but with post-finale update)
• Supernatural’s Terrible Ending (2020): Responding with Storytelling: Write Your Own Ending
• Supernatural “told the story it wanted to be true” (2020): One Last Supernatural Blog

In that third post, I was trying to convince myself that the ending was proper because it was Sam’s ending, and Jared, who played Sam had embraced that ending. But, I really didn’t care about Sam’s ending. The ending we got for Sam was pitiful and inadequate. He got married, had a son who he named Dean, and grew old and died, and was reunited with Dean in heaven all in a span of about one to two minute of air time. Whatever Sam was supposed to accomplish in his life didn’t seem particularly monumental. This ending even shortchanged Sam.

The ending I wanted was for Dean and Castiel to live and love each other here today, in this world (not some vague sketchy heaven) that I as a fan don’t have any imaginary access to. I argued in the second post that fans of Supernatural needed to engage in fanfiction to redeem this terrible ending and bring Dean and Cas back to life and in love in their stories.

Supernatural “told the story it wanted to be true”: One Last Supernatural Blog

I have been going through a grieving process here with the final episode and series finale of the CW’s long-running paranormal drama Supernatural that concluded its 15^th and final season. I had a hard time accepting the ending of the last show broadcast on November 19, 2020. The conclusion put me into a state of anguish and sadness that is now only beginning to lift four days later. My stomach is finally starting to unknot and maybe today I will be able to eat something after a three day fast.

Hopefully, this will be my last blog on the subject of the ending of Supernatural. Read my previous blog: Supernatural’s Terrible Ending for the context for this one. This blog is for the second of that trio of stars of the show Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins. I neglected Jared in my previous blog, but I will have to credit him with helping to lift my grief after watching Jared’s online panel (11/22/2020) of him discussing Supernatural’s ending. He helped me see that Supernatural was ultimately Sam Winchester’s story, and this was the right ending for Sam.

Supernatural’s Terrible Ending: Responding with Storytelling: Write Your Own Ending

The CW’s long time running popular paranormal show Supernatural (2005-2020) has concluded with its final 15^th season. The show followed the struggles of two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester following their family business of hunting things and killed monsters such as vampires, werewolves and other evil creatures that lurk in the darkness from supernatural lore from around the world.

As their story develops, the brothers are also destined to play a role in the Christian apocalypse as the “vessels” for the final battle between the archangels Michael and Lucifer, roles that they resist playing as they fight to prevent the apocalypse. As the story develops new antagonists and allies are introduced including angles, demons, prophets, witches, and finally reveals the true villain and archenemy is God himself who has become disenchanted with the world he created. He is first shown as a hack writer of paranormal novels where he plays with the lives of the Winchester brothers, and finally develops to a dissatisfied deity that wants to end the creation and start over, destroying all of humanity with it.

The plot takes lots of twists and turns through alternative realities, rival hunter groups, the discovery of the Man of Letter bunker, the revelation that God has a sister, the brothers get their dead mother returned to them, and a Nephilim is born. In the end, the brothers find a way defeat God and save the world, and gain the freedom to live their own lives. And then we get that horrible last episode that dishonors all that lead up to that moment. The writers kill off Dean in a hunting accident and have a short montage of Sam living his life and growing old and dying so they can be reunited in heaven.