Why do we NEED F/F Fan Fiction ..... ?

I need clean air to breath, water and food to sustain life, a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in, a senses of security and a warm body to hold at night! But when all my more basic needs are met I know that I will seek to find the sense of belonging that is fundamental to my self esteme and my ability to grow and reach my full potential in life.

”Seek and You Shall Find" .... the woman of your life, a family to call yours, the friends who will stand up for you, the work mates who look for your contributions ..... a society who respects You for Who You Are, and not Whom You Love.

If You live in a None-Homophobic society you won't have to fight for the right to choose your Love or the way you want to live your life, but you may still be looking for that sense of belonging that I mentioned before. Why ... well even if society is None-Homophobic "Women who love Women" is still not mainstream. You still have to "out" yourself now and then.... "What does Your boyfriend do for a living? .... Well actually it's girlfriend and she .. " ... nothing major but still not quite the same as everybody else ?!

So this is where F/F Fan Fiction comes in handy! It's not like general fiction or TV drama features Lesbians in huge numbers. You have to look real close to find Lesbian characters and You'll have to look even closer for Lesbians living just ordinary mainstream lives ... one house, two kids, a car and a couple of jobs to juggle in between the facts of live ... health problems, 'difficult' mother-in-laws, successes and financial difficulties .... what ever makes life miserable, challenging and lovely just the same.

F/F Fan Fiction lend an air of "mainstreamness" to "Women Who Love Women". In F/F Fiction we get the troublesome coming outs, the mainstream life women lead together while they fight crime, juggle surgical gloves and major trauma cases or try to hold on to why they fell in love with the tiresome Lady who just refuse to see that she is in the wrong... again!

F/F Fan Fiction as LesFic are one of many ways to see that there are more of your kind "out there". That what you are looking for in life is possible, acceptable and as good, difficult and lovely as any other way of life. You are not alone and you belong with a part of society which might not be as visible on the streets, in TV or in fiction as other parts of society, but We Are There ... and You Shall Find us if you just look close enough.

What got me thinking about why F/F Fan Fiction might be popular was a blog on AfterEllen.com "Why smart lesbians read and write Fan Fiction"  and "Lesbian Shipping War: The fight for visibility vs The fight to be right" and if you want to explore Why Smart Women read Romance Novels on Huff Post.

To show you how some smart Lesbians make a dent in society with their writing even if it's just a small one I'll give you this link to a blog from Lesléa Newman. I can't say that I know her as an author, but I have come across the mention of her children's book "Heather has two Mommies". In the blog she tell's us how she just wanted to give a lesbian a fussy bedtime story to read to her daughter ..  I guess she did more than that...
 
I think that having more Lesbian characters on TV and in Fiction will over time make a difference to the feeling of belonging, but if not then at least it's enjoyable to watch and read so ....  I'll let you know that I came across a blog also on AfterEllen.com that stated that Val McDermid's "Trick of The Dark" has a Lesbian main character .... maybe I can convince someone to make this novel an early Christmas present ... I can try, You never know how far a sweet smile will get you ...

Sorry not much f/f fan fiction to read .... maybe I'll do better next time...