Fantasising Masculinity in Buffyverse Slash Fiction: Sexuality, Violence, and the Vampire

No aspect of fan culture has received as much academic attention as the infamous genre of “slash”, a form of fan-generated erotic literature which centres on the relationship between two or more same-sex (usually male) characters appropriated from the realm of popular television. Scholarly criticism surrounding slash fandom has made significant inroads into explaining the persistence and popularity of this predominantly female-authored literary practice (Penley 1991, BaconSmith 1992). However, the enormously varied and changeable nature of these fictions (which surround a multitude of popular texts) has meant that much scholarly work still remains to be done on the subject. This article examines online fan authored slash fictions inspired by Joss Whedon’s cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and its spin-off Angel: The Series (1999-2004). My chief concern here is to examine the multivalent ways in which slash authors or ‘shippers’ (derived from the word ‘relationship’) articulate discourses of aggressive or violent (homo)sexualised masculinity in Buffyverse slash, and to