If I am writing a paper on slash (which I am) and if I have written slash myself (which I have) and if I'm talking about acafandom and being aware of/sympathetic to the way in which fandom and slash writers have been discussed in previous scholarship (which I will be), should I make it clear that I've written slash?
I'm a bit torn. On the one hand I want to make it clear that I'm active in fandom and am aware of the way fandom has been treated previously, and so have taken steps to ensure that I am treating slash writers ethically and not making judgements or sweeping generalisations about them. In that respect I feel like I should position myself as having written slash (if not prolifically) as a justification (of sorts) for my metholodolgy. On the other, I don't know if coming out and saying I've written slash would affect me as a (future) academic. Henry Jenkins has said on his blog that he's written slash, but I don't know if he's ever talked about it in 'proper' academic work (book chapters, journal papers, etc.). Plus, Henry Jenkins is big in the academic world while I'm not. It might be easier for him to say he's written slash than it would be for someone just entering the field.
It's a toughie.
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