User:CMO-Bashir/Kirk/Spock

Academic interest
As one of the earliest "fandom" subcultures to emerge, Star Trek and K/S have attracted the attention of academics, particularly those of slash fiction. Henry Jenkins argued that "fandom" subculture, including fan writing, allows underrepresented groups to express their own interests and anxieties via a dominant cultural phenomenon. In this process, fan writings rewrite the original media by expanding on, emphasizing, and filtering the content to various extents. Jenkins claims that the way K/S reappropriates the Star Trek narrative and characters to the fan’s own interpretation is thus done by all fan writings, not just K/S.

Many academics have suggested that K/S slash fiction is not about homosexuality or sex at all. Joanna Russ argued that the women who wrote K/S slash fiction were exploring a want for an idealized relationship where both partners were truly equal, unbound by gender norms. This kind of relationship was difficult to imagine in a heterosexual relationship, and thus K/S was born. Lamb and Veith similarly claimed that an equal relationship was challenging to write into a heterosexual model, and K/S united masculine and feminine traits of both characters to create an “androgynous” combination. Then K/S slash fiction is about transcending gendered norms and relationships. Falzone has suggested that K/S “queers” the original Star Trek narrative, which serves to liberate one from traditional beliefs and, specifically with regards to Star Trek, better imagine the prejudice-free utopia that was envisioned in Star Trek: The Original Series. It also enables fans to push back against corporate media’s control of accepted narratives in the Star Trek universe.

On the other hand, some academics have argued for other reasons why K/S slash fiction is written. Camille Bacon-Smith speculates that K/S is a way for women to "openly discuss sexuality in a non-judgmental manner." Kirk and Spock's depiction in K/S zines has been described as "two equal individuals who complement each other", and a key theme has been that they can continue working and still be a couple, their relationship enhancing their ability to perform competently in their jobs. A fan has said of the pairing: "K/S has it all: friendship, relationship drama that gets resolved, enormous expressions of devotion through sacrifice, trust and commitment over a period of decades. It's really hard to find another fictional couple that did all that and did it as well." Bacon-Smith also speculated that as Kirk and Spock portray stereotypically feminine traits in K/S slash fiction, this allowed the predominantly female writers and readers of slash fiction to explore their own sexual fantasies. Constance Penley argued the women who write K/S slash fiction become “popular scientists” by taking figures from mass media (Kirk and Spock) to create their own productions from a marginalized position relative to patriarchal society and corporate media norms. Reasons why heterosexual women may write male homosexual slash fiction include: identifying oneself with the hero due to the original’s focus on a hero rather than a heroine, giving men emotional responsibility by rewriting male characters, or to reorder typical sexual norms, through which the female writer could reconceive their own sexual role.

K/S could also serve as a kind of “Mary Sue” that implied the writers’ wish to include homosexuality where it had been neglected in the source material. Although there is no consensus on how homosexuality is depicted in Star Trek, Woledge suggests that as K/S stories draw on many particular events from the canon of Star Trek, the text itself is homoerotic.

Star Trek and K/S are also important to the study of vidding. In 1975, Kandy Fong presented a slideshow at the Equicon/Filmcon convention composed of Star Trek cut scenes, still images, audio snippets, and music. This presentation is often regarded as the first fan vid that began vidding subculture. With Gene Roddenberry’s support, Fong produced several hours’ worth of shows, some of which were filmed and had cleaner audio added to them in an early example of vidding. Fong had been inspired to make these presentations based on promotional videos by the Beatles. Vidding has been used in K/S subculture by using clips from the episodes overlaid with other spoken or sung audio, such as in Fong’s “Both Sides Now” from 1980, which explores the contrast and ambiguity between Spock's inner and outer voices to suggest Spock may be bisexual.

Common plot devices
Placing Kirk and Spock in the Star Trek setting can be both beneficial and limiting for K/S authors. Setting the characters there provides familiarity for the audience and minimizes worldbuilding for the author. However, a potential difficulty is providing an explanation for why the story does not focus on the mission, in order to focus on the relationship between the two men.

Pon farr, a physiological response introduced in "Amok Time" that impelled Vulcans to "have sex or die", is a device used in some stories such as "The Ring of Soshern", a pre-1976 fan fiction where Kirk and Spock are marooned on an uncharted planet. However, other writers suggest that it is biologically impossible for a male to consummate pon farr with another male. Furthermore, in the Original Series, it is clearly stated that Vulcans are legally bound to their mate in childhood. They may neglect the relationship in future years but pon farr compels them to consummate the marriage at the appropriate time. Vulcans must mate or die trying. However, in "Amok Time", Spock engages in the kal-if-fee, a Vulcan ritual battle, and finds that a substitute to giving in to pon farr is to kill another, and thus Spock's pon farr imperative ends after he kills. Similar common plot elements include the plak tow ("blood fever") which precedes the onset of pon farr; the fact that Kirk, because of his empathic bond with Spock, can sense when Spock is about to go into pon farr, which even causes Kirk to suffer some of its symptoms himself; and "lingering death", the fate of a Vulcan male in pon farr who is unable to claim a mate.

Another key element in "first time" stories and in established relationship stories is the mind meld, either as a way to break the barriers between the men, or as a plot device. Shore leave is also a common setting as the plot can focus on the characters themselves rather than their responsibilities aboard a starship. “Hurt/comfort” is also a common trope, wherein one character is hurt in some manner and the other character tends to them. This trope tends to be paired with “first time” plots and often functions to make the characters realize their feelings towards each other.

Backlash
In general, fans have often been shamed and attacked by writers from both the media and academia. This would isolate those fans and their interpretations, often nonconforming to traditional perspectives, of their media of interest. In England, slash was an arrestable offence that violated obscenity laws. As a result, participants of K/S subculture were often outcast from the mainstream fan community. Female participants of slash fiction subculture were especially mocked due to gender stereotypes and discrimination. Fans of K/S were further rejected due to stigmas against homosexuality at the time.