Controversy
Morality and legality
The morality of real person fiction is debated. Most RPF authors state that they have no intent to claim these fictional portrayals reflect the real activities of the "source figure" in any way.
Some authors of traditional fan fiction view real person fiction with suspicion, disdain, or outright disgust. Some feel that fanfic based on fictional characters is on shaky enough legal ground, barely tolerated by the authors, producers, copyright owners of the original works and that RPF, especially real person slash, may turn corporate and public opinion against fan fiction as a whole.[citation needed]
The often included disclaimer in story headers, stating that the work is pure fiction, has so far protected real person fiction from slander and libel.
To date, unlike traditional fan fiction, only one cease and desist letter is known to have been issued against RPF[citation needed]: FanDomination.Net received a letter on March 17, 2003 from a representative of baseball player Andy Pettite.
Real person slash
Main article: Slash fiction
Real person slash (RPS), also known in some circles as real-life slash (RLS), involves relationships. (See slash fiction for more on the subtleties and variations in definition.) These are usually complete fabrications, not based on any real-life indications of the subject's sexual orientation, but on the fantasies of the author and the desire to experiment with perceived or invented erotic subtext between the idols in question. Slash is roughly equal in popularity to less controversial types of real person fiction.
The content of the stories can range from the mildly romantic, involving deep friendships and innocent crushes, to carefully written love stories, all the way to explicit erotica.
With the advent of bands, fans wrote an explosion of fictional stories about members being involved in romantic relations with one another. In the 1990s, early online RPS communities were devoted to depictions of bands. Most band-related RPF was slash fiction. Older RPF communities also began to see a rise in slash content, in contrast to earlier stories, which had generally featured original (non-"canon") characters as partners for band members.
As slash became more acceptable, the amount of explicit sexual content in the stories also began to rise. Erotic fan stories have existed for as long as other types of fanfic, but they were often a closed-door affair, circulated only in private among friends, and it is unclear whether sexual content was a common theme.[citation needed] With the advent of the Internet (allowing easy distribution of stories and relative anonymity for authors), stories with explicit content suddenly became much more widespread.
Due to the potentially libelous nature of some stories, and the knowledge or fear that some celebrities dislike slash fiction involving themselves, some fan fiction communities denounce RPS fiction and do not allow it on their websites.
Reaction
In 2008, a man was arrested in the UK for writing and publishing on the internet a story featuring various members of the band Girls Aloud under the Obscene Publications Act.[5] The story described the kidnap, rape and murder of the girls. He was subsequently tried (the R v Walker trial) and found not guilty,[6] and claimed that he had never intended to frighten or intimidate the band members.