I'd love to see more fic with non-normative bodies too, and non-normative sexuality that's not just the soft core porn version of BDSM (not that I'm complaining).
I doubt the main problem is that people don't want to write what they don't know. If that were the issue, most slash writers wouldn't be writing m/m in the first place. I think it's more that a lot of slash is porn or romantic fantasy, so the authors cast it with people they personally find sexually attractive, which for most slashers are cis-able-thin/fit-men. Which is fine--when it comes to sexual fantasy you're into what you're into.
But there's plenty fic, even sexually explicit fic, that's not intended as porn (e.g., the difference between the total smut I've written and the sex in These Clothes, which is there primarily for character reasons). And it would be cool if more people who wrote that kind of fic took it as an opportunity to explore diverse body types. I think part of the reason they don't is that it just doesn't occur to them, and part of it is that people tend to write fic at least in part to get comments, and there's a fear that no one would read it. A fic meme is a great idea because it would plant the idea in people's heads and it promises at least some readership. I'd host it, but I don't have enough followers to get it off the ground either. The only people who'd contribute would be you, me, and maybe Counteragent. You'd have to find someone with a ton of friends, and/or maybe the mod of a major comm.
no subject
I doubt the main problem is that people don't want to write what they don't know. If that were the issue, most slash writers wouldn't be writing m/m in the first place. I think it's more that a lot of slash is porn or romantic fantasy, so the authors cast it with people they personally find sexually attractive, which for most slashers are cis-able-thin/fit-men. Which is fine--when it comes to sexual fantasy you're into what you're into.
But there's plenty fic, even sexually explicit fic, that's not intended as porn (e.g., the difference between the total smut I've written and the sex in These Clothes, which is there primarily for character reasons). And it would be cool if more people who wrote that kind of fic took it as an opportunity to explore diverse body types. I think part of the reason they don't is that it just doesn't occur to them, and part of it is that people tend to write fic at least in part to get comments, and there's a fear that no one would read it. A fic meme is a great idea because it would plant the idea in people's heads and it promises at least some readership. I'd host it, but I don't have enough followers to get it off the ground either. The only people who'd contribute would be you, me, and maybe Counteragent. You'd have to find someone with a ton of friends, and/or maybe the mod of a major comm.