I mentioned liking the idea of slash (although I didn't know that term then) to a few other women in my study group. The reaction was... dead stares and - I think - some fear in their eyes. I felt like a freak.

I made the mistake of mentioning it to my mother recently.

*headdesk*

I'm not above mocking and laughing at some of the stupidity that comes from hostility about these things, but when friends fight amongst themselves about something like this in a public, it upsets me a lot. My hangup, probably, but I can't help it.

No. I can say this so easily because I've never had close friends involved in a war. And I admit, there are times when people get so downright nasty it's still upsetting, even with the internet buffer. Actually, there was a wank a while back that seemed to amuse a lot of people, but personally worried me very much because I thought people were getting hurt. But if there have to be stupid things like fandom wars, I'm going to try to laugh them off most of the time, and love what there is to love about them (mainly their stupidity). It's all we can do, really.