Wow, there are some great threads in this post. I think everyone else has probably said what I want to, so I'll try not to be to repetitive and please forgive me if I am. :D
As the privacy issue has been well-argued elsewhere in this post, I'll just add that that there are very likely going to be some fans out there who use that argument as a smokescreen for "ew girls in my otp," and that's certainly something for writers to personally consider and be honest with themselves about. But that's certainly not the only reason to be reluctant about writing private figures (especially in explicit fic) and it's one of those unique things about RPS fandoms that makes applying patterns from other fandoms more complicated. It's the inclusion and subsequent villainization of partners or female OCs, which I've seen frequently enough to be uncomfortable, that's reallll hard to spin that as anything other than pretty gross misogyny.
Now for those of us who are more comfortable pushing those public/boundaries. I think the obstacle for many fans is still privacy, but in a different way: it's the lack of a public narrative, rather than just visibility or persona, that's getting in the way. In the first paragraph I originally said something like, "for example I'm perfectly comfortable reading and writing about Patricia Gonzalez but I can understand why others might not be." But I was thinking -- why did I pick Patricia and not, say, Mamen Sanz or Olalla Dominguez, both of whom I know about and like? Because Patricia has her own narrative, unrelated to her relationship with David Villa, which is that she played the game herself, and then gave it up. That's a good hook - a great hook! (Favorite AU idea: what if she was the one who'd stuck with it, and he gave it up?) That gets me 1) emotionally invested and 2) interested as a writer.
So -- conclusion time! -- for that reason, I think the best path to increasing positive representation of women in fic/fandom is to focus on, er, actual female football players. (I'm not a great example here but distira is and I'm working on it!) I understand that this isn't quite the same thing, as it would generally involve a different set of "characters" who don't often interact with the first set, so to speak. But female players come with their own narratives, and that's the bread and butter of any fandom.
no subject
As the privacy issue has been well-argued elsewhere in this post, I'll just add that that there are very likely going to be some fans out there who use that argument as a smokescreen for "ew girls in my otp," and that's certainly something for writers to personally consider and be honest with themselves about. But that's certainly not the only reason to be reluctant about writing private figures (especially in explicit fic) and it's one of those unique things about RPS fandoms that makes applying patterns from other fandoms more complicated. It's the inclusion and subsequent villainization of partners or female OCs, which I've seen frequently enough to be uncomfortable, that's reallll hard to spin that as anything other than pretty gross misogyny.
Now for those of us who are more comfortable pushing those public/boundaries. I think the obstacle for many fans is still privacy, but in a different way: it's the lack of a public narrative, rather than just visibility or persona, that's getting in the way. In the first paragraph I originally said something like, "for example I'm perfectly comfortable reading and writing about Patricia Gonzalez but I can understand why others might not be." But I was thinking -- why did I pick Patricia and not, say, Mamen Sanz or Olalla Dominguez, both of whom I know about and like? Because Patricia has her own narrative, unrelated to her relationship with David Villa, which is that she played the game herself, and then gave it up. That's a good hook - a great hook! (Favorite AU idea: what if she was the one who'd stuck with it, and he gave it up?) That gets me 1) emotionally invested and 2) interested as a writer.
So -- conclusion time! -- for that reason, I think the best path to increasing positive representation of women in fic/fandom is to focus on, er, actual female football players. (I'm not a great example here but