I've actually thought about this a lot, since I'm a queer woman who loooooooooves her hurt/comfort fic and yet hardly ever writes it for femslash (which is probably part of the reason that I don't write much femslash, period). For me, I don't think it has to do with #3 at all, mostly because I don't see hurt/comfort the way I write it as fetishizing pain (I'm way more into the comfort than the hurt, and I don't write violent hurt, generally). For me, hurt/comfort is about rendering a very stoic character vulnerable and then seeing what happens, and I have done this with female characters who fall into that category (albeit in a het context). But I think there are generally fewer female characters out there who push that particular button for me.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-10 02:52 pm (UTC)