Gender and Sexuality

  • Links Roundup for 14 October 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Friday, 14 October 2011 - 9:09pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Cosplay, Fan Conventions, Movies, Sports, Roleplaying

    Here's a roundup of stories on universal fandom that might be of interest to fans:

    • To be filed under "fans are still fans, regardless of gender", at the FIFA Master Conference in Neuchâtel, Switzerland a multinational group of researchers presented a study on female fans of male dominated sports. Among their findings were that women "want to be included in regular fan culture without necessarily having to adopt aspects of the language and behavior that prevails within it" and that they "want acceptance in the same way it is afforded to men. They want to be accepted within fan communities on their own terms as legitimate and authentic fans."
    • To be filed under "fans are still fans, regardless of their fandom", a media fan who attended her first sports convention, Caps Con, discovered that fans are alike under the cosplay outfits. "I’m a geek. I’ve hit the cons, walked the walk, and I talk the talk. The amazing thing about Saturday was just how much of fandom has apparently become universal in the last ten years. Whether it’s NHL hockey, comic books, or a television series, every convention has its consistencies."
    • To be filed under "fans are everywhere", Star Wars fans' recently staged "a huge lightsaber battle" in a New York City park with over 1000 participants. The Fandom Post story included video from the event and also from July 2010, when a group staged a scene of Darth Vader arresting Princess Leia in the NY subway, much to the delight of surprised bystanders.

    If you're part of a sports fandom, if you LARP or are a con-goer why not contribute your perspectives to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

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  • Links Roundup for 7 October 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Friday, 7 October 2011 - 6:16pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Commercial Works Authors, Fanfiction , Television, Fannish Practices

    Here's a roundup of fannish perspectives in media industries that might be of interest to fans:

    • There was extensive speculation about the slashy future of the new U.S. TV series 2 Broke Girls on New York Magazine's Vulture blog, even though the show just debuted. It draws the conclusion that many experienced femslash fans might come to as well: "2 Broke Girls is on CBS, and while it's possible to imagine the show developing an entirely different trajectory on cable — over the course of six seasons and many men, these two young women realize they are perfect, not for some dude with a nice six-pack, but each other! — it seems unlikely to transform into something overtly homosexual on a network...You just watch, come some May sweeps, Max and Caroline kissing will be a big ratings stunt."
    • Another U.S. comedy, Community, has reached new heights in its pop-culture cred. In its season opener, the character Abed is devastated by the short seasons common to many UK TV shows, only to be appeased by being introduced to the decades-long series "Inspector Spacetime". Fannish reaction to the Dr. Who parody spread quickly. Community, which utilizes many fannish texts and activities in its episodes, has inspired a new platform for the mingling of fannish practices and dialogue. "It’s a funny kind of magic – it’s unofficial, didn’t happen on TV, and just relies of [sic] fans’ understandings of not only TV shows, but how telly itself works.

    If you're part of Community or femslash fandoms why not contribute your perspectives to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 3 October 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Monday, 3 October 2011 - 6:48pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Anime and Manga, Books, Television, Entertainment Industries, Fannish Histories, Fannish Practices

    Here's a roundup of stories about fans talking about fandom that might be of interest to fans:

    • The social media analytics company Banyan Branch produced a report on social media chatter regarding the upcoming fall US television season and revealed that fan activity is not equivalent to show ratings. While this is likely of no surprise to many fans (Firefly, anyone?), such data may help networks get a broader understanding of what their ratings mean for a given show in terms of how it's actually connecting with its audience.
    • Versa Sharma blogs about her life from ages 14 to 25 growing up with Harry Potter at the Huffington Post, concluding "I work in journalism, a dream of mine for many years, because I believe, like Dumbledore, that "words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.""
    • A blog post asking about the seeming dearth of female anime fans online stirs some discussion about how a focus on only some activities or interests can obscure participation, and provides a good example of how strictly defining a "fan" can erase womens' experience & the diversity of fannish cultures.

    If you're part of Harry Potter or anime fandoms, why not contribute your own stories and projects to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • In Practice: Vidding

    By .fcoppa on Monday, 26 September 2011 - 11:12pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Studies, Women in Technology, Fan Videos, OTW Sightings

    The new issue of Camera Obscura: a journal of Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies published by Duke University Press, features a special section on vidding consisting of essays written by various current and former OTW staffers Kristina Busse, Francesca Coppa, Alexis Lothian, and Rebecca Tushnet.

    The essays in the section include: (the link goes to the abstract; full text is not yet available on this site for nonsubscribers.)

    * Francesca Coppa, An Editing Room of One's Own: Vidding as Women's Work

    * Francesca Coppa and Rebecca Tushnet, How to Suppress Women's Remix

    * Kristina Busse and Alexis Lothian, Scholarly Critiques and Critiques of Scholarship: The Uses of Remix Video

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  • Links Roundup for 23 September 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Friday, 23 September 2011 - 3:33pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Commercial Works Authors, Music, Entertainment Industries

    Here's a roundup of stories about pros saying fannish things that might be of interest to fans:

    • Sci-fi author Nicola Griffiths posted about questions she was asked as part of a BBC series on the history of women in science fiction. which dealt with how gender and sexuality have been addressed in the genre. Some of her comments will resonate with fan fiction writers: "Realism, mundane fiction, can only explore gender in terms of What Is: what's possible within the legal, cultural, and biological constraints of the reader and writer's society. SF gets to ask What If? You could argue that SF is, essentially, a post-modernist genre, obsessed with not accepting fixed meaning."
    • Communications scholar Nancy Baym interviewed numerous musicians for her presentation Biting and Feeding the Hands That Feed which focused on "broaden[ing] the discussion beyond what fans do to consider the richness of the ways those practices affect artists and creators."
    • Singer Michael Bolton provided his own example of fan interaction in an interview about how his Saturday Night Live appearance as a movie fanboy, obsessed with the Pirates of the Carribean marathon he had just seen, has brought him new admirers. "“You won’t believe the people that are yelling “Jack Sparrow!” as soon as I walk on stage...I’m also getting high-fives from an audience that is not my touring audience — the 14- to 40-year-old male YouTube audience.”"

    If you're part of music or sci-fi literature fandom, why not contribute your experiences to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 19 September 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Monday, 19 September 2011 - 6:05pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Activism, Gender and Sexuality, Fannish Endings, Books, Commercial Works Authors, Entertainment Industries, Fannish Practices, Technology

    Here are a few action alerts that might be of interest to fans:

    • Many fans have used bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us to keep track of fan works they want to read, have viewed, or want to return to. Many more fans have also used one another's lists to find new material. However, this functionality and fannish history may soon be lost once Delicious completes its transfer to new ownership. Fans wanting to save their bookmarks for their own use and that of others have until September 23 to authorize migration of their data to the new website or transfer it to another service.
    • Last week two authors attempting to publish a novel with a diverse representation of characters encountered a specific response from an agent suggesting that there is no market for gay characters in young adult (YA) literature. Their response was to ask that readers make their voices heard about what they want to see published. YA author Malinda Lo posted a follow-up providing statistics on how much YA literature contains queer representations and who is doing the publishing.

    If you use bookmarking sites as part of your fannish habits or are part of YA literature fandoms, why not contribute your experiences to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 16 September 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Friday, 16 September 2011 - 8:02pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Fanfiction , Fannish Communities, Entertainment Industries, Fannish Histories

    Here's a roundup of stories about fannish legacies that may be of interest to fans:

    • The Atlantic looks at the Snakes on a Plane phenomenon and notices how it was a sign of things to come: "[T]he attention paid to Snakes served as a kind of coming-out for all sorts of new-millennium cultural strains: the absurd humor of the message-board masses, the way content creation had become second nature for an entire generation...the way lowly fans could now make enough noise for professional entertainers take notice."
    • In a more personal legacy story, U.K. author I. Beacham discusses how reading Voyager femslash led to her writing career focusing on lesbian romances. "“All Hail, Fan Fiction!” Writing fan fiction is what got me started. I was—still am—a great Star Trek: Voyager fan and adored the potential romance between Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine...I will always be incredibly thankful to the fan fiction readers out there who helped me to write better and encouraged me."

    If you're part of Star Trek Voyager fandom or a femslash reader, why not contribute your experiences to Fanlore? Additions to the site are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 9 September 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Friday, 9 September 2011 - 4:00pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Activism, Gender and Sexuality, Comics, Tumblr, Music, Fannish Communities, Sports, Entertainment Industries

    Here's a roundup of stories about fan protests that might be of interest to fans:

    • Fans on Tumblr planned a Blackout Day to protest changes on the site on September 3. It's not clear how effective the protest was in terms gaining the attention of Tumblr management but it may have had an impact on site traffic.
    • During Comic-Con in July, fans protested DC Comics' decision to reboot many of their series, a change which erased or sidelined a number of female and minority characters and contributed to the reduced number of female creators at DC. DC cited fan concerns in their announcement that they would be preparing "new projects with women creators in the coming months."
    • Numerous fan clubs for Michael Jackson have been protesting a planned charity concert in Wales to honor him, citing concerns about where the money will go, the invited performers, and the timing of the event while the trial of Jackson's doctor continues.
    • A fan dubbed Clipper Darrell is planning to stage a sleep-in to protest the NBA lockout which will deprive him of seeing his Clippers basketball team. Although his is a solo protest, a group of Dodgers baseball fans have staged two protests regarding poor management of their team. While the effectiveness of these efforts is in doubt, the article concludes "you have to give fans credit when they are willing to stand up for what they believe in...This group of fans is doing something about it."

    If you're part of a fandom on Tumblr or DC Comics, why not contribute your experiences to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 5 September 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Monday, 5 September 2011 - 2:35pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Books, Fanfiction , Theater, Fannish Practices

    Here's a roundup of stories about fandoms around the world that we thought were of interest:

    • In a post about the ancient history of fan fiction the Arthurian cycle is discussed as an example of how fanfic develops and how fanon can become canon over time.
    • In an interview on Bookslut author Claudio Benzecry discusses his exploration of the world of opera fandom in Argentina. The discussion centers on how he distinguishes fans from people who simply support opera, and the things he learned about enjoying life from fandom.
    • Lastly, Pop Matters published an essay by Dutch researcher Suzanne Enzerink about Gone With the Wind fandom which explores some of the differences in fan engagement that were described in 2009 by fan obsession_inc as transformational versus affirmational fandom.

    There are currently no pages on Fanlore for opera or Gone With the Wind. If you're part of those fandoms we could use your contributions!

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 31 August 2011

    By Claudia Rebaza on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 - 4:29pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Cosplay, Comics, Fan Conventions, Books, Television, Fannish Practices

    Here's a roundup of stories about gender and sexuality in fandom that might be of interest to fans:

    • In a strong counterexample to the women's invisibility problem demonstrated by the L.A. Times' entertainment blog Hero Complex (which is subtitled "For your inner fanboy"), a group of female cosplayers at Comic Con created the Gender Bent Justice League where men and women genderswap well known superheroes. The group is making a statement as well as having fun: "We try to keep it pretty scantily clad for [the men] because that's how women are portrayed," says Silver. "We weren't scantily clad for ourselves because that's not the point. We're showing that girls can be clothed and be superheroes because, most of the time, they aren't."
    • Also helping to keep women visible in fandom, Chicks Dig Time Lords, a book celebrating female Doctor Who fandom, recently won a Hugo award. The volume includes a contribution from OTW Board member Francesca Coppa: Girl Genius: Nyssa of Traken.
    • In the BitchMedia post Ambiguously Gay Wizards, actors in the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fandoms are cited as examples of playing gay to the fans for professional reasons. "But it also highlights how much of the cultural bandwidth Straight Men playing or imitating Gay Men is starting to take up, and how lucrative being ambiguously heteroflexible can be in securing more of the fandom’s attention".

    There are currently no entries on Fanlore for the Justice League. If you're part of that fandom or have taken part in cosplay the site could use your contributions!

    We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

    Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

    Read more

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