Girls who like Boys who like Boys – Ethnography of ... - Yuuyami.com

often every imagined difference or similarity is). A comparative text would
invariably aim to justify fandom to academia, or vice versa. One might even
argue that this text, for the simple fact that it is academic, has such an agenda;
and psychologically speaking, this may be one of the reasons or purposes for
having written it. The point, however, is that many academics, who have not
been exposed to fan-culture nor acquired that mode of identity, would never
call themselves a “fan” of their own hero-theoretician. However, no fan of a
book or TV show would refrain from identifying as “fan” (though many are
academic, and in the academic part of their lives this identification as “fan”
does have an impact). And that is what matters. Comparable or not, it is these
identification issues that have moved and interested me the most; if I attempt
to refrain from justifying one part of the universe (my universe) to another, it
is partly in obeisance to academia in general and Anthropology in particular,
but it is mostly because my attention has not been caught in an agenda to
justify as much as it has been caught up in an attempt to translate identity.
My ethnography then discusses the diversity of a sample of online
slash fans, including myself, and emphasizes the cultural elements of
community and self-identity, which function in conjunction with
psychological aspects as motivators. By placing slash fandom in a humanized
context, this text will challenge the notion of a homogenous fandom entity,
while calling attention to the common characteristics of a shared identity. I
argue that the act of “being a fan” is centered around the object of worship, as
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