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

what would become a fan’s first online fandom, I asked Barb about her own
experiences:
SY: What was your very first fandom in which you read
your first fics?
Barb: I read Babylon 5 gen for six months to a year and
then X-Files for a very long time…
SY: Did it feel to you like an addiction?
Barb: At the time, I approached it as having finished
everything in the public local library, and there was the
Internet as my own big library.
At this point I attempted to explain my addiction-question, by relating my
own experiences with my first online fandom to Barb. I explained that I had
immersed myself completely into the act of reading, to the point of shifting
priorities. I also related that I had witnessed many debates online speaking of
slash, or fanfiction in general, as an addiction.
Barb: Not that way. It was no more priority…it was
pleasure reading, it just happened to be on the computer
instead of hardcopy, so the time I used to spend in Barnes
& Noble and libraries shifted to the Internet.
SY: Well at that time, I was using my leisure time and then
some.
Barb: I’ve always used my leisure time and then some.
SY: So, you’re saying you’ve always been addicted?
Barb: Yes, I’ve always been addicted to the printed word.
What kind of addiction is it then, and does it deserve that term? Speaking for
myself, I had “always been addicted to the printed word,” compelled to finish
a book, even if it meant I would get no sleep that night, or if it meant I had to
neglect my homework duties throughout middle- and high school. What was
different about the compulsions that overcame me while reading mountains of
fanfiction for long stretches at a time? A new factor was the accessibility,
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