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

eing active. Online friends and acquaintances will generally respect these
decisions, giving their best wishes and hopes that the person concerned may
soon “return” to online fandom.
How does this fan-mode pertain to other modes of identity within the
individual? As pointed out, online fans become, after a certain period of
exposure to it, part of a certain fandom-community, inasmuch as “fandom” no
longer solely implies that medium of which they are a fan, but also expands its
connotations towards certain spaces, a time committal, as well as those other
fans, who share that fandom with one-self. It is pertinent then to explore the
connections we as fans form with others, and what niche we find ourselves in.
2. Connections we make (online and offline)
Writing this, I feel as if I am suspended in an intricate web of
connections, which unfolds in front of me, connecting me to others, and these
other fans to yet more individuals. I met Yuri through both, social events at
college, as well as through the college’s science fiction, fantasy and Japanese
anime club. It was these club’s events and movie screenings, which allowed
us to connect to each other with a scheduled frequency. Both of us found yaoi
independently of each other, but discovering that we had a mutual interest in
this genre, as individuals as well as fans, allowed us to connect on yet another
sub-level to a shared identity as anime-fans, students at a women’s college,
and stressed undergraduates. Yuri had already been RP-ing for a long time
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