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

equality and beyond social stereotypes, as heterosexual fiction can never
allow them to do so. These theories are valid indeed, but with limiting factors
as 1) they apply for some, but not all, or even the majority of fans, and 2) they
explore the possibilities slash offers women especially in the first instance of
exposure; they do not review the reasons for staying and being a fan. Further
on this ethnography will attempt to indicate what “being a fan” may mean to
different individuals, and how each fan may derive very different kinds of
pleasure from their activities, as well as from the fan-texts they peruse.
Additionally, the question “why slash?” often translates to “why do so many
heterosexual/lesbian/bisexual women write about two men?” and that question
limits itself automatically, I think, to the beginning of a fascination, rather
than the examination of aspects of a shared identity.
Bacon-Smith criticizes fellow-scholar Henry Jenkins’ falsely positive
view of fandom (as a production), and disapproves of his obvious political
(and academic) agenda. Ironically, many fans have reacted by far more
negatively towards Bacon-Smith’s theories, and positively towards Jenkins’;
Bacon-Smith has been criticized by fans for her detached adoption of the
position of an “aloof and lone ethnographer.” She does justify her methods,
yet clearly disapproves of many of her “informants’” practices, such as the
writing of fanfiction in the H/C genre (or Hurt-Comfort, in which one
character is hurt psychologically or physically, and the other character
comforts him), and immediately relates them to the sexual issues her
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