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

fandoms, and are 2) people outside of their fannish activities, though not
uninfluenced by the latter, and 3) from a wide range of ages and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
Because each slash and yaoi fandom is different in tone, language,
interaction and rules, each is a subculture unto itself. Thus, a fan, generally
engaging in several fandoms, adapts to each and is influenced by each. As
each fan has different attitudes, backgrounds, and is a person in and of
her/himself, I wish to expand beyond a methodology of theory,
oversimplification, and generalization. This leads me to an exploration of
motivators and a differentiation between the psychological and the cultural; a
fan may very well have immersed her/himself into a fandom for a specific
reasons, such as the wish to explore boundaries of gender and relationships,
but will decide to stay in a fandom for completely different reasons, such as
the transformation of self and the development of a fan-mode of identity –
inherently cultural components.
This formation of a mode of identity works both ways, as a moment of
self-realization and self-labeling, as well as a term supplied to one by others.
The social stigmas applied to people who are “fans” are interestingly enough
both categorical and liberating: Slash fans are equally attacked by academics
(e.g. feminists), general fans of the source text slashed, and media creators.
However, once marginalized, there are certain freedoms granted to fans in
general and slash fans in particular: if fans behave outside of social norms in
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