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

In an online exchange with Mel I asked her what fandom meant for
her, and how, if at all, she could explain the term itself to someone for whom
it has no meaning. She told me outright that she really did not like defining it,
as fandom did not have a meaning or definition for her, “It just is.” When I
asked her to try to explain it to me, as if I was someone who had no idea what
fandom was or meant, she answered in her first line that “fandom is where I
spend a lot of my time -- online, reading.” She also explained that fandom was
a group of people who came together to “talk about a show or book or
something, some sort of media that does not belong to them, but that is in the
public view.” Some of these people have discussion on the details or plot (or
whatever) of that thing, others write stories, some just sit back and read the
discussions or stories, “but they are all part of the group.”
While Yuri roleplays the character of Harry Potter online on a
LiveJournal game and is active in several fandoms, Mel mostly interacts on
mailing lists, where she edits other people’s fanfiction. Ash has stopped
reading fanfiction a while ago, because it became too tedious for her to find
good texts. She has stopped writing, because she could not be bothered any
longer. Also, she often expresses her dislike of “fandom” in relation to
“fangirls,” who she hates. Ash distinguishes between “fans” and “fangirls”;
the latter are thirteen-year-old emotional and hysterical teenage girls, who, as
she says, are invading every fandom. However, Ash has met people online,
and is friends with them. She will frequently roleplay with her friends and is
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