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

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ac<strong>com</strong>panying it online, would be to talk with each individual to determine<br />

whether they simply consume the media in question or are a fan <strong>of</strong> it. An<br />

interesting question that ac<strong>com</strong>panies the work with online fandom is that <strong>of</strong><br />

the “lurker”: as they rarely give an external signal <strong>of</strong> their activities, they are<br />

<strong>of</strong>ten excluded from fandom studies, similarly to the way a consumer is<br />

considered something <strong>com</strong>pletely different from a fan. Unless one has<br />

acquaintance with lurkers <strong>of</strong>fline, one cannot possibly account for her/his<br />

fannish activities or fannish connections with others. Another <strong>com</strong>plication is<br />

given by the fact that, similarly to the fact that a person can be a fan <strong>of</strong> one<br />

thing and a consumer <strong>of</strong> another, one may lurk in some locations, but be quite<br />

active in others. And <strong>of</strong> course a <strong>com</strong>plete lurker online, may be quite an<br />

active fan <strong>of</strong>fline (which does not in any way discount their online fan-life <strong>–</strong> it<br />

is equal to their <strong>of</strong>fline fan-life, if maybe not as dialectic).<br />

Fandom is wanting to know more about a story, a character,<br />

a situation, whatever. It's something that pulls you in and<br />

intrigues you and causes your imagination to fire more than<br />

usual. Depending on how that imagination <strong>com</strong>es out, it<br />

may or may not require a <strong>com</strong>munity.<br />

Ka is neither a slash nor a yaoi fan, but she has been a fan <strong>of</strong> Japanese-<br />

and Western-based media from an early age on. As can be glimpsed from her<br />

definition <strong>of</strong> fandom above, she is a fan <strong>who</strong> enjoys the subtleties, facts and<br />

details <strong>of</strong> the source text. However, Ka’s fandom is centered around the<br />

source text to such a degree, that she will not break out <strong>of</strong> the boundaries <strong>of</strong><br />

the specific universe given in a show. In other words, she does not move out<br />

49

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