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

of identity as fan, much as an academic would probably never quite lose that
mode of identity. The difference is exactly that: they are different modes of
identities, which may at times become entangled, but ultimately a fan never
has to socialize or achieve. It is not a profession.
6. Reading habits
Online fandom is in a very specific way fic-centered, inasmuch as
most online fans do read fic, and in that a fandom’s language is acquired
through a process which may absorb certain phrases and terms from wellreceived
and famous fics, as well as from the fellow-fans one interacts with.
The speed with which this language evolves and mutates is dizzying, but
certainly not impossible to follow. There is, additionally, some leeway a fan
has in terms of language, as there exist many possible ways to express
something. For example, if one wishes to express that a specific fic is a
romance story in which at least one underage party is involved, there are
several terms one can choose from; for example: chanslash and shotakon
(both are derived from Japanese terms, though they are also used in Western
slashfic). In how these terms indicate an idea, rather than have a common
definition used and shared by all fans, we can see the differences in
terminologies, and the variances of meaning applied to a certain term that
indicate a common understanding as well as an individual interpretation.
Another example illustrating this is a discussion I recently observed on a fan’s
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