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ergh. um. oops.
it appears, in hindsight, that i ought to have included some more information with the straight/not-straight poll that i posted last night. I assumed people would just be able to select one and be done with it. i thought the simplicity would work better than a big explanation. maybe not.
i guess a lot of this wasn't apparent in the poll post because the majority of my posts about university and what i'm working on there are kept friends locked.
basically, i'm nearing the end of my degree, majoring in media/cinema studies, and am focussing on the fandom side of things, with plans to do honours and masters on fandom, slash, RPS, etc.
at the moment i'm working on an essay that is, to put it in a nutshell lined with more informal language, essentially about how feminists utilize pornography to combat what they perceive to be pornography's 'negative effects'. I'm focussing on slash.
I've read a great deal about the motivations of slash writers, and studies on the demographics on fandom. A considerable amount of the theory written on fandom was written decades ago, and the fandom environment has changed considerably since then.
as a fan and slasher myself, and having participated in the more innovative and contemporary types of fandoms, i found that quite blatantly, the 'stereotype' that many theorists put forward as if stating such a fascinating fact so frequently: the vast vast majority slashers are middle-aged, middle-classed heterosexual women - didn't sit right with me.
after being in fandom for three years, i felt as if i could say with a considerable degree of confidence that the majority of other fans - slashers - i interact with would *not* classify themselves as straight (ie. heterosexual), regardless of their marital status. they are also not necessarily middle-class or middle-aged... and some of them might not even consider themselves 'women', regardless of their sex at birth. i chose the categories 'straight' and 'not-straight' (instead of 'straight', 'gay', 'bi', etc), because fandom appears to have the most fluid and organic ideals and concepts of sexuality that i personally have come across.
in other words, my own personal experience with sexuality in fandom challenged the work of theorists i'd come across that quite frequently put the demographic details as being so closely related to the motivations of being involved in the genre/medium of slash. I wanted to address this in my essay, as it was quite relevant.
however, academic practice dictates that i can't just randomly state things like that without backing up the claim with a reference. thus the quick, simple poll in my lj that i knew would cover quite a broad base (even if it didn't cover *all* of fandom, it was still quite telling in terms of the more recent climate). it's also why i made the subsequent post asking people to respond to it even if they *did* fit the 'stereotype', because i wanted an *accurate* result and was confident my understanding of the high level of 'not-straight' people involved in slash.
Which basically means i can put an 'internet resource' into my bibliography, as interacting with fans and referencing something stated on a fan website when talking about fandom is quite acceptable practice.
anyone wishing to use the results of the poll themselves are welcome to. i'll tidy up the post a bit so it looks a bit more presentable in references, heh. I'll also be eventually posting the essay i'm writing here, if you want to keep any eye out for it. my previous media studies writing can be found here.
i guess a lot of this wasn't apparent in the poll post because the majority of my posts about university and what i'm working on there are kept friends locked.
basically, i'm nearing the end of my degree, majoring in media/cinema studies, and am focussing on the fandom side of things, with plans to do honours and masters on fandom, slash, RPS, etc.
at the moment i'm working on an essay that is, to put it in a nutshell lined with more informal language, essentially about how feminists utilize pornography to combat what they perceive to be pornography's 'negative effects'. I'm focussing on slash.
I've read a great deal about the motivations of slash writers, and studies on the demographics on fandom. A considerable amount of the theory written on fandom was written decades ago, and the fandom environment has changed considerably since then.
as a fan and slasher myself, and having participated in the more innovative and contemporary types of fandoms, i found that quite blatantly, the 'stereotype' that many theorists put forward as if stating such a fascinating fact so frequently: the vast vast majority slashers are middle-aged, middle-classed heterosexual women - didn't sit right with me.
after being in fandom for three years, i felt as if i could say with a considerable degree of confidence that the majority of other fans - slashers - i interact with would *not* classify themselves as straight (ie. heterosexual), regardless of their marital status. they are also not necessarily middle-class or middle-aged... and some of them might not even consider themselves 'women', regardless of their sex at birth. i chose the categories 'straight' and 'not-straight' (instead of 'straight', 'gay', 'bi', etc), because fandom appears to have the most fluid and organic ideals and concepts of sexuality that i personally have come across.
in other words, my own personal experience with sexuality in fandom challenged the work of theorists i'd come across that quite frequently put the demographic details as being so closely related to the motivations of being involved in the genre/medium of slash. I wanted to address this in my essay, as it was quite relevant.
however, academic practice dictates that i can't just randomly state things like that without backing up the claim with a reference. thus the quick, simple poll in my lj that i knew would cover quite a broad base (even if it didn't cover *all* of fandom, it was still quite telling in terms of the more recent climate). it's also why i made the subsequent post asking people to respond to it even if they *did* fit the 'stereotype', because i wanted an *accurate* result and was confident my understanding of the high level of 'not-straight' people involved in slash.
Which basically means i can put an 'internet resource' into my bibliography, as interacting with fans and referencing something stated on a fan website when talking about fandom is quite acceptable practice.
anyone wishing to use the results of the poll themselves are welcome to. i'll tidy up the post a bit so it looks a bit more presentable in references, heh. I'll also be eventually posting the essay i'm writing here, if you want to keep any eye out for it. my previous media studies writing can be found here.