meta: how fandom has changed your moral/political views
A quick note before we begin: All experiences discussed henceforth are mine, and aren't intended to be a generalization. You don't have to agree with me. Actually, I prefer it if you don't: there's better discussion to be had that way. Also, I don't mean to be offensive in the least, to anyone. Honestly. These are just thoughts, and this is just fandom. It's definitely not supposed to be a breeding ground for wank.
Does anyone remember their first foray into fandom? We all come from different places, different backgrounds, but there are certain aspects of fandom that are the same across the board. You probably discovered things that you were initially very uncertain about.
What I'm talking about are those controversial and sometimes squicky subjects that you see in fanfiction (and fandom in general), things like slash and incest, roleplay and BDSM, and, well, smut in general, really.
How has your fannish experience changed your viewpoint on these issues? Or, has it changed at all?
When I first got into fandom I remember seeing slash all over the place. It was sort of mind-boggling, the way people decided to act as though everyone in the world was gay. At the time I was whole-heartedly against gay marriage and things like that (I was the type of Fundamentalist Christian who believed all gay people were going to hell) and it was confusing. Then, my reaction was something along the lines of, "Why are they pretending everyone's gay?" Now, when someone asks me that same question, I respond, "How do you know they're not?"
Slash is pretty universal, but incest is usually concentrated into a few fandoms. My newest fandom, Narnia, has incest all over the place. So does Supernatural, I hear, but only through the grapevine: I don't know anything about that fandom. I've never known an incest couple in real life, and so I originally was slightly disgusted with the entire idea. But the prevalence, as well as the positive light fandom sees it in, makes this now a non-issue for me.
ETA: Consensual incest. Definitely.
This sort of leads into the age-old question: does what we read in fanfic even affect us at all? Lots of people have argued that what we "consume" (by reading, or watching, or hearing) changes our outlook on life even if we're not aware of it. Take violent videogames, for example. Does violent smut affect how we think of sex?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I tend to believe that what we read really does affect us. The degree, however, is up for discussion.
So, enough of my rambling. Please comment and discuss -- I'd love to hear all your thoughts, as long as you keep everything nice and civilized.
Does anyone remember their first foray into fandom? We all come from different places, different backgrounds, but there are certain aspects of fandom that are the same across the board. You probably discovered things that you were initially very uncertain about.
What I'm talking about are those controversial and sometimes squicky subjects that you see in fanfiction (and fandom in general), things like slash and incest, roleplay and BDSM, and, well, smut in general, really.
How has your fannish experience changed your viewpoint on these issues? Or, has it changed at all?
When I first got into fandom I remember seeing slash all over the place. It was sort of mind-boggling, the way people decided to act as though everyone in the world was gay. At the time I was whole-heartedly against gay marriage and things like that (I was the type of Fundamentalist Christian who believed all gay people were going to hell) and it was confusing. Then, my reaction was something along the lines of, "Why are they pretending everyone's gay?" Now, when someone asks me that same question, I respond, "How do you know they're not?"
Slash is pretty universal, but incest is usually concentrated into a few fandoms. My newest fandom, Narnia, has incest all over the place. So does Supernatural, I hear, but only through the grapevine: I don't know anything about that fandom. I've never known an incest couple in real life, and so I originally was slightly disgusted with the entire idea. But the prevalence, as well as the positive light fandom sees it in, makes this now a non-issue for me.
ETA: Consensual incest. Definitely.
This sort of leads into the age-old question: does what we read in fanfic even affect us at all? Lots of people have argued that what we "consume" (by reading, or watching, or hearing) changes our outlook on life even if we're not aware of it. Take violent videogames, for example. Does violent smut affect how we think of sex?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but I tend to believe that what we read really does affect us. The degree, however, is up for discussion.
So, enough of my rambling. Please comment and discuss -- I'd love to hear all your thoughts, as long as you keep everything nice and civilized.