don't cross the streams

[prophetic]

I just sent the email below to some RL friends, because we were talking about stuff.  I'm in the midst of freaking out about it now, like, did I really just tell these people who I know FROM CHURCH about all this stuff?

/o\

I am uncomfortable about this much overlap between these two areas of my life.  I think I'm moving in the right direction--

Comments

[tempore]

I like the way you are introducing it, because it puts fandom on the table as being a valid platform of expression-- and an outlet. I think that where you mention that women in our demographic aren't particularly persecuted, this is true, but we are providing our own safe haven against something for which we are persecuted: our sexuality. Fandom is less about gay sexuality than it is about being a place in which women have the chance to express that sexuality -- especially young women who don't want to be confined to the stereotypes of Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears, molded by society into a teenage Madonna/whore. Strange, too, because I don't see the equivalent with males-- boys are not pushed into being the Jonas Bros (most boys, I think, would find them lame) or the Backstreet Boys or whatever boy band is the thing nowadays. Because women are marginalized very much into good girl/bad girl stereotypes, especially in high school and early college perhaps, where as the worth of heterosexual males are not held up to quite the same standard.

So while there is no material and deep persecution of the majority of those in bandom, there is still enough of a need for a forum in which we can "discuss" things of a sexual and/or religious nature without too much fear of repercussion, hence the need for pseudonyms, and the way in which many people do name changes and switch journals and such.

I would say that while sex is the majority of what this is centered around, that I've seen a lot of fics that deal with everything else-- rape, incest, abuse both sexually and non-sexually, death, love and breakups, war, mental illness, cancer, etc. So fandom is a place in which I think the concerns of the real world get played out and sometimes rewritten as coping mechanisms.

All this is a rambly way of saying well done with the letter, of course. :) But I do so love these topics.

[prophetic]

:) :) :)

I'm happy you approve! And I love what you have to add. You are absolutely right about the women's sexuality stuff, and also about everything else fic deals with.

boys are not pushed into being the Jonas Bros (most boys, I think, would find them lame)

Bwah! I have a funny Jonas Brothers story, but I'll have to save it since I need to go to work now.

Thanks for everything you have to add!!

[tempore]

Okay, but at some point, you have to tell me the JoBro story. :) And I'm totally overgeneralizing there, I know, btw, but I do think there is a different standard for boys than there is for girls.

[prophetic]

Okay, I had to do some research to fill in the relevant details of this story--I just happened to see it on TV one night, and it cracked me up like nobody's business.

It was the American Music Awards, and there was this category called "T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist of the Year", in which everyone got to vote by texting on their phones about who they thought the year's "Breakthrough Artist" was. The Jonas Brothers were one of the choices.

Jimmy Kimmel was hosting the awards and was getting ready to announce the winner of the Breakthrough Artist award. So he goes down to the audience to sort of work the crowd, and he sits down by several members of the Wu Tang Clan who are down there. He's chatting with them about the Jonas Brothers, and he's like "Do you know the Jonas Brothers?"

And Wu Tang Clan member he's sitting next to is like, "Uhhhhhh . . ."

Jimmy Kimmel: "Do you know their names?"

WTCm: "Uhhhh . . . well, my daughter has their poster on her wall . . . "

JK: "Their names are Nick, Joe, and Ghostface Kevin."

(In the above-mentioned researching, I looked at the JoBro message boards, and in the midst of all the "I LOVE YOU NICK!" and such, fans were like "Why was Jimmy Kimmel so rude to them? Why did he say that about Kevin?" And someone explained it, being like Wu Tang Clan: Ghostface Killah: it wasn't about Kevin. It was very kind, also sort of funny.)

[tempore]

Ahhaha, I love the one -- my daughter has their poster on the wall. :)