Won't somebody think of the fannish children?
There's been a lot of discussion recently (sparked, obviously, by Strikethough '07) about the possibility of Fandom moving, en masse, to another, non-LJ virtual location. In many ways, I'm opposed to it, not so much because I have undying faith in the good will and trustworthiness of LJ/Six Apart, but rather because I've already lived through more than one fannish migration and I hated that weird feeling of being cast adrift from the community. Fandom came back together again - it always does - but in the process, many communities and individual fans were lost, never to return.
Having said that, if Fandom were to up stakes and relocate, I know myself well enough to recognize that I'd probably go with it. What I wouldn't want to do, however, is go where underage fans weren't welcome.(1)
This is, quite probably, an unpopular opinion, at least in my circles. My f'list skews older than the average LJ user (not hard when the median LJ age is 19) and it possibly skews older than the average age of fandom generally. This suggests that I gravitate toward fans closer to my own age (for a variety of reasons, not least of which being it's nice to be surrounded by at least some people who remember a time before DVDs and VCRs and TIVO and file sharing, you know...back when it was hard work to be a media fan *g*). Plus, there's a widespread, if not always accurate belief that, generally speaking, the younger a fic writer is (reading and writing fanfic being my own primary fannish interest), the worse the writing is going to be.
The trouble is, even ignoring the fact that there are many brilliant writers (quite a few on my f'list) who have been writing for ages and are still young enough to be my children, in a lot of ways, this is kind of irrelevant, because from my p.o.v., there's a more basic community issue at stake. I can't help but think how unfair I would have thought this sort of segregation was back when I was younger. In my family, I was never kept from reading anything, watching anything, participating in any conversation...and when I found SF/F fandom, it was the same thing. Old school fandom has a long tradition of mentoring newcomers - old and young - into the community, and the only thing that's required to make somebody a full and active member of the community is the extent to which they're able to participate like rational human beings.
(I'm sure somebody's thinking that behaving like a rational human being has never been a requirement for participation in media fandom, to which I'd respond "Um...yeah. Exactly my point." *g*)
But what about the legal issues, I hear people asking. I'm not going to pretend that's not a concern when it comes to the hard-core side of fic and art. While the courts have recently supported opposition to such acts as COPA, other laws - in the U.S. and elsewhere - still exist, relating to a wide variety of age-related issues (including concerns over the distribution of pornography to minors).(2) And even if none of that was true - even if no adult in any country in the world had to worry about protecting herself/himself legally - there are quite a lot of people (many of them young) who can't handle graphic sex and/or violence or just don't want to be exposed to it.
Am I suggesting that the porn side of fandom should be pushed back underground in the interests of "the children?" Hell no. That's the last thing I'd say because...yay, porn! However, no matter how much fun it is to say "the internet is for porn," the fact of the matter is that fandom isn't just about porn or smut or kink or even shippiness. Fandom isn't just about fic or art or vids. Fandom is about building a community - and that means all of us.
***
Notes:
(1) I wouldn't want any of what I've said above to be misconstrued as me saying I have a problem with journalfen.com. I like the owners of that site, I have quite a lot of friends in common with them, and I have an account over there (although in the interest of accuracy, up until now I've been too much of a cheapskate to have a paid account). However, while I absolutely understand why the decision was made to not allow underage account holders over there, I think that restriction puts JF out of the running as an all-inclusive spot for Fandom to set up camp, at least from my youngster-friendly perspective.
(2) Those of you who want to participate in a discussion relating to age of access over at fanarchive - especially those of you with some legal backgrounds (in the US or elsewhere) - the relevant post is here.
***
And on a related note: cordelia_v made an interesting post over in reasoned_speech discussing whether it would be practical for Fans to "prepare now to buy a block of shares when Six Apart goes public, with the goal of making sure that, as shareholders, we can influence Six Apart's and LJ's policies as owners, and not merely as "customers" or users.
Having said that, if Fandom were to up stakes and relocate, I know myself well enough to recognize that I'd probably go with it. What I wouldn't want to do, however, is go where underage fans weren't welcome.(1)
This is, quite probably, an unpopular opinion, at least in my circles. My f'list skews older than the average LJ user (not hard when the median LJ age is 19) and it possibly skews older than the average age of fandom generally. This suggests that I gravitate toward fans closer to my own age (for a variety of reasons, not least of which being it's nice to be surrounded by at least some people who remember a time before DVDs and VCRs and TIVO and file sharing, you know...back when it was hard work to be a media fan *g*). Plus, there's a widespread, if not always accurate belief that, generally speaking, the younger a fic writer is (reading and writing fanfic being my own primary fannish interest), the worse the writing is going to be.
The trouble is, even ignoring the fact that there are many brilliant writers (quite a few on my f'list) who have been writing for ages and are still young enough to be my children, in a lot of ways, this is kind of irrelevant, because from my p.o.v., there's a more basic community issue at stake. I can't help but think how unfair I would have thought this sort of segregation was back when I was younger. In my family, I was never kept from reading anything, watching anything, participating in any conversation...and when I found SF/F fandom, it was the same thing. Old school fandom has a long tradition of mentoring newcomers - old and young - into the community, and the only thing that's required to make somebody a full and active member of the community is the extent to which they're able to participate like rational human beings.
(I'm sure somebody's thinking that behaving like a rational human being has never been a requirement for participation in media fandom, to which I'd respond "Um...yeah. Exactly my point." *g*)
But what about the legal issues, I hear people asking. I'm not going to pretend that's not a concern when it comes to the hard-core side of fic and art. While the courts have recently supported opposition to such acts as COPA, other laws - in the U.S. and elsewhere - still exist, relating to a wide variety of age-related issues (including concerns over the distribution of pornography to minors).(2) And even if none of that was true - even if no adult in any country in the world had to worry about protecting herself/himself legally - there are quite a lot of people (many of them young) who can't handle graphic sex and/or violence or just don't want to be exposed to it.
Am I suggesting that the porn side of fandom should be pushed back underground in the interests of "the children?" Hell no. That's the last thing I'd say because...yay, porn! However, no matter how much fun it is to say "the internet is for porn," the fact of the matter is that fandom isn't just about porn or smut or kink or even shippiness. Fandom isn't just about fic or art or vids. Fandom is about building a community - and that means all of us.
***
Notes:
(1) I wouldn't want any of what I've said above to be misconstrued as me saying I have a problem with journalfen.com. I like the owners of that site, I have quite a lot of friends in common with them, and I have an account over there (although in the interest of accuracy, up until now I've been too much of a cheapskate to have a paid account). However, while I absolutely understand why the decision was made to not allow underage account holders over there, I think that restriction puts JF out of the running as an all-inclusive spot for Fandom to set up camp, at least from my youngster-friendly perspective.
(2) Those of you who want to participate in a discussion relating to age of access over at fanarchive - especially those of you with some legal backgrounds (in the US or elsewhere) - the relevant post is here.
***
And on a related note: cordelia_v made an interesting post over in reasoned_speech discussing whether it would be practical for Fans to "prepare now to buy a block of shares when Six Apart goes public, with the goal of making sure that, as shareholders, we can influence Six Apart's and LJ's policies as owners, and not merely as "customers" or users.