Ownership, Creativity, and What Fans Do
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has an interesting article about Ownership, Creativity, and What Fans Do.
It covers a variety of topics, but the comments (many interesting ones on various sides) mostly deal with fanfic.
I admit, this comment of Marie Brennan's is concerningly in line with my own impressions, not so much with fanfic, but with the fandom, fanon and shipping that tends to dominate most parts of the internet that I've encountered, and then spill over into fanfic(BTW, read her whole comment, not just this, and all the comments):
On the other hand, I think a lot of it is less engaged with such high-flown concerns, and more concerned with wish fulfillment or prurient sensibilities.
(I mean, seriously, how much shipping/subtext in fanon and fandom boils down to "my favorite/the one I think is hot and the lead/the one I thinkis hot." Both apply to either genders.)
ETA: For clarification, I draw a huge line between "this is fun and I like the idea, but realize it has little basis/support/won't happen" and "I like this and need to justify and support it, even if it contradicts the text, and I'll find a way to say there's no contradiction." One makes perfect sense, the other is the fandom masses.