1 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: I've never told your protection to I heart Radio and 3 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: we're back with our second part of our two part 4 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: look classic on fan fiction. And I know we've talked 5 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: about shipping and you're not really into shipping, which is 6 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: a lot of what fan fiction can be. But if 7 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: you did read fan fiction, what do you think you 8 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: would read? I honestly don't know. I mean, like, Twilight 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: is the one I guess, so I guess so in 10 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: that in that technically would have been the Twilight. It 11 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:51,919 Speaker 1: was a long time ago. I couldn't read it now, 12 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: I don't think which, uh just I'm just a different 13 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: space in life understanding different things and in likes are different. 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: This is why I think I have a problem them 15 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: right now because I hardly read as it is, except 16 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: for when we do our book club. It makes me 17 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: sad because I used to love to read. But again, 18 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: my stuff was maybe at the tragedy level, murder mystery level. 19 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: If there are things like that, I don't necessarily care 20 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: about the shipping. That's not something that's been a part 21 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: of Like I need this to happen because I don't 22 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: know if I just I just accept what it is. 23 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,199 Speaker 1: Maybe I don't have a good imagination, but I love, 24 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: like you know, Southern Gothic is my favorite form of 25 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: probably things that I really really really really love. So 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: it's hard for me to think on beyond that. Yeah, 27 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 1: I mean all of that stuff does exist, believe believe me. 28 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: And I will say about shipping, like I think for me, 29 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: this isn't the case for a lot of people, but 30 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,919 Speaker 1: for me, shipping is fun when it's like I don't 31 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: want this to happen, or I'm glad it didn't happen, 32 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: or I know it never will happen, and that's okay, 33 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: but at least I can read about it and right. 34 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: Because I'm not really a romantic person, I do like 35 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: sweet like relationships, kind of like innocent, loving, caring relationships 36 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: that don't really involve sex, which a lot of times 37 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: is what fan fiction is, even though it's been totally 38 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: misinterpreted as this is like a place where all kinds 39 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 1: of sex is going down. It's usually just like domestic 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: what's called curtain fick of, just like, oh, this couple 41 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: cares about each other and they take they take care 42 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: of each other. It's very sweet. Yeah, Somebody asked me 43 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: the other day of like, how much do you read? 44 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: And I was like, well, my problem is every time 45 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: I try to read a book now I think I 46 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: could be reading, I have kind of the opposite issue. 47 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: That's fair, that is fair, I guess, I guess. I 48 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: mean I still Yeah, I still read, but I'm often 49 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: like I thought I could be reading fans or writing 50 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: fan fiction. But yes, we are bringing back this two 51 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: part classic on fan fiction, The bridgeon I did, and 52 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: in this one I reveal my very embarrassing user name, 53 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: which I believe is still up. It's empty, but it's 54 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: still there. You can find it. Oh, I wish I 55 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:11,839 Speaker 1: had deleted all my stories. I wish I had left 56 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: them up. But me too. Such a shame, Such a shame. Anyway, 57 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: please enjoy the second part in our too Fart Look 58 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: on fan Fiction. Hello, this is Annie and this is Bridget, 59 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: and you're listening to stuff. Mom never told you. This 60 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: is part two of our fan fiction Extravaganza, because, surprise, surprise, 61 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: we were very excited to talk about fan fiction. Um, 62 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: if you haven't caught the first episode, go check it out. 63 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: It was kind of more of a primer the history 64 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: what what is this fan fiction thing? And in this 65 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: episode we're gonna look more into why it's my sli 66 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: women writing fan fiction and slash. Yeah, I was pretty surprised. 67 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: I had no idea there were so many ins and 68 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: outs to fan fiction. I thought it was going to 69 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: be something that was sort of a quick overview, but 70 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: when you actually look at the history, there's so much 71 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: going on and it's so gendered. After part one of 72 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: this episode aired, I was having a conversation with a 73 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: friend and I was like, oh, we were talking about 74 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: fan fiction and he said, oh, isn't that a bunch 75 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: of weirdos writing stories where Harry Potter and Gandolf have 76 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: sex with each other? And I was able to say, no, 77 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 1: that is a common fan fiction misconception. So I was 78 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: pretty proud of how how useful the information about fan 79 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,160 Speaker 1: fiction turned out to be in my own life. I'm 80 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: proud to Bridget. Good for you standing up for fan fiction. 81 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: But yeah, let's let's dive right in, shall we. Let's 82 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: do it. Yes, fan fic fear, that's what we're going 83 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: to talk about, and it does largely seem to do 84 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: with our anxieties around women and sexuality and male anxieties 85 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: about women in the fantom surprised a prize that's never 86 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: come up here on the show. No, never, never, And 87 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: this fear feminine media goes way back. To take this 88 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: quote from a pastor from eighteen sixty four. I have 89 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: seen a young lady with her table loaded with volumes, 90 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 1: a loaded of fictitious trash, pouring day after day and 91 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 1: night after night, over highly wrought, seeing some skillfully portrayed 92 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: pictures of romance, until her cheeks grew pale, her eyes 93 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: became wild and reckless, and her mind wandered and was lost. 94 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,840 Speaker 1: A lot of intelligence passed behind a cloud, and her 95 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: soul was forever benighted. She was insane, incurably insane from 96 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: reading novels. Is he describing you? Is that what you 97 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: look like when you read band fiction? So I am 98 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: a vampire. I wasn't planning on admitting it. It's right 99 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: to be hunting you, dad. Wait, is she behind you? 100 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: That's why I was so nervous before. Oh no, I 101 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: hope she doesn't listen to the show. She's gonna come. 102 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: I's gonna come from me. I'm a vampire though, anyway. 103 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: According to a survey from fanfic the fan fixed site 104 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 1: AO three that we mentioned earlier, an overwhelming majority of 105 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: fan fiction is written by people who identify as women, 106 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: more identify as gender queer at six percent than male 107 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: at four percent, and only thirty eight percent identify as heterosexual. 108 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: When AO three was first coded, it marked the biggest 109 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: majority female independent coding project ever. Wow. As to age demographics, 110 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: to go back to that whole horny teenagers are the 111 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: only ones writing this. That's not true. It depends on 112 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: which site you look at that it probably exkews slightly 113 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: older than you'd guess, like college aged outside of what Pad, 114 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: which we talked about earlier. See, this doesn't actually surprise 115 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: me at all, because I've often found that anything that 116 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: involves sort of people power and media, whether it's you know, 117 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,919 Speaker 1: YouTube or independent content creation, those spaces tend to be 118 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: heavily dominated by non heterosexual men's with women, queer folks 119 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: on by anario folks, books of color, like marginalized people 120 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: really combine their voices in these alternative sources of you know, 121 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: creativity and media. Yeah, I am kind of curious. I 122 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: wonder how common it is for perhaps men to pretend 123 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: to be women writing fan fiction, or like choose a 124 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: name that maybe you couldn't get a sense of whether 125 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: or not they were male or female, sort of like 126 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: how in the video game world a lot of female gamers, 127 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: including myself, which choose a masculine sounding name, hopefully that 128 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: people would leave us alone. Like I wonder, I'm just 129 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: curious if there's kind of an embarrassment or maybe even 130 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: male fan fiction writers feel like they'd be more accepted. 131 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: What was your fan fiction handle? It was winded? W 132 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: Why in D E D? What is that? What? Where 133 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: did that come from? What's the origin of that? Gosh, 134 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: it's actually really embarrassing story. I don't want to tell it. 135 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: If you can, we can tell it off air. You 136 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: can still look it up. It does exist, but there's nothing. 137 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: They are deleted everything. Unfortunately. I kind of wish there's 138 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: something there for you. Maybe if I find find them, 139 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: I'll repost. This is so sill. Once I snuck onto 140 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: the hometown I grew up in, had a really fancy neighborhood, 141 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: really fancy, well known, and I was just kind of 142 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: curious about what went down in there. So when I 143 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: was eight or nine, I um snuck in and I 144 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: was looking around and these police roll up and they 145 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: had a bunch of like big dogs, really scared to it. Also, 146 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: you know, I'm a young kids police and they asked 147 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: me what my name was, and I panicked and I said, 148 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: August Wind. Do you believe it wasn't August? Tell me 149 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: it was a windy night in August. It George Glass, 150 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: it was, it was August, and I'd like, it was 151 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:52,960 Speaker 1: clearly thank you for laughing at my name. Thank you. 152 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,839 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but being a I got, I 153 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: got windy August night. What's your name? August Wind? And 154 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: it was so clearly fake, but I like did not 155 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: abandon it, Like I went all in down with the 156 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: ship and you're like, where are you from? August Wind? 157 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, you know, neighbors down, they 158 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: know me around here. August wouldn't ask anyone. I'm so 159 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: glad I asked. But then I turned it into like 160 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: a pun, a play on winded, because I you know, 161 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 1: I was an emo teenager and I was tired. I 162 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: was winded, but also I was staying with my roots 163 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: of my bad fake name that I made up when questioned, 164 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 1: that's such a good story. Yeah, it wasn't one of 165 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: my better fake names, but you know I gave you 166 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 1: a swinging a miss, as they say, away from my 167 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: embarrassing pen name. But first we're gonna take a quick 168 00:09:54,720 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: break for word for a sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, 169 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: spots are. Here is a quote from vox. There's a 170 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: special I reserved for the particular corner of the web 171 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: where people make transformative works about the media they love. 172 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 1: And given that this corner is primarily composed of young women, 173 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:25,119 Speaker 1: it's hard to avoid the conclusion that this ire is gendered. 174 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: And also, apart from that, if you think about the 175 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: gate keeping of fandoms, it's largely done by men, and 176 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,719 Speaker 1: having women dominate this one particular aspect of fandom made 177 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: a lot of men in the fandom uncomfortable, like, what 178 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: are you doing this weird thing in my fandom? For 179 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: another article, oh, this is the one I mentioned earlier 180 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,439 Speaker 1: from the Mary Sue noted that the most vocal criticism 181 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: of fan fiction is from male critics. In an article 182 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: titled when men write fan fiction, It isn't fan fiction 183 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: because it's academic. Okay, that's first of all, how is 184 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: it that men are the most vocal critics of a 185 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: landscape dominated by For me, that this tells you all 186 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: you need to know about how men show up in 187 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: this space. And that sounds hostile. It is, it's really hostile. 188 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: And I found so many articles written by men that 189 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: were criticizing fan fiction and they were just so condescending 190 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: and like dismissive, just kind of insulting about the people 191 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: who would do this, and it was hard misogynistic, very 192 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. And 193 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: there are a lot of theories as to why women 194 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: make up a majority of the fan fiction community. One 195 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: is that it allowed young girls and women traditionally excluded 196 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:39,440 Speaker 1: from fandom by default and from the world of professional 197 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: writing and media making as well. It provided the space 198 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,200 Speaker 1: that they could enter freely and create empowering storylines that 199 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: they weren't seeing anywhere else, or even if the storylines 200 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: weren't empowering, they felt empowered because they created them. Yeah, yeah, 201 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:54,679 Speaker 1: I know, we're like a broken record on the show 202 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: about this, but that really matters, you know, feeling like 203 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: you're the one who is the author of your own 204 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 1: ory that matters so much. And even if it's not 205 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: an empowering story, knowing that you have a voice and 206 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 1: that you are have a seat at the table as 207 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: a creator is important. And I just hate seeing men 208 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: on it because of their own hang ups around gender. Yeah, 209 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: and it also breaks my heart about how a lot 210 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: of the like dismissiveness of it is like these are young, 211 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 1: stupid girls, like young and you know, like fan girls. 212 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: I remember Christie Caroline did an episode on how we 213 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: kind of deride the fan girl. It's a part of 214 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: life where you're you're growing and boys go through the 215 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 1: same thing, but we don't loving what they love. And 216 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: I think this is this is one of those times 217 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 1: where I want to say, oh, we should do another 218 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: episode on blah blah blah. But I've always thought that 219 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: it's young girls who are the real kind of Internet pioneers. 220 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: Look at things like Tumbler, look at things like meme culture, 221 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: so much of that is fueled by very young girls 222 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: online who are like left to their own devices. They 223 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: really love this one, saying they're going to go all 224 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:58,840 Speaker 1: in on it, and I think it's actually quite innovative, 225 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: Like we don't think of young girls and their fandom 226 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: as purveyors of Internet innovation, but that's what they are 227 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 1: and we because it's girls, because it's feminized, um, and 228 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: because of our hang ups around and anxieties around gender, 229 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: people have to put it down. But if they could 230 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: look at it with a fresh perspective, they would see, Oh, 231 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,719 Speaker 1: these women and young girls actually are quite innovative. They're 232 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,599 Speaker 1: innovative creators who are carving off their own space of 233 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: the Internet. Yeah, and I'm kind of again, I had 234 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: a really I had a really good experience with fan fiction. 235 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,839 Speaker 1: I'm sure this exists, like negativity exist, but for me, 236 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: I didn't really stumble onto it. And I'm I've been 237 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: proud that generally nobody's making fun of another fandom, or 238 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: at least if they are, they're like a quiet minority. 239 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: So I like that. I think that, you know, write 240 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: your one direction fan fiction. I'm gonna write my Harry 241 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: Potter fan fiction. We're all just creating these things here, 242 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,959 Speaker 1: and I like that the kind of judgment isn't there 243 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,200 Speaker 1: as much as you see with the male dominated parts 244 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: of fandom. Writing fan fiction may also give women that 245 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: sense of community that we've talked so much about, which 246 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: is even more important. Research suggest for lesbian and queer 247 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: girls who wrote our found role models and slash fiction 248 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: at times when they felt isolated. Elizabeth Minkl wrote in 249 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: The New Statesman, my preferred explanation, and she's talking about 250 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: why fan fiction is sort of dominated by women, is 251 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: the idea that a vast majority of what we watch 252 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: is from the male perspective, author directed and filmed by men, 253 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: and mostly straight white men. At that fan fiction gives 254 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: women and other marginalized groups the chance to subvert that perspective, 255 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 1: to fracture a story and recast it in her own way. 256 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: It often feels as if there isn't much space for 257 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: difference in the dominant cultural narratives in fandom. By design 258 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: their space for it. I love that, And even though 259 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: I'm not someone who's super into fandom, that's the thing 260 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: I find so beautiful that it's it can be such 261 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: an inclusive space where all different narratives get to be included. Yeah, 262 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: and we've touched on before having to prove your fandom 263 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: as a woman or geek girl, fear she's just faking 264 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: it to infiltrate or fandom. Then that's another thing that 265 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: we'll have to return to. But it does play a role, 266 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: and I think in kind of the hang ups we 267 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: have around band fiction and all the women writing it. 268 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: This does bring us to Slash. It's time. It's finally 269 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: time to talk about Slash. Okay, So first off, Slash 270 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: is not always pornographic, like I've said many times. In fact, 271 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: it's more often than not not pornographic. And it's important 272 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: to keep in mind when we unpack why most Slash 273 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: is written by women, just in case people are as 274 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: tuned into this world as me. Slashes male two men together, 275 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: that's noncanon. So if we look down, if we break 276 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: down readership demographics, it's generally at split between heatersexual readers, 277 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: and queer readers. When it comes to Slash, it can 278 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: differ depending on the fandom and the site. And there 279 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: are a lot of theories um as to why slash 280 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: is such a phenomenon, and I have one that I 281 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: am now totally on board with has changed my view 282 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: of most media for a while. Personally, I had a 283 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: theory it was because most well developed characters we consume, 284 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: our male female options are limited, so most relationships were 285 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: seeing on screen are between two dupes. I think everybody 286 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: Cop Movie or Kirkin's Black. So we're just we're taking 287 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: what we see and expounding upon it. Another idea. I 288 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: read that in particular in Japanese fan fiction, a slash 289 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: might be preferred because it removes the pressures of marriage 290 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: and that little line item we call pregnancy. No matter 291 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: where you are, the female body is inherently political, and 292 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: it comes with all of this invisible baggage that male 293 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: bodies don't. And we could do a whole thing about 294 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: slash in Asia. In Japan, where manga based slash is 295 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: called at ya oe, the romance between two male characters 296 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: usually still fits into the traditional, often regressive, masculine feminine pairing. 297 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: There's pretty clear like this one was meant to be 298 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: the masculine, this one is meant to be the feminine one. 299 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: It's pretty wide seen as a way for women to 300 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,160 Speaker 1: express their sexuality and desire and to experience the emotional 301 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: aspects of relationships of the attendees at the two thousand 302 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,439 Speaker 1: and three Yayoikon and San Francisco or Women That's Fascinating. 303 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: Slash Our Den Mai is popular among heterosexual women self 304 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: identified as rotten Girls and China. To an estimated two 305 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: seventy five million people read slash fan fiction in China. 306 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: Researchers into why positive. It's because women like reading Don 307 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: My because it's a way for women to rebel in 308 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: a society that expects women to be obedient. Owners of 309 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: the sites hosting don Mike can be jailed by the government, 310 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: and the readers are often described as needing psychiatric help. 311 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: And a criticism I see about slash fairly regularly is 312 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: that it makes it harder for gay men are gay 313 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: characters to have platonic relationships, and that it fetishizes and 314 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: objectifies gay men, particularly more visual mediums like yo, which 315 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,680 Speaker 1: is traditionally more visual. A counterpoint to that is that 316 00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: a decent portion of the women creating slash are not 317 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: attracted two men, and almost all of the women writing 318 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: slash grew up in a society that is prohibitive when 319 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,640 Speaker 1: it comes to women exploring their sexuality, one that shames 320 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 1: women and objectifies their bodies. Male characters are a safe, 321 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 1: shame free way to dip your toe in and kind 322 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: of a funny way. It removes the male gaze that 323 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 1: women have internalized. It's so fascinating how women are using 324 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: this medium to sort of explore their own sexuality, but 325 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: not even necessarily in a overtly sexualized way if they're 326 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 1: not actually attracted to men. Yeah, Yeah, this is the 327 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: one that is. I feel like it's kind of changed 328 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,360 Speaker 1: how I look at all media, because, like I said, 329 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: I'd never liked the sex part of slash, but I 330 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: did like slash fan fiction because of the relationships in there. 331 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: And the more I think about it, the more I 332 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,239 Speaker 1: think it was because of this, because it was a 333 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: safer way it removed the female body does come with 334 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,919 Speaker 1: all of this stuff that kind of almost takes you 335 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: away from the story. You can enjoy it as much 336 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: because you are at least I felt like as a woman, 337 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: it almost makes me tense knowing she's going to have 338 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: to deal with all of these things. It's just like 339 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: what you said before, Women's bodies are apherently political, and 340 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,120 Speaker 1: so if the point of view consuming this media, it's 341 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: just sort of get an escape from that. It makes 342 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: sense that including a sexualized female body would only sort 343 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: of add to your anxieties. It wouldn't be that like 344 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,159 Speaker 1: escape that you're looking for. Yeah, and we have penned 345 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,439 Speaker 1: so many things to women, and that the way they behave. 346 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: I read an article by someone else who was saying 347 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: she realized and she got older than almost every character 348 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: she'd ever written. Almost every fan fiction she'd ever read 349 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: all had like men in them, even though she's a feminist, 350 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: and she was trying to at the bottom of why 351 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,359 Speaker 1: that is. And she thinks it's because women are almost 352 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: always passive, should be seen as passive, whereas male characters 353 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: are men, they're active, they're aggressive. So you're telling a 354 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: story you want like an active character, you don't want 355 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: a passive character. And I think we've internalized so much 356 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: about what society tells us is how a woman should 357 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: behave and what we see in media, that it is 358 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: hard to escape it. If you introduce a woman into 359 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: a story, whether you like it or not, whether you 360 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:07,919 Speaker 1: know it or not, I think in the back of 361 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:09,840 Speaker 1: your head, there are all these assumptions that you're making 362 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: that are perhaps making it hard to just enjoy it. 363 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: After I read this, I started to think that maybe 364 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: this is why we see so much bromance. As a culture, 365 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: we've sexualized the female body so much that having a 366 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: story with a female character played against a male character 367 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: or another female character, it automatically becomes sexualized, even if 368 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: it's platonic. Exactly. You're thinking in the back of your 369 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: head they're going to get together, exactly. But that doesn't 370 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: happen with two male characters for male viewers, which is 371 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: what media is traditionally, has traditionally been made for as 372 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: male viewers, for the male gaze, and sometimes that comes 373 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: through through the writer, through the director, or sometimes it 374 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: comes through the audience, just as observing. We might be 375 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: putting that on there. I would say a lot of 376 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 1: times were putting that there because that is what's been 377 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,719 Speaker 1: ingrained in us. But for so long the female character 378 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: has existed in the story solely for some kind of 379 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: like objectification or sexual aspect. That's why she's there. I 380 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: think we're moving away from that. But I think that 381 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: is one of the reasons perhaps that so many women 382 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: are writing slash two male characters and hadn't even occurred 383 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 1: to me. But that makes so much sense. Yeah, I 384 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: did have a moment of like, trans fiction, you're changing 385 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: my view on the world. Everything's making sense now. Over 386 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 1: at the high Hat, Melissa writes that Slash gives and 387 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: the author the chance to quote have the freedom of 388 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: being male in their female bodies. I do think there 389 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 1: is more freedom in the male body, I would say. 390 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:43,920 Speaker 1: And also, young straight men have a plethora of mainstream 391 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: accepted media to help them explore their sexuality. Definitely, they 392 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:54,200 Speaker 1: have an abundance. Yes, oh yeah, slash challenges gender norms, masculinity, femininity. 393 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 1: I'm not sure the same fear would exist around male 394 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,200 Speaker 1: authored fim slash if it were men writing sex between 395 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: two women. I'm pretty sure we would just be like, 396 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: oh man, you know, just doing Yeah. And a side 397 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: note in the article I was reading about the fear 398 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,679 Speaker 1: of fan fiction from Box, they specifically call out the 399 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,160 Speaker 1: fact that, despite having an all male creative team Captain America, 400 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: the Winners Soldier, which is one of my favorites, is 401 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: popularly read and turned into a homorotic love story between 402 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,400 Speaker 1: the two men by young women, which as someone who 403 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: dresses up as the Winners Soldier at conventions and sees 404 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: this all the time for some reason in my pinters feed, 405 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,360 Speaker 1: I really appreciated it. When I read that, I was like, yep, 406 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about it, but yes, we're gonna take 407 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:55,760 Speaker 1: a quick break for word for our sponsor and we're back. 408 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,919 Speaker 1: Thank you, spotsor okay, so you can probably tell I 409 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: am no fan ofiction expert. But this I found really 410 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: really interesting and I wanted to include it. A quick 411 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: note about celebrities. When reporters asked celebrities to comment on 412 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: weird fan fiction, they are doing it to mock their fans. 413 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: Probably neither of the reporter nor the celebrity know about 414 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: fan fiction, and that's fine, but then you wonder, like, 415 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,479 Speaker 1: why even talk about it at all. So there's this 416 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: really infamous interview with Benedict Cumberbatch in Out magazine that 417 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,400 Speaker 1: really did a lot of this kind of thing, demeaning 418 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 1: people who read fan fiction, who write fan fiction, and 419 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: who are excited about fan fiction. But those fans took 420 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:36,640 Speaker 1: one phrase from that interview that phrases quote lustful monster 421 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: and put it in art. One actually put on a 422 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: T shirt and the sales of that shirt go to 423 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: the nonprofit behind a OH three, the Organization for Transformative Works. 424 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 1: So that just goes to show you that these innovators 425 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: are taking a reporter basically trying to make fun of them, 426 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: making lemonade out of lemons, and using it to raise 427 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,919 Speaker 1: money for a great cause that they care about. Who 428 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: would have ever thought that lustful gloster could generate such 429 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,879 Speaker 1: positive impact. My heart is fit to burst to birth. 430 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 1: Do you own a lustful You should? If you had it, 431 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 1: you would be wearing it. Yeah. I didn't know this existed, 432 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: but now I really want one. And another show I 433 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: mentioned before, Supernatural, did the whole episode on fan fiction. 434 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: That's really difficult to explain without having the foundation of 435 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,679 Speaker 1: what that show is, but basically, the main characters have 436 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: a cult following and stumble upon a high school that's 437 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,639 Speaker 1: putting on a musical about their lives. And this musical 438 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: is almost exclusively put together by young women. It's pretty 439 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: great because the two main characters of that show are 440 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: pretty like macho dudes, and then they stumble upon these 441 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: young ladies making a musical about their life. And at 442 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: the end, one of the characters is like, look, I 443 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,640 Speaker 1: really don't like what you're doing, but I appreciate your 444 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: right to do it, and you do it well. Yeah. 445 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: And one of the actors from the show, Misha Collins, 446 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: he has some really awesome quotes about fan fiction. For instance, 447 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: when somebody asked him about slash because his character, as 448 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, cast Dale and Dean, there's a lot 449 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: of slash about them. The stl when he was asked 450 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,159 Speaker 1: about it at a convention, he said, talking about Slash, 451 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: I think it is a great cultural asset that unites 452 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,120 Speaker 1: the world and makes it better, which is lovely, Which 453 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,159 Speaker 1: is lovely. Author Daniel Beings wrote that her experience with 454 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: fan fiction taught her that she wrote about common themes 455 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,880 Speaker 1: and would write with quote, urgency, joy, and discipline. When 456 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: she provided a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fiction as a 457 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: sample for previous work. When applying for a writing program, 458 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: she had to explain in her follow up interview that 459 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: what fan fiction was and why she was drawn to it. 460 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: It gave her the space to experiment with her voice 461 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: freely and with characters and universes that she was comfortable with, 462 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: and she got in and is now a two time 463 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: recipient of the Romance Writers of Australia Media Industry Award. 464 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: So good for her for all the men who were 465 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: like looking down on it and on it. It's actually 466 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: changing people's lives. Absolutely. It's just kind of this beautiful 467 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,920 Speaker 1: democratic thing. We have, this industry of published fiction as 468 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: a lot of barriers of barriers socio economically, even having 469 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 1: access to education to get the degree that's going to 470 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: get agents to sign you like, there are barriers, but 471 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,879 Speaker 1: in the world of fan fiction at its best and yeah, again, 472 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:12,919 Speaker 1: going back to thinks, she says, fan fiction is a 473 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: more accessible platform for writing and experimentation, and I'm all 474 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: for it, and so am I. It's made me really 475 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 1: really happy to do this research and us. I really 476 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,439 Speaker 1: appreciate this world that we've kind of made for ourselves. 477 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: And Annie, I appreciate this master class in fan fiction. 478 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 1: I feel like I could really teach a class now, 479 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: believe it or not. I cut a lot of stuff. 480 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: I was like, I'm here's a sample of across over 481 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: like I had a sample for everything. You've got to 482 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: calm down, Annie or else will never leave the studio. Well, 483 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: I hope that you listeners have enjoyed this as much 484 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,840 Speaker 1: as we have enjoyed putting it together. And please, if 485 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: you're comfortable with it, send us some fan fiction that 486 00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,919 Speaker 1: you've written. We're thinking about doing kind of a kind 487 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: of a on ongoing series of reading fan fiction, perhaps 488 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: with some like production value. We've got. We've got a 489 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: little whole project idea kicking around. Yeah, send us that 490 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: fan Pi absolutely and Bridget and I I will jump 491 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,639 Speaker 1: in the fray. I will read my fan fiction. I might, Okay, 492 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: I might. We'll see. Gotta I gotta get, I gotta 493 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: like psych yourself. I gotta check myself up a little bit. Okay. 494 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: But speaking of asking people to send in their fan fiction, no, 495 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 1: it is time for some listener mail. Skyler wrote, I 496 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: wanted to share a small anecdote from my junior prom. 497 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: We didn't have a specific dress code for prom other 498 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 1: than formal attire and to use our brains on what 499 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,280 Speaker 1: is quote appropriate. It was definitely less strict than our 500 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: school dress code. The administrators were more concerned with alcohol 501 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: than dress. To their credit anyway, there was a group 502 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,959 Speaker 1: of about ten guys that chose not to wear shirts 503 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: under their vest. Somehow that qual is formal. They were 504 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 1: confronted by the chaperones eventually for jumping on and over tables. 505 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: Come and find out she went to high school with 506 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:12,119 Speaker 1: the Chippendales dancers. That sounds like it could happen in 507 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 1: a fan fiction. Honestly, it does. It does. Our next 508 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: email us from Sarah. Sarah writes, I just listened to 509 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: your episode on prom and I thought it was so interesting. 510 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: It really got me thinking about my own prom experiences. 511 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: I never thought I would consider my school liberal, but 512 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:27,880 Speaker 1: when it comes to prom, it definitely is. We don't 513 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:29,880 Speaker 1: have a prom dress code, and two girls or two 514 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,400 Speaker 1: guys buy the couple's prom ticket all the time because 515 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: it's cheaper than buying two singles. Listening to the controversies 516 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: and activism around prom and comparing them to how my 517 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: school handles the same issue was fascinating. I lit up 518 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: when you mentioned how you wish you'd want our suit 519 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:44,719 Speaker 1: to prom, because that's exactly what I did. I'd wore 520 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: a dresses to every single school dance before my senior prom. 521 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: But I went on a vacation to France a month 522 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: before prom and and impulse bought these fabulous, glittery pink 523 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: saddle shoes. Of course, I had to base my entire 524 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: prom look around them, my makeup, my jewelry, my manicure, 525 00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: and the vest and tie. My mom completely supported me, 526 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: although I felt super awkward at first, as can happen 527 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: when you're defying gender expectations, I got so many compliments. 528 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: My other friends were complaining about how they couldn't breathe 529 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,959 Speaker 1: in their dresses, how their strap was Brau's kept slopping. 530 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: But I got to be comfortable and stylish suits of 531 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: the way to go man, um Sarah, I'm like living 532 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: vicariously through you. I wish i'd warn a suit to 533 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,640 Speaker 1: prom and I wish I had had pink, sparkly saddle shoes. 534 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: She sent a picture and that was that was a 535 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: dope outfit. So good, Sarah, Well done, Yes, well done. 536 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: Thanks to both of them for writing in. Thanks it's 537 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: always to our producers, Delan Fagan, Kathleen Quillian. We would 538 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. Please send those fan fiction 539 00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: please or any other thoughts that you have. Um Our 540 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,640 Speaker 1: email is a mom stuff at how stuff works dot com. 541 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,120 Speaker 1: You can also find us on Twitter at mom stuff 542 00:29:50,120 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: and on Instagram at stuff mom Never told You Two 543 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: two