{"id":19027,"date":"2020-03-16T09:30:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T04:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=19027"},"modified":"2020-03-16T11:06:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T05:36:56","slug":"flipping-the-script-4-reasons-fan-fiction-is-a-feminist-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/flipping-the-script-4-reasons-fan-fiction-is-a-feminist-pursuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Flipping the Script: 4 Reasons Fan Fiction Is a Feminist Pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What if Ariel of\u00a0The Little Mermaid<\/i>\u00a0was a woman of color? What if Mulan had a girlfriend? How about if Snow White was in a wheelchair? And what if all of these storylines didn\u2019t revolve around finding love?<\/p>\n

A world where our favorite Disney princesses and beloved fictional characters were of different body types, abilities, races, and sexualities seems difficult to imagine. Especially if that world also means narratives that reach beyond women\u2019s stories centering around a love interest.<\/p>\n

But there is a place where these things exist, where the diverse media representation that we all crave is reality:\u00a0fan fiction<\/i>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s often ridiculed as nerdy and those who are into it are often written off,\u00a0fan fiction makes some serious progress when it comes to empowerment of marginalized people<\/b>.<\/p>\n

It allows us to call out\u00a0problematic media elements<\/a>\u00a0of the texts we love and subvert those narratives \u2013 leaving space to reclaim the stories and characters we treasure and make them into something even better.<\/p>\n

Now, fan fiction isn\u2019t necessarily inherently a political act \u2013 there are plenty of entries into the genre that are problematic in many of the same ways traditional media is (or more so \u2013\u00a0Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i>, anyone?).<\/p>\n

But\u00a0it does also allow for some seriously wonderful exploration of feminist ideals like equality and empowerment, as well as representation in media depictions and voices.<\/b><\/p>\n

As adult fantasy author Lev Grossman\u00a0explained<\/a>\u00a0in an interview for Indyweek.com, fan fiction often acts as a powerful tool that allows writers to \u201cengage with and critique source texts, by manipulating them and breaking their rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although most people write off the genre as uncool or thoughtless worship of a given piece of media,\u00a0fan fiction often does double duty in order to fill in the blanks of identity that are missing from pop culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOne tends to think of it as written by total fanboys and fangirls as a kind of worshipful act,\u201d Grossman writes, \u201cbut a lot of times you\u2019ll read these stories and it\u2019ll be like \u2018What if\u00a0Star Trek<\/em>\u00a0had an openly gay character on the bridge?\u2019 And of course the point is that they don\u2019t, and they wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving voice to marginalized groups? Exploring equality? Calling out media?<\/p>\n

That sounds down-right feminist to me. Here are four reasons why fan fiction is a feminist pursuit:<\/p>\n

1. It Helps Young Women Explore Identities and Create Communities<\/b><\/h2>\n

According to scholar Angela A. Thomas, fan fiction is a powerful tool\u00a0for young women in particular<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Her research found that\u00a0by writing and reading fan fiction, young women were able to \u201cengage in self-reflexive critical practice about their reading, their choices, and their identities in their different forms.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

This is a huge deal in a culture that constantly\u00a0ridicules<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0undermines<\/a>\u00a0young women.<\/p>\n

When our society is telling girls who they should be and how they must act, fan fiction allows an outlet for true exploration of who they really are.<\/p>\n

Angela Thomas\u2019 research also found that\u00a0those who participated in fan fiction were offered a sense of community<\/b>\u00a0many teenagers and marginalized people might not experience elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Essentially,\u00a0fan fiction can\u00a0<\/b>act as a safe space<\/b><\/a>\u00a0for those who write and read it<\/b>. Often, those who participate in the community not only find like-minded characters that they can relate to, but also peers who understand them.<\/p>\n

Many writers and readers of the genre also join forums, social media platforms, and in-person meetings and conventions that allow them to truly connect with others.<\/p>\n

Community building and collective action are\u00a0<\/b>key components of feminism<\/b><\/a>. They allow us to band together in order to envision and build the future we want to see for ourselves.<\/p>\n

So when it comes to fan fiction, this means envisioning a better version of the media we love \u2013 one with real diversity and representation.<\/p>\n

2. It Allows Us to Interrogate Texts<\/b><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve said it before, and I\u2019ll say it again: Sometimes the things we love just don\u2019t fit into our feminists practices.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are ways to consume\u00a0problematic media<\/a>\u00a0as a feminist, but\u00a0the great thing about fan fiction is that it can address the reasons why our favorite pieces of media are lacking.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Often, we don\u2019t stop to consider what is wrong with pop culture and mainstream media texts \u2013 but fan fiction forces us to confront and interrogate these elements head-on.<\/p>\n

When we start to read alternate version of the texts we love with dramatically different elements to them \u2013 be it the inclusion of different sexualities, races, or other identities or even alternate storylines \u2013\u00a0we have to confront that these elements were missing in the first place.<\/b><\/p>\n

It makes us consider what a world would be like where stories aren\u2019t\u00a0centered around the white male experience<\/a>, where the\u00a0male gaze<\/a>\u00a0isn\u2019t the lens by which most media is seen.<\/p>\n

Fan fiction forces us to confront\u00a0why<\/i>\u00a0these elements are the norm and what a world where marginalized people are re-centered in might be like.<\/p>\n

3. It Centers Diversity<\/b><\/h2>\n

Caroline Starks\u00a0said it best<\/a>\u00a0while writing about fan fiction for\u00a0The Mary Sue\u00a0<\/i>\u2014\u00a0the genre does more than tell a story:\u00a0I<\/em><\/b>t allows us to explore worlds<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

Even more important,\u00a0these pieces of writing often let us explore the worlds of those whose stories are more often than not left out of the narrative.<\/b><\/p>\n

According to the Women\u2019s Media Center\u2019s\u00a0latest report<\/a>\u00a0on women in the media, women are vastly underrepresented in the media: Only about 28% of speaking roles in the top 100 films went to women in 2014.<\/p>\n

And the roles were even fewer and farther between for women of color: \u201cOf the women who who did get speaking roles in movies, 34.6% were black, 33.9% were [Latina], and 28.8% were white.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a world where hardly anything passes the\u00a0Bechdel Test<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 or its expanded counterparts that take other factors such as race or sexuality into consideration \u2013 we desperately need these kinds of outlets for representations of race, gender, sexuality, ability, and class.<\/p>\n

That means that, for popular books series like\u00a0Harry Potter,<\/i>\u00a0we get to imagine what life for Hermione Granger is like outside of the series\u2019 hero.<\/p>\n

We are able to separate one of our favorite character\u2019s from the man her story is otherwise centered around and explore what her life is like through her own eyes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or maybe we take it even farther from the text and explore what life would have been like if Hermione was, say, a black woman.<\/p>\n

This is a common writing device used in fan fiction typically referred to as\u00a0racebending<\/a>, or changing the race of a beloved character.<\/p>\n

Once again, this is a powerful tool for interrogating what is missing from a text and subverting our media to be\u00a0more inclusive<\/a>\u00a0and offer\u00a0greater visibility for various identities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. It Provides a Space for Perspectives\u00a0That Are Ignored by the Media<\/b><\/h2>\n

Not only is there a stunning lack of diversity in the kinds of people represented\u00a0in our media,\u00a0there is also a stunning lack of diversity in those who\u00a0<\/b>created<\/i><\/b>\u00a0that media.<\/b><\/p>\n

In fact,\u00a070% of film writers and critics are men<\/a>, and \u201cthey tend to write about films by male directors featuring male protagonists.\u201d<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t get much better in literature. The annual\u00a0VIDA count<\/a>, which measures gender inequality in literature, consistently finds that male authors are significantly more likely to be reviewed and featured in major publications than women are.<\/p>\n

But fan fiction can help address that.<\/p>\n

Although we don\u2019t have exact numbers,\u00a0most research has found that the\u00a0<\/b>majority of fan fiction writers are women<\/b><\/a>. And this is wonderful in a world where women\u2019s perspectives, especially women of color, are typically ignored.<\/p>\n

Fan fiction is a genre that literally anybody can create and distribute.<\/b>\u00a0Within fan fiction, there are infinite opportunities for marginalized people to express themselves, share their own experiences, and create a sense of community.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

We need more spaces for marginalized people to express themselves. Although pop culture and mainstream media have yet to feature the diversity and representation we crave, fan fiction can help to fill in those gaps.<\/p>\n

And that is nothing short of feminist.<\/p>\n

Ally Boguhn is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism and a feminist activist and media researcher living and working in Washington, DC. Ally is the founder and editor of\u00a0Because I am a Woman<\/a>, a blog devoted to intersectional feminism and reproductive justice. You can follow Ally on Twitter\u00a0@AllyBoguhn<\/a>.\u00a0Read her articles.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published here<\/a><\/p>\n

Featured Image Source:\u00a0Her Zimbabwe<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We need more spaces for marginalized people to express themselves. Although pop culture and mainstream media have yet to feature the diversity and representation we crave, fan fiction can help to fill in those gaps. And that is nothing short of feminist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":19037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1,2171],"tags":[1911,1274,1317,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-19027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog-roll","8":"category-categories","9":"category-literature-and-sexuality","10":"tag-fanfiction","11":"tag-lgbtq","12":"tag-literature","13":"tag-sexualities"},"menu_order":387,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19027"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19067,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027\/revisions\/19067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}