Queer Fanfiction

Queer Fanfiction: An Instrument in the Construction of Queer Identities| Suhasini Sathyanarayan

Suggested Citation: Sathyanarayan, S. (2021, July 15). Queer Fanfiction: An Instrument in the Construction of Queer Identities. Queer Academia. URL. 

Introduction

Almost everyone self-identifies as a fan in some sense, writes Mark Duffett in his 2013 book, Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture (p. 23). He traces the word “fan” back to the term “fanatic,” that is formally defined as a “person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause” (Oxford Languages). But the term, in its present colloquial understanding, has been scraped off of most of the negative connotations of “fanatic” over the years, though the degree to which is largely dependent on the perception of the particular community by the larger population, and thus differs from community to community. The word was first seen in use in the last decades of the seventeenth century, before becoming rooted in the United States where it was primarily ascribed to the loyal and devoted admirers of film and music (Duffett, 2013). This audience, these fans, of a particular person, team, fictional series, etc. regarded collectively as a community or subculture is what makes up a fandom as we know it (Oxford Languages). However, the entity that they congregate around has now expanded to include literature, anime, sports, and celebrity media, and the like.

Fandoms have always existed as fame and celebrity are enduring concepts, but the form they take is dependent on the circumstances of the time. Jenkins in Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (1992) argues that they “originate in response to specific historical conditions” (p. 11). Hence, when talking about fandoms of the twentieth and twenty-first century—in the magnitude, reach, and scope they have expanded to— they are better understood as dynamic phenomena associated with the surge in electronic media, and in particular, the Internet. To understand how a fandom is constituted, it is important to highlight its primary feature: that they are made up of participants defined by their willingness in the formation and dissemination of textual interpretations (Jenkins, 1992). Jenkins describes these cultures as participatory cultures, wherein the consumption of media results in the production of it. This production generates works in numerous forms—namely, fanfiction, fanart, metatextual analysis, cosplay, and fan videos—and consequently, allows participatory cultures to evolve into an interactive community where those who are a part of it can share not only the content they produce, but also their thoughts and feelings revolving around the original text, resulting in fan practices and characteristics that are unique to their membership in the community.

Through common knowledge and learned experience, it is understood that being a fan shapes identity and contributes to intellectual, personal, and social development. Jenkins elucidates how individuals enter into fandoms to seek solace from distinct sense of separation they feel from sociocultural conditions imposed upon them, thus moving towards communities that are “receptive to their cultural productions” in search of somewhere ‘within which they may feel a sense of “belonging’” (p.41). With the accessibility of the Internet, individuals have the resources to fulfill these needs at a much faster rate, particularly in their formative years, which has thus contributed to the recognition of fandoms as a youth phenomenon (Duffet, 1992).   Isolated, ignored, or simply scorned for who they are, it is unsurprising that queer youth find respite and support in the largely safe space of a fandom or sub-communities within a fandom where they can create fan work that authentically expresses their identities, find others who have the same interests, and create meaningful connections with them. The fanfiction community is one such sub-community that occupies a significant position in fandoms wherein individuals, both in the production and consumption of fanfiction, can safely explore and learn more about themselves and their identities, and construct meaning through the transformative lens.

The following sections of this paper will provide accounts of a history of queer fanfiction, its current configuration, and an analysis of how the form and the spaces that contain it has helped facilitate the discovery and acceptance of queer identities.

A Brief History of Queer Fanfiction and an Analysis of Present Demographic Information

A central property that has propelled the development and popularisation of modern fanfiction—and also affiliated with other fan work such as fanart and fan videos—is the concept of “ships”. Rooted in the word “relationship,” a “ship” refers to “a romantic relationship between two or more characters” (Bothe, 2014, p. 5). It is important to clarify that these characters do not have to be in a relationship for them to be shipped together. They may have incompatible sexual or romantic orientations, may already be in separate relationships, or, perhaps, even be from different fandoms. There are no prerequisites that characters have to meet, hence, making the act of “shipping,” entirely the fans’ prerogative. For that purpose, shipping can be characterised entirely as the promotion of a ship within a fandom or fandoms as a result of  the fans’ emotional investment in it. The history of queer fanfiction, thus, begins this way. With a need to explore different sexualities and relationships outside the confines of its heteronormative context, the rise of queer fanfiction was first reflected in the 1970s Star Trek series fandom with the appearance of “slash fanfiction” of Kirk and Spock. Slash fanfiction refers to a fanfiction about or involving a same-sex relationship between two characters who are depicted as heterosexual in the source material (Mixer, 2018). But what is fanfiction? A broad term with many qualifications, it typically includes any written work that is derivative or transformative of an existing work, typically produced non-commercially (Brill, 2015). Brill further demonstrates how both the writers and readers “arrange themselves into groups based on mutual interests, and create self-perpetuating works to a set of ideas, pairings or even genres” (p. 6).

Slash fanfiction is such a sub-genre, a mutual interest that allows individuals to gather around. Jenkins’ understanding of the origin and development of fanfiction is accurate to the time period of when his book of essays was published, and much of it still holds up to this day. The idea of slash fanfiction as a medium to challenge patriarchal standards of masculinity, its role in redefining male heroism, its ability to translate the deep meaningful bonds between two same-sex characters into a respectful and liberating sexual relationship, still remains true to this day. Similarly, its criticism of slash fanfiction as pornography and serves to fetishize of homosexuality in its attempts to mould to female desires is also relevant. Yet, it does not accurately reflect the realities of the present. As Brill explains in her 2015 dissertation, while slash fanfiction is still sustained by female writers and readers, it has evolved and expanded to contain the sexual and gender identities present in the general vocabulary today. Both the contents of the fan work and its audiences reflect this range. Furthermore, it also cannot take into account the queer representation that is available in the zeitgeist. With more queer stories entering mainstream culture,  fans do not simply configure heterosexual men into relationships with each other. They have the space to explore queer characters and they relationships they’re in without inventing either identity or interest. However, it is important to note that slash fiction still occupies a significant position in the fanfiction community. The queer representation available has not influenced the ubiquity of slash pairings, fanfiction, or in the wide variety of works that are written and consumed.                                         

One can observe this by taking a cursory glance at the content available on Archive of Our Own (AO3), one of the few websites dedicated to support the existence of fanfiction (the other being Fanfiction.net that was launched in 1998). A fan-run website and a subsidiary of The Organization of Transformative Works (OTW), a non-profit organisation, AO3 entered the fandom scene in 2009. Quickly rising to popularity, as of 2020, AO3 has over 2.5 million registered users and almost 6 million works distributed over 37,600 fandoms, making it the most common fanfiction website used by fandom communities (AO3 Statistics). Dominated by queer pairings, there are over 4.5 million queer fanfiction works on AO3, allowing it to be an especially queer-friendly space. Since 2013, a Tumblr user, centurmlumina, has undertaken the project to track ship statistics across fandoms, documenting this very observable upward trend in the omnipresence of queer fanfiction, with only five heterosexual pairings ever making into the Top 20 list, and without much consistency in their appearance (Fanlore, 2020). But it is also true that the list is overwhelmingly pinned with male slash pairings, with only a handful of pairings portraying explicitly queer relationship on-screen. Moreover, there is only a sparse number of female pairings which have made it into the list—and only in 2016 and 2017, a phenomenon that is directly in relation to the emerging portrayal and subsequent disappearance of female queer experiences on mainstream media.

Quite evidently, this further lends proof to Jenkins’ implications on female writers and male slash fanfiction, but it would also be grievous to erase the small niches that writers and readers have carved for themselves in AO3 wherein individuals read and write their fictional—and real individuals—with varying identities that covers the expanse of the sexuality and gender spectrum. After all, if you want to read a long, detailed exploration of Harry Potter coming out as trans and falling in love with a non-binary Draco Malfoy, there is no place like AO3 that will cater to your very specific needs.

There is only one specific issue that one encounters when trying to gather statistics on AO3. The data is incredibly old, with the only census ever conducted dating back to 2013 by the same Tumblr user, centurmlumina, who recorded that 54% of AO3 users identified as a sexual, gender, or romantic minority. We can hypothesize that over the years with the increase in registered users—AO3 registered only 247, 000 users in 2013 (AO3 Statistics)— in conjunction with an increase in awareness of queer identities and the effort undertaken to visiblise these identities, the numbers might have increased, therefore establishing AO3 as a community populated by queer individuals producing, disseminating, and consuming queer fanfiction.                   

The Impact of Fanfiction on the Development of Identities

Each piece of this historic and demographic context is essential to understand the place of fanfiction—and its writers and readers—within a fandom. The above section has attempted to efficiently expound that the fanfiction community—dominated by queer identities—occupies a dominant place in fandom spaces and has a significant impact on the lives of fans who choose to participate in it. It is well-established in academic research and individual practices that fanfiction is a medium for persons involved to explore their fantasies, desires, and predilections—sexual or not. In her dissertation, Garner asserts that these individuals are in search of narrative pleasure (2016). Hence, they primarily seek out works that can provide them with emotional and/or sexual catharsis. In trying to understand the role of fanfiction and its communities in facilitating development, and parsing through multiple papers, it has become evident that there are primarily three salient and interdependent domains that benefit from participation (Waggoner 2012; Garner 2016; Mixer 2018; Floegel 2020).[1]  The first, the ability to enable one’s sexual development; the second, the opportunity provided to engage with one’s queer identity; and the third, in finding secure queer communities to further foster growth and change. Fanfiction, in particular slash fanfiction, helps writers and readers examine sexuality divorced from the scrutiny of societal norms, heteronormative procedures, and the acceptable models of sexuality perpetuated withing a specific sociocultural sphere.

Writing helps test the bounds, and as Mixer (2018) in her dissertation, maintains, to understand their sexual identity in a way they may not be hospitable to do so in their environments. She argues that the fanfiction community is a sort of “playing field” where writers and readers can reconfigure sex, rearrange relationships, explore different dynamics without fear of consequence and easily slip in and out of genders and sexualities to learn more about their preferences and wants. This can be noticed in the sort of fictional situations writers create and the sexual fantasies they project onto characters which include but are not limited to writing about BDSM fantasies, depicting taboo sexual acts and relationships, transforming characters into fantastical or supernatural creatures and portraying relationships between then, exploring the dynamics of genderbending characters, investigating sex between transgender characters, and the like. The freedom of sexual expression and the lack of judgement that fanfiction provides is unlike any other medium, simply for the sheer breadth of range it covers and volume of works it offers, and is, in short, liberating. Mixer does not discount the parallels fanfiction has to pornography, but argues that much of the harmful aspects of the material are nullified in fanfiction since it allows for a more emotionally intimate study of sex and relationships as well as more queer representation. Therefore, fanfiction is immensely valuable for queer individuals, especially so for adolescents. It is representational, validating, educational, and aids in making huge strides in normalising different sexualities and relationships that are not always accepted or respected in society. Hence, it plays a significant role in sexual development as, Mixer concludes, “more marginalized sexualities and genders can discover ways to be themselves in all regards, but particularly in sexual scripts that they may not have access to in any other aspect of their lives” (p. 30).                                                           

When analysing how fanfiction helps in identity formation, it becomes clear that fanfiction is, simply, a mode for self-expression. Interpretation of a text might be collective, but it is never uniform. It is subject to an individual’s experience, emotions, and personality. Thus, what one takes away from a text rarely ever completely overlaps with someone else’s reading of it. Constructing personal meaning, Waggoner (2012) reasons, is essential for fanfiction because the original work may or may not have a place to situate it. As long as the fandom lives, this interpretation and reinterpretation occurs constantly, evolving with either additions to the original text, the development of the individuals themselves, or with the expansion and growth of the community. This search for meaning is, hence, inextricably linked with the search and structuring of personal identity. One can even argue that fans and fanfiction writers find identity by developing meaning. This meaning that they search for is invariably a reflection of themselves. In trying to understand it through a queer perspective, one can, thus, notice why a queer-populated fanfiction community—such as AO3, for instance—would queer the canon world, introducing queer characters, relationships, and themes. They want it to be more representative of themselves and how they look at the world. Floegel (2020) helps augments this perspective by providing a salient addition, arguing that fanfiction is also a way to challenge cis- and heteronormative trends normalised in mainstream culture, and thereby contributing in creating a more richly diverse, representative landscape. Fanfiction offers a wealth of possibilities of identities, acting as an instrument of awareness and discovery. It draws upon what is there, but is not known, renegotiating original texts on the writers’ and readers’ terms. Therefore, with fans asserting themselves vicariously, fanfiction slowly becomes a vehicle to help strengthen their identities, become confident in its nature, and claim them in a more unreceptive context.

         Fanfiction is a communal activity that is altruistic in nature. In her dissertation, Garner expresses how the act of sharing fanfiction “can be seen not only as an exposure of oneself but also as a gift to the greater fandom,” and that “such works are given to the community from a person or team in order to please or improve the community as a whole” (p. 64). Every writer is seen as closing gaps in the original text, fixing a problem in said work, or expanding it to new territory, thus making every contribution important and valuable, building a community where individuals can seek out what they prefer, leave praise, feedback, or criticism, and develop deep personal connections simply through the act of sharing while being completely anonymous. Garner, in fact, argues that this anonymity is fundamental to the intimate bonds that are fostered as it allows individuals to participate and experiment with themselves and with others in a space that asks nothing of them. These anonymous relationships provide individuals with empathy and companionship that might not be available to them in the real world. Plainly stated, it helps them find an alternative community that is much better suited for their emotional and psychological needs. For queer individuals, the impact of easy availability and accessibility to communities such as these is incalculable.

Conclusion

Fanfiction refutes the idea that the author is the supreme authority of any work that they produce; it is a central tenet of fandom and fan work. By embracing this and the autonomy consumers possess, fanfiction allows writers and readers to create and consume works that reflect their ideas and make space for what they wish in the original work. Anything can be what the fans want it to be; anything that contradicts that interpretation can simply be transformed to what is more suitable to the fans. It is a leisure activity, a pleasurable hobby, a form of escapism for most people, but its ease and informality coexists with its subversive ability in opposition to mainstream landscape, representative capacity, and expressive qualities. These facets help build both the fans’ personal and social identities, promote sexual development, and find membership in a safe, well-meaning community that encourages their welfare and provides a sense of belonging. Media and literature have made leaps and bounds in introducing more positive and diverse representation into our cultural framework, but fanfiction will remain a permanent fixture in fandom spaces. Its enduring nature lies in its dynamic and transformative calibre that allows writers and readers to reimagine, reinvent, and reorient worlds as they see fit in a way that can neither be channelled nor replicated in other avenues of creation.

References

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Written by: Suhasini Sathyanarayan

Reviewed by: Smriti Gupta, Aashi Singh, Manisha

About the Author: Suhasini is a college student currently studying in St. Joseph's, Bangalore, pursuing her B.A. in English, Journalism, and Psychology. When she's not studying or working, she likes to write about TV, film, and literature.