[ SECRET POST #4315 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4315 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 49 secrets from Secret Submission Post #618.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly. When I'm on a job interview or first date and am asked about my personal interests, you can damn well be sure I'm not going to say "I am currently writing a 40-chapter smutfic starring my two favorite TV characters for AOS. What about you?" If I said "I like going to museums" or "sports are my passion," no one would blink an eye. Anyone who claims fandom is accepted or mainstream now is delusional.

[(Anonymous)]

Fanfic has always been kind of a kooky and extreme activity, even within fandom circles. In contrast, no one blinks an eye when my co-workers gush about Beyonce's latest social-media post. No one blinks an eye when they dress up their kids as Disney/Marvel/Pixar characters for sing-alongs. No one blinks an eye when they know the lyrics to every movie song produced by Disney for the last 25 years either, or get into debates about which one is best.

[(Anonymous)]

Yep and I have views about why certain fandom activities are acceptable and others are not. Hint: it involves the intersection of gender, age, and "appropriate" use of time or energy. You can be into something but not too into it, especially if you're a grown woman. (Let's face it, fandom is something anyone can do. Fanfic is still perceived as the domain of single women fighting off the loneliness with weirdo erotica.)

Let's put it this way: my dad can spend every weekend screaming at the sportsball games on TV, but God forbid I tell him that I went to the movies or binged something on Netflix. Then I'm wasting my life and am going to die childless and alone and should be doing normal things like other women my age. (Presumably childcare, shopping and/or cooking and cleaning??)

[(Anonymous)]

But you can say that you're in fandom without saying that you're currently writing a 40-chapter smutfic

[(Anonymous)]

But I wouldn't say that either. There's a difference between saying "Oh, my favorite TV show is X" and "I'm in the fandom for X" even if it's not as bad as saying "I write fanfic for X"

[(Anonymous)]

I freely tell people that I'm into Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes and that I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars and have done LotR cosplay and no one thinks it's weird. I don't mention my fanfic-reading preferences, even to a lot of people in fandom, because that's not the only thing I do in fandom and it's not what I think makes me a fan. It's like the person who mentioned sexual fantasies about a football player - fandom isn't just kinky fanfic. You could be into museums or sports and still take it too far when explaining your hobby to people who were just asking to be polite.

[(Anonymous)]

Good for you? Still not the first thing I'm going to talk about when first meeting someone, especially in a professional context.

Of course fandom is more than kinky fanfic (it's also more than any of the other things you've described. It's also more than just "being a fan" of something). But often, when people not in fandom know anything about it, they equate it with fanfic and cosplay, both of which are things that "losers" and "perverts" do. If that's not your experience, fine, but it's been mine and it's why I agree with the OP.

[(Anonymous)]

There's no no true scotsman like a fandom no true scotsman trying to define fans out of fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

I honestly have no idea what you're even trying to say here, so you win the debate, I guess.

[(Anonymous)]

If your fandom experience centers on fic and cosplay, no, that's not "mainstream." (Although how many reasonably supportive cosplay jokes have we had on prime-time lately?)

But if your fandom experience centers on following creative work that you couldn't get outside of gaming shops, comic shops, and ripped fan copies 15 years ago, the fact that it's showing up at Target and Walmart is amazing.

[(Anonymous)]

Unless it's a co-worker I'm friends with, I don't talk about non-fandom hobbies in professional contexts either, and most people don't talk to me about theirs.

[(Anonymous)]

OK, sounds like a pretty dull, unfriendly field of work you're in. For many people, it's very common to at least occasionally talk about non-fandom personal interests or activities with colleagues. Which is why fandom is still not mainstream, as the OP points out, since that is still a taboo subject for many.

[digitalghosts]

Most people do not interact at work that much as there is not many opportunities plus most prefer to not mention anything personal beyond basics. True, some might and there is different workplaces but ... it is all about finding common ground. If you say you are in midst of editing a fanfic, not many people will get it but if you say you are doing same with a story - they will connect more to that, even if you say it is based on random TV show because you just get inspiration that way. Same as none-fandom co-workers will not really get into technicalities of building cars but will generalise in order to have a chat anyone can contextualise.

[(Anonymous)]

There's also the whole issue that, let's face it, a lot of really hardcore fans are hideously socially awkward and that colors the perception of the rest of the people in fandom who are otherwise normal and socially well-adjusted. In my experience, if you're a normal and socially adept person, people won't tend to bat an eye if you mention stuff like cosplay or conventions and may even be interested in learning more. It's less about the activities themselves and more about whether you're an awkward weirdo who has no sense of what's appropriate.

My coworkers know that I go to conventions and cosplay and play MMOs/video games and they don't think it's weird. In fact, a bunch of them play video games too and sometimes we'll talk about gaming stuff when things are slow. But that's not the ONLY thing we talk about and we all have a sense of how much is too much, so it never gets awkward or weird.