Because fanart is fandom too? There's this very AO3-centric mindset of, "fandom, oh, and I guess also anime," or "fandom, oh, and I guess also fanart" that's unnecessarily narrow. There are fans, and they're women, and they're expressing their love of f/f, but their numbers don't "count" therefore women don't like f/f.
This is specifically in response to the assertion that f/f is less popular and that there are Reasons why women like it less, which is why it's relevant that women do in fact like it. Fanart is very popular, it's huge on platforms like tumblr and twitter and pixiv, it has plenty of history with sites like deviantart and oekaki boards, it's reposted like heck all over imageboards like 4chan as well as sites like pinterest and weheartit. Saying that doesn't count for anything because it doesn't scratch your itch in particular is like saying all the het on Wattpad isn't really het statistics because it's all readerfic and you don't like that. Someone likes it! That's the point! People make it, share it, love it! Not every work of f/f will be rtyi, but it's okay, because there's loads of it and I'm sure some of it will be up your alley--and the stuff that isn't counts as f/f fandom too. Only counting stuff you're personally interested in as f/f sure is a way to artificially deflate f/f's numbers and popularity.
There is enough f/f fic and f/f fic history to make my argument that f/f is popular and lots of women love it anyway, it was just important to me to count other parts of fandom, some of which I've personally been in, that are important to many female f/f fans and part of that broad shared history and community. If it doesn't resonate with you, it's okay, don't worry about it, but maybe take solace that even way off over there where you have no intention of going, women are loving f/f there too.
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Re: wank containment area
Date: 2018-08-09 07:38 pm (UTC)Because fanart is fandom too? There's this very AO3-centric mindset of, "fandom, oh, and I guess also anime," or "fandom, oh, and I guess also fanart" that's unnecessarily narrow. There are fans, and they're women, and they're expressing their love of f/f, but their numbers don't "count" therefore women don't like f/f.
This is specifically in response to the assertion that f/f is less popular and that there are Reasons why women like it less, which is why it's relevant that women do in fact like it. Fanart is very popular, it's huge on platforms like tumblr and twitter and pixiv, it has plenty of history with sites like deviantart and oekaki boards, it's reposted like heck all over imageboards like 4chan as well as sites like pinterest and weheartit. Saying that doesn't count for anything because it doesn't scratch your itch in particular is like saying all the het on Wattpad isn't really het statistics because it's all readerfic and you don't like that. Someone likes it! That's the point! People make it, share it, love it! Not every work of f/f will be rtyi, but it's okay, because there's loads of it and I'm sure some of it will be up your alley--and the stuff that isn't counts as f/f fandom too. Only counting stuff you're personally interested in as f/f sure is a way to artificially deflate f/f's numbers and popularity.
There is enough f/f fic and f/f fic history to make my argument that f/f is popular and lots of women love it anyway, it was just important to me to count other parts of fandom, some of which I've personally been in, that are important to many female f/f fans and part of that broad shared history and community. If it doesn't resonate with you, it's okay, don't worry about it, but maybe take solace that even way off over there where you have no intention of going, women are loving f/f there too.