I've been reading science fiction and fantasy for as long as I can remember. So, about five minutes. Give or take.
Seriously though, I've long preferred that genre to others, though I tend to trend towards fantasy more these days. Not sure why, exactly, but it may be linked to my childhood fascination with dinosaurs (I absolutely loved them), and a fondness for reading mythologies. Well, retellings of them anyways. Not like I read the original Greek or anything.
Despite all that, I wouldn't rightly call myself a 'fan'. In the sense that I really like something, yes, but not in the 'fandom' sense of conventions and fanzines and all that. I have no idea what sort of fandom we had here in New Zealand in the 80s, but I'd never even heard of a local convention until Armageddon started up, and that was a 'pop culture expo' rather than a literary convention. Nor did we have much of a magazine culture here, not for stories... well, not those kinds of stories. As I was told by an English teacher in high school, NZ literature tends more towards 'slice of life' sort of things.
In the last few years I've become more aware of fandom... and its upsets. The last couple of years have been pretty fractious, though I couldn't say if it was more so relative to fandom's history. I suspect not. But I've also come to learn something of fandom's nature and ideals, at least as espoused by long term fans. I've met (on Facebook only, alas) some great people, smart and funny, wiser than I and more knowledgeable, and otherwise just awesome.
And yet I am troubled. Fandom has a dark side. And not in a good way. Some of what I have to say may be skewed or just wrong, but this is what I've seen. So....
Fandom boasts of being inclusive and welcoming, even to the most extreme of outliers. It was founded by outcasts, you see, nerds and geeks and others outside what was the mainstream at the time. So many people who felt ill-fitting where they were, who felt a sense of relief and community when they came to fandom. They had found their people.
And so exclusion came to be considered a heinous crime. And, it seems, still is. Which is laudable... to a point.
There are all sorts of stories within fandom. Not the books, stories of fandom itself. How this famous person behaves, or how that one did this awful thing... but, over and over, it seems like they're allowed to get away with it. Because "they're just like that". Is that considered a reasonable defense anywhere else? There's the same affluenza crap too, people get or got away with things because they're famous, they wrote popular books, etc. But others... when someone complains, they're met with, "Oh. Yeah. he's like that. He's gonna do what he's gonna do," and a shrug.
Guys known for sexually harassing women, or for pulling disruptive stunts and pushing their own agendas into everything, and they're just the dirty little secret. Don't talk about it. Don't look. What did you expect inviting _that_ guy in? Hell, there was a suspected (or known) child molester (dead now) and the local fan group debated over whether they could kick him out... they made sure their kids locked the bedroom door when he was around, but they had to fucking _debate_ over whether he should be allowed to stay in the community.
I would like to think that's as bad as it ever got, but I don't know that anything has changed in any way other than scope.
And I should note that there is some pushback, some prominent people within fandom have taken stands against harassment, and slowly, so slowly, the conventions seem to be getting their act together and treating such things as serious matters. Some of them.
But still, shit happens. And then you get the people who delight in behaving badly but don't want to own it, so if anyone objects they twist it around and claim to be the real victim. "You can't kick me out," they cry, "What about free speech? What about tolerance? What about inclusion?"
And again, there is a trend towards letting it slide. Or even defending the bad behaviour, because of course one person's free speech is so very much more important than the comfort or happiness of anyone else that they might affect. Making sure that one person feels welcome to continue spewing bile is more important than undoing the damage caused in making others feel unwelcome.
But no, fandom must allow free speech, right? No matter where, or when, or how inappropriate, how stupid or bizarre. Assholes have rights too, but nobody has the right to be free of assholes, it seems. If you don't like it, walk away, it's on you to avoid the bad actors, not on them to actually pretend they belong in civilised society. God forbid anyone be held accountable for their speech, or take responsibility for it, or act like a fucking adult.
To be a fan, it seems, you welcome some in, and turn a blind eye to how unwelcome others feel. If anyone complains, argue with them. Shout them down. That guy didn't mean it that way, he's a good guy, you're just a special snowflake, too politically correct. Thought police! How dare you!
If this is fandom, I'm starting to think maybe they can just keep it.
I just want to read books.
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