More From The Fandom Vaults: Part I

[morgandawn]

If you ever wondered when the phrase "Your fandom's OK, my fandom's OK" began to be used on a regular basis, well sherrold had something to say about that in 1996. It still makes me laugh, although the goalposts of "WTF are they doing now!!!" have changed.

"I was never (really) a Trek gen fan, so I didn't have to bear the animosity of gen Trek friends when I got into slash:

I didn't get into S/H until after "The One Slash Fandom" concept had passed, so I never had to sneak into corners at Trek parties to talk about my heresy.

I got into Pros well after it had taken over slash fandom.

I got into Multimedia long after the phrase "fannish slut" had been invented.

I got into Wiseguy well after the Church of Frank had set up sanctuary for those of us afraid to admit to liking balding guys.

I spent 10+ years in fandom without ever suffering majority ridicule for my fannish lusts.

Then came...

--Rock and Roll fandom--
 

Overnight I became a figure of fun to many, and withstood sudden shunning from some. I was told my first vid in the fandom was... "wrong" was... "against everything fandom stood for." I listened to lectures from other fans about how rock slash = real person slash, and "that it opened all of slash fandom to legal exposure"

It was a rough couple of years in some small ways. And even within the small world of Rock and Roll fandom, there were people who thought slashing *their* band was ok (say, U2...), but slashing *my* band (Led Zep) was wrong.

So, I feel for the skating fans, the wrestling fans and, yes, the doll fans. Every group needs a small subset of the group to stigmatize, as humorously as possible."

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[elf]

XKCD mostly covered this one recently: