fanfic and gender

[ljgeoff]

For some reason, I am thinking of fanfic. No, like, really thinking about it. What is it about fanfic that makes it so compelling to, specifically, so many women? Many readers of fanfic, if not most, choose fanfic over published fic -- and not from just one franchise, but all different kinds of fanfic, from Harry Potter to Gunsmoke to Vorkosigan. And the majority of both writers and readers are women.

Are there men fanfic writers who just don't post it? Do men not write for the fun of it? Do men feel less inclined to play with somebody else's toys? Are men more sensitive to being labeled non-creative?

And why are fanfic writers pitied and scorned, where the writers of published fanfic, like the numerous Star Wars, X-Files, and Dragonlance books are accepted as ligit? What is Songs of the Dying Earth, if not fanfic? Really good fanfic, but still.

And if most women choose reading fanfic over published fic, what does this say about published fic?

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Beats the hell out of me. The closest I've come to committing fanfic was 47 years ago, when my junior-high best friend and I wrote a serial novel based loosely on characters from some now-forgotten TV series (it might have been Bonanza, starring ourselves as what would now be known as Mary Sues. But we were 13.

I don't get the appeal of writing or reading contemporary fanfic at all. But then, I'm of the "every good writer needs an even better editor" persuasion. I confess to being kind of skeeved out by it, in a "your kink is OK, but it's so not my kink" way.

[rosey-jo.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that the majority of Dr. Who fanfic writers are women, and its the only fanfic community I belong to or that I've ever checked out. I didn't realize that it was the case in other fandoms. Is that the case, for example, with Star Trek? How many women as opposed to men would consider themselves "fans"? I have thought about reading the "official" fiction, but I really like the myriad of different takes on the characters and the different plot variations, and I'm pretty spoiled in that I have a wide variety of different kinds of fic at my fingertips to suit my mood. I like it. I suppose if someone handed me a book I'd check it out, but my son has a few Star Wars books that he read some years back and I found them very boring.

[audreylucero.livejournal.com]

omigosh. I think I can offer some input on why women find fanfic to be of *particular* interest! Ah! It just came to me, see, while I was reading your post.

It is well documented (Sorry I'm lame, no references) that male and female minds work different. Such as in the case of fantasy. Men tend to be much more visually based/dependent, while women rely more heavily on mental, fantasy situations to stimulate arousal.

I really think women just live in their heads more with that. For instance, I've read many the abstract that states that women must be mentally stimulated more than men. It's part of how we orgasm.

Now I must carry this over into regular ole fantasies; men just fantasize in a less detailed fashion and prefer to visualize. Women's fantasies tend to always be far more elaborate. Hm..just some thoughts, anyways.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Yes, I totally agree. This is why women read romance and erotica - they like the sexual feel of it, but it's the emotion that really does it for them.

So, another question concerns the preceived *value* of fanfic, and why this type of fiction is so poorly represented in available print media that women who are hungry for it simply write their own and share it 'round.