ext_5131 ([identity profile] mama-hogswatch.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] browngirl 2012-09-15 03:22 pm (UTC)

To say I am not a "joiner" might be possibly understating things, so perhaps my opinion might not be as informed as it could be.

That said, while I do think F/SF/Gamer/Geek/Nerd fandom has and does need to address problems that are extremely serious, I think it is a reflection of society as a whole rather than anything particularly unique to fandom. That we are talking about these issues and hauling them out in the open is AWESOME, sad as the fact of the issues might be.

I think the problem comes in because we are so damn disappointed when people act like... well, people! Many of us in fandom got into with an sense of enormous relief because we stopped being mistreated for our tastes and inclinations. We were so excited to be accepted where we had no been in mainstream society that it came as a shock to find that yes, cliques, bad people, bullying and what have you are here as well.

Thing is, that's not just a fan thing. Think of polymory, political groups or any other group you join with a sense of excitement and relief that you might actually *gasp* belong! The disenchantment of finding out that yeah, those people are people, too, with all those damn annoying peoplelike behavior can be distresssing when you might have thought you were escaping that nonsense.

The cool thing, in my opinion, is that there is now a dialog opening. We're examining our behavior (at least I hope we're examining our own as well as Those Rotten Other People's) and we're talking about who and what we want to be. For all that I'm reluctant to dive in and be an active part of any group, I still applaud this as a paradigm shift.

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