OTW Fannews: Fannish Acceptance

• At Bustle Emma Lord explained why Everyone Should Date Someone Who is Into Fanfiction. "I learned something about fanfiction: It isn’t a hindrance to me being in a relationship at all. In fact, it has become a whole new facet of myself that I finally got the opportunity to share with someone, and I was surprised once I found someone who was curious about it that I had a lot to say. I would argue that in general, being a rampant fanfiction junkie makes you even more desirable in a relationship, because we have so much to bring to the table."
• Sadly, fans can't always count on one another for acceptance. In two separate cases a fan video maker and a sports fan were both bullied or criticized by their fellow fans to the point that they took their lives.
• In other cases, stereotypes come from the media. AndPop profiled fangirls who met celebrities as if fans in their 20s are a rarity, asking "[W]hat’s it like when your interest carries over, even when you’re now a responsible and employed adult in your late 20s?" One fan pointed out that it was like any other hobby. "'I do it a lot and I go to a lot of shows, but I’m not taking off for six weeks to follow a band around the country,' Bove explains. 'To me, it’s no different than a sports team or anything like that. If somebody wants to go to every Leafs game because they have season tickets, then they go and have fun.'”
• The Longmont Colorado Times Call profiled the Grey Havens Young Adults fan group. "The group started in October 2013 and gradually gained ground. While they are technically a book discussion group, Bosica and Cowling make a point of not limiting the conversations to the novel at hand, spawning philosophical discussion of fandoms that reach across the worlds of television, cinema, comic books, card games, tabletop games and literature." Some of the participants pointed out the strengths of the group. "'We get into deep philosophical conversations about what is good and what is bad,' said Xan Brown...Peter Larsen, 12, said that sort of deep discussion doesn't happen often in school."

How have you seen fannishness and fandom being accepted? Write about it in Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.

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