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THREAD: Hi all, and welcome to my 2020 Digital Expo presentation. My thesis is called “Daughters of the Digital” and covers the personal experiences and press coverage of millennial women in online media fandom (project advised by @evecng) #OUVirtualExpo @bobcatsdiscover @OUHTC
In the following thread, I’m going to tell you a little bit about my senior thesis project. I’ve included some basic information in my tweets and attached some pictures so you can read some more information if you want to. So let’s get started!
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Delaney and I’m a senior in OU’s Honors Tutorial College, studying Journalism and Women’s Studies. I’ve also been a big media fan since I was a kid. I love Marvel, One Direction, and Pokemon, and fandom has greatly impacted my life
I was curious about the personal experience of women in fandom, because it’s really impacted my own life. As a journalist, though, I was also unhappy with how the press often covers fandom. So I wrote decided to write my own piece on fandom.
To accomplish this, I split my project into two halves. One is a typical academic paper that contains my contextual research, methods and findings. The other is an article about fandom to demonstrate my findings in the form of a journalistic piece.
So, I’ll back up a little bit. Media fandom has long been a popular interest among a lot of women, but many people do not take it seriously. This is concerning, considering how important fandom is to a number of marginalized people.
Fandom has been around for a long time, but it really gained a lot of steam in the mainstream with the rise of the Internet. While this drew a lot of new fans into fandom spaces, it also brought attention, and often, exploitation and ire from the press and from media producers
The press coverage of fandom can vary wildly, from celebratory and informative to exploitative to just very negative. I mean, just take a look
I wanted to try to repair a few core issues I kept noticing, as well as emulate a few pieces of fandom journalism I found really good. Mainly, I wanted to provide full context of what fandom is, focus on personal experiences, and be as fair as I could to the topic.
I also wanted to keep my personal and professional ethics in mind. I wanted to honor the personal stories that were shared with me during this experience, and also be aware that I have to balance my experiences as a fan and my professional obligations as a journalist
I was really lucky in terms of the interviews I was able to conduct for this project. I spoke with bloggers, lawyers, academics, cosplayers, professional and amateur authors, and they all gave me something unique to think about.
I kept my professional project focused on personal narratives, and while I also added some context and further information, I wanted to make sure it was always focused on personal stories above all.
I’m also going to be submitting my final piece to a few outlets for professional publication. Mainly, I am focusing on feminist and pop culture publications, including @BitchMedia @bustle @damemagazine @papermagazine @TheAtlantic and @Longreads
Ultimately, there are a couple things I took away from my experience with this project, and I hope you take these away, too.
First of all, fandom is a gendered issue. Women defined a large part of fandom as we know it, and we need to be aware of how our fandom discussions can either challenge or enforce misogynistic ideas
Second of all, too often in fandom press, the fans’ voices become second to media producers looking to profit off of fandom or fandom bystanders. The narrative needs to be given back to the people that actually participate in fandom every day
Finally, I think it’s unfair to say publications are overall doing a bad job covering fandom. I think fandom is complicated, and the press should try to cover it like any other complicated topic: with nuance and care, and acknowledging the good with alongside the bad
Well, that’s it for me. If you’ve read this whole thread, thank you! Here are some of the key readings that I heavily pulled from throughout my research if you want to read more from people that have been researching this far longer than I have.
And also, a big thank you to my interviewees. Please also check out and send love to a few of the people I was able to chat with for this project (or at least, those that have Twitter) @stichomancery @rtushnet @iheartfatapollo @fozmeadows @kailahalestern @aimmyarrowshigh
