For me, a lot of the generalizing seems to stem from privilege -- people talking about "fandom" & not even realizing that hey, they mean Western TV fandoms (& Western fans of such -- often specifically US American), or hey, maybe people in (for example) anime & manga fandoms do things differently. Sometimes this seems to stem from complete unawareness, sometimes just... an unstated assumption that things are the same. (Also the thing about, even w/in the same fandoms that people assume stand in for All of Fandom, hey, maybe POCs/women/queer ppl/other people facing vectors of oppression even experience Thing X differently!)
Like, I remember whatever vid going around ages ago that so many people were saying, "OMGGGGG ultimate fannish vid everrrrrr" or whatever, & I looked at the list of sources, & thought, right, this will say nothing about my fannish experience or the fannish experience of many, many fans I know, so thanks for projecting yourself onto me.
I would vastly prefer that people own their experience as theirs & as being shaped by their intersecting identities. Yeah, it's less satisfying to make than grand pronouncements about Fandom As A Whole (Or Even Most of Fandom), but yeah, you avoid stepping all over other people in the process.
no subject
Like, I remember whatever vid going around ages ago that so many people were saying, "OMGGGGG ultimate fannish vid everrrrrr" or whatever, & I looked at the list of sources, & thought, right, this will say nothing about my fannish experience or the fannish experience of many, many fans I know, so thanks for projecting yourself onto me.
I would vastly prefer that people own their experience as theirs & as being shaped by their intersecting identities. Yeah, it's less satisfying to make than grand pronouncements about Fandom As A Whole (Or Even Most of Fandom), but yeah, you avoid stepping all over other people in the process.