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Emma and Regina Made Me Realize I Was Gay”: a Study on LGBT Identity Formation in Femslash Fan Communities

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Emma and Regina Made Me Realize I Was Gay”: a Study on LGBT Identity Formation in Femslash Fan Communities “Emma and Regina made me realize I was gay”: A study on LGBT identity formation in femslash fan communities Master’s Thesis Emmi Aalto University of Jyväskylä Department of Language and Communication Studies English 05/05/2020 1 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Humanistis-yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta – Kieli- ja viestintätieteiden laitos – The Department Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Language and Communication Studies Tekijä – Author Emmi Aalto Työn nimi – Title “Emma and Regina made me realize I was gay”: A study on LGBT identity formation in femslash fan communities Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level Englanti – English Maisterintutkielma – Master’s thesis Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages 5/2020 145 + 3 liitettä/appendices Tiivistelmä – Abstract Tämän maisterintutkielman ensisijainen tarkoitus on selvittää, miten femslash-nettifaniyhteisöön kuuluminen auttaa LGBT-identiteetin muodostamisessa. Tutkielmasta myös selviää, onko femslash- faneilla erilaisia seksuaali- ja sukupuoli-identiteettejä internetissä verrattuna muuhun sosiaaliseen elämäänsä, millaista tukea kyseisiltä faniyhteisöiltä voi saada ja mitä vähemmistöihin liittyviä asioita näissä yhteisöissä voi oppia. Tutkielman toinen tavoite on käsitellä femslash-faniyhteisöissä tapahtuvaa ja niihin kohdistuvaa syrjintää ja ennakkoluuloja. Tämän lisäksi tutkielmassa käsitellään seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöjen mediarepresentaatioita ja niiden vaikutuksia seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöihin. Tutkielmaa varten tehtyyn kyselyyn vastasi 53 seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöihin kuuluvaa fania. Koska kysely sisälsi sekä monivalinta- että avoimia kysymyksiä, oli tutkimus täten sekä laadullinen että määrällinen. Laadullisiin kysymyksiin käytettiin temaattista analyysiä. Tutkielman tuloksissa käy ilmi, että femslash-fanien faniaktiviteetit ovat positiivinen tekijä LGBT- identiteetin muodostuksessa ja toisilta faneilta saatu tuki on auttanut useita faniyhteisön jäseniä elämään elämäänsä autenttisemmin. Monet ovat oppineet paljon uutta faniyhteisössään. Femslash-fanit kokevat heteroseksuaalisilta faneilta tulevaa homofobista häirintää ja kiusaamista. On tärkeää huomata, että syrjintää tapahtuu myös faniyhteisön sisällä rasismin, transfobian, bifobian, ableismin ja uskontoon liittyvän syrjinnän muodossa. Asenteet LGBT-representaatioita kohtaan vaihtelevat, sillä vaikka ne ovat tuoneet monille omanarvontuntoa, toisille ne ovat olleet luotaantyöntäviä liian vähän diversiteetin ja negatiivisten stereotyyppien takia. Asiasanat – Keywords LGBT studies, fan studies, femslash, fandom, social media, minority identity, LGBT identity, thematic analysis, discrimination, community of practice, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, transgender Säilytyspaikka – Depository JYX Muita tietoja – Additional information 2 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 4 Aims, approach, and the researcher's position.......................................................................... 4 2. BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Online LGBT identity ............................................................................................................ 7 2.2 LGBT representation and the shortage of positive LGBT portrayals in the media ........ 9 2.2.1 Heteronormativity and negative representations ............................................................... 9 2.2.2 The representation of sexual minorities ........................................................................... 11 2.2.3 The representation of gender minorities .......................................................................... 12 2.2.4 Diverse and intersectional representation of the LGBT community ............................... 14 2.2.5 Queerbaiting and the “Bury Your Gays” trope ............................................................... 15 2.3 Femslash fandoms ................................................................................................................ 19 2.4 Discrimination in LGBT communities and online fan communities ............................... 24 2.4.1 Homophobia in fan communities .................................................................................... 24 2.4.2 Biphobia and bisexual erasure in and outside the LGBT community ............................. 26 2.4.3 Transphobia in the LGBT community and online fan communities ............................... 30 2.4.4 Racism in the LGBT community and online fan communities ....................................... 33 2.4.5 Ageism in the LGBT community .................................................................................... 38 2.4.6 Ableism in the LGBT community ................................................................................... 40 3. PRESENT STUDY..................................................................................................................... 42 3.1 Aims and research questions ............................................................................................... 42 3.2 Data selection and collection ............................................................................................... 44 3.3 Methods of analysis .............................................................................................................. 47 4. ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................. 49 4.1 The respondents ................................................................................................................... 49 4.2 LGBT identity in femslash fandoms and fan activities ..................................................... 64 4.3 The difference between online and offline ......................................................................... 74 4.4 The importance of diverse representations ........................................................................ 89 4.5 Discrimination in femslash fandoms and fellow fans’ support ...................................... 100 3 5. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 110 5.1 The respondents ................................................................................................................. 111 5.2 The effects of fandom involvement on LGBT identity and fan activities ..................... 114 5.3 Different online and offline identities, learning about LGBT identities, and disclosing an LGBT identity offline.......................................................................................................... 117 5.4 Representation and media-viewing experiences .............................................................. 120 5.5 Discrimination in femslash fandoms ................................................................................ 123 5.6 Fellow fans’ support for minority identities .................................................................... 126 5.7 The limitations of the study ............................................................................................... 128 6. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 130 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 133 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 146 Appendix 1: Glossary .............................................................................................................. 146 Appendix 2: Femslash Fandom Survey .................................................................................. 148 Appendix 3: A full list of the respondents’ femslash fandoms and pairings ...................... 155 4 1. INTRODUCTION Aims, approach, and the researcher's position The main purpose of this study is to find out how belonging to an online fan base helps to construct an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and other multiple-gender-attracted, and transgender) identity. Fan bases, or fandoms, as they are more commonly called, are communities of practice (Hills, 2015: 360, 372). Communities of practice are places of social learning that share particular ways of thinking and discoursing (Wenger, 2010: 179-181; Eckert, 2006: 683). As I have mentioned in a previous study (Aalto, 2016: 4), it is common for fans of different entertainment media to converse over and analyze different relationships between fictional characters. For LGBT fans, the representations of same-sex relationships and discussing them online can become an empowering way to come to terms with their LGBT identity (Hanmer, 2010: 149; Hanmer, 2014: 613-614). Previous research has shown that LGBT fans produce discourse that aims to empower them and shapes their identities on both individual and collective levels through their internet fan activities (Hanmer, 2014: 609, 620; Hanmer, 2010: 148-149; Collier, Lumadue & Wooten 2009: 597-598; Kapurch, 2015: 438). Drawing on insights provided by LGBT studies and fan studies, this study aims at shedding more light on the process of LGBT identity formation in online fandom spaces. More specifically,
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