I'm taking steps to update my online presence, and part of that means a massive re-vamp for fanthropology. In the spirit of spring cleaning, I have moved my blog over to a new host, and you can now find me at:
http://fanthropology.wordpress.com/
Please update your links and look for more posts on the new site. Thanks for everything, Blogger, and farewell!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Guest Lectures
I've been absolutely drowning in work lately as I try to meet PhD writing deadlines while teaching and getting things ready for the Revise conference as well, so forgive my lack of posting. But I wanted to share the slides from two guest lectures I recently gave on fan-related topics here at UOW, just in case anyone was interested.
The first was for a second-year sociology subject on "Youth Cultures", where I gave a talk on Japanese anime and manga fandom as it exists in the West. Check out the Powerpoint here:
SOC206 Lecture: Anime Fandom in the West
The second was for a third-year soc class, "The Body and Society", and I had the pleasure (no pun intended) to talk about pornography, sexuality, feminism, and all that fun stuff. The lecture is called "Bad Girls", because in the second half I talk about female subcultures centered around sexual material (namely, slash and yaoi/BL).
Bad Girls: Pornography, Fantasy, Sexuality
I hope to post some more soon, once the semester ends and I get back from a trip to Hong Kong!
The first was for a second-year sociology subject on "Youth Cultures", where I gave a talk on Japanese anime and manga fandom as it exists in the West. Check out the Powerpoint here:
SOC206 Lecture: Anime Fandom in the West
The second was for a third-year soc class, "The Body and Society", and I had the pleasure (no pun intended) to talk about pornography, sexuality, feminism, and all that fun stuff. The lecture is called "Bad Girls", because in the second half I talk about female subcultures centered around sexual material (namely, slash and yaoi/BL).
Bad Girls: Pornography, Fantasy, Sexuality
I hope to post some more soon, once the semester ends and I get back from a trip to Hong Kong!
Friday, April 16, 2010
We Want YOU!
Abstracts are pouring in for the conference I'm helping organize here in Wollongong. (Check out the website here: http://revise2010.blogspot.com) We are hearing from a lot of academics, postgraduates, and DJs, but I'm hoping to get some excellent contributions from the vidding community to this event. I've received a few thus far, but if you're interested in coming to the event and speaking about your work, your editing, or vidding trends and styles, I'd love to hear from you! Any vidders who are interested in submitting their vids to be shown at the conference are also welcome. Please just email me a link to where your vid can be found, and a short description of it (like a curated art work).
I'm welcoming any submissions of any kind in terms of style or content. I want this event to be open to non-academics in order to foster some communication between the artists and fans out there and the researchers.
Send your abstracts, submissions, suggestions, etc. to the conference by emailing : revise2010@gmail.com. If you have any questions, you can contact me separately here on my blog or by email at fanthropology@gmail.com.
I'm welcoming any submissions of any kind in terms of style or content. I want this event to be open to non-academics in order to foster some communication between the artists and fans out there and the researchers.
Send your abstracts, submissions, suggestions, etc. to the conference by emailing : revise2010@gmail.com. If you have any questions, you can contact me separately here on my blog or by email at fanthropology@gmail.com.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
First publication!
Kinda embarrassingly excited right now as I have just gotten my first publication. It's just a short essay on Counteragent's wonderful Supernatural vid "Still Alive", but you can check it out here if you're interested:
"I'm glad we got burned, think of all the things we learned": Fandom conflict and context in Counteragent's "Still Alive"
Let me know what you think!
"I'm glad we got burned, think of all the things we learned": Fandom conflict and context in Counteragent's "Still Alive"
Let me know what you think!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Official Announcement: Fan & Artist Submissions Wanted
Here is the official announcement looking for fan and remix artist submissions for our conference. Please feel free to send us an email with any questions you might have about the event or what sort of submissions would suit.
Revise: The Art and Science of Contemporary Remix Cultures
Dec 2-3, 2010
University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
An upcoming conference on remix cultures is seeking contributions from remix artists and practitioners. This event aims to bring together researchers whose work investigates aspects of remixing, alongside practitioners working in remix cultures, for a collaborative conference. We invite remixers of all kinds to submit artworks in the media of their choice, and/or to speak on their style or aesthetics, or other features of their practice. Live performance submissions are also welcome.
Expressions of intent of 200-250 words should be sent to revise2010@gmail.com by 15 April, 2010. Please include your full name (and/or artist/fan name), email address, and institutional affiliation (if applicable) along with the proposal, and include any tech requirements.
Please see http://revise2010.blogspot.com for more information, or email revise2010@gmail.com if you have any questions.
You can also contact me individually at fanthropology@gmail.com.
Revise: The Art and Science of Contemporary Remix Cultures
Dec 2-3, 2010
University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
An upcoming conference on remix cultures is seeking contributions from remix artists and practitioners. This event aims to bring together researchers whose work investigates aspects of remixing, alongside practitioners working in remix cultures, for a collaborative conference. We invite remixers of all kinds to submit artworks in the media of their choice, and/or to speak on their style or aesthetics, or other features of their practice. Live performance submissions are also welcome.
Expressions of intent of 200-250 words should be sent to revise2010@gmail.com by 15 April, 2010. Please include your full name (and/or artist/fan name), email address, and institutional affiliation (if applicable) along with the proposal, and include any tech requirements.
Please see http://revise2010.blogspot.com for more information, or email revise2010@gmail.com if you have any questions.
You can also contact me individually
Monday, February 15, 2010
Call for Papers
I've finally gone and done it! Chris Moore and I are now hosting a conference here at UOW. It's called "Revise: The Art and Science of Contemporary Remix Culture" and it's coming up on 2-3 December, 2010.
We are seeking both academic papers and fan submissions of artwork, video remixes and mashups, DJ work, and literary remix. I would love to see practitioners and fan artists attend this event, and you are welcome to submit a short abstract (200-250 words) to revise2010@gmail.com and speak for about 15-20 min about your work or your style. It is our hope to combine the academics and the artists in a collaborative event that everyone can enjoy.
We created a blog for the event over at http://revise2010.blogspot.com with the details of the Call for Papers - submissions are due by 15 April, 2010!
We are seeking both academic papers and fan submissions of artwork, video remixes and mashups, DJ work, and literary remix. I would love to see practitioners and fan artists attend this event, and you are welcome to submit a short abstract (200-250 words) to revise2010@gmail.com and speak for about 15-20 min about your work or your style. It is our hope to combine the academics and the artists in a collaborative event that everyone can enjoy.
We created a blog for the event over at http://revise2010.blogspot.com with the details of the Call for Papers - submissions are due by 15 April, 2010!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
"Men who say women don't like porn don't know the right women."
That's from a t-shirt my friend owns. Currently brainstorming for a guest lecture I'm going to do in Sociology called "Bad Girls". I have been specifically instructed by the course coordinator to blow some minds with the delightfully filthy things that women are doing out there on the Interwebs. (He asked the right person!)
I plan to talk in detail about some old research I did on yaoi / boy's love fans, and how these explicitly erotic texts are consumed and used by young women (mostly teenagers and young adults, 14-24). I'll also be talking about slash, of course, and going through some of the different uses and reasons for its popularity.
(Word to the wise, this post has nothing to do with the current LJ storm a-brewing on straight female and gay male fans of slash. I'm hoping not to become involved in that at the moment.)
While there are a myriad of reasons I personally enjoy the stuff, I'll admit that one of the main ones is that I appreciate how these genres objectify male bodies in a way that appeals to me as a heterosexual female. It's just really great to see shiny, ripped men in various stages of undress. And while I do read het erotica as well (nothing will keep me from my Ten/Rose shipping), I sometimes find myself over-analysing the feminist politics of such works, especially in mainstream/commercial products. And nothing kills the fantasy for me more than my own brain's over-analysis of feminist politics.
So, friends and comrades, what is it about slash that appeals to you?
I plan to talk in detail about some old research I did on yaoi / boy's love fans, and how these explicitly erotic texts are consumed and used by young women (mostly teenagers and young adults, 14-24). I'll also be talking about slash, of course, and going through some of the different uses and reasons for its popularity.
(Word to the wise, this post has nothing to do with the current LJ storm a-brewing on straight female and gay male fans of slash. I'm hoping not to become involved in that at the moment.)
While there are a myriad of reasons I personally enjoy the stuff, I'll admit that one of the main ones is that I appreciate how these genres objectify male bodies in a way that appeals to me as a heterosexual female. It's just really great to see shiny, ripped men in various stages of undress. And while I do read het erotica as well (nothing will keep me from my Ten/Rose shipping), I sometimes find myself over-analysing the feminist politics of such works, especially in mainstream/commercial products. And nothing kills the fantasy for me more than my own brain's over-analysis of feminist politics.
So, friends and comrades, what is it about slash that appeals to you?
Monday, January 18, 2010
New law could block access to anime, manga and slash fan sites in Australia
[NB: What follows is an alert for all slash / yaoi / boy's love / anime / manga / gaming fans about new legislation that could potentially make large parts of fandom illegal in Australia. Please circulate this as widely as you can to any and all Australian fans. I did not write this: the author prefers to remain anonymous. However, I am happy to answer questions or provide more information where necessary.]
Alert!
In 2010 the Australian Government proposes to go ahead with a mandatory ISP-level internet filtering scheme which, if passed into law, could have a massive impact on anime, manga and slash fans. Why manga and slash fans? Because the main target of the law is to prevent the circulation of ‘child abuse sexual imagery’ – BUT in Australia ‘child abuse sexual imagery’ covers even FICTIONAL representations and includes ‘under age’ characters in anime, manga and slash. If the law is passed, any fan site that contains or links to this material could be added to a government ‘blacklist’ and access denied in Australia.
The proposal
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has recently announced measures to require internet service provider (ISP) level filtering of overseas-hosted internet material classified Refused Classification (RC) under the National Classification Scheme. Such material includes child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act (Consultation Paper, 2009).
The problem for ACG/slash fans
‘Child sexual abuse imagery’ is a primary target of the proposed filter – as it should be when dealing with pictures of actual children. Yet, in Australia ‘child sexual abuse imagery’ is an extremely broad category that extends even to purely fictional representations of ‘under-age’ characters in violent or sexual scenarios – including animation, comics, art work and text. Hence, existing legislation targets not only a small coterie of adult paedophiles dealing in representations of actual children, but extensive communities of ACG and slash fans whose activities involve the consumption, creation and dissemination of representations of young persons that would be classified in Australia as ‘virtual’ child pornography.
In Australia child pornography and abuse is legislated at both state and federal level. State legislation defines child pornography and abuse as
material that depicts or describes (or appears to depict or describe), in a manner that would in all the circumstances cause offence to reasonable persons, a person who is (or appears to be) a child:
(a) engaged in sexual activity, or (b) in a sexual context, or (c) as the victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse (whether or not in a sexual context) (Criminal Code Act 1995 [Commonwealth] s.473.1).
The federal legislation refers not only to images or texts referring to actual ‘persons’ but also to ‘a representation of a person’ and ‘material that describes a person’ who ‘is, or is implied to be under age 18’; (however, most state legislation puts the age at 16 – leading to confusion as to what, exactly, is the legal minimum age for such representations). That cartoon representations fall within the definition of a ‘person’ in the Act was clarified by Justice Michael Adams in his ruling in the case McEWEN v SIMMONS & ANOR [2008] NSWSC 1292. The case was an appeal against an earlier conviction for possession of ‘virtual child pornography’ (in this case images of the cartoon children from The Simpsons TV show engaged in sexual interactions). In his interpretation of the legislation, Justice Adams upheld the judgement of the original magistrate, commenting:
In my view, the Magistrate was correct in determining that, in respect of both the Commonwealth and the New South Wales offences, the word ‘person’ included fictional or imaginary characters and the mere fact that the figure depicted departed from a realistic representation in some respects of a human being did not mean that such a figure was not a ‘person’ (McEWEN v SIMMONS & ANOR [2008] NSWSC 1292, para 41).
This ruling is of great importance for Australia-based ACG and slash fans, since it clarifies that in Australia child pornography legislation applies equally to ‘fictional or imaginary characters’, even in instances when such characters ‘depart[..] from a realistic representation’.
Given the ubiquity of such representations on both ACG (BL, Loli, etc.) and slash (Harry Potter, Narnia, etc.) fan sites, it is easy for fans to stumble across material that would put them at the risk of prosecution. As the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 makes clear, an individual is guilty of an offense if said individual, among other things, ‘uses a carriage service’ to access child-pornography material, cause the material to be transmitted, distribute, publish or otherwise make the material available (Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995, 474.19). Hence Australian fans of ACG and slash who routinely access sites that may contain or link to representations of under-age characters in sexual or violent scenarios run the risk of arrest, prosecution and entry into the sex-offenders’ list.
The effects
Accessing fan materials that transgress the above legislation is already illegal in Australia. However, if this ‘clean feed’ legislation is passed it would result in the issuing of take-down notices to affected fan sites located on Australian servers, and the establishment of an ISP-level filter that would block access to a blacklist of overseas fan sites. Given the concerns raised above, it is likely that a huge number of fan sites could be affected, seriously diminishing the ability of Australian fans to participate in these global fan communities.
What can I do?
If you are the owner of an Australian or overseas fan site that may be impacted by this legislation please consider making a submission to the Government consultation process outlining (1) how existing ‘child abuse publication’ legislation is overbroad and unfairly targets your community and (2) the deleterious effects that this filtering plan would have upon your community.
A Consultation paper outlining the proposed filtering scheme and detailing how to make a submission can be found here (note the deadline of 12 February 2010):
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/funding_and_programs/cybersafety_plan/transparency_measures/consultation_paper
Alert!
In 2010 the Australian Government proposes to go ahead with a mandatory ISP-level internet filtering scheme which, if passed into law, could have a massive impact on anime, manga and slash fans. Why manga and slash fans? Because the main target of the law is to prevent the circulation of ‘child abuse sexual imagery’ – BUT in Australia ‘child abuse sexual imagery’ covers even FICTIONAL representations and includes ‘under age’ characters in anime, manga and slash. If the law is passed, any fan site that contains or links to this material could be added to a government ‘blacklist’ and access denied in Australia.
The proposal
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has recently announced measures to require internet service provider (ISP) level filtering of overseas-hosted internet material classified Refused Classification (RC) under the National Classification Scheme. Such material includes child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act (Consultation Paper, 2009).
The problem for ACG/slash fans
‘Child sexual abuse imagery’ is a primary target of the proposed filter – as it should be when dealing with pictures of actual children. Yet, in Australia ‘child sexual abuse imagery’ is an extremely broad category that extends even to purely fictional representations of ‘under-age’ characters in violent or sexual scenarios – including animation, comics, art work and text. Hence, existing legislation targets not only a small coterie of adult paedophiles dealing in representations of actual children, but extensive communities of ACG and slash fans whose activities involve the consumption, creation and dissemination of representations of young persons that would be classified in Australia as ‘virtual’ child pornography.
In Australia child pornography and abuse is legislated at both state and federal level. State legislation defines child pornography and abuse as
material that depicts or describes (or appears to depict or describe), in a manner that would in all the circumstances cause offence to reasonable persons, a person who is (or appears to be) a child:
(a) engaged in sexual activity, or (b) in a sexual context, or (c) as the victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse (whether or not in a sexual context) (Criminal Code Act 1995 [Commonwealth] s.473.1).
The federal legislation refers not only to images or texts referring to actual ‘persons’ but also to ‘a representation of a person’ and ‘material that describes a person’ who ‘is, or is implied to be under age 18’; (however, most state legislation puts the age at 16 – leading to confusion as to what, exactly, is the legal minimum age for such representations). That cartoon representations fall within the definition of a ‘person’ in the Act was clarified by Justice Michael Adams in his ruling in the case McEWEN v SIMMONS & ANOR [2008] NSWSC 1292. The case was an appeal against an earlier conviction for possession of ‘virtual child pornography’ (in this case images of the cartoon children from The Simpsons TV show engaged in sexual interactions). In his interpretation of the legislation, Justice Adams upheld the judgement of the original magistrate, commenting:
In my view, the Magistrate was correct in determining that, in respect of both the Commonwealth and the New South Wales offences, the word ‘person’ included fictional or imaginary characters and the mere fact that the figure depicted departed from a realistic representation in some respects of a human being did not mean that such a figure was not a ‘person’ (McEWEN v SIMMONS & ANOR [2008] NSWSC 1292, para 41).
This ruling is of great importance for Australia-based ACG and slash fans, since it clarifies that in Australia child pornography legislation applies equally to ‘fictional or imaginary characters’, even in instances when such characters ‘depart[..] from a realistic representation’.
Given the ubiquity of such representations on both ACG (BL, Loli, etc.) and slash (Harry Potter, Narnia, etc.) fan sites, it is easy for fans to stumble across material that would put them at the risk of prosecution. As the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 makes clear, an individual is guilty of an offense if said individual, among other things, ‘uses a carriage service’ to access child-pornography material, cause the material to be transmitted, distribute, publish or otherwise make the material available (Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995, 474.19). Hence Australian fans of ACG and slash who routinely access sites that may contain or link to representations of under-age characters in sexual or violent scenarios run the risk of arrest, prosecution and entry into the sex-offenders’ list.
The effects
Accessing fan materials that transgress the above legislation is already illegal in Australia. However, if this ‘clean feed’ legislation is passed it would result in the issuing of take-down notices to affected fan sites located on Australian servers, and the establishment of an ISP-level filter that would block access to a blacklist of overseas fan sites. Given the concerns raised above, it is likely that a huge number of fan sites could be affected, seriously diminishing the ability of Australian fans to participate in these global fan communities.
What can I do?
If you are the owner of an Australian or overseas fan site that may be impacted by this legislation please consider making a submission to the Government consultation process outlining (1) how existing ‘child abuse publication’ legislation is overbroad and unfairly targets your community and (2) the deleterious effects that this filtering plan would have upon your community.
A Consultation paper outlining the proposed filtering scheme and detailing how to make a submission can be found here (note the deadline of 12 February 2010):
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/funding_and_programs/cybersafety_plan/transparency_measures/consultation_paper
Monday, January 11, 2010
Not dead!
Well, I seem to have fallen off the blogging map for a while there, for which I am sorry. I had disappeared into writing farr, as I had a deadline for a completed chapter in November, and then got eaten by the (Australian) summer holidays. But I have survived my first Christmas away from home, and I now have two completed (ish) chapters for my diss, which is always a nice feeling. But now, no more slacking, gotta get back into it.
I'm hoping to post more in the upcoming weeks, but two quick things now:
I requested and received permission to change how I get consent to use vids in my research. Basically, many people verbally agreed to allow me to include a vid they had made, but we all have busy lives and lots of things on our plates, and it was extremely difficult to get signed copies of the consent forms returned. If you've already given me written consent to include a vid, that's still fine. However, from now on I am able to receive verbal consent (either over the phone or via email) to include vids, rather than needing a signature. Hopefully this will make things much smoother from here on in.
The second (and infinitely more exciting) thing is this:
Boppy and I in the planning stages to host some sort of vidding convention in Australia, broadly conceived. This means we are hoping to include more than just (mostly) Livejournal-based live-action vidding - AMVs, mashups, trailers, machinima, and any other sort of remix/appropriated video are all welcome, in addition to vids.
In addition, I have been in talks with one of the research groups here at the University of Wollongong (specifically, the inter-faculty Innovations in Cultural Research group) to pair up a fan-run convention with an academic conference on the topic. I have several colleagues here who study different types of appropriated, grassroots media (DJ culture, machinima, yaoi/boy's love fandom, that sort of thing), and we are hoping have a call for papers on "remix", broadly conceived, for this event. We're also hoping to make it a little different from other academic conferences: creators will be invited to speak and showcase their work, in addition to academics, and digital media students from the uni's Faculty of Creative Arts will also create an exhibition on the theme of "remix".
Tentatively scheduled for the end of 2010 (Nov-Dec), I think of it going something like this:
Thursday & Friday: Academic conference at the University of Wollongong
Saturday & Sunday: Fan-run convention (possibly also in Wollongong?)
Having the events next to each other in this way will allow the fans and academics to mingle and attend each other's events if they like.
Of course, this is all still in the very rough planning stages. Everything is subject to change, and we're looking for feedback on pretty much everything - planning, hosting, programming, tech, premieres, all of that!
If you are interested in attending either event, pretty please let me or Boppy know!
More posts on this upcoming in the near future, so stay tuned.
I'm hoping to post more in the upcoming weeks, but two quick things now:
I requested and received permission to change how I get consent to use vids in my research. Basically, many people verbally agreed to allow me to include a vid they had made, but we all have busy lives and lots of things on our plates, and it was extremely difficult to get signed copies of the consent forms returned. If you've already given me written consent to include a vid, that's still fine. However, from now on I am able to receive verbal consent (either over the phone or via email) to include vids, rather than needing a signature. Hopefully this will make things much smoother from here on in.
The second (and infinitely more exciting) thing is this:
Boppy and I in the planning stages to host some sort of vidding convention in Australia, broadly conceived. This means we are hoping to include more than just (mostly) Livejournal-based live-action vidding - AMVs, mashups, trailers, machinima, and any other sort of remix/appropriated video are all welcome, in addition to vids.
In addition, I have been in talks with one of the research groups here at the University of Wollongong (specifically, the inter-faculty Innovations in Cultural Research group) to pair up a fan-run convention with an academic conference on the topic. I have several colleagues here who study different types of appropriated, grassroots media (DJ culture, machinima, yaoi/boy's love fandom, that sort of thing), and we are hoping have a call for papers on "remix", broadly conceived, for this event. We're also hoping to make it a little different from other academic conferences: creators will be invited to speak and showcase their work, in addition to academics, and digital media students from the uni's Faculty of Creative Arts will also create an exhibition on the theme of "remix".
Tentatively scheduled for the end of 2010 (Nov-Dec), I think of it going something like this:
Thursday & Friday: Academic conference at the University of Wollongong
Saturday & Sunday: Fan-run convention (possibly also in Wollongong?)
Having the events next to each other in this way will allow the fans and academics to mingle and attend each other's events if they like.
Of course, this is all still in the very rough planning stages. Everything is subject to change, and we're looking for feedback on pretty much everything - planning, hosting, programming, tech, premieres, all of that!
If you are interested in attending either event, pretty please let me or Boppy know!
More posts on this upcoming in the near future, so stay tuned.
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