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Office of Undergraduate Research Home » 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium Schedules

Found 1 project

Poster Presentation 2

1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
“Stories Matter:” An Examination of Trans Fans’ Experiences with Fan Communities and Fan Creations
Presenter
  • Makenna Ryan Reaves, Senior, English
Mentor
  • Kimberlee Gillis-Bridges, English
Session
    Poster Session 2
  • Commons West
  • Easel #3
  • 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM

  • Other English mentored projects (2)
“Stories Matter:” An Examination of Trans Fans’ Experiences with Fan Communities and Fan Creationsclose

When mainstream media and off-line spaces fail to provide representation and community, many trans fans move to online fan spaces. When centering trans fans’ voices, common themes emerge surrounding their experiences within these spaces that may otherwise go unnoticed. It is then vital to hear what fans, particularly trans fans, have to say about the fan spaces in which they participate. My project uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from a survey I created and distributed across online fandom spaces. From the survey results, I isolated data from trans fans and conducted a case study on their experiences within fandom and with fan fiction and fan creations. My project centers their voices as I examine their experiences holistically to recognize how the intersection of multiple facets of their identity inform their experiences in online fandom spaces. In the scope of my project, it is seen that trans fans clearly benefit from fan communities and fan creations with 94.93% of respondents viewing fan communities as beneficial. Yet, these benefits are not always easily gained and can be accompanied by negative incidents as evidenced by 82.43% of respondents having such experiences. These results give rise to further lines of inquiry about the circumstances of trans fans' participation in online fan spaces and highlight the importance of centering trans fans' voices in future research.


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