Why I Don't Care for OTW

[beckyh2112]

No matter how much male they feel, transformative works belong to what I like to call the female part of fandom.

You know, this whole post is astonishingly sexist and full of useless, ill-informed generalizations.

Apparently discussing the relationships in a show is more 'transformative' than discussing the special effects. Or, like most of the males I know in Transformers, discussing the relative merits of Character A vs. Character B.

But apparently, to be 'transformative', you have to be discussing sex and relationships in the fandom.

This is just one idiot, who apparently ran away from comments disagreeing with her.

Yet, I've noticed this continuing idea, from OTW and their supporters, that to be a fan of the sort they care about, you have to be female or part of the 'female' side of fandom. This sort of creativity is just as "transformative" as slashfic. I know equal numbers of Transformers fanartists from either gender. I read a fair amount of Transformers fanfic by males.

So, how am I participating in a 'female' side of fandom? How can people even define fandom as being 'male' or 'female'? Dividing it up like that sets an implication that one side is better than the other, especially with OTW's emphasis on examination of the female side of fandom.

I believe that approaching an analysis of fandom from an academic-feminist perspective is going to be inherently flawed when you come to such fandoms as Transformers. Just as I believe that analyzing fandom as a whole based on exposures to individual fandoms is inherently flawed. Different fandoms have different cultures.

I don't like OTW. I find their seeking for legality to be something to be extremely nervous about. I find the gobzillions of meta posts about why people joined OTW to be intensely off-putting. I dislike them using heidi8 as one of their Intellectual Property lawyers, as she's been a big defender and close friend of Cassandra Claire. I've never particularly liked the academic-feminist form of analysis that they seem to be using, at least not if it isn't in conjunction with another form of analysis.

I don't think what they are talking about providing is worth my time, especially when they seem structured in such a way as to shut out half the fandom that I love and participate in.

Comments

Re: From metafandom as well...

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Given that part of what OTW wants to do is academic analysis, viewing what they're doing from the standpoint of how it effects their analysis is a good point for criticism.

But I know enough to say that what is good or bad, is arbitrary.

This is bad logic and can be used wickedly. Not everything is subjective, especially when a person is criticizing an organization in their efforts to achieve stated goals.

Re: From metafandom as well...

[(Anonymous)]

Given that part of what OTW wants to do is academic analysis

Yeah, not really my thing, but I get that other people are into that. Myself, I find it very difficult to follow some of the high level academic stuff.

Not everything is subjective

I believe everything is. I'm Taoist :) But that's a totally different subject. And best not to be talked about in this forum.

Re: From metafandom as well...

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

And that was me above.

Re: From metafandom as well...

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I'd like to point out that by the logic you are using, sometimes rape is acceptable. If you view everything as subjective and good/bad as being arbitrary designators, that is.

Re: From metafandom as well...

[danamaree.livejournal.com]

Ummm, yeah....well.

I don't want to drag the debate of relativism here (which is a large part of a lot of eastern philosophies/religions). I'd be happy to debate it if you email me.