Brittany Luce

Everyone can smell each other.

Everyone's sweating.

I can't.

I can't stand it.

I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yum.

But y'all have both been in or around fandom for a long time.

Ashley, you have been in it for over two decades.

Like, how have you seen its popularity or perception change in that time?

I'm gagged.

No.

That's so funny.

Okay, so it's obvious that things have changed

A lot, like a lot, lot, lot over the last 10 to 20 years.

And it sounds like acutely in the past five to six years.

One example for me is that like this recent article from New York Magazine, it was a big story by E. Alex Jung, and I love E. Alex Jung, but the story was about fujoshis, which is like a Japanese slang term originating in manga and anime communities for women who love stories about gay men.

And I can't even get into all of the discourse about this article.

But part of the hubbub around this story is that he linked fanfic in the article.

And some people felt like that was like blowing up the fanfic spot too much.

But that felt like a clear example to me of like just how fanfic really is just like open for public discussion.

Eli, you wrote a fantastic piece for Defector about fanfic's cultural victory.