Re: waaaaay earlier joke on someone, anyone trying to save "Enterprise," the following is from Warren Ellis' newsletter, and begins with a snippet from Jolene Blalock being interviewed:

"I mean, we started out with 13 million viewers on the pilot, and we somehow managed to drive 11 million of them away."

There is an awkward silence when the subject of the final episode is broached.

"I don't know where to begin with that one," she finally stammers. "The final episode is ... appalling."

It is perfumed with the distinct scent of FuckIt, is it not?

One rumour has it that the last episode explains away the entirety of the series as a holographic novel experienced by crew members on the old Patrick Stewart Enterprise. With Bobby Ewing masturbating ferociously in the shower.

I believe I previously mentioned that they could have replaced current episodes with a placard reading FUCK YOU FOR WATCHING. REGARDS, THE MGMT.

what's left when you take biology and sociology out of the picture?

An autistic hermaphodite.

Hah! Can I tag that, Allyson?

Suela's an exhibitionist. That's all. Like I'm a krav exhibitionist, but that doesn't mean I'm in a martial arts fandom.

No, as I understand it, that means you're in a cult.

And I always thought that the reason so many fandom things were organised by the closer-to-the-earth posse was because all the organisation minded menfolk were out maintaining The Patriarchy.

Well, not so much "always thought" as "just made up", but whatever.

"I mean, we started out with 13 million viewers on the pilot, and we somehow managed to drive 11 million of them away." [emphasis mine]

I feel that somebody should rent a billboard outside Jolene's bedroom window and put a picture of Kirstie Alley as Saavik on one half and Blalock's space catsuit with a red circle and diagonal slash over it on the other.

FUCK YOU FOR WATCHING. REGARDS, THE MGMT.

See, I heard Buffy wakes up in an institution having hallucinated the show.

Hah! Can I tag that, Allyson?

Sure. With my apologies to autistic hermaphrodites. I'm sure some Buffista, somewhere, knows one who is an exception to the autistic hermaphrodite stereotype.

I'm sure some Buffista, somewhere, knows one who is an exception to the autistic hermaphrodite stereotype.

Nah, that's pretty much him. Her. Whatever.

So I can't say for sure, but it certainly feels like fanfiction is produced by far more women than men, and I don't think that's an error of perception.

I think that's sort of true, but... the fanfiction that men write is often posted to porn sites, not fanfic archives. Because, well, literary merit isn't so much the focus, maybe. If you factor that in, I think the male-female balance comes closer to even. I suspect that it'd still favor women slightly, because I think writing fanfic is a more accepted cultural part of fandom among women, and gets more positive reinforcement from other women.

It's sort of like how the guys argue about what the spaceship does, and the women argue about what the characters on the ship are thinking. And the second one leads into writing fanfic a lot more easily. When talking about characters, it's easier for women to say "I related to this because of something that happened to me..." whereas I think men often feel uncomfortable having that kind of conversation in what's essentially a public venue.

Speaking very, very generally and without intending to suggest that women never argue about spaceships and men never talk about characters, and etc.

Because, well, literary merit isn't so much the focus, maybe.

*cough* PWP *cough*

My point being that women can porn it up with great enthusiasm and elan.

If you factor that in, I think the male-female balance comes closer to even.

Really? I always got the impression that fanfic was much more of a woman fan phenomenon. But I don't really have a sense of how big male written fan porn is to compare.

the fanfiction that men write is often posted to porn sites, not fanfic archives.

Huh. But is it fanfic, or porn? I mean, the PWP in fanfic is at least intended to be read as those particular characters. Most of the time, anyway. And it's provided to the rest of the fandom as part of the fannish experience.

I'm not explaining my question very well, am I? Sigh.I

Oh, no, I'm not saying women aren't writing porn! Just that when women write it, it gets shared as fanfic that's also porn, not as porn that's also fanfic. I think I'm not having a very articulate evening. Let me try this: it's posted on lists geared to fans rather than alt.sex.stories or whatever.

I don't really have a sense of how big male written fan porn is to compare.

Archives like Literotica.com have a big "celebrities" section, which includes, uh, real-person whatever and fanfic. (I don't know all the terms.) I find it personally squicksome, but...yeah. It's harder to identify the author's sex, but there's a lot more f/f stuff, which makes me suspect it might veer toward male writers.