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.

it's posted on lists geared to fans rather than alt.sex.stories or whatever.

Because we like community!

Although -- circle jerk -- that's a commitment to community few women can match.

Oh, no, I'm not saying women aren't writing porn!

No, I know. I was trying to ask what you explained -- that what women write is shared as NC-17 fic, whereas what these guys write is shared as porn that happens to be about tv characters. That's what's going on?

Huh.

Although -- circle jerk -- that's a commitment to community few women can match.

Heh.

There's a lot of fairly gen male-written fic in comics fandom. (There's also a lot of really, really bad femslash, but that falls more under the porn point, I suppose.) It's probably still safe to say that comics fic is mainly a male-written area.

Because we like community!

Heh. But honestly, yeah. It's an accepted part of the female fandom.

Consuela, I edited the last post as you were replying, I think. Y'all are too speedy for me. So that might answer you. (And this is all totally subjective, obviously. I have this great fear that I'm going to step on toes, which I truly don't want to do.) My impression is that a woman who writes a m/m story gets validated for being taboo-breaking and airing subtext and undermining the patriarchy, and a man who writes an f/f story is seen as creepy by female fans, so it's taken to other venues.

ETA: I have the sinking sensation that Minear will pop in now all, "So Strega, what kind of porn are you reading?" at which point I will curl up and die.