emmagrant01 | Oct. 29th, 2012

When I was in the Harry Potter fandom I always found it interesting how there were so many ways to participate in fandom. You could be into wizard rock for Quidditch or cosplay or meta about the book or the movies, and so many other things. I sometimes felt guilty that all I did was read and write porn. Sometimes I thought I was just a bad Harry Potter fan. But of course the Harry Potter fandom was so huge that it seemed okay; no one could do everything.

And then as I branched out into other fandoms, I got that same sense that there were segments of fandom that seemed to think you had to pay your dues somehow in order to play. You couldn't just jump in and write fic without going through all the canon and reading all the fic or whatever.

So now I'm in the Sherlock fandom and I see it here too. Everyone is into reading the original canon, and watching other versions of the series, and watching the damn mouse movie and all of these things that I really don't give a fuck about. I really just want to read and write porn, you know? There are only so many hours in the day that I can devote to fandom and that's how I want to spend them.

And I'm kind of tired of feeling like I have to apologize for the fact that I'm basically here for the porn. I'm not pushing it on other people. (Well, if you follow my Tumblr, then maybe you think I am - but if you follow my Tumblr, odds are that you agree with me on some level.) But honestly, it's just what makes me happy.

Just to be clear, this post wasn't brought on by any particular post or comment. It's just that every now and then I get the feeling that other people think that you're not a good Sherlock fan if you haven't read the original books or watched the other series or whatever. I get a little tired of other people telling me what I should be doing in my precious free time, but moreover, who decided that one group in fandom gets to be the fandom police and tell others how they should and should not participate? Yeah, no: fuck you. You're not the boss of fandom.

So yeah, I'm here for the porn. If someone doesn't like that, that's fine. There is an unfollow button for a reason. I'm done apologizing or being made to feel like a second-class fan, I really am.

Edit to add: This is why I love lubricus so much. That con is a safe space for people like me, and I'm constantly reminded how important that is.