In fandom, participants can gather cultural capital either related or unrelated to the text the fandom is centred around. One, marked space of this cultural capital is psychology and sexology.
(Fandom) has a high percentage of disabled participants, and is concerned with issues of accessibility (both digital and meatspace) and positive disability representation in a way that is still not mainstream.
Coppa, Francesca (2014). Fuck yeah, Fandom is Beautiful, Journal of Fandom Studes 2(1), 78.
This personal and creative interest then translates into the shared knowledge of the community.
At a New Year fanfic writing competition held in the bar, the bar managers (bazhu) listed 10 different kinds of diseases, including mythomania, topoanaesthesia, antropophobia and borderline personality, many of which are highly specializedterms borrowed frompsychological literature and Japanese fanfics. GL fans seem to have a broader knowledge of psychology and sexology than the general public.
LING YANG & HONGWEI BAO (2012) QUEERLY INTIMATE:, CULTURAL STUDIES,
26:6, 842-871, DOI: 10.1080/09502386.2012.679286
Do you have experiences of how knowledge in these areas appears in fannish spaces?