demographics in animanga fandom - no, really, they're important

EDIT: When people talk about gender fail, the hypocrisy around yaoi, and Orientalism/exoticizing the Other in animanga, they are talking about a very specific and very large group of young, female, white fans. This post is about those fans.

For further background on the many issues surrounding the broader discussion of animanga, race, gender, and privilege, please see these posts:


Gender and Fan Culture (Round Nineteen): Lori Hitchcock Morimoto and David Surman

Race Discourse at wistfuljane

On Women in Manga at alita_b_angel

"But Japan is racist too!" at oyceter

Twelve generations from now, people like me will still be writing posts like this.helens78

Metadiscourse at viridianphoenix

My Thoughts, Let Me Share Them With You (whether you like it or not) at inkstone

The problems of White and Western consumption of Manga and Anime at dark_agenda




and you can't go wrong with -

Rape Culture 101 at Shakesville

Racism 101: Required Reading at The Angry Black Woman

Racism 101: Further Reading at wistfuljane





This post is in response to branchandroot 's entry on The Difference Between Manga and Comics and the ongoing discussion about meta in animanga fandom:

( In this post, I'm mainly speaking about the bulk of animanga fandom -- these are not the experiences of every fan. I'm generalizing here, but I'm doing it based off of 12 years of observation and participation in various anime and manga fandoms. Also, I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's fannish experience. I <i>know</i> that not all anime fans are teenaged girls. This post is in reference to the many who are and their significance to animanga fandom as it stands today. )