Last week, I turned 36, and according to some, I’ve already overstayed my welcome in fandom by at least a decade.

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Title:	Last week, I turned 36, and according to some, I’ve already overstayed my welcome in fandom by at least a decade.
Creator:	fangirlunderground
Date(s):	August 2018
Medium:	online, Tumblr
Fandom:
Topic:
External Links:	Last week, I turned 36, and according to some, I’ve already overstayed my welcome in fandom by at least a decade.
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Last week, I turned 36, and according to some, I’ve already overstayed my welcome in fandom by at least a decade. is a 2018 essay by fangirlunderground that was posited to Meta Monday.

The essay discusses ageism and fandom, the trend of denigrating and harassment of older fans on social media, and what "the recent trend on Tumblr in which some young people have embraced bizarrely conservative views about women and sexuality, with the Trumpian rhetoric to match."

NOTE: the essay does not have a official title. The title used here on Fanlore is a sentence from the essay, one that hopefully does a good job of describing the topic.

From the Essay

I got involved in fandom in the mid-90s when I was around 14 years old. My cousin @lyndanaclerio sent me VHS recordings of the Sailor Moon dub, and I fell in love… I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before.

Since then, I’ve been in a lot of different fandoms: from manga to YA, Tolkien to Xena, Harry Potter to Teen Wolf, Star Wars to Marvel, and countless mini-fandoms along the way. And I’ve met a lot of cool people online over the years — older and younger alike, including my best friend of 15 years — on all sorts of platforms. I’ve built myself fandom homes on shitty GeoCities fansites and moderately less shitty sites I made from scratch; on Yahoo! Groups and LiveJournal; on AO3 and Tumblr… and that’s nothing compared to others!

But, last week, I turned 36, and according to some, I’ve already overstayed my welcome in fandom by at least a decade. I guess I’m supposed to put all my comics and collectibles on eBay, swap out my fanfiction with whatever the fuck a beach read is, and spend the rest of my life cloistered in my house where I won’t offend society. (I mean, I’m kind of a hermit, but that’s not why.)

And let me be clear here: by some, I mean some. While there is indeed a frightening trend here on Tumblr, in which some young people have embraced bizarrely conservative views about women and sexuality, with the Trumpian rhetoric to match, I think the problem is bigger than that. I recently talked about the pressure I felt to abandon fandom when I was 25 when Tumblr was still brand new, and nothing like it is today. It’s clear there were (and are) more societal forces at work than just a toxic sub-culture on a struggling platform.

So, this post isn’t about the vast majority of young people in fandom, nor am I here to yell “get off my fandom, you pesky kids!” when no one ever said that to 14-year-old me. In fact, this post is as much for fangirls as it is for fanwomen because you deserve to know that getting older doesn’t mean giving up the things you love. But you don’t deserve to tell others to conform just because you’re uncomfortable that they exist. There are already enough toxic fanboys trying to keep women out of geek culture, so don’t help them hold the gates closed from the outside.

And if you are older, and already let that shit drive you out of taking a more active part in fandom, I’ve been there, and I get it. But you can still come back; not just on your private Tumblr, or your secret AO3 account, but for real and any time. One of the most freeing choices I’ve made is to stop pretending I think all of this is stupid. The world needs more quirky, eccentric women, anyways.

Sorry this one is so long, but apparently I have FEELINGS this month — especially after the Bog of Eternal Stench I had to trot through while researching this one — and there are a lot of people who’ve articulated them better than I did here (see the following meta recs).

Collected Links

• Adults in Fandom by @littlesystems (2018)

• Look i dont wanna sound like a Fandom Mom or whatever but what do you think women over 25 or so are supposed to do? (2018)
• Age and Experience in Fandom by @tppfandomstats (2017)
• Age Appropriate Activities by @telesilla (2017)

• Ageism in Fandom by @badtech-reblogs (2017)

• Ageism in Fandom: Too Old to Fangirl? by @ravenmorganleigh, @vulgarweed (2016)

• Fandom culture wouldn’t be where it is now if it wasn’t for Old Fandom by @thepalmtoptiger (2018)

• Getting older doesn’t actually feel like anything by @catchmewhispering (?)

• The idea that you will someday be ‘too old’ for the stuff you find fun by @freedom-of-fanfic (2017)

• If other people in fandom are older than you, by definition, they have been your age by @codenamecesare (?)

• I’m old as balls by @warlordenfilade (2015)

• I wish we’d stop telling each other - and ourselves - that there’s a point at which we’re too old for fandom by @vantasticmess​ (2017)

• “like, i’m not saying that adults don’t have a place in fandom.” by @porcupine-girl​, @melifair​, et al (2017)

• Older fans are crucial to the survival of fandoms by @muchymozzarella (2018)

• PSA by @bugsieplusone​ (2015)

• Reblog if Older Fans Are Welcome In Fandom by @cameoamalthea​ (?)

• tumblr’s disgust for older people in fandom by @bai-xue​, @awkward-smiley (2017)

• you are never too old for fandom by @hils79​ (2016)

• You are reinforcing a stereotype by @asocialjusticeleague​, @olderthannetfic​, et al (?)

• Now offline: Lmao 30-year-old women don’t belong in fandoms. Go knit or have kids or something. by @rainbowloliofjustice, @the-salt, et al. […] It’s the fact I don’t get what these people think happens when you turn 18 it’s not like the second you turn 18 you just immediately lose interest in everything you were interested in at 17 and from then on only like strictly ‘adult™’ things. A lot of people who were in fandoms as teenagers stay in fandoms as adulthood. Fandoms aren’t minor-only spaces and never have been and there’s literally nothing wrong with adults in fandom environments.

Reactions/Responses

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  screencaps of some of the responses on Tumblr. Click twice to read larger size

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