Fetishization and Representation in Digital Fan Spaces
Level of Education of Students Involved
Undergraduate
Faculty Sponsor
Tiffany Kolba
College
College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)
Discipline(s)
Data Science, Gender Studies
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Spring 4-20-2025
Abstract
Fanfiction, particularly on the platform Archive of Our Own (AO3), offers a vast and
/="/">unique dataset for studying how individuals reinterpret narratives and portray marginalized identities. AO3 is notable for its lack of traditional content moderation, allowing for a broad range of unfiltered self-expression. Its user base is also demographically distinct, with significantly higher representation of non heteronormative and female identities compared to the general population. This provides a valuable opportunity to analyze trends in representation, identity, and objectification within fan communities, particularly with the focus on how media types developed in a female and LGBTQ-dominated community represent relationships. This research investigates the intersection of fetishization and identity on AO3 by analyzing its tagging system and metadata. Using re-processed data from AO3’s selective statistic dump, methods such as Chi-Squared and Bayesian Modeling are used to assess the size and significance of prevalence of fetishization-related tags across genres and ratings. Additionally, natural language processing is used to identify thematic groupings and trends in content. A key focus is on understanding how different subsets of marginalized identities are sexualized in comparison to broader author demographics, revealing potential biases in fan-created media. One notable trend is the prevalence of homoerotic fanfiction, which appears at a disproportionately high rate compared to author demographics. Despite a majority-female user base, homoerotic fiction is significantly more common than other relationship dynamics and is more likely to contain sexual content. This understanding contributes to recognizing and addressing issues with representation and objectification in digital fan spaces.
Recommended Citation
Ellerbroek, Mason, "Fetishization and Representation in Digital Fan Spaces" (2025). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 1467.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/1467
Biographical Information about Author(s)
Mason Ellerbroek is a Data Science and German double major at Valparaiso University, pursuing research on digital media representation. With a background in statistical modeling, he applies statistical methods and natural language processing to examine identity and objectification in fan communities.