Outing in fandom
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[edit] Introduction
In fandom, outing occurs when personal details that a fan has kept private-or only revealed to a select group of other fans-are given to other people, or published in a more or less public forum. Sometimes outing involves the opposite, in giving details about a person's fannish activities to their real-life co-workers, employees, family and friends. The goal of outing is generally to hurt the person being outed, or to draw attention to that person's actions, opinions, or lifestyle.
[edit] Grudge outing
Grudge outing is about getting revenge upon or exerting control over a person. In most cases, this type of outing involves contacting - or threatening to contact - an individual important in "real life" to the person being outed and presenting them with potentially damaging information. Examples of this date back to the 1970s, when fans were threatened with being outed as homosexuals to their employers, with the goal being conformity to the larger fannish community.[citation needed] This trend continued online; fans who crossed community standards would be threatened with having their teenaged fannish behavior, such as being flaming BNFs, revealed to their parents. This type of outing happened in the Supernatural fandom; someone contacted a fan fiction writer's family to inform them that their daughter wrote Wincest.[1]
[edit] Outing for an agenda
This type of outing traditionally takes place within fandom. It is less about getting revenge upon a person or group. An example found outside of fandom would be outing celebrities as homosexuals.
Agendas evident in major incidences of outing include the actions of some who opposed the Organization for Transformative Works. They believed that those behind the OTW were gaining academic privilege from the study of fandom, while simultaneously distancing themselves from acting within fandom - thereby cushioning themselves against something that academia in general would look down on.[citation needed]
Race Fail 2009 also provided an alleged incident of outing. A professional author allegedly outed a fan (who formerly was a professional science fiction editor in New York publishing) in his LiveJournal [2], an action deemed reprehensible by many of those taking part in the discussions. [3] In both cases, many in the the fandom community involved in the incidents condemned the outings, leading to shunning of those embroiled in the first instance,[citation needed] and a blacklist of those implicated in the second -- branding them as racists to be held accountable for their perceived racism.
See Race wank for details regarding outing of racists in fandom during Race Fail 2009.
[edit] Public versus Private information
Some of the personal information used to out individuals is in fact publicly available and made public in specific venues considered safe by the person who was outed. This can happen when, for example, a member of a fandom community adds other fans to their Facebook or MySpace friends, where real names and other real life information can be readily found. Fanzine publishers, unless using post office box addresses, may have published their real life names and addresses on-line or elsewhere. In the early days of internet communications, the use of pseudonyms was much less common than it is today, so digests and archives of old usenet groups and mailing lists can contain personal information difficult to delete. Fans may put personal information under friendslock in their journaling accounts, believing it to be safe, but it is still a risk if they get into a kerfluffle with someone on their friendslist who later uses that knowledge against them.
Fans are beginning to recognize the difficulty in controlling the dissemination of such information. Telesilla expresses incredulity at fans who think their on-line information is truly private, when she says:
As always, we get back to the idea that somehow, after you put content out on the internet, you can control its dissemination. This always boggles me, it really does. All you have to do is look around, not only on LJ and JF and DW, but on the internet as a whole, to realize that no, you can't. [4]
This contrasts with opinions like those of bookshop who believes that even if a person outs themselves, they have the right to control who references this information:
- Fandom practices require safe and empowered spaces where fans can be fans without fear of backlash. You always hear the horror stories, but it is important to reiterate that backlash does actually happen, that it has happened to real fans. It has happened to me - I lost my job in 2003 after someone released my real full name on the internet without my permission. Despite the ongoing progressive cultural shift towards empowering fandom in some parts of the world, fannish practice all but requires either complete anonymity, or a strong level of trust between pseudonynomous fans. [5]
heidi8 echos similar a sentiment, saying:
- Oh, you know how I feel about this. People should control how and where they use their real name online and using it in one space does *not* mean that everyone has carte blanche to use it in every other online space.
- Period. [6]
The idea is that fandom has certain norms, where permission should be given before people can refer to others online when including personal details. That the information may be available on Google or that a person publicly made those connections is viewed as completely irrelevant.
[edit] Issues with outings in different fan communities
[edit] Conventions
[edit] LiveJournal
[edit] lol_meme
lol meme is a meme on JournalFen where outing happens on a regular basis. The people who maintain lol_meme make an effort to remove instances where meme participants connect people who are known to want to not have their real names connected to their fan names, people like Cassandra Claire. They remain diligent at this task. There are some exceptions that have changed over time, where they are no longer as diligent and will allowing "outings" to remain with out being deleted. One example includes Naomi Novik.
The culture on the meme permits this for the lulz. It makes following the meme educational as you can find out fandom secrets like these identities that fans are not careful enough in protecting. Outing is perfectly acceptable and view that way by the participants.
People who have been outed on lol_meme include:
[edit] Mailing lists
[edit] Science fiction and fantasy
[edit] Preventing outing
The best way to prevent being outed is to consider carefully what others should know, and strive to keep private information entirely off-line. Once on-line, personal information can be accessible in unexpected venues beyond a safe, small circle of friends. One slip and that information may become available to an audience that cannot be controlled or counted on for goodwill, and who may maliciously share it with family, friends and employers.
See Help:Privacy for more details on maintaining your privacy in fandom.
[edit] Recent alleged outings
Notable alleged outings that have were issues in fandom include the following individuals:
- Naomi Novik [citation needed]
- Kristina Busse [citation needed]
- Coffeeandink [citation needed]
- bookshop [7]
- Cassandra Claire [8]
- purplepopple [9]
