Not Only Little Monsters: Diversity in Music Fandom in LGBTQ Lives

Authors

Keywords:

fandom, LGBTQ, oral history interviews, identity, sexuality, everyday life

Abstract

This paper challenges common representations of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans* and Queer) music fans, broadening the scope by considering a variety of LGBTQ individuals and fandoms. With this aim, we discuss the narratives on “being a fan” in six life stories of self-identified LGBTQ individuals, who have participated in an oral history project on the role of music in LGBTQ lives. The analysis discloses a great diversity of what being a fan means, covering various intensities of fandom, how narrators conceptualize the topic in their own words, within their daily lives, and in relation to their sexual and gender identifications. These accounts further explore and move beyond established stereotypes of LGBTQ fandom, often focusing on extreme fans and specific fan objects,1 and instead indicate diversity on a number of continuums: from active to more passive fandom, from diva worship to participating in DIY cultures, from listening to making music, and from theoretical to emotional involvement. Keywords: fandom, LGBTQ, oral history interviews, identity, sexuality, everyday life

Author Biographies

Marion Wasserbauer, University of Antwerp IASPM BENELUX

PhD student at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Media Studies. My research homepage, www.queervoices.be, details my research project regarding the role of music in LGBTQ lives, as well as the narrators' playlists.

Alexander Dhoest, University of Antwerp IASPM Benelux

Professor in and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, and vice-chair of the Media, Policy and Culture research group. My field of expertise is media culture and television studies. I teach courses on research methods, popular culture, audiovisual media, and film and television genres. My research focuses on television fiction and history, issues of representation and media use, in particular in relation to social (national, cultural, ethnic and sexual) identity.

References

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Interviews

Anna. 2014/15. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 10 October 2014 and 9 January 2015.

Dario. 2014. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 13 November.

Felix 2015. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 22 October.

Mostafa. 2015. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 31 August.

Nina. 2014. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 8 December.

Pieter. 2014. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 12 October.

Stefaan. 2014. Interview by Marion Wasserbauer, Flanders, 8 September.

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Published

08-11-2016

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2016): New Directions in Music Fan Studies

Section

Articles – Special Issue

License

Authors retain copyright, while licensing their work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.