#00s fandom

This week’s Featured Article is The Open-Source Boob Project, a controversial incident that took place at Penguicon in 2008. The OSBP’s creators deemed it a “social experiment” in which other convention-goers could wear one of two buttons: one with text that read “Yes, you can touch my boob”, or another with text that read “No, you cannot touch my boob”.

While neither Penguicon nor most of its attendees were aware that this occurred, it sparked much online conversation thanks to one fan’s LiveJournal post about planning the OSBP. Responses brought up issues regarding power imbalance, consent, male privilege, sexism, and the use of the term “open source” to begin with.

Want to learn more about the discussion surrounding this incident? You can find excerpts on Fanlore.

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This week's Featured Article is The End of the Beginning by Mariner.

The End of the Beginning is a crossover fic between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter. It places Giles and Ethan from Buffy in the Marauders Era, and is praised for its integration of the two universes. Written in 2003, it was popular at its time, and was considered accessible to Harry Potter fans who weren't familiar with the Buffyverse.

Did you read this story? Come check out its Fanlore page!

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Fanlore does not support or condone the views expressed by J.K. Rowling. We wish only to highlight the transformative nature of fandom and the creativity of fans.

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How did fans find fansites and archives in the early days of the web? One way is this week’s Terminology Thursday, the webring!

A webring is a circular collection of websites that could be explored via navigation bars that were present on each site. Fan webrings covered a plethora of fandom interests, from the more general, like fanfiction, to the specific, focused on one fandom or even one ship. If you visit the webrings category on Fanlore you can see the variety of fandoms and topics represented. Webrings were very popular in the 1990s, and were still in use in the early 2000s, but they gradually tapered off as fandom drifted away from individual fansites.

Are you curious? Head over to Fanlore to learn more.

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For Fanwork Friday we're reading The Love of a Woman.

The Love of a Woman was a multifandom zine that ran for two issues in 2003 and 2004. From Mutant X to Law & Order: SVU to Stargate SG-1, it showcases some of the femslash fandoms and ships that were popular in the early 2000s.

Do you have this zine sitting on shelf somewhere? We'd love your help in expanding its Fanlore page!

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