Zee made me post this.

[schmerica]

Dear fandom, sometimes people are a) immature b) bitchy or c) wanky. Surprisingly enough, there is no direct correlation between this and being under 18. Seriously, you deal with underage people ALL THE FREAKING TIME, and you don't know it, because we don't choose to tell you. Most people CAN'T TELL, and that's FINE. If you do have the emotional maturity to deal with fandom reasonably, and you don't broadcast your age and make it into a issue for list owners and such, nobody SHOULD care.

(Less life experience CAN mean more wankiness, but you know what? That's usually if you are a person prone to it anyway. Other people just keep getting worse and worse about the longer they go on. Seriously, there's a certain type of kerfuffle-raising that's a skill; you get better at it with time.)

I have to admit, too, that when I entered fandom as a teenager (after I started college, but before I was legal for anything), one of the things I absolutely loved about it was its age-blindness. On the internet, what matters is how you present yourself and how you act that matters, not your age. At 17, it is kind of amazing to be able to strike up discussions and friendships with people anywhere from your own age to three decades older than you and have none of them automatically, without even thinking, treating you like a silly kid.

Signed with love and frustration,
Pearl-"I Was a Baby Fangirl and I Lived to Tell About It!"-o

Comments

[aukestrel.livejournal.com]

Her being a teenager is not a valid thing to criticise in and of itself; her opinions on and reactions to fandom community etc. are just as valid as anyone else's. However -

(you've already defriended me, pearl, so I don't have to worry that this will cause you to drop me like a hot potato *g*) - I am the mother of a 15 yo! What's more, he's an erudite and thoughtful 15 yo and when he sends emails, or posts online, you would not know he was 15 (in part because his mother has always insisted on proper spelling and grammar in his electronic communications with her).

BUT from several years of teaching my son moderation in outlook, not leaping to judgment, and basic critical thinking, I can draw two conclusions from my own personal experience of being a teenager and parenting one: 1. The American educational system is not geared to teach critical thinking. I suspect this is because there is a giant plot afoot (no, not the BNF plot to keep down new writers, the OTHER giant plot wherein Americans incapable of thinking critically will not be able to see the flaws inherent in the reasoning of those in power) ; 2. Teenagers in general tend to see things in much more black and white terms than many (not most!) adults.

So people who do have experience with teenagers may in fact be inclined to say, "Oh, she's a teenager. That explains it." They are not necessarily right to do so - they may be leaping to judgment themselves and possibly generalising ahead of the facts - but neither are they necessarily wrong, at least until we know what the "it" is that they're talking about.

As far as protecting the "unformed minds" of pre-18 yos, I think we'd do far better to expose them to as wide a variety of outlooks, opinions, sexuality, politics, debate, and even fandom wank as possible. As a mom, however, I do not want my son going online and lying about his age to join communities or mailing lists or what-have-you, not because I am worried about his "unformed mind" but because it's wrong to put other people in the position - potentially dangerous in certain countries - of unknowingly dealing with a minor.