Prospectus
Scholarship documenting the rhetorics and ramifications of online harassment primarily explores how straight men attack women, minorities, and/or queer folk. Harassment, in this case, is abusive digital behavior, threats (violent or otherwise) created to dehumanize, attack, and harm not just the target but others like them. Subsequently, with few exceptions in education on the phenomena of cyberbullying, there remains a gap in how women and/or queer folk are utilizing harassments of their own to attack others. This gap is a fascination for me, having spent my youth and even my twenties navigating new social media spaces shaped not by straight men but by queer folk and women who create thriving cultures of fandom community on platforms such as Tumblr, Archive of Our Own, Twitter, or Pillowfort. Fandom, the linking of individuals through their interest and shared passions for entertainment properties, is also a hub of creating content for individuals, between graphics, gif sets, fanfictions, meta commentary, music, videos, and more. Ironically, despite being linked by shared interest or affection for media properties, sports teams, people, or whatever the chosen topic is, these spaces are no longer utopias away from harassment they were once designed to be (Bury). Harassment, even without straight male interference, is an increasingly predominant feature in many online fandoms, further emphasizing the exigency of understanding the rhetoric and patterns of online harassment in scholarship.
Many fandoms see such a rise in in-fighting, harassment, and abuse of fans towards creators and other fans that the show and fan community become known for those dark behaviors of a vocal minority. Such is the case of Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016-2018), my chosen case study. In the two and a half years since the show began, fans attempted to blackmail the studio to ensure their favorite characters entered a romantic relationship, threatened to kill themselves, other fans, and the creators of the show, and accused nearly all who did not align with their opinions of the show as supporting incest and pedophilia, even though all characters in question are unrelated and over 18 (Sean Z; Sridar; “Anti Hall of Fame”). VLD is also host to an diverse fandom, dominated by female and queer fans, leading to the diversity required for a study of non-straight male harassment.
Through this prospectus, I connect various fields of literature (rhetoric, technology and online writing, and fandom and media) to explore our current understandings of online harassment and why it is vital to look at fandom spaces if we want to better recognize the unique rhetorics of women/queer folk. After this literature review, I’ll turn to more details about Voltron as a case study and my planned ethnographic research to collect data. My research starts with an online survey of fans of the show, asking for reflection on the behaviors of others and if they viewed their time in the fandom as positive. Survey respondents have the option of becoming interview subjects with questions based on their answers. This data are my primary artifacts, though I will also tap into cultivated archives, such as “Anti Hall of Fame,” that offer specific examples and screenshots I may not have been able to collect. Through this section, I will also touch upon important queer and feminist methodologies, included for the planned demographic of my research. Finally, I’ll include a brief chapter outline and timeline for my research, culminating in a works cited and appendix of the IRB materials needed to collect data.
Prospectus Final from Renee Ann Drouin
Posters Designed in Planning Stages
Above is a poster designed for a methods course prior to the dissertation process.
Above is a literature map I created at the conception of this project. I include it here to emphasize the interdisciplinary approach to the dissertation. The design was inspired by the leo constellation, as lions are present in the case study show.
Renee Ann Drouin 