the feminist librarian reads

Fans and Fantasy: Shipping as... Community

This week’s SpoilerTV column. Included at the end is a link to this week’s survey, about Shipping as… Safe Space.
Shipping can feel a lot like abnormal behavior. The average fan doesn’t really understand it, but within a ship, your friends “get it.” They understand your need to see what you see, the joy it gives you, and they let you know that you’re not the only one. Often, contact with other shippers helps construct a new reading of the show or scene being discussed, and that reading is adopted as a group agreement: Yes, this is the way we want to read this, this makes us feel good about what we’re watching and what we’re feeling.