Taylor and Who?! Celebrity Fan Fiction as an Ethical Dilemma
Fan fiction (the practice of fans writing and reading imagined stories about their favorite characters) is now widely discussed in mainstream media articles. While there is still some stigma around the practice, particularly in the assumption that all fanfiction is poorly written (it’s not), fans no longer feel like they have to hide their fanfic reading habits. There is one type of fan fiction, however, which still raises eyebrows—fictional stories written about celebrities who are, of course, not fictional. Real person fanfiction, or RPF, is considered by some fans to be unethical. It is also quite popular. Fan communities have a rich history of setting their own norms and policing their own members, so debate about whether or not RPF is “okay” has been ongoing for decades. A research article last month took an interesting look at how that discussion itself may be beneficial for fans in terms of identity and moral development. The Popularity of RPF In a recent episode of the British television series Taskmaster, one of the co-hosts casually mentioned to the …
