Abstract
In the chapter, “Hurt, Comfort and Intimacy: Representations of Diabetes in Fan Fiction,” Justine Debelius approaches the realm of fan fiction. In Debelius’ analysis of the subgenre of “Hurt/Comfort,” she explores the depiction of the diabetic character’s emotional vulnerability. According to Debelius, Hurt/Comfort fan fiction stories depict diabetic characters as reacting to stigma in two primary ways: receiving caretaking and taking control. Debelius argues that the diversity of perspectives in this genre speak to different aspects of the lived diabetic experience, and what “one diabetic considers comforting may in fact, be another’s fear.”
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Notes
- 1.
As a genre, “Slash” typically refers to stories centered around non-canonical but often subtextual romantic relationships between two or more male characters; relationships between two or more female characters are sometimes described as “femslash”. The name references an early fanish convention where platonic relationships were denoted using an ampersand (&; i.e. Captain Kirk & Lenard “Bones” McCoy) while romantic relationships were denoted with a slash (“/”; i.e. Kirk/Spock). Slash fics have historically relied on external events to force canonically assumed heterosexual characters to move past their inhibitions and instead find a way to be intimate in their relationships (Jenkins 1992; Russ 2014). Many scholars argue that this view focuses on the needs and desires of predominantly female slash writers through projection, rather than true representations of queer relationships between men, and indeed, there is debate about whether canonical homoerotic relationships truly quality as slash (Russ 2014; Jones 2014; Hunting, 2012: 1). The scholarship on slash and femslash is rich in its own right and beyond the scope of this work; interested readers may find works by Russ (2014), and Jenkins (1992) useful introductions.
- 2.
For the purpose of this essay, “diabetes centric” H/C refers to stories where both the physical and emotional injury come specifically from diabetes. For example, a story where a diabetic character gets shot and is forced to contemplate their own mortality would not qualify, nor would a story where a diabetic character serves as the comforter for another character. In either case, diabetes may influence the diabetic’s health, psychology and world view, but it would not be the core source of injury or vulnerability.
- 3.
I am unfamiliar with the source work, Osomasu-san. However, the Osomasu-san wiki suggests the characters were originally introduced in as children in an earlier series, Osomasu-kun. Based on the fandom tagged for the story and the fact that Karamatsu and Jyushimatsu are twins, I assume the characters are adults.
- 4.
The Archive of our Own repository uses a semi-structured meta tagging system. The tagging system identifies fandom, characters, relationships, warnings, and other content (Johnson 2014). The tags can also serve as insight into the author’s view and intention: a story tagged “romance” may be approached differently by authors and readers than the same story tagged “stockholm syndrome.”
- 5.
McGuire writes from the perspective of a queer cis-gender white woman growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, which she states explicitly in her essay. The choice of explicitly gendered language is not intended as a dismissal of nonbinary fans, but was intended to speak to her observations and experiences.
- 6.
“True Independence” carries the meta tags, “Type I Diabetes” and “daibetic!adam”, clearly identifying Adam as type I diabetic.
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Debelius, J. (2021). Hurt, Comfort and Intimacy: Representations of Diabetes in Fan Fiction. In: Frazer, B.C., Walker, H.R. (eds) (Un)doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83110-3_17
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