What Is an Anti? Exploring a Key Term and Contemporary Debates

Abstract

The term "anti" has come into wide use in fandom over the past few years, but it has not been subject to much scholarly attention. This roundtable brings together a group of thinkers (Alexis Lothian, stitch, Anne Jamison, and Sneha Kumar) with expertise in different facets of this complex phenomenon to explore what is happening with the anti—as well as the opposite side of these debates, known as the anti-anti or proshipper—and what it all means, thereby providing some context for those unfamiliar with these debates and further spurring scholarly attention.

Keywords

• antifan
• antishipper
• norms
• policing
• proshipper