Still White Male's Predominance: An Intersectional Analysis of the Alpha/Beta/Omega Framework in Online Fan Fiction

• In Event: If/When We Have Fun: Gender Subjectivities in Leisure

Abstract

Fan fiction is a type of fiction in which authors use established characters and stories to create original narrative works. Since 2010, there has been a popular framework in online fan fiction called Alpha/Beta/Omega (“ABO”). Many writers followed this ABO framework to create their fan fiction. In this framework, the society is divided into six genders instead of two. People are either male or female, and either Alpha, Beta, or Omega. The purpose of the paper is to examine by intersectional analysis representation of gender, sexuality, race, and class in online ABO fan fiction - a cyberspace constructed by writers, who are predominantly female. A thematic analysis reveals that the ABO framework in the cyberspace created by fan communities has not been free from the “white male” discourse.

Author

• Wan Chi Leung, University of South Carolina