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This is distorted by the fact that most fanfiction period is written by women and girls, so it's not evidence of the gender ratio for the fandom itself.
I wouldn't count "Anakin thinks it's a great idea to spend the day at an amusement park, also having something else up his sleeve. Confessing his love to Obi-Wan!" as being genuinely a fan of the series.
The woke trend is clearly not what appeals to them about Star Wars. Look how few of them have Rey as a main character, for instance.
Since many of the writers are kids, "I watched it as a kid" isn't ruled out. Are they still going to be fans come next year?
Why not?
Granted it's not absolute proof that someone is a "real" fan of the series - they could just be using the characters without knowing much about the wider series itself - but it certainly doesn't count against them being a real fan either. In general I'd say that writing fanfic about a series does count as evidence for being a fan of the series.
Because it's inherently engaging with the series on a very superficial level.
Is it possible that they're a fan of the series anyway? Sure, but it's not the way to bet.
I'd say if you're at the point of writing fan fiction about a setting you're past the point of being "superficially" a fan of something.
A fan is not defined by how much they "get" their chosen obsession, it is defined by the level of enthusiasm/passion for it.
Being moved to write gay fanfiction that completely misses the point of the setting makes someone as much a fan as a person that memorises pointless trivia (who also misses the point of the setting, but in a male way rather than a female way).
Are they fans of Star Wars or are they fans of romance between attractive famous male actors that take place in an exotic setting? Star Wars, or any other IP, may be the vehicle here, rather than the object.
"Are they fans of Star Wars or are they fans of explosions and swordfighting?"
What exactly constitutes really liking Star Wars?
Maybe you need to like the unique aspects of Star Wars to count as a Star Wars grognard. Telepathic monks with laser swords? But then there's the rest of the setting that doesn't feature Jedi at all.
Not an accusation against you in particular, but this strikes me as an isolated demand for rigor. A male fan who loves lasers won't be asked to recite "There is no death, there is the Force" before he's allowed in the tree house. This accusation is only used to police female fandom. The main reason being that fandoms are so full of incels that a woman gets outsize attention, which is resented.
I've dated two functionally very straight women in my life who were huge (like tells me about why Kyber(?) Chrystals are symbolic levels of fandom) Star Wars fans. Maybe that's just an odd sample, but it's a real thing that happened. Gender does not strike me as a useful filter, outside of people who just kind of hate women and don't want them around.
Idk, I shouldn't chime in, I haven't watched or consumed any of the Disney content after seeing the first sequel in theaters. Maybe the whole thing has changed by now.
Honestly, yeah, that's pretty much how it works. I remember a time before the wider internet when things were far more niche, and getting two star wars(or your niche topic of choice) together and watch the sparks go. There was very much a sense of 'Okay, exactly how much can I let my freak flag fly around this person' with alot of this stuff, alongside the simple passionate releif of 'Holy shit, this is someone who UNDERSTANDS'.
Statistical outliers. Growing up, I never once encountered a fan of Star Wars who was a woman.
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