The way words are used can change over time. The manner in which words change is in fact an organic thing. The process is called semantic change. It is also known as the semantic shift. According to Oxford's online dictionary, this is the "change in the meanings of words, especially with the passage of time, the study of which is historical semantics."
Today I am going to discuss the changing of words, but more specifically the fact certain people attempt to force a change of use on other people. One of the defenses of this practices is the fact semantic change does occur, yet one of the major things people forget is the part involving the passage of time; the person pushing the change in definition is either impatient and not wanting to wait for the passage of time and/or they don't want to actually put forth a valid argument for changing the definition of the word, the latter of which involves bullying.
Cultural
One of the ways this shows up in fandom is people insisting on changing the definition of a word from a culture they're not even a part of. The examples I am giving involve words from the Japanese language and a Western fanbase who thinks they know better than the Japanese simply because they are taking a word with a very negative context in Japanese society and taking away the stigma of being said word.
Take, for example, the word otaku. Certain fans of Anime and Manga in Western society utilize the word otaku to mean "fan of Anime and Manga". In reality, the word otaku refers to someone who is obsessed with something.
One of the first issues regarding the Westernized use of the word is the fact an otaku doesn't necessarily need to be a fan of Anime or Manga. In fact, the series Princess Jellyfish covers a group of female otaku who are fans of things other than Anime and Manga. The series Hi School Girl focuses on gaming otaku. The Westernized use of the word leaves out those who would normally fall under the definition, though for some the otaku in Hi School Girl would be included.
The second issue lies with the fact the word otaku isn't in reference to the fact someone is actually a fan of something, but the behavior of being obsessed with something. Such behavior can be positive or negative, yet in Japan there is quite a bit of care regarding how one utilizes the word because of the negative behaviors associated with obsession. Context is important regarding the usage of the word and whether it is being used in a positive or negative manner. In the Westernized use of the word context goes out the window.
A third issue arises from the fact the Western use of the word is often referred to as the American definition of the word, yet the fact the definition is referred to as the American definition of the word screams Americentrism or – as Wikipedia puts it – "the tendency among some Americans to assume the culture of the United States is more important than those of other countries or to judge foreign cultures based on the standards within their own." What makes the American definition of the word more important than the definition used by the original country?
The place I see the American use of word used most often is from newbies to Anime and Manga. These newbies are of course only familiar with the American definition of the word. They utilize the word hoping to claim a label for themselves to which they can belong; understandably many are also quite young. However, these newbies also make newbie mistakes such as thinking shows Avatar: The Last Airbender count as Anime despite the only the Animation being done in a Korean studio.
The second group I often see utilizing the American definition of the word are those who interpret Anime and Manga through a Western lens. By this I mean they judge series from Japan and other Asian countries from the lens of a Westerner despite the fact Eastern cultures differ greatly from Western culture. Sometimes this Western culture is referred to as "white man's culture" due to the fact it is the culture of the privileged white man.
This isn't to say a person shouldn't use the word, but context is in fact important.
Of course, regarding the definition of otaku it doesn't help that the word is compared to weeboo and what the difference between the two words are. Some argue that the difference between the two words lies in level of obsession, yet this is only true if one takes otaku in its original sense as not all weeboo are into Anime. A weeboo is someone who is obsessed with Japanese culture, but this obsession becomes apparent because said person either considers Japan superior than anything else or they are obsessed yet get their facts wrong.
This should not be confused, of course, with feeling most American animation falls behind Japanese animation. Total Drama Island after all comes from Canada. Even Hilda is also Canadian series. Certain series such as Troll Hunters and movies such as Despicable Me and Hotel Transylvania show American was getting back to the roots of good animation but the failure of Voltron: Legendary Defender in its final season and even the She-Ra reboot are steps back.
No, a weeboo is the person who tries telling a writer their correct use of a Japanese word is wrong, or they interpret the characters from the Western cultural viewpoint, which is something I could write an entire lengthy essay about if not multiple. They'll also ignore anything not Anime unless they mistakenly think it is Anime, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender. That, is a weeboo.
In reality, anybody involved in fandom in an obsessive manner is an otaku regardless of whether they are into Anime and Manga. It's another way of saying one is a fangirl or a fanboy, but Anime and Manga fans use it because it's Japanese. Again, it's Westerners attempting to capture something from another culture for themselves. More importantly, if otaku is used in the original sense it brings in both the positive and negative, the negative being something the fans want to ignore.
Another term used in a similar manner to otaku by fans of Anime and Manga is fujoshi. A fujoshi is pretty much an otaku of BL and or yaoi which is content regarding relationships between same sex men. Like the Japanese connotation of the word, there are both positive and negative aspects to being a fujoshi, yet there is a want to erase the negative aspect particularly when said negative aspects are being called out.
For example, when Free! came out there were quite a few fujoshi in the forums frequented at the time who kept insisting the series was definitely fanservice for them because of all the hot guys, but anybody who said otherwise was in fact homophobic. Doesn't matter that there are still no romantic relationships between the guys in anything released so far. In fact, the only real fanservice was the ending which was in reality a tribute to Magi which came out just before.
There's also a struggle among certain fujoshi in telling the difference between BL and yaoi with yaoi being used for everything even though there is actually a difference regarding the explicitness of the content which in turn means the negative stereotypes which follow the yaoi fangirl also follow the BL fangirl. In truth, fujoshi are no different than slash fangirls except they like Anime or Manga. I write about the issue a bit in 10.1 – Slash Fic. In fact, the differentiation between the other two is yet another issue, but one even I've fallen into the trap of at times.
Fandom
There is a bit of history regarding semantic change regarding fanfic. The current definition of fanfic means "derivative fiction not written by the original creator". Of course, we see popfic show up in this category and that definitely doesn't fit said definition. This isn't because popfic is fanfic, but more of popfic has historically been treated as the "other". It is actually a form of original fiction, the opposite of fanfic yet treated with the same derision as fanfic despite having once having a legit place in the publication of original fiction. Unlike fanfic which will always be fanfic, popfic will end up being recognized as historical fiction over its original popfic or RPF title.
Of course, some argue popfic and RPF are fanfic because it means "fiction written by fans". In fact, originally Wattpad was going to have a separate category but the 1D and 5sos fans insisted that was the definition of fanfic despite what was originally spelled out when they gave definitions for what did or didn't go under a certain genre, but they flooded the fanfic section with stuff which wasn't fanfic.
This is based off a faulty teaching which is taught in school. The worst part is, it's not your regular students who are learning this but those who are rather intelligent such as your Pre-AP and AP English students. Such programs teach students to discern a meaning by the parts of the word, such as prefix and suffix, yet never once teach the students that one can't always discern the meaning of a word in this manner.
In fact, by defining fanfic this way we end up going back to the original meaning which was actually a derogative term used for amateur sci-fi and fantasy writers to say they were just a fan of the genre and that their writing wasn't serious. This is now, though, an obsolete use of the word, yet would mean anything qualified as fanfic. Instead, we use the one coined because people felt the word worked for what they wanted to describe.
Mary Sue is another term, but in this case there is a push by some to do away with the word, much of which comes from misunderstanding what the word actually means which is "a character who bends the narrative around themselves unrealistically" or as I sometimes put it "a character who isn't believable within the narrative". This definition is actually important in reference to discussing poor character writing or writing which bends the narrative around the character.
Part of the push comes from the idea that the term is misogynistic because we mostly discuss female characters. This argument always forgets that most fanfic writers are female and thus mostly write female characters, so most of what would end up called out is females. In other words we're talking about a majority.
More importantly, there is an attempt to use the male version of the term Gary Stu or Marty Stu to discuss male characters who fall into this category, but the push against said word is a push against using the male term before it can actually get a strong hold within the male side of fandom. In other words, the push is counterproductive.
There's also the problem that the push to do away with the word ignores the fact the misuse stems from not understanding the meaning of the word and pushing against it use actually only furthers this, yet many who push against it argue that people are simply against strong female characters which directly ties into the misuse of the word and misunderstanding of what it means. In other words, instead of doing away with the use of the word we should be fighting against the misuse of the word because that is where the problem stems from, not this misconception that the word is aimed at halting women.
Seriously, it was a term created by females for work written by females which in turn is consumed by females to effectively describe a concept in as few words as possible.
Gender – Transgender vs. Feminism
I'll start off this section by flat out saying sex and gender mean the same thing, except that sex is synonymous for the physical part of gender, but not the identity or social part.
Where does this idea that they mean something different stem from?
Why, academic essays regarding transgenderism and feminism, each of which utilize context to define sex and gender as two different things so they can effectively describe a concept in as few words as possible. With papers on transgender issues they are wanting to contrast the physical versus the identity, while with feminism they are wanting to contrast the physical versus the social.
This has unfortunately led to some transgender advocates into wanting to erase the physical and/or social aspect of gender to "spare feelings" of transgender individuals, yet in doing so they in reality seek to erase their own identity and the identity of those whose sexual identity doesn't align with the opposite sex.
They attempt to speak for all transgender individuals yet are the ones attempting to bring gender non-conforming individuals like myself – those who don't conform to societal standards regarding gender – and intersex people – those who are born with a genetic anomaly which leads to them not fitting the physical definition of gender under the umbrella of transgender, yet don't let us say we don't want to be labeled as transgender because when we do we're the derogatory term cisgender.
Yes, cisgender is a derogatory term unless used academically.
More importantly, by erasing the physical definition of gender you erase intersex individuals and sexual identity. By erasing the social definition of gender, you erase the label of gender non-conforming. This is done because transgender women want to be called "real women" despite the fact their identity doesn't match reality – the physical.
Of course, there is an argument by some of those who started transitioning early that because they transitioned early they don't have the mentality of a man, yet the problem with this stems from the fact they would still for a few years have been raised as male instead of female as it is impossible for anybody to communicate their identity until they are actually a few years old.
One of the other things I've noticed is this topic always revolves around transgender women and not transgender men. We're talking not only a rather silent voice within the transgender community, but also the fact I've never seen transgender men arguing the same things transgender women do, such as insisting they be called "real men". Instead, the focus seems to be on the fact they have no voice in discussions involving transgender individuals much in the same manner females who are born female have struggled in having a voice.
So, contemplate that along with the fact this erasure of gender is not something everyone who is transgender agrees with; sadly, their voices also get drowned out.