"Even a monkey can understand fan activism"

My friend Alex Leavitt and I have an article in the current issue of Transformative Works and Cultures, Transformative Works and Fan Activism, guest edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova. Our article, "Even a monkey can understand fan activism: Political speech, artistic expression, and a public for the Japanese dôjin community," looks at fan activism against the Tokyo metropolitan ordinance Bill 156, which could potentially curtail artistic expression in the name of keeping fictional characters under the age of consent (hence the bill's popular nickname, the "Nonexistent Crimes Bill") out of "harmful situations." 

We wrote this article in about four days flat, and that wouldn't have been possible without the timely generosity of a large group of people. I'd particularly like to thank Karen Healey, Sandra Annett, and Nele Noppe for sharing their research and insights, and in Japan, my friend Manabe Toko for her willingness to watch a Hatsune Miku PV and spot-check our translations.