What is Fan

The present research explores gender, cosplay, and media fandom in a media fan convention context. Researchers for the present study surveyed 227 attendees at two media fan conventions. As expected, convention attendees found the words “nerd” and “geek” to be badges of honor. Contrary to research expectations, women rated themselves higher as fans than men. Women did, as expected, see fandom as an escapism opportunity more so than men. Male cosplayers thought they looked more like their costume character, but female cosplayers thought they shared their character's personality and were more likely to refer to themselves as “we.” Cosplayers were more likely to tie their fandoms to their friends' enjoyment of it and to tie their fandom to sharing it with large groups of people more so than non-cosplayers. Cosplayers also rated their fandom as being a good time more than non-cosplayers and their fandom as improving their self-esteem more than non-cosplayers. Implications are discussed.