I think you could make a case that “Star Trek” fandom went from being an inclusive, creative, collaborative space in early iterations involving people like Bjo Trimble and Sue Sackett...

... into a much less inclusive and welcoming space when it became conventionally masculine. https://twitter.com/fireh9lly/status/1350019810424459264

Like, it’s very telling that one of the key moments for “Star Trek” fandom was Richard Arnold showing up and telling writers like Diane Duane and Margaret Wander Bonanno to stop focusing on *their* interests and get back to writing “Star Trek” like the “proper” stuff.

I have a theory about why modern fandom can be so toxic.

Women and people of colour spent decades having to carve out spaces in fanzines, fan art, fan fiction in franchises that traditionally serviced straight white men.

Fan fiction is often corrective. https://www.vox.com/2016/6/2/11531406/why-were-terrified-fanfiction-teen-girls

This interesting thing about the past couple of years is that straight white men have seen the dynamic (only slightly) reversed. Not all stories are about them.

But those feeling alienated don’t turn to fan fiction or fan art. They insist on “the canon.” https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/rumors-about-removing-the-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-from-canon-are-not-about-continuity-but-power/

These fans are entitled to write their own fan fiction alternate versions of media they don’t like - to not watch “Star Trek: Discovery” or to read the non-canon expanded universe of “Star Wars.”

It’s the same choices that women and people of colour had for decades.