The boundary between our real and digital lives has disappeared—and I’m not sure we can get it back. As a small business owner in this community, I’m constantly balancing my values with the risk of alienating customers. That’s the tightrope many of us walk. Express a political opinion, support a cause, and you might lose a chunk of your audience. Stay silent, and you feel like you’re complicit. It’s exhausting. Kathleen Kennedy, has spoken about how women in Star Wars face intense personal attacks. A 2018 study found that 42% of Star Wars fans reported online harassment, with 23% citing gender as the reason.
Toxicity isn’t just external. It’s internal too. Fans arguing over who’s the “biggest” fan, who’s a “true” fan. The Acolyte (2024) brought this out in force with people attacking each other over costume details, canon interpretations, even whether someone deserves to be in the community. It becomes an echo chamber: reasonable people leave, the toxic ones stay, and the atmosphere gets worse.
Ironically, at conventions, I’ve had nothing but good-hearted conversations, even with people I disagree with. But online? The human element vanishes. Text has no tone, no facial expression, no empathy. We lose the ability to see each other as people. And when that happens, fandom stops being about love and starts being about winning.
This post is adapted from my doctorate research on the intersection of religiosity and fandom.