Today’s episode of the Our Flag Means Fanfiction podcast is tailor-made for our oppositional defiant fandom friends! It’s the fuck the fandom police episode! We’re talking Fandom Karens (gender neutral), Pearl clutching, Fandom purity policing, gatekeeping, community moderators, fandom “elders” and basically everyone involved in fandom spaces who has an enormous stick of Brazilian Cherrywood inserted firmly up their grass!

Importantly, we’ll be discussing the subtle ways fandom policing manifests — the fandom panopticon effect if you will — and how to push back against it, dismantle it, and call it out so fandom spaces can become the anarcho-communist utopia they were meant to be.

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Our next Gay Pirate News Hour will be Saturday Mar. 7 at 1PM Pacific/4PM Eastern.

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Want more podcast entertainment from us? We have another podcast called HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD HOUR where we share true paranormal, weird and true crime stories from Hollywood History: https://linktr.ee/HauntedHollywoodHour

We hope you still have some leftover festive cheer for today’s episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction. In the mood for some domestic fluff or a funny meetcute? Whether you’re a gentlebeardie or a rare ship enjoyer, we have you covered.

Today's minisode is hosted by Gutis (AO3 & Spotify: cheesecake3, @mystictrashmoon everywhere else) who shares three podfics bursting with winter coziness.

Fics in this episode:

Melinda reads “merry christmas, darling” by ohjustpeachy. Music featured is her own performance of the carol God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen https://archiveofourown.org/works/43794781

Podfic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/76777476

Gutis reads “Merry F-ing Christmas to Doug!” by LyraTalise. Music featured is Cozy Christmas Eve by onoychenko https://archiveofourown.org/works/61363894

Podfic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68175871

Judy reads the latest chapter of her WIP longfic “Slower and Gentler, Wiser, Free” Chapter 26: The Shore Holiday. This one gets spicy! https://archiveofourown.org/works/62060278/chapters/199696341

Reminder: You are welcome to send in your own narrations of your favorite fanfics. Just get the author’s permission first and email the audio file to ourflagmeansfanfiction@gmail.com.

Want more narrations of Our Flag Means Death fics? Check out the podfic database: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dBUd6JdqCNF41FV18BAc564udYERfS6DtTz2vt5CNMA/edit?pli=1#gid=2083680243

Our next Gay Pirate News Hour will be Saturday Feb. 7, 2026 at 1PM Pacific/4PM Eastern.

Follow our channel so you get immediate notifications whenever we go live: https://www.youtube.com/@OurFlagMeansFanfiction

For memes and Our Flag related hilarity follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourflagmeansfanfiction/

Don't miss our other podcast: Haunted Hollywood Hour! https://linktr.ee/HauntedHollywoodHour

Want to support me? Buy my YA novel, THE RECKLESS KIND, wherever books are sold: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/668136/the-reckless-kind-by-carly-heath/

Is fanfiction important? Culturally relevant? A thing that will be studied generations from now?

In 2000, Henry Jenkins, Director of Media Studies at MIT, published a piece for the MIT Technology Review in which he wrote:

“Contemporary Web culture is the traditional folk process working at lightning speed on a global scale. The difference is that our core myths now belong to corporations, rather than the folk.”

Previously, he wrote in a 1997 New York Times piece:

“Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of by the folk.”

Anyone who either writes or consumes Our Flag Means Death fanfiction can feel this sentiment in our bones.

Today Shelby (@shelbs_art_06 on Instagram) discusses the sociological context of fanfiction.

Please help me provide vet care to stray animals via my GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/74db2f0fd

Follow our channel so you get immediate notifications whenever we go live: https://www.youtube.com/@OurFlagMeansFanfiction

Our next Gay Pirate News Hour will be Saturday Feb. 7 at 1PM Pacific/4PM Eastern.

For memes and Our Flag Means Death related hilarity follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourflagmeansfanfiction/

Want more podcast entertainment from us? We have another podcast called HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD HOUR where we share true paranormal, weird and true crime stories from Hollywood History: https://linktr.ee/HauntedHollywoodHour

Want to support Carly? Buy her YA novel, THE RECKLESS KIND, wherever books are sold: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/668136/the-reckless-kind-by-carly-heath/