This has had me curious lately although I've noticed the pattern before. Why are so many fans seemingly afraid/ashamed of fandom? They're afraid to admit to participating ... they discuss "real life" hobbies as if they are somehow more worthwhile. Personally, I can't imagine how stamp or coin collecting, for instance, could be somehow more "understandable" than reading/writing fan fic, etc. Is it the Shatner "get a life" mindset or something else?

I find nothing odder about participating in lit/TV/film fandom than I do participating in sports fandom yet one isn't "acceptable" while the other is. Is it because women tend to be lit and media fen?