Recognize & Resist: An Online Health Intervention to Promote Writing About Sexual Consent and Egalitarian Gender Roles Among One Direction Fanfiction Writers

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the development and feasibility of a digitally-based educational intervention, titled Recognize & Resist (R&R), for writers of One Direction (1D) fanfiction on Wattpad.com. The goal of R&R is to reduce the prevalence of social norms that are supportive of sexual violence within 1D fanfiction. 1D fanfictions, or fictional romance stories written by fans of this British boy band, have hundreds of millions of views on Wattpad.com. Formative research has found that social norms supportive of sexual violence are prevalent in 1D fanfictions and that some authors have internalized these norms. R&R aims to motivate 1D fanfiction writers to highlight sexual consent and egalitarian gender roles in their writing. To evaluate the intervention’s feasibility, 15 1D fanfiction authors completed a survey and participated in an interview or focus group. Results demonstrate R&R’s feasibility, with high ratings of its acceptability and demand. Insights from the interviews and focus groups provide suggestions for revising R&R before rigorously evaluating its efficacy. Additionally, results demonstrate the utility of using popular culture as a vehicle for attitude-change regarding sensitive health issues.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health Cancer Education and Career Development Program — National Cancer Institute/NIH Grant [T32/CA057712].Disclaimer: The content is soley the repsonsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health.