Interesting. I think you're right -- even from that corner of LJ fandom that gets very angry at what they think is "academic speak", there is a real tendency to read closely. And science fiction is definitely intensely political, although I'm not sure if I'd initially agree about fantasy. My instinct would be to say that fantasy has much more of a tendency to Born Saviors and Divine Right of Kings, and happily ignores the political ramifications of that in its narratives, while science fiction has such a tendency towards confronting current politics that it's created that young adult science fiction dystopia I know you've gotten completely sick of. (Although I'm thinking mostly in literature, and fandom is focused towards television and film, where the lines between science fiction and fantasy, and between politics and absence of politics, are much harder to see.)
When the ChildLit conversations go towards "do kids like it" I admit I often delete the thread's unread, because like you, I find them so icky in their essentializing of all children as being like the ones the poster knows, whether that group is privileged, white, middle-class girls, or whether it very much is not.
(Definitely I agree with you about American views of what defines "white"; one of the things I have really appreciated about the race discussions in LJ fandom over the last year is that many of the fans of color see Judaism as an Othered position in society and fiction. One of the reasons I got so angry when I was reading over the recent ChildLit posts, though, is that people started playing "my past torment is more important than your past torment", claiming that the Holocaust needed to be respected because it was -- bigger? more bad? -- then the Vermont eugenics project, and just, no. Responsible adults don't play the "my victim of racist history was worse than your victim of racist history" game, or say "the last acceptable prejudice", and when I see Jews doing those things I just want to yell get off my side.)
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When the ChildLit conversations go towards "do kids like it" I admit I often delete the thread's unread, because like you, I find them so icky in their essentializing of all children as being like the ones the poster knows, whether that group is privileged, white, middle-class girls, or whether it very much is not.
(Definitely I agree with you about American views of what defines "white"; one of the things I have really appreciated about the race discussions in LJ fandom over the last year is that many of the fans of color see Judaism as an Othered position in society and fiction. One of the reasons I got so angry when I was reading over the recent ChildLit posts, though, is that people started playing "my past torment is more important than your past torment", claiming that the Holocaust needed to be respected because it was -- bigger? more bad? -- then the Vermont eugenics project, and just, no. Responsible adults don't play the "my victim of racist history was worse than your victim of racist history" game, or say "the last acceptable prejudice", and when I see Jews doing those things I just want to yell get off my side.)