Femslash week in review: 2023-11-21 - 2023-11-27
High-level stats for week of 2023-11-21 - 2023-11-27
- Total works categorized F/F on AO3: 7416 (+72 from last week)
- Works I classified F/F: 4276 (+33 from last week) (1924 new, 2352 continued)
- 0.6% of all 710752 AO3 works I've classified F/F were updated this week

A few callouts this week:
- Web series The Amazing Digital Circus continues to slowly climb. On the third week of its inaugural chart run, it reaches a best-ever rank of 13.
- Doctor Who and Game of Thrones are back this week. They replace The 100 and Honkai Impact 3rd.
- Two long-time occasional chart fandoms hit the milestone of 10 consecutive chart weeks. Star Wars is having a good run thanks to ships from the Ahsoka series. Boku no Hero Academia is having a great run, and is at rank 12 this week, primarily thanks to the Himiko/Ochako and Kyouka/Momo ships. Neither of those ships is new, so presumably something in the story is driving the increase in fanfic. (I know some BNHA fans read these stats; if anyone has a handy explanation for what's happening that you wouldn't mind me printing next week, please let me know!)
- Finally, there are several exchanges to flag this week:
- Sapphic Stocking Stuffers has signups open from now until December 20th, with fills open until December 31st.
- The Rare Femslash Exchange is starting up its 2023/2024 run: signups will open on December 14th and close on December 28th, with assignment deadlines in February.
- Femslashex is about to wrap for this year, but if you're reading this right now and want to help out a fan in need, there are still a couple of pinch hit requests open, with negotiable deadline December 7th
- Finally, technically speaking, the Jane Austen Non-Canon Ship Prompt Meme isn't a femslash exchange, but some readers may be interested in nudging it in that direction. It's open for prompts and fills through December.
Most active classified fandoms:
Rank | Fandom (and top three ships) | Rating for week | F/F works updated this week | % of F/F works updated this week | F/F:M/M ratio (all works) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Dorcas Meadowes,Marlene McKinnon (133) Lily Evans Potter,Mary Macdonald (61) Lily Evans Potter,Pandora Lovegood (34) | 201.01 | 309 (+17) | 1.17% | 1:5 |
2 | The Owl House (Cartoon) Amity Blight,Luz Noceda (102) Eda Clawthorne,Raine Whispers (25) Eda Clawthorne,Luz Noceda (12) | 117.01 | 118 (-3) | 1.09% | 4:1 |
3 | 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game) Clorinde (Genshin Impact),Navia (Genshin Impact) (25) Raiden Ei | Baal,Yae Miko (Genshin Impact) (20) Beidou (Genshin Impact),Ningguang (Genshin Impact) (13) | 100.36 | 131 (+6) | 0.87% | 1:4 |
4 (↑3) | プロジェクトセカイ カラフルステージ!| Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! (Video Game) Akiyama Mizuki,Shinonome Ena (16) Asahina Mafuyu,Yoisaki Kanade (14) Azusawa Kohane,Shiraishi An (14) | 89.12 | 93 (+12) | 1.91% | 1:1.2 |
5 (↓) | Supergirl (TV 2015) Kara Danvers,Lena Luthor (68) Alex Danvers,Kelly Olsen (Supergirl TV 2015) (10) Alex Danvers,Maggie Sawyer (9) | 86.26 | 91 (-6) | 0.28% | 30:1 |
6 (↓) | Wednesday (TV 2022) Enid Sinclair,Wednesday Addams (85) Divina (Wednesday),Yoko Tanaka (14) Enid Sinclair,Yoko Tanaka (5) | 85.79 | 94 (-4) | 1.79% | 12:1 |
7 (↑4) | Stranger Things (TV 2016) Nancy Wheeler,Robin Buckley (67) Robin Buckley,Vickie (Stranger Things) (11) Eleven | Jane Hopper,Maxine "Max" Mayfield (9) | 79.41 | 90 (+16) | 1.02% | 1:4 |
8 | Grey's Anatomy Carina DeLuca,Maya Bishop (51) Addison Montgomery,Meredith Grey (8) Andy Herrera,Maya Bishop (4) | 63.17 | 67 (-7) | 1.19% | 3:1 |
9 (↓3) | RWBY Blake Belladonna,Yang Xiao Long (40) Blake Belladonna,Ruby Rose (RWBY) (9) Penny Polendina,Ruby Rose (RWBY) (7) Weiss Schnee,Yang Xiao Long (7) | 59.81 | 80 (-19) | 0.53% | 4:1 |
10 | Marvel Cinematic Universe Kate Bishop,Yelena Belova (34) Natasha Romanov (Marvel),Wanda Maximoff (16) Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel),Carol Danvers (12) | 54.74 | 93 (-15) | 0.51% | 1:6 |
11 (↑2) | Warrior Nun (TV) Ava Silva,Sister Beatrice (Warrior Nun) (52) Sister Camila (Warrior Nun),Sister Lilith (Warrior Nun) (12) Shannon Masters,Shotgun Mary (Warrior Nun) (7) | 53.05 | 56 (+11) | 1.82% | 116:1 |
12 (↑2) | 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia Toga Himiko,Uraraka Ochako (27) Jirou Kyouka,Yaoyorozu Momo (23) Asui Tsuyu,Uraraka Ochako (11) | 50.03 | 103 (+12) | 0.87% | 1:7 |
13 (↑3) | The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series) Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus),Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus) (42) Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus),Pomni (The Amazing Digital Circus) (8) Gangle (The Amazing Digital Circus),Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus) (6) | 47.08 | 49 (+7) | 28.00% | 3:1 |
14 (↓5) | League of Legends Caitlyn (League of Legends),Vi (League of Legends) (41) Jinx (League of Legends),Luxanna "Lux" Crownguard (9) Jinx (League of Legends),Vi (League of Legends) (6) | 46.53 | 52 (-22) | 0.58% | 1.2:1 |
15 (⇑) | Doctor Who Thirteenth Doctor,Yasmin Khan (27) River Song,Thirteenth Doctor (7) Jenny Flint,Madame Vastra (Doctor Who) (4) | 44.59 | 53 (?) | 0.60% | 1.1:1 |
16 (↑3) | She-Ra: Princess Of Power Adora (She-Ra),Catra (She-Ra) (40) Adora (She-Ra),Glimmer (She-Ra) (7) Perfuma (She-Ra),Scorpia (She-Ra) (4) | 44.00 | 46 (+8) | 0.38% | 5:1 |
17 (↓5) | Yellowjackets (TV) Jackie Taylor (Yellowjackets),Shauna Shipman (25) Lottie Matthews,Natalie Scatorccio (18) Taissa Turner,Van Palmer (15) | 44.00 | 44 (-7) | 2.17% | 158:1 |
18 (⇑) | A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin Alicent Hightower,Rhaenyra Targaryen (37) Laena Velaryon (Daughter of Corlys),Rhaenyra Targaryen (6) Sansa Stark,Shireen Baratheon (3) | 39.12 | 58 (?) | 1.02% | 1:1.7 |
19 (↓4) | Once Upon a Time (TV) Emma Swan,Evil Queen | Regina Mills (37) | 38.50 | 44 (+0) | 0.24% | 9:1 |
20 (↓3) | Star Wars: Rebels Sabine Wren,Shin Hati (16) Ahsoka Tano,Shin Hati (13) Ahsoka Tano,Sabine Wren (7) | 29.64 | 34 (-4) | 2.83% | 1:4 |
What is all this again?
Mission statement: help out people (including myself) who read fic on AO3 and wish they were reading more femslash, but don't know what's out there. Plan: do a week-in-review post every week which contains general stats about new fic and a few recs.
I am starting with the list of all works on ao3.org which were updated within a given week, and which were categorized as F/F, but I am not reporting stats on 100% of those works --- I'm narrowing down to a subset of fandoms and works for which it's tractable for me to actually look at all the character tags, and then I'm excluding ships containing what I believe to be cis-male characters. I'll give overall stats about how many works I've reported on and how many I've excluded. If you think I'm excluding a fandom you care about, please let me know!
More info about column headers:
- Fandom (and top three ships): If multiple tags that seem to correspond to the same fandom (e.g. "The 100 (TV)" and "The 100 Series - Kass Morgan") show up in my ranking, I report the one with the best rating. There's totally a judgment call here about what things are "the same fandom" --- I'm going to err on the side of reporting more different things when I can, but I won't skip something with a lot of works which aren't otherwise accounted for. When measuring the top three F/F ships in a fandom, I count both "A/B" and "A & B" as "A,B". Ties are broken by including all of the ships, but I only include a maximum of five ships per fandom to keep the table length reasonable.
- Rating for week: This is the number of works I classified as F/F, multiplied by what I call "F/F fidelity", which is the fraction of all works tagged F/F on AO3 that I classified as containing at least one F/F ship.
- F/F/ works updated this week: includes both new and continued works.
- % of F/F works updated this week: This is the percentage of all F/F works I've ever categorized in the fandom, so a big number probably means a brand new fandom, or at least one which was unusually active this week.
- F/F:M/M ratio (all works): This ratio is taken from all works in the fandom tag, and is just a hint to readers about how F/F-dominant the fandom is. Obviously there's no reason you can't find great F/F works in a predominantly male fandom (we've all read those), but the ratio may give a hint about whether the F/F pairing is likely to be the dominant one in a work with multiple pairings. Note that the "F/F" and "M/M" numbers for this column are taken directly from AO3, not from my compiled character and ship stats. (Since I don't categorize M/M works, I couldn't do it any other way.)
Known bugs which affect the accuracy of this data:
- AO3 does not modify the "last updated" date of a work in a revealed exchange when the exchange reveals, so my database can miss exchange works entirely if they're last edited awhile before the exchange works are revealed. This probably leads to a serious undercount of works in revealed exchanges.
Share and enjoy, and let me know what I can do to make this more useful.