Yesterday I was wondering about the distribution of fanfiction categories vs. ratings in, so I decided to run some statistics to satisfy my curiosity. I chose Fire Emblem: Fates for two reasons: because I’m familiar with the fandom, and because there is a roughly equal distribution of male and female characters.

Then, when someone in the Sin Bin linked me to this post about the hyper-sexualization of mlm in fandom circles, I decided that this is the sort of thing that I should share (and I encourage you to as well). My results are far from perfect, as they don’t account for overlap in category tagging, but they do, I think, a fairly adequate job of getting the point across.

Works rated M or E are shown in red; all others are shown in grey.

As of 8/14/2016, there were 2510 total works on AO3 under the Fire Emblem: Fates fandom tag. Of these 2510 total works:

681 (27.1% of all works) were rated M or E

909 (36.2% of all works) were categorized as F/M, 268 of which were rated M or E (29.5% of the category)



907 (36.1% of all works) were categorized as M/M, 328 of which were rated M or E (36.2% of the category)

377 (15.0% of all works) were categorized as F/F, 106 of which were rated M or E (28.1% of the category)

In the remainder of this post, I break down the percentages of M+ rated works (or “theoretical smut”) in each category, as well as in the three most popular pairings for each category.

More detailed statistics, graphs, and rating analysis below the cut.

RATINGS ANALYSIS

RATINGS (F/M)

Teen And Up Audiences (315)

General Audiences (295)

Explicit (163)

Mature (105)

Not Rated (31)

RATINGS (M/M)

Teen And Up Audiences (315)

General Audiences (212)

Explicit (188)

Mature (140)

Not Rated (52)

RATINGS (F/F)

Teen And Up Audiences (132)

General Audiences (127)

Explicit (63)

Mature (43)

Not Rated (12)

M+ RATED FIC*

F/M = 268 (31) – 29.5% (32.9%)

M/M = 328 (52) – 36.2% (41.9%)

F/F = 106 (12) – 28.1% (31.3%)



*The parenthesized values and percentages incorporate the possible range of deviation, as the “unrated” fics could potentially be sorted into any category. I call these percentages “the smut threshold,” because in theory, smut makes up a large portion of fics in those rating categories.

POPULAR F/M PAIRINGS

Takumi/F!Corrin have 69 overall tags, 64 of which are categorized F/M; 12 (1) are rated M+ – 17.4% (18.8%) overall, 18.8% (20.3%) category

Leo/F!Corrin have 66 overall tags, 64 of which are categorized F/M; 22 (2) are rated M+ – 33.3% (36.4%) overall, 34.4% (37.5%) category

Azura/M!Corrin have 54 overall tags, 48 of which are categorized F/M; 9 (2) are rated M+ – 16.7% (20.4%) overall, 18.9% (22.9%) category

Despite the prevalence of F/M pairings in the fandom, there doesn’t seem to be any one in particular that is popular (in contrast to the Awakening fandom’s predilection towards Chrom/F!Robin). It should be noted, however, that two of the three pairings fall well below the “smut threshold” of 29.5%, established above.

POPULAR M/M PAIRINGS

Leo/Takumi have 291 overall tags, 257 of which are categorized M/M; 50 (31) are rated M+ – 17.1% (27.8%) overall, 19.5% (31.5%) category

Xander/Ryoma have 114 overall tags, 99 of which are categorized M/M; 44 (4) are rated M+ – 38.6% (42.1%) overall, 44.4% (48.5%) category

M!Corrin/Niles have 106 tags, 98 of which are categorized M/M; 44 (3) are rated M+ – 41.5% (44.3%) overall, 44.9% (48.0%) category

In contrast to the trends shown in the F/M category, we see the opposite here. Although Leo/Takumi (the most popular pairing) sees the same fall-off below the smut threshhold as both Takumi/F!Corrin and M!Corrin/Azura, the other two pairings have a significantly higher variance against the average likelihood of smut fic. Note, too, that the scale is 3x larger than the graph above or below.

POPULAR F/F PAIRINGS

Azura/F!Corrin have 82 overall tags, 74 of which are categorized F/F; 11 (1) are rated M+ – 13.4% (14.6%) overall, 14.9% (16.2%) category

Camilla/Hinoka have 74 overall tags, 65 of which are categorized F/F; 26 (2) are rated M+ – 35.1% (37.8%) overall, 40.0% (43.1%) category

F!Corrin/Rhajat have 34 overall tags, 31 of which are categorized F/F; 6 (1) are rated M+ – 17.6% (20.6%) overall, 19.4% (22.6%) category

This is just about the opposite of the previous category: two pairings with significantly lower-than-average smut thresholds, then one that’s significantly higher. It’s worth noting that (from a cursory look through the tag) 3 of the M-rated fics listed under Camilla/Hinoka are actually more focused on popular M/M pairings (which some would call “false advertising”).

CONCLUSIONS

The Fire Emblem: Fates fandom is heavily skewed towards F/M and M/M pairings, with F/F pairings receiving less than half of the representation of either category.

M/M works are more likely to be given M or E ratings than works from the other categories. Works for popular M/M ships have a significantly higher probability to be given an M or E rating.

I’ve done my best to present these statistics in a clear and concise manner, and I’d love to hear any other thoughts on the subject–just send in an ask. Thank you for reading this far!