Thursday, Canada’s biggest comic book and entertainment convention returns to Toronto
Some people say that more women are joining what was once seen as a male-dominated industry because Canada’s biggest comic and entertainment convention is coming back to Toronto.
Fan Expo Canada is a place for comic book fans, TV and movie fans, and cosplayers to meet. From August 24 to 27, more than 125,000 fans are expected to visit the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Since 2001, Brooke Colley, who is a cosplayer, has been going to fan conventions in Toronto.
Colley says that over the years, she has seen more women getting involved in all parts of fan culture, from writing and acting to going to events.
Colley said, “It’s definitely changed from being more of a male-focused fandom to being more open to people of any gender, whether they are female, male, or non-binary.”
The first Fan Expo in Canada was held in 1995, and only 1,500 people went. It has grown a lot over the years, just like other fan conventions like Toronto Comicon and Anime North.
WATCH | After pandemic restrictions, a lot of people go to the 2022 Fan Expo in Toronto:
49% of the people who came last year were women
Abby Yew, who is in charge of marketing for the Canadian online platform for telling stories Wattpad, says that the rise of fandom culture has also made people interested in more types of stories.
Yew said, “Women are really influencing and maybe even driving these fans to these kinds of conventions to show off their passions.”
Last year, 49 percent of the people who went to Fan Expo said they were women.
The expo’s vice president, Andrew Moyes, said in a statement that he’s looking forward to meeting a large and enthusiastic group of people.
Andrew Moyes said, “Given that female-identifying audiences have always been interested in many parts of pop culture, our programming continues to reflect the wide range of interests of our audience.”
“Because we work hard to make sure everyone feels welcome, every fan has a chance to get excited about our event.”
Moyes said that some of the content that people are excited about is on Wattpad.
Romance, sci-fi, and fantasy are growing as genres
The Toronto-based self-publishing platform says it has seen a rise in demand for romance novels as well as other types of books, like fantasy or science fiction.Yew said that more than 80% of Wattpad users are women and that romance is the most popular type of writing.
“We don’t tell the platform what’s popular. Yew told CBC Toronto, “The users and our community do it.”
“Authors can go to Wattpad and share their romance stories. As a result, they can build such large audiences around the world for this genre and really make bestsellers.” 
Yew says that the COVID-19 pandemic is also a reason for the growing interest.
“People had to stay at home, so more writers made stories, there was more escape, and more people read on the platform.”
Yew says this is why women are becoming more important at fan conventions.
“That really shows how much people want this kind of content and this kind of genre.”
Driven by the need to be hear
Romi Moondi is a writer of romantic comedies who lives in Toronto.24 Hours in Paris and 24 Hours in Italy, will be at Fan Expo to sign books.
Moondi says that when she first started watching rom-coms, there were not enough characters of different races. Moondi decided that she wanted to make that different.
“I really wanted to see a romantic comedy with a main character who looked like me and came from a South Asian background,” Moondi said.
Moondi said that she likes being able to talk to readers in person at fan conventions and let them share their passion with her.
“I’m sure I’ve seen the rise of fandoms led by women… It was great to see how passionate women were about romance books, tropes, and happy endings. Sometimes we even have lively debates and talks about it.