The problem with this is that "wank" is a British term for masturbation, not an American one - in fact, until recent years, "wank" was not an American word at all, and really doesn't have, in our minds, the feeling of "a playground epithet from the sucking pit of Victorian sexual repression".
I'm pretty sure that the current (mostly American, from what I gather) fannish usage comes from the original meaning - "people who play with their fannishness enough as to lose all perspective" - but I don't think most who use it envision even metaphorical masturbation at this point.
And "freedomwank" goes even further, since it's not even used as an epithet there. There is means, basically, passionate discussion. Which is pretty far from masturbation.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-07-04 06:16 pm (UTC)I'm pretty sure that the current (mostly American, from what I gather) fannish usage comes from the original meaning - "people who play with their fannishness enough as to lose all perspective" - but I don't think most who use it envision even metaphorical masturbation at this point.
And "freedomwank" goes even further, since it's not even used as an epithet there. There is means, basically, passionate discussion. Which is pretty far from masturbation.