[ SECRET POST #3243 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3243 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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08. [SPOILERS for Longmire]



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09. [SPOILERS for Arrow]



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10. [WARNING for dub-con/non-con]



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11. [WARNING for rape]















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #463.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

02. http://i.imgur.com/kgIr0s2.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I'm autistic and I actually agree, especially when people insist head-canons are canon. Especially when they justify it with stereotypes and misconceptions.

Honestly instead of devoting all this time writing loooong screeds about how its "totes canon", why not just write an AU?

[ketita]

Because that would demand the effort of actually writing a story.
"character X is autistic" is not a plot.

Then again, I've been miffed about this trend of "look at these headcanons" instead of actually writing them as fics for AGES now. WRITE THE DAMN FIC and then I'll be interested.

[gobbledigook]

I wonder just how the picture could be related, haha.

When you say "especially when people insist that "It's Canon""... Is there an reason to dislike the people who -don't- insist it's canon? Like, is it just something that gets tiresome after seeing it so much or are they attacking people or being passive aggressive about it etc.

[(Anonymous)]

Usually because they only include the cutesy and quirky stuff but ignore how hard it is to actually BE autistic

A strange side note

[feotakahari]

I finally have insight into why the Steven Universe fandom's autistic headcanons are relatively tolerable. One of the characters who gets headcanoned as such is unable or unwilling to speak to anyone besides his mother, and the other has massive psychological issues that have negatively impacted other characters. Even when they're read in "cute" ways, that doesn't overshadow their other problems.

[(Anonymous)]

na

Yeah. And I once saw a person explain her austistic headcanon with "[character] reminds me a little of my cousin who has aspergers, so [character] probably has autism."

So, yeah, she just reduced her cousin and all his personality traits to "austism" and assumed that anyone who's similar to him in any must be austistic. Woooooow.

Not to mention this was a character who had very specific canon socially-conditioned and life-experience reasons (i.e., his very screwed-up upbringing) for certain behavioral traits like being obsessed with a certain thing, being unwilling to interact socially, not really understanding how normal people behave and show emotion.

And canonically, it's a BIG DEAL that it's his issues surrounding his upbringing, and not anything inherent, that makes it so hard for him to just relax and be normal instead of rigidly forcing himself into a way of behaving that makes him miserable. In fact, his whole character arc is about letting go of the past and of the habits he's formed and letting himself be normal. Making the reason for those behaviors "oh, autism!" kind of ruins his whole arc because it's obviously really unfair and problematic to say someone with autism needs to "let go of his behavioral habits and become normal."

[(Anonymous)]

It's the same for FILL IN THE BLANK* head cannon. You have to learn to let it go and feel bad that anyone is that desperate to make someone like themselves.

*Gay, Trans, Otherkin, Genderswap, Autistic, etc.....

[(Anonymous)]

Gay, Trans, Otherkin, Genderswap, Autistic

One of these things is not like the others.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not a big fan of this, either. I'm in a minority group as well and I get that not having representation is tough but some people seem so intent on the austistic headcanon thing that it seems a little sad and weird. Especially when there's so little support for it in canon. Oh, someone was socially awkward once? Autistic! Someone once misinterpreted someone else's behavior? Autistic! Like okay, I feel bad for you guys not having honest to god autistic characters in media, but this is a bit like pretending Hannibal is your IRL boyfriend just because you don't have one and really really want one.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, someone was socially awkward once? Autistic! Someone once misinterpreted someone else's behavior? Autistic!

Agreed. It's like they don't think about the fact that social awkwardness could be related to plenty of other things besides autism. Maybe the person's just naturally shy. Maybe they don't feel comfortable in a new setting, or around a certain person. Maybe they're having an off day, who knows?

I know the traits you mention can be associated with autism, but just having them in and of themselves doesn't automatically mean they ARE a sign of autism.

[otakugal15]

This is why I hate the headcanon that Ghoulia in Monster High is autistic. She can't speak? Autistic! You know, ignoring the fact that she is a zombie who speaks as a zombie, who have their OWN language.

She's way too smart, she must be savant level smart. Autistic!

She's awkward, autistic! You know, despite the fact that she makes friends rather easily and isn't weird about social intrractions or gatherings. She's no Cleo or Frankie, but she's no hunched over recluse in the corner either.

Sure, those are stereotypical, but that gets used as for WHY she's ~totally autistic~

Ugh.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm reminded of a list I've seen circulating on the Internet, of "Famous People Known to Have Autism/Aspergers." It includes Michael Palin (possibly because he's played a couple of socially awkward characters? And his love of trains gets mentioned sometimes? But never any symptoms because he has none) and Jane Austen (who as far as I know left no diaries and very little correspondence) because themes in her writing include class and how individuals fit into society.

Look, I get that if you have a condition, it might be encouraging to know of successful people who also had/have it... but fantasy-diagnosing someone who's been dead for two hundred years? Or a guy who not only displays no symptoms of the condition, but could actually be used as a reference point for the opposite end of the spectrum? That just strikes me as totally counterproductive.

By contrast, I guess, creating autistic headcanons for imaginary people, as opposed to real ones, is not such a problem for me. Unless of course a person can't accept that their headcanon is, in fact, all in their head.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. I don't think it's possible for a character to be canon autistic unless the writer meant for them to be, and let's be real, almost none of them do. There are some types of representation it's possible to "accidentally" write (like, for example, a writer who doesn't believe being transgender is a real thing could create a character who's a trans woman, they'll just think they've written "a man who thinks he's a woman") but I can't see how you could do that with autism.

[(Anonymous)]

Wellllll, I do think it's possible that for books and movies made a long time ago before people really understood what autism was, it's very possible that some writers may have based their fictional characters on RL autistic people who the writer knew, without the writer actually KNOWING the person was autistic.

But usually yeah, it's pretty hard to do accidentally.

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, a lot of the characters in my fandoms that are commonly interpreted as autistic strike me more as having PTSD than anything.

[(Anonymous)]

Seems every character that is awkward or not good with people is headcannon'ed as autistic. It does fit for a lot of characters since those traits are relatable, but it's still rarely ever stated as a canon fact.

TBH I don't mind the autistic heacanons so much as the 'every single character is trans!' headcanons. Or the 'every character is asexual so don't ship theml!' mentality that is spreading throughout all my fandoms.

[iceyred]

Or the 'every character is asexual so don't ship theml!'

You're joking, right? That's not a serious thing that is happening, right? Please tell me you're joking.

[(Anonymous)]

The problem is that for mild autism, like aspergers, the diagnostics are so insanely broad you need to be a real expert to diagnose it. An amateur reading over the symptoms will always pick out one or two, especially for someone a little awkward or sensitive, even though they are still within the accepted societal norms. Once they have diagnosed themselves with it, they will then turn to trying to find supporting examples in their favorite fiction.

[(Anonymous)]

In all honesty, I have to admit I find the "self-diagnose yourself" trend much more irritating than the diagnosing characters bit. It just keeps happening: someone acts like an asshole, gets called on his/her BS, then said asshole whips out the "I have [Asperger's/Bipolar/Depression/ADHD/Whatever disease is currently being heavily discussed in the media here]. Stop picking on me!"

Funny, because I was recently diagnosed with Asperger's and have long struggled with Depression/Anxiety, yet I bend over backwards to try to avoid offending people and am usually mortified when I do. Heck, so many of my anxieties involve "What if they're secretly pissed at me because I said or did something stupid but they're too nice to just flat-out say so?" Nice to know that according to the Internet, I could just use my mental illnesses as a carte blanche to do whatever I want.

[(Anonymous)]

Bingo. If I were to look at a list of symptoms I know there's a few that would apply to me. But I'm no medical expert, so I'm not going to go around claiming I've got something I've never been properly diagnosed as having.

[(Anonymous)]

I am autistic and I would only accept other autistic making up these headcanons, I do get it because I mean, in canon we only get represented in extreme or downright insulting ways so it's nice to decide a character who acts more like you could be autistic.

[mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com]

That is probably the reason why the only autistic headcanon I give credence to is Cyndi's autistic Groot.

[juliamon]

I agree, especially because I've been dealing with it IRL for the last 15+ years from my mom (ever since I was diagnosed she constantly looks for similar traits in other people and declares them autistic too). I turn to the internet to escape that shit.

[(Anonymous)]

the only "they're autistic!" headcanon I can really, really see is... Spike from the Land Before Time.