[ SECRET POST #5918 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5918 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 36 secrets from Secret Submission Post #847.
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

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I listen to vague allegations like "cult shit" and "murders" from megafandoms about as skeptically as I would treat any other claim about fandom being responsible for deaths. With no offense meant, but I've been in fandom long enough to run into many spurious claims of that sort.

Also, I've interacted with a lot of people who are older and younger than me via fandom, and been dismayed at how many of them have abuse histories. But my impression is that most of the people I meet in other contexts are guarding their secrets more closely: not that they're less likely to have been abused.

I can well believe what you're saying about otherkin communities, because they are still a particular variety of small and easily manipulated that repels most of the people who would otherwise be interested in joining them. That is, most of the otherkin I know who aren't dying for community look at what's available and don't engage. So far, I've met roleplayers, fic writers, cosplayers, theater people, musicians, editors, and longtime members of Tumblr, LJ, and Dreamwidth who make their social connections outside of the otherkin scene simply because the scene has nothing to offer them. But this is a pattern I've encountered in many marginal communities.

Diane Vera had this to say in relation to satanism in 2005, and I think she summed up the point well:

"Other subcultures, including the gay community and the Pagan community, have gone through an underground sleaze phase too. Back in the 1950's, the gay community consisted of a bunch of sleazy Mafia-run bars. In the 1960's and early 1970's, the Pagan community was a thoroughly unpleasant scene, dominated by obnoxious, endlessly-bickering, ego-driven leaders and their ass-kissing followers […] There were also quite a few predatory leaders who, for example, expected their followers to have sex with them as part of initiation or what not.

The underground sleaze phase is probably characteristic of all or most small but notorious, popularly-hated subcultures below a certain critical size. As long as the subculture is small and hard to find, seekers will be desperate for information and contacts. And, wherever there are desperate people, there will be folks happy to take advantage of their desperation.

To outgrow the underground sleaze phase, the main thing a subculture needs is simply to grow. Once there are enough easily-found groups around that people have a real choice, [… that] will raise the standards for the behavior and qualifications of leaders."