[ SECRET POST #6028 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6028 ⌋

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


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[Kill la Kill]



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03.
[Back From the Brink]



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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 37 secrets from Secret Submission Post #862.
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)]

OP, when you talk about doing something for yourself (like shipping slash), are you, you know, doing something nice for yourself? Or are you taking moments out of your day to trash on everything that *isn't* slash?

Because there are qualitative differences to those two approaches. It's often not what a person loves that folk take issue with - it's what they be loudly hating.

[(Anonymous)]

Folks constantly take issue with loving slash on its own. Sometimes they will claim that it's because slash fans loudly hate female characters for being in the way, but this is a largely baseless strawman that died ten or more years ago. They hide behind this strawman to have an acceptable reason to rag on slash fans who are really just minding their own business. There's also the equally baseless accusation that slash fans are fetishizing gay men. Again slash fans are minding their own business and get comments accusing them of being nasty old straight ladies for writing in their own spaces about men having sex.

So no, there is no response to hate required for people to take issue with someone enjoying something in fandom. It's not just slash either, that was just one example. People in fandom get angry very easily when other people simply like something they don't. "How dare you like things I don't like!" isn't a sarcastic meme for nothing.

[(Anonymous)]

All of this.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, no.

I love slash. Been writing it for well over a decade.

And when I say slashfans are rightly proverbial for misogyny, I say that from experience.

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve had similar experiences, as a longtime slash writer.

[(Anonymous)]

I mind my own business, but I'm beyond tired of being told what characters other (mostly female) fans are morally obligated to like, what ships (and types of ships) other fans are morally obligated to ship, what porn other people are morally obligated to read, what headcanons they allowed to have, etc. with snide insinuations that if those fans don't do what the pontificator/activist wants them to, it can only be because they must be racist, misogynist, transphobic, biphobic, homophobic, etc., etc., etc. It's the constant assumption of bad faith of anyone in transformative (which again, is mostly female) who doesn't toe the line some fandom moralizer has decided to set. Maybe one time in twenty, there might be something racist or homophobic or whatever going on, but the other 19 it's just the same old ship war and character stanning bullshit trying to dress itself up in SJ terminology. I am sick and tired of fandom activists acting like any personal preference that other fans might have that doesn't line up with their own is somehow bad or insidious.

This is especially true when it comes to things like shipping where who an individual finds attractive very often plays a part. Sexual attraction is a very private, personal thing, and no one owes any particular person or group of people their personal sexual interest, let alone imaginary characters who don't even exist. No individual fan owes other fans the specific fanworks they want. Fandom is for fun, and as long as someone isn't being a dick to someone else they should get to play the way they want to. Be kind, have fun, and keep in mind that other fans' fandom lives do not have to revolve around you or your faves.

While there is a conversation to be had about societal standards of attractiveness, I don't think shaming and guilt-tripping other individual fans for not fangirling the proper, progressive way is a productive way to go about it. It may get people to be quiet about personal preferences/ships that the moralizer doesn't like, but they won't be happy and they definitely won't want to play in the moralizer's sandbox. Just let other people like what they like, and make your corner of fandom a fun place to play. It may not be a big place, but the people in it will be genuinely interested in the character/pairing and they'll be happy.

[(Anonymous)]

This is an outstanding comment, and I'm glad I read it. And the social conversation to be had about social standards of attractiveness could also stand to be so much broader than exhortations to try to make up for all of the ways society is messed up by expressing attraction - real or faked - indiscriminately.

[(Anonymous)]

SA

(Especially when those exhortations are disproportionately aimed at women. Because apparently, if you're female, it's a real sin to admit to finding anyone unattractive, ever. And allegedly so harmful.)

The picture in my mind's eye when I hear arguments against letting women express the preferences that they actually have, sexually, is of Scar, saying "now, where have I seen this before, let me think ..." in his ineffable, sarcastic drawl. It helps me remember that someone haranguing the world about virtuous shipping isn't entitled to my taking that - or them - seriously.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, very true. Fandom has expanded the range of characters I find attractive, and it's thanks to the fans who share their own infectious enthusiasm over who they find attractive, not the ones who try to shame everyone else for not sharing their tastes.