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Ok, since this discourse has come back again thanks to a certain fandom account, I& #39;m gonna reiterate here what I& #39;ve said in my main many times already: yes, fiction affects reality, but not in the way you think. And I& #39;m gonna walk you through this process in a very long thread
Let& #39;s start by making a distinction here, since a lot of people tend to conflate these things: there& #39;s the effects on society, and the effects on the individuals. Tons of fanpol will speak about the Jaws effect and say "someone groomed me using porn!" in the same sentence...
...when these are VERY different things. With regards to the effects on society, it& #39;d be more accurate to say "MEDIA has an impact on reality". "Media" includes non-fiction too, such as advertisement, journalism and so on. Your 101 introduction to this is studying the effects...
...of advertisement on the perception of women and their role in society. So: advertisement of cleaning products, for example, tend to put women in the role of a housewife who& #39;s always thinking of taking care of the house and nothing else, right? Of course, this is harmful.
However, that example shows what a lot of people are missing when they say "fiction affects reality": advertisement of cleaning products isn& #39;t at fault for sexism! They& #39;re simply replicating ideas that already exist on our society and that are perpetuated by our institutions.
When we speak of representation in media, we& #39;re also talking about something similar: media relies on stereotypes of marginalized groups to represent them, which helps REINFORCE existing ideas about said groups.
So, there are several things at play here:
1. Media taking existing harmful ideas of our society
2. This same media reaching out to millions of people
3. These ideas being supported by other institutions in our society (such as government, school, police, etc.)
1. Media taking existing harmful ideas of our society
2. This same media reaching out to millions of people
3. These ideas being supported by other institutions in our society (such as government, school, police, etc.)
Does a fanfic about a ship you find disgusting check any of those boxes? Probably not. Fanworks are created by and for a very niche public. Even the most influential BNF in fandom will never have the reach of your average advertisement.
And honestly: pedophilia and incest, which is what most of y& #39;all talk about, aren& #39;t wildly accepted by society.
You CAN (and should!) examine the sexualization of young women in media, since it& #39;s undeniably a real problem we face today. However, a lot of different issues intersect here and it& #39;s a topic much more complex than "age gap in fanworks BAD!!!1"
In all honesty, in the pyramid of media works that can have an effect on society, fanworks are at the very bottom of it. Not only that: the response to ~problematic content~ in general isn& #39;t to bully the people in charge out of existence, but to examine and critique the work
Now, let& #39;s talk about the effects of media on individuals. This argument that appears about fanworks being used to groom children. I& #39;m not going to doubt the words of anyone here, and I& #39;ll preface this by saying it& #39;s really terrible that this happened to anyone.
HOWEVER:
1. It wasn& #39;t the fanwork in itself that harmed you or anyone. SOMEONE used it as a tool to abuse you.
2. Following this: abusers will use any tools to manipulate others. Even if you erased all problematic content of existence, they& #39;ll find something else to use.
1. It wasn& #39;t the fanwork in itself that harmed you or anyone. SOMEONE used it as a tool to abuse you.
2. Following this: abusers will use any tools to manipulate others. Even if you erased all problematic content of existence, they& #39;ll find something else to use.
The way to avoid grooming isn& #39;t censorship, but education. Kids are allowed to navigate virtual spaces from very young ages now, which puts them at risk. They should be taught (by their parents/guardians and by their schools) how to safely navigate the internet.
Of course: parents and schools fail us constantly, so creating and sharing online resources is another good way to help children avoid grooming in ANY way! There& #39;s tons of organizations dedicated to this: boost them up! Share their content so that it reaches more people!
Bullying people to the point where they erase all of their creative work and even all of their social media accounts won& #39;t help any kids or abuse victims. In fact, you& #39;re probably bring them more harm (by encouraging to bully, by policing their thoughts and feelings, etc)
If you& #39;re genuinely interested in the effects of media on reality: there& #39;s tons of reading to do in the matter. Heck, film youtube has a lot of 101 analysis of movies that can be a first approach to how critique is done nowadays!
But if all you want to do is bully people because of what they ship, then you don& #39;t care about the moral ramifications of their writing at all. You& #39;re a bully. You& #39;re the real abuser. And honestly: fuck you.
Anyway, if someone& #39;s genuinely interested in starting to approach real critique of media, but doesn& #39;t know where to start: a good 101 is Lindsay Ellis& #39; channel. It& #39;s fun, easy to understand, but still has plenty of sources and contextualization https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG1h-Wqjtwz7uUANw6gazRw">https://www.youtube.com/channel/U...
