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// tw for incest and pedophilia mentions in the whole thread
i suspect that part of what drives some people to ship adults with minors (in conjunction with other, more obvious factors) is a general overvaluing of romantic love over all other kinds of love
// tw for incest and pedophilia mentions in the whole thread
i suspect that part of what drives some people to ship adults with minors (in conjunction with other, more obvious factors) is a general overvaluing of romantic love over all other kinds of love
say two characters have a meaningful interaction ("ship fuel") on screen. if you& #39;re someone who doesn& #39;t care about the ages of fictional characters, and you& #39;re also someone who can& #39;t fathom the idea of two people forming a deep connection based on anything but romance,--
--you may be inclined to romantically ship those two characters together.
those of us who instantly realize how wrong that is, i& #39;ve noticed, are OVERWHELMINGLY queer (and/or otherwise marginalized, but this thread will focus on queerness). i started to wonder, why?
those of us who instantly realize how wrong that is, i& #39;ve noticed, are OVERWHELMINGLY queer (and/or otherwise marginalized, but this thread will focus on queerness). i started to wonder, why?
there are the more obvious things -- having grown up with the narrative that "all queer people are child predators/all child predators are queer", we& #39;re more aware of what sorts of relationships are ACTUALLY predatory, and turned off by them as a result.
we& #39;re ACUTELY aware of how deeply important representation is, how much fiction can and does affect our realities. villains in fiction are often queer-coded, and that was usually the only representation we could reach for until very recently.
But one thing i& #39;ve never seen anyone talk about is the connection between a person& #39;s views on romance, and how likely they are to ship adults with minors, or relatives with each other. i am starting to believe there is a connection there.
I& #39;m singling out these two types of ships and not just saying "anything problematic" because there& #39;s a big common factor here:
adult/minor and incest ships are ones that are objectively less harmful and even wholesome when shipped NON-ROMANTICALLY.
adult/minor and incest ships are ones that are objectively less harmful and even wholesome when shipped NON-ROMANTICALLY.
so why would anyone choose to ship them romantically instead, i& #39;ve been wondering? and i may have a theory:
it& #39;s probably because no relationship will ever be as important to them as a romantic one.
it& #39;s probably because no relationship will ever be as important to them as a romantic one.
to some, a meaningful mentor/student relationship could never hold a candle to a romantic relationship of any sort. so when they want to imagine those two being extremely close to each other, they can only fathom that bond as being romantic.
obviously, lots of queer people hold this view as well, and not every cishet person feels this way. but generally speaking, queer people are more likely to place equal or greater value on family and friendship bonds.
a LOT of things happened all at once for me in 2016/2017. i realized i was trans, i got into and out of a shitty relationship, i started suspecting i was aro and/or ace, and i stopped thinking fiction didn& #39;t affect reality.
until now, the only connections i drew between those was that my fictional taste stopped being super toxic at the same time that i began properly healing from all the trauma of my life. but i don& #39;t think those are the only connections. i think ALL of it is connected.
i don& #39;t really know what the point of this thread was or how to end it, i just thought it was interesting to think about and that others might find it interesting as well
