Read on Twitter
CW: gender roles, fetishization
Gather round, kids. Let’s talk fetishes and gender. When it comes to dealing with people, the line of “I’m really into XYZ” can cross into fetishization territory when it involves the objectification of a marginalized person or trait.
Gather round, kids. Let’s talk fetishes and gender. When it comes to dealing with people, the line of “I’m really into XYZ” can cross into fetishization territory when it involves the objectification of a marginalized person or trait.
Some examples of this: straight men fetishizing lesbians, white women fetishizing black men (BBC), etc. In both of these instances, the fetishization happens because a person with more power is objectifying someone with less power.
Fandom has always been comprised of mostly women and femmes, most of which are queer. I, as a cis queer woman who enjoys stories and art about cis queer men, am not fetishizing said men because we are both queer and because cis queer men have more power than cis queer women.
If you need examples of this, white cis gay men are often portrayed as the faces of the LGBTQ movement and marriage equality, and they make up the majority of leading characters in queer films. Fandom itself clings to white cis gay men, which is evident all over AO3.
It’s also important to remember that gender is a social construct. Roles, gendered clothing, etc. are tied to our cisnormative and heteronormative society, and playing with the lines of those societal rules is not fetishization.
Last week I came across a tweet that said “gender is dead,” and two days later, that person was decrying fandom for feminizing Bucky.
“Make it make sense” another tweet said, complaining about fandom “feminizing” super beefy, super masculine Bucky in CA:CW.
“Make it make sense” another tweet said, complaining about fandom “feminizing” super beefy, super masculine Bucky in CA:CW.
It... doesn’t have to make sense. People often find themselves and explore their identities through fandom. Portraying a beefy man in women’s clothing is giving a big middle finger to cis-heteronormativity, and I think it’s important to question why that is found to be offensive.
Would you find it offensive if a WLW character were drawn as butch? Or is that hatred only reserved for men in women’s clothing? If so, there’s some internalized misogyny that needs reflection and fixing.
If something makes you uncomfortable, it’s important to reflect on that discomfort. Are you feeling that way because society expects you to, or is there really an issue worth exploring? Does the existence of that fic/art hurt marginalized people, or do you just think it’s icky?
There are a number of things in fandom that make me uncomfortable, but unless those things are upholding oppression and marginalization, then it’s up to me to mute, block, and move on.
Stop attacking fellow fans and creators and making fandom a shitty place.
/end
Stop attacking fellow fans and creators and making fandom a shitty place.
/end
