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A lot of people aren& #39;t active in fandom communities so they& #39;ve blissfully avoided the... discourse. When this sort of people dip their toes in fandom and have some shipping-related take, they end up inadvertently spreading anti rhetoric. I hope to explain why this is a problem:
One of the most common takes antis have is "art of underage fictional characters is csem". This applies to anything from shipping two underage characters together, to sexy fanart of these characters or age-gap ships.
A LOT of people dislike things like loli/shota art or find huge age gaps gross. I want to clarify right now: I& #39;m one of these people. I generally get uncomfortable by these things, too.
Because this is pretty common, it& #39;s not rare for people to say "this art is MORALLY wrong".
Because this is pretty common, it& #39;s not rare for people to say "this art is MORALLY wrong".
It& #39;s a visceral reaction: "because this is gross, it has to be bad". People like me, who are really interested in analyzing the effects of media and pop culture on society, might justify this by saying "it normalizes REAL pedophilia, so it& #39;s bad!!"
I was there, too.
I was there, too.
However, keep in mind that antis are talking about fanart, fanfics, shipping, etc.
I made a thread about why throwing the word "normalization" while talking about fanworks is simply misguided and wrong: https://twitter.com/mekinot/status/1246568998088687617?s=20">https://twitter.com/mekinot/s...
I made a thread about why throwing the word "normalization" while talking about fanworks is simply misguided and wrong: https://twitter.com/mekinot/status/1246568998088687617?s=20">https://twitter.com/mekinot/s...
Now, all of what I& #39;ve talked are just... bad takes. They& #39;re misinformed. But you can block the content that grosses you out and move on, right?
That& #39;s not what antis do.
That& #39;s not what antis do.
tw // suicide
Antis harass, dogpile, threat, doxx and suibait people. This year, in ONE fandom alone, four people have gone to the hospital for suicide attempts made after the harassment they& #39;ve received from antis.
Antis harass, dogpile, threat, doxx and suibait people. This year, in ONE fandom alone, four people have gone to the hospital for suicide attempts made after the harassment they& #39;ve received from antis.
If you have a lot of time on your hands and want receipts of how deranged antis& #39; behavior is, here& #39;s a document with incidents from THIS YEAR ALONE:
https://twitter.com/lizcourserants/status/1232958379632582656?s=20">https://twitter.com/lizcourse...
https://twitter.com/lizcourserants/status/1232958379632582656?s=20">https://twitter.com/lizcourse...
Any sensible person would agree that this sort of harassment on small fandom artists is wrong, don& #39;t you think? Even if you find their art gross, you understand that this is wrong, don& #39;t you?
This is because, on some level, you know fanart =/= csem.
This is because, on some level, you know fanart =/= csem.
It& #39;s important to clarify that a lot of these small artists and fans are marginalized people. A lot are lgbt+. A lot are abuse and csem survivors themselves.
And this is how they& #39;re treated in a space where they should find the most freedom and acceptance.
And this is how they& #39;re treated in a space where they should find the most freedom and acceptance.
Because the harassment is not enough, I should point out that (again) THIS YEAR ALONE there& #39;s been multiple incidents of antis spreading actual csem of REAL CHILDREN in their callouts.
Because they don& #39;t understand the difference between fanarts and real csem.
Because they don& #39;t understand the difference between fanarts and real csem.
If you don& #39;t participate in fandom, but you find disgusting that people ship underage FICTIONAL characters or "sexualize" them, I beg you: don& #39;t fall into making a moral judgement of the person who does like it. Don& #39;t call it pedophilia. Don& #39;t trivialize real abuse like that.
Because what seems like a sensible take for you right now, leads to a slippery slope of real issues that affect REAL people. It leads to harassment. It leads to the spread of actual csem. Your disgust isn& #39;t worth harming real people.
If you find it gross, just block and move on.
If you find it gross, just block and move on.
Everything I& #39;ve said doesn& #39;t even begin to cover all the things antis have said & done (I didn& #39;t get to mention the racism! the terf rhetoric! the pro-censorship discourse!), but there& #39;s plenty of accounts covering this:
@lizcourserants @zombiejerusalem @freetofic and many others
@lizcourserants @zombiejerusalem @freetofic and many others
