lrt hmm. something to think about? but after reading so many academic studies and research on fandom, 'crack ships' and mlm fanfics i think its mainly because [1/?]

(1) theres still a lot of discourse on bl as genre, (2) yaoi still has 'problematic' tropes that needs to die, (3) the 'straight ppl making characters gay' are most likely queer themselves, and (4) queer creators yearn to see queer content from the mainstream media they consume

i dont think its harmful to make content of 'straight' characters being gay bcos theyre fictional. whats harmful tho, is the shipping of real life people just bcos they play/voice characters that are shipped (i.e. cql's yizhan) bcos the irl ppl arent their characters.

again. on gay (fan)fiction, lgbt representation in fandom, and minority group appropriations.

i think whats important to remember is attacking fans/creators bcos of fictional (read: NOT REAL) ppl does nothing to erase or to help the VERY MUCH REAL STRUGGLES OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY

fiction mirrors reality, yet it cannot become reality. fiction tells us about ourselves. its a product of us. tells us of our morals and privileges. its not the other way around.

the existence of a piece of fiction doesnt and will never hurt anyone. 'problematic' or not.

unless the person who read it failed to distinguish that its ONLY fiction. yet, if harmful actions were committed afterward, it will still come from the PERSON and not what was read.

no one can sanitize fiction from 'immoral' things. its a mirror of our nasty, broken world.

tldr; while discourse is healthy, we should always keep in mind that the real enemy is the real life struggles of minority groups. going after ppl who 'make fictional characters gay' can never erase the violence, discrimination, and death queer ppl have to face every single day.

(sighs) okay, again.
creators should always be responsible of the material they handle. always think WHY you're producing such content. always think about where you're coming from, if it comes from a harmful/toxic view or if it perpetuates hegemony. always. self-indulgent or not.

but. on the other hand. readers should always be responsible of the media they consume. don't like, don't read. if it's triggering, leave and don't come back. if you're a minor, don't engage with mature content. it's very simple. both sides, creator and audience, should be fair.

in fandoms, we're dealing with a lot of history here. history we should progress from and fanon tropes/practices that should already be taken to rest. fandom has always been progressive, and we should head towards improvement. not go backwards.

please, do not attack real breathing persons because of fictional characters. help them understand what they did wrong and what kind of harm they committed. don't use violence and cyberbullying. please.

again, i say, the best creators are the most humane. end of thread.