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Something I keep seeing a lot when someone gets outed is "why are there so many predators in the online art community?" Obviously with everything being online, there are going to be unsavory elements within any subculture; but artists enable predators in a specific way (THREAD)
And that& #39;s through this "forever young" mindset so many online artists seem to have. That being young at heart somehow means being mentally frozen at 15. And that reflects in the art they create. And what that allows them to be permissive of. (CONT)
I used to firmly believe that drawing child porn wasn& #39;t harmful. I never personally drew it, but I figured "drawings are just drawings!" A lot of the people around me felt the same, so I felt comfortable in that belief. Because of others believed it, how could it be wrong? (CONT)
Over time, I changed my tune. As I got older, more savvy, I realized "free speech" isn& #39;t freedom from consequences. If I were to take myself seriously as a creator, I had to realize that the things I draw and chose to discuss could influence those around me. (CONT)
It normalizes attitudes that can be incredibly positive, if seen through art. But that also means that it can reinforce negative messages. If we& #39;re to believe that artists are capable of creating powerful things, but then simultaneously say "drawings are drawings" (CONT)
Then aren& #39;t we being hypocrites? Should we not demand better of ourselves? I think there& #39;s a point where we absolutely need to take responsibility; as artists and people. The act of drawing kid porn normalizes the consumption of kid porn. Full stop. (CONT)
Even if you really think that you posting porn of underage characters doesn& #39;t reflect your own desires, you posting it out there for people to see creates an atmosphere that this is normal. You are teaching people who consume it that it& #39;s all good. (CONT)
Those people get more and more comfortable with the idea that child porn is just fine and dandy. And some of them might take the extra step beyond "drawings". Some of them might go something. Like how Nik/OmeletteCounty did something. (CONT)
And I know the reaction to this is going to be anger or disgust. Like that& #39;s not what YOU& #39;RE trying to do. YOU would never do something so awful. But that& #39;s the problem. There& #39;s a world outside you. One you can& #39;t fully control, but one you can certainly influence (CONT)
I& #39;m not saying drawing kid porn makes people pedophiles. That& #39;s absurd. What I& #39;m saying is it EMBOLDENS the ones who already are. Enriches their fantasies. (CONT)
On top of all that, it creates a general atmosphere of people who are permissive to this. It& #39;s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. It& #39;s all drawings until someone does something. I& #39;m not saying we need to police people. We can& #39;t know everything and be everywhere (CONT)
But we can certainly help by not normalizing the behavior of creeps in the first place. I guess my final plea here is that I know this will probably upset some people. Nobody likes to feel like they& #39;re a bad guy for stuff they draw, and by no means am I saying you are. (CONT)
I& #39;m just asking you to evaluate yourself a bit. Ask yourself why you draw what you draw. Artists have a bad habit of both fetishizing the power their work has, and trivializing it at the same time. Take a step back and ask what your art is saying to the people around you (CONT)
And I& #39;m no prude. I fully support people drawing what they want to draw, SFW or NSFW. I just want people to ask themselves about the culture we live in, is all. Why are so many artists trapped in this sense of arrested development? (CONT)
Why do we fetishize youth? Why is it all we talk about is stuff aimed at children? Stuff we remember from when we were 15? Not that it& #39;s wrong to be nostalgic or enjoy content aimed at younger audiences. Some of the best content out there IS in that bracket. (CONT)
But online artists have always been conspicuous in how much they want to hold on to their younger years. And I think that instills something in us, that our best years are behind us. (CONT)
A lot of these predators are stuck in that mindset, themselves. That the only way they can feel good is by being young. And they enact that by going after children who are still at the point the predators wish they could be at (CONT)
I can tell you from firsthand experience that Nik is absolutely that guy. He& #39;s childish, obsessed with all of the stuff he liked as a kid, and refused to take any responsibility for himself. He froze himself, mentally. I don& #39;t say that to excuse any of the shit he did (CONT)
Far from it. I want to make it clear how dangerous that mindset can be. How much it& #39;s wormed our way into our culture, that young bodies are the best. How much we crave youth. How much we fetishize it. It& #39;s disturbing how much of it is baked into us by the culture we& #39;re in (CONT)
And it& #39;s one that artists continue to promote, through their celebration of stunted growth. The defeatist notion that we can& #39;t be happy as we get older. It bothers me a lot that we keep doing this to ourselves, and we all just seem... fine with it. (CONT)
Getting older doesn& #39;t have to be boring. Holding onto that spark of youth is important. But you do that by challenging yourself. You do that by finding new experiences. That& #39;s how you feel young. You don& #39;t hold onto the past. (CONT)
It& #39;s okay to remember. It& #39;s okay to want to be a kid again. But just try and remember that everything is temporary. Enjoy things while you can. (CONT)
I& #39;m sorry for how long and rambling and probably poorly-written this has been. It& #39;s just something that& #39;s been on my mind a lot lately, and with this recent outing it& #39;s pushed it all over the edge. I feel disgusted and angry. I really want people to learn from this (CONT)
