Boundaries/Consent, Content Creators, And Truthing

Boundaries/Consent, Content Creators, and “Truthing”

Okay, I really didn’t want to write this, but I had some thoughts that need to be let out.

So this is kinda stream of consciousness, expect things to only make sense sometimes but…

Let’s start with my own personal opinions. Content creators deserve to have their boundaries respected, regardless of age or orientation, and I’m personally very uncomfortable with the idea of “Truthing” which, to my knowledge, is that people will make assumptions about a Real Breathing And Living Person’s orientation/identity and say it is fact, without the Real Breathing And Living Person saying anything on either side because it’s based on their actions and supposed implications.

I think a lot of people in the MCYT fandom are too young to remember how this kind of attitude towards Content Creators of old affected these content creators, fans ignoring their boundaries when they do actually bring it up, or making the argument of “well, they never said they weren’t okay with it” and that’s… That’s a Human Person, I don’t think you’d like it very much if complete strangers did this to you, I certainly would hate if people made assumptions about my orientation or shit like that.

I wonder if people remember Phan or Septiplier, because I certainly do. These two ships were… a lot, let’s say. They were very popular in Youtube fandom, yet all four youtubers never actually said anything for or against the shipping when it began. They were actually supposed to deal with the fact people would do this, even if they hated it. This created fans who would obsess over these ships, these real life people. People would make tons of posts of how Dan and Phil were obviously gay - Years and years before they felt safe to come out themselves - and showing all this “evidence” of them being in a relationship, and then we learn how fucking damaging the shipping, the relentless obsession over their relationship and every single thing they’ve done, affected their mental health.

Don’t believe me? Watch Dan’s coming out video. I may be wrong about the exact start of this conversation, but this is what I’m talking about. 

And then we have Septiplier. Both men have stated a few times before they hated the shipping, and Jack has even stated recently (idk how recent, I saw This clip) that he found it uncomfortable. Yet fans never seemed to care. They shipped these two even when both had their respective girlfriends, and if I remember events properly, I remember fans attacking Jack’s girlfriend in particular when he actually mentioned her on his channel. I’m not too sure on all the reasons, some were because she had been a fan of his, but I do believe a few complaints were simply because she wasn’t Mark, that she was ruining Shippers fun.

This is not okay

And so, we get to the present situation. And even better (/sarcasm) we’re getting the added spice of content creators who are underage/Minors. now, unlike the old Youtube Ships, these content creator minors have Clearly Stated their boundaries, what they are not okay with their fans doing. They have stated they are uncomfortable with the idea of people romantically shipping them with their friends.

It does not matter that they are minors right now, they will become adults later and likely will not change their discomfort on being shipped with their friends.

I understand a lot of people who are protesting Enderbees have the right gumption, but solely basing their argument that the content creators are minors ignores the fact that Tubbo himself is going to be 18, and no longer a minor, come December, and suddenly your entire argument is void because “ohohoho, they aren’t minors anymore, they’re fair game for shippers”

No, no they are not. A content creator, regardless of age, giving their boundaries and what they consent to, and supposed ““fans”“ willfully ignore and violate their boundaries, disregarding what they consent to, that’s not okay. It does not matter the creator, if you willingly violate someone’s boundaries about anything, you are an absolute asshole and I do not wish to interact with people who do this. If you are willing to violate boundaries of an internet person, you are willing to violate boundaries of anyone you come in contact with.

And then there’s the “Truthers.” A coouple days ago I saw someone come to their defense, saying it was okay to “truth” content creators and I… I could not agree. Imagine you are the person people are saying “Oh yea, you do this, so obviously you’re gay/trans/fluid”/etc. You strip a person of their autonomy this way. You confuse and scare a person who may have genuinely been questioning/just getting used to the identity to stay into the closet - See Dan Howell again for this, I’m not kidding - because they don’t feel safe. You turn a living and breathing human person into a caricature, a stereotype. I had a friend in high school who was flamboyant and a Theatre Kid, and Straight. He saw the caricatures of gay people in the media, and how some classmates assumed, because he acted like those gay characters, he Obviously must be gay too. He hated it. And that was only some classmates, I can hardly imagine how he would have felt if he had a following online who thought they knew him better than he knew himself.

“Truthing” is not harmless. It’s uncomfortable at best, and horribly damaging at worst.

TL;DR: Respect Content Creators Boundaries regardless of age, be a decent human being, and don’t make assumptions about a person’s sexuality or orientation or identity by basing it on what they’ve done on camera.

(in case the links are being fucky, here they are below vvvv)

Jack on the discussion of shipping, past and present: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jv-ulz6ZiM

Dan’s Coming Out: https://youtu.be/lrwMja_VoM0?t=1389

Watch "On Anti-Asian Hate Crimes - And How You Can Help #StopAsianHate #StopAAPIHate" on YouTube

Hey! If you could stop scrolling for a bit and watch this video that'd be awesome! This is a very important issue for me bc I'm Filipino, so if you could watch, share, and maybe donate it would really mean a lot :]

It makes me sick to think that as a female brown Asian I am potentially more at risk of hate crimes like these. Please help to spread awareness and let's all educate ourselves, because even I wasn't aware of this stuff.

Thanks so much for your time

people with speech impediments, vocal stims, tics, stutters, an obvious accent, who are mute (to any degree), who talk to themselves, or who have any other noticeable vocal traits, you’re all really cool and wonderful and I’m wishing u all an epic and poggers night

This isn’t related to my blog aesthetic but I’m tired of seeing posts where people are making others paranoid that they’re in a coma or something. You’re not. I know lots of us know it’s just a bad “joke,” but some people don’t have the luxury of being able to believe that after seeing others tell them otherwise.

You’re awake. Everything is okay.

So someone pointed out to me recently that in a few years, maybe a few decades, the history of the us during covid is probably going to get twisted. The fact that we all had to make and wear cloth masks is going to be hailed as a symbol of how we “"came together as a nation”“” or whatever the fuck propaganda spin they try to put on it.

So I just want to say, for the record, the time of the corona virus pandemic was not a time when america came together.

This was a time when people hoarded toilet paper and sanitizing supplies either for themselves or to sell at absurd prices to the desperate people who didn’t get to the store soon enough during the shortages

This was a time when scared parents were sending their kids to finish school in the spring in plastic trash bags because they couldn’t think of any other way to possibly keep their families safe

This was a time when grocery store and retail and service workers were forced to keep working whether they wanted to risk their health or not because they couldn’t make rent otherwise and the people with enough privilege to have remote jobs tried to repay them with applause instead of fair wages

This was a time when nurses had the hold the hands of multiple dying people every day as their families watched their loved ones die over a video call because the hospital couldn’t risk having visitors

This was a time when city governments had to handle so many eviction hearings that they rented out convention centers and called in the national guard instead of doing a rent freeze to stop predatory landlords

This was a time when racism and police brutality were so unbearably horrible that people protested in the streets for months even though there was a god damn pandemic that our federal government wasn’t doing shit to stop and the cops were so mad that they were being asked to stop beating up black people that they were beating up everyone

This was a time when schools being forced to reopen in the fall or lose their federal funding had to draft templates for letters if a teacher or a staff person or a fucking child died from exposure to corona at school

This was a time when the president of the United states demanded that the cdc stop releasing data about all the people who were dying because of the warnings he ignored for months were making him look bad

This was a time when some state governments didn’t mandate masks and forced businesses to reopen because they didn’t want to pay unemployment to people trying to stay safe at home anymore

This was a time when Jeff Bezos was on track to be a fucking trillionare because everyone was ordering things on amazon instead of going to the store and the people he worked to death to get it didn’t see a single cent of it

This was a time when instead of providing homeless people with housing, we painted boxes on the ground to show homeless people how far away the had to be on the street to maintain social distancing

We did not come together to make cloth masks. Cloth masks represent nothing less than the absolute and utter failure of a nation’s government to inform and protect its citizens

This was not a time when we came together. This was a time when we survived, and not all of us made it.

This was a time when people casually talked about how many human lives the economy was worth without considering the evil that had just come out of their mouths.

This was a time when thousands of us died for profit and the ego of a cheating narcissists con man who scammed his way into the white house

This was a time that we survived. Most of us tried to do the right thing, stay home, limit trips to the store and socializing, wear a mask. And still, so many of us were lost. Thousands every day.

But that wasn’t a good enough reason for some people, for those among us who were too selfish to recognize the responsibilities we have toward one another as human beings.

This was not a time that we came together

This was a time that we survived

Not all of us made it

And those of us who did survive will never forget the evil we saw daily in our politicians and those around us

y’all (white ppl) should be supporting and advocating for bipoc all the time not just when we’re being violently targeted and it manages to make it to mainstream media. u can always be learning more i promise lmao and it should be a constant effort. updating google doc | thread of resources | ways to help/mental health resources | how you can act carrd