But Not Before Getting Salty About The New Terrible Takes I Read - Tumblr Posts

It just clicked for me why I find a lot of the fandom discourse these days so distasteful from fans who dislike popular male characters, the sort of discourse that sounds a lot like -

"I'm not like all those other fans who just like the conventionally pretty boys with the sad backstories. That boring, terrible character is only popular because those fans think he's hot! I pick my favorite characters for meaningful and smart reasons, not just because I want to sleep with them."

It's just the, "I'm not like those other girls," narrative, but dressed up in a fandom hat.

Advocating for more diverse characters and stories is great! Talking about the way that popular reception to certain characters/ships can be rooted in misogyny (or racism or other discriminatory social narratives) is great! Being a dick about real people because they like a popular character that you don't like, on the other hand, is Not Great.

Anyways, people should love whatever stories and characters they want. No one else has the right to tell you how meaningful or important your reasons are for liking something, and no one has the right to shame you for liking (or disliking!) a fictional story or a fictional character. Even if your reasons are completely shallow and based entirely on finding that character attractive, that's still valid, your choices are still valid, and the only ones who should feel bad about their choices are the people who choose to be a dick to real people based on what type of fiction they enjoy.