Fiction Is Not Reality - Tumblr Posts

Lots of the most fucked up fanfic I've written (that I've posted to this blog) seems to be from when I was a preteen/teen. I managed to grow up with a decent moral compass, knowing that certain actions are bad because they hurt people. I just really liked to write dark, whumpish fic about my favorite characters to blow off steam and explore dark themes.

whenever antis talk about the "innocence" of children, i think about the fact that i was playing out whump as young as 8 years old with plastic horses and wolves. about the fact that i would frequently imagine scenarios containing characters being raped as young as 11 years old (my age, not the characters). i was not abused as a child. i simply found dark scenarios fascinating and compelling. i didn't learn that in any book i read, it was just innate

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Some thoughts about BL vs Reality

I will preface this by saying that this isn't about RPF. I don't read RPF. It's just not something I'm personally comfortable with, but I understand the appeal in general. You do you. This is a post about something I've noticed in the real world -- mainly in youtube comments and tweets. I typically just scroll past/mute/block but it's frustrating to see stereotypes being perpetuated under the guise of representation.

This is my first time in a fandom for real people so I don't know how widespread the issue is, but one thing that I've noticed in particular is that there are a lot of people who think BL = reality.

BL is a fiction genre, and assuming that BL tropes are true of irl queer relationships is harmful. This post was prompted by someone arguing with me recently that it's "the norm" for one person to be masculine and the other to be feminine in same-sex relationships, before admitting that they don't* actually know any queer people (*as far as they know). To that person's credit, they acknowledged in the same comment that even if a queer couple has used a word like "wife" it's something between them and shouldn't be applied broadly by strangers -- so like... they're on the right track, but I can't help but feel frustrated when people who admittedly don't know what they're talking about weigh in as if their take is equally valid to someone's lived experience.

And it's not that I "don't get it" -- I used to read BL religiously. As a closeted teen, reading scanlations of BL manga was one of my first and only exposures to queer relationships and it was a relatively "safe". If my mom caught me watching a "shounen ai" anime I could shrug it off as "so what if they're gay?" but if I were to be caught reading or watching something F/F I would have to answer all sorts of questions about whether I was a lesbian. And at least BL had happy endings at a time where nearly queer story in media ended with people dying/disappearing/married off to a straight person. That being said, I was absolutely one of those people who formed some ideas that needed to be unlearned.

Sticking to assumptions based on tropes in BL fiction without making the effort to even learn about actual queer people is harmful. That's not my opinion, that's a fact. BL has some very problematic tropes that reinforce harmful stereotypes, and if that's your only source of information about queer people, then you're being exposed to homophobia disguised as representation. One of my favourite sex-ed blogs is by and primarily for bisexual men and it's a great resource for a frank and inclusive discussion about so many things I wish fic writers would know. (Unfortunately it's on pillow/fort and that whole website is still down at the moment so I can't link it right now.)

Some harmful tropes and how they translate into real life homophobia:

Physical appearance = sexual role: This is not the most harmful trope (more on that below) but it's my biggest pet peeve. The idea that the person who is taller/older/has bigger hands (🙄)/plays sports aka is traditionally "masculine" is the "top/seme" and someone shorter/younger/quieter/thinner/some other traditional "feminine" trait is the "bottom/uke" as a general rule just needs to die off already. Human bodies come in all shapes and sizes, don't try to force people into narrow roles based on heterosexual relationships. (Side note: don't do this to heterosexual relationships either. All that "who wears the pants"/men "bringing home the bacon"/etc bullshit can die too.) How someone looks has nothing to do with what they like in bed.

Sexual identity = sexual role and/or level of promiscuity and/or likelihood of fidelity: Related to the trope above, but a little more specific to the depiction of bisexuality (and pansexuality). First things first: bisexuality is not always 50/50, it is not limited to cis men and women, it's not a phase/gay denial/ploy for attention, and it is not contingent on relationship/sexual history. A bi person is always bi. Onto the trope! Bisexual men in BL (and fiction in general) are usually depicted as "the top" whether they're dating a man or a woman, and willing to sleep with anyone and everyone. Every interaction with a woman means "maybe he likes her/he's cheating/life would be easier for him if he was with her" and it's so frustrating. That part of the trope is especially prevalent if their current boyfriend is "the only man" for the bi character. As far as roles go, bi men can like different things with different genders or not. It can vary from person to person. It's a matter of personal preference, like with anybody.

The insatiable "top": This is the trope that I believe is the most harmful. BL has a HUGE problem with consent. The whole "once I start I won't stop" trope is horrifying. If you read a book where an opposite-sex couple started having sex and the woman suddenly started begging for the man to stop because she was in pain and the guy was like "nope, also we're going to do this whenever I want" and just did whatever the fuck he wanted wouldn't you be disturbed? Why is that suddenly fine when it's two men? Why is it "kink-shaming" to point out how fucked up that is? Consent is important. Full stop. The idea that two men in a relationship just want and have sex at every opportunity is homophobic too. Believe it or not but queer men are still real people capable of self-control. They can exist in the same room without fucking each other. They can attend important events without ignoring their friends for the sake of making out. They can make jokes that aren't just innuendo. They can have other queer friends without hooking up with them. 🙄 Shocking. The harmful real-world implication of this "insatiable" trope is the "gay panic defense" where straight men use their fear of sexual advances as justification for murdering queer men. Depicting queer men as sexual predators that want sex all the time and won't take no for an answer is exactly the mindset that perpetuates this dangerous stereotype. Do I think those murderers are getting those ideas from BL? Of course not. Do I think it's a trope that should be actively pushed back on? Yes. 110%.

I'm going to leave it at those three tropes for now because this post is already long enough. The tl;dr of it is to keep in mind that BL is not representative of real life. Enjoy the genre for what it is -- fiction -- but think critically about how that might be informing your views of real people. Don't assume someone is a top/bottom based on physical appearance and your perception of their masculinity/femininity. Don't treat every interaction with a woman (especially if the guy is gay because why lol but even if the guy is bi) as some kind of "threat" to a queer relationship. Don't treat queer men as solely sexual beings incapable of other interests/platonic relationships/understanding consent. Keep the fictional in fiction.

Whether you like RPF or not, as long as you understand that fictional depictions -- even of real people -- are indeed fictional, then great. My frustration comes from applying that to real people in the real world. That youtube comment and labeling someone as "the wife" immediately comes to mind. No, there's nothing wrong with being feminine and being compared to a woman shouldn't inherently be seen as a "negative" BUT -- and this is a huge but -- when queer men have had their status as "real men" questioned for literally thousands of years, they get to decide when that is okay, not you. You're not being a good ally if you insist on misgendering queer men. Different terms are used in different languages but that doesn't make it automatically okay to use them in English if they are offensive in English. Also, please understand that terms used between people in a relationship, or amongst a group of friends, or within the queer community does not give outsiders to the situation free rein to use those same terms.

Just... respect people. Simple as that.

Art is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Art pushes us forward by rattling at the boundaries of society and seeing if it will collapse. Not because art is wicked and seeks to destroy, but because it wants us to build on solid foundations, and not to have us wobbling on top of old, rotting conventions and pointless traditions.

I am really tired yall.

Lemme just preface this with saying that I am a writer. I have been writing for most of my life. I have taken actual classes about writing and about what fiction can offer you, me, and people as a whole. I have won an award for something that I wrote. I know and love fiction, be it in written form, graphic novels, or film. It is all so good and complex and it’s something I am passionate about. That said, let’s get into this.

A good majority of the discourse that goes on in most of the fandoms I’m in stem from the idea that violence and forbidden sexual acts in fiction will encourage those actions in reality. It is important to know, firstly, that the only time this happens is when a person is immature enough or not mentally healthy enough to distinguish reality from fiction. Growing up, my parents would often stop horror movies (back when I first started watching them) to ask me questions. To be fair, they were pretty shitty people, but in this one aspect, they were so good about making sure I knew this difference. “You know this is just a movie, right? None of the stuff on the tv is real.” They’d assure before continuing the film.

It’s not real.

Now, half of the stuff I read or watched back then was nowhere near pushing boundaries or making me think critically about society or whatever. However, I knew that what I watched wasn’t real. It was images on a screen. If I don’t like what I’m seeing, I can walk away. It doesn’t have to affect me, personally,  unless I let it.

Now, lets circle back. School. College. I took a writing class that used this book:

Granted, it was a screenwriting class and most of the chapters were about various script formats, but the beginning chapters focused on why we write and why we make the stories we do.

It had a section in it describing how human needs and desires are met through fiction. It detailed those needs in a list. This list:

Please draw your attention to the ones on the list that say that fictions helps people to:

Be purged of unpleasant emotions

To have vicarious but controlled emotional experiences

To confront, in a controlled situation, the horrible and terrible

To explore taboo subjects without guilt

Just because you personal don’t need various forms of ‘taboo’ media, doesn’t mean that others don’t. Media, in all of its forms, is a way for people to explore things safely. It’s an outlet that doesn’t harm anyone and it offers the creator and viewer/reader a safe way of exploring the complexities of situations (or in some cases relationships) that these people do not want to be involved in irl. Because we can distinguish reality from fiction. Because none of us are going out killing people or getting into abusive relationships or fucking our sibling.

While being critical of the media we consume is important and it is vital to dissect the whys of the media being created, there is a line between creating open discussion about these taboos, about the society and personal experiences that makes one need these outlets, and verbally abusing and harassing strangers.

If you want to create a dialogue about media or a ship you don’t agree with, fine. Talk about it. Dissect it. Really dig deep into the human condition and the psychology behind these outlets, but don’t shame people for them to the point of telling them to kill themselves or telling them they are human garbage or what the fuck ever.

Fiction isn’t always meant to be picturesque. It’s not always going to be SFW. If that isn’t your cup of tea, then great. Stop going into the tags of things that make you feel unhealthy. You do you. Keep yourself safe. Stop continuously exposing yourself to content that you can’t swallow. To keep getting involved, to keep harassing people, to keep abusing strangers shows that you don’t give a damn about the content. You need an excuse to bully someone else and indulge in holier-than-thou circle jerks with other people who also have no sense of what fiction is for.

Drawn cp not being classed as csem by the FBI doesn't mean it's okay, you know that right? You understand that just because something is legal doesn't mean it's immune to criticism? Do you understand that "it's allowed by the FBI actually!!" is a very weak and bad response to someone condemning something?

"Drawn CP."

Again. Not actually CP.

Its. Fictional.

By definition. It does not involve any real children. That's the distinction I'm making. Because its an important one, and one that people who share your mindset love to ignore in regards to vehement defence of fictional characters who neither exist nor need defending. Because they're not real.

By all means. Criticize or condemn what you like. If your moral stance is that you can't separate fictional creations from real life actions and intent, then that's your stance. If its equitable to you, that's your opinion.

Where it has to stop is when you begin trying to treat those fictional characters with the same victim consideration as real people and labelling the person who created the content as a rapist/murderer/pedophile/ect.

People like you love to condemn fictional content on the basis that it serves as an alternate, direct reflection of reality, when the simple fact is that it isn't.

OP's post was quite literally: "If you're using the subject of your trauma to create fiction that allows you to heal or exist in the least harmful way, you should feel ashamed and guilty."

My response was. Why?

Genuinely. I would love to know what is so abhorrent about people creating victimless, fictional content because it benefits them.

I, personally, would prefer someone writes 100,000 pieces of fiction over harming a real life child.

I, personally, would prefer someone writes 100,000 pieces of fiction over going out and trying to find an outlet in unsafe sex and making themselves vulnerable.

I, personally, would rather people enjoy or experience dangerous, wild, weird, unsafe, unethical kinks and activities fictionally over doing it in real life and winding up hurt or hurting someone else.

I, personally, would never see someone processing, understanding or finding outlet from their trauma through fiction and demand they scuttle off into some dark corner and hate themselves for it.

I implore you to talk to some actual real life therapists who specialise in trauma. Not just your generic therapist. An actual trauma specialist. Creating fictional content, be it art, literature, music, ect, is a very viable, proven tool for both living with something and moving on from it.

Hi, hi! I just wanted to thank you for your blog. Not only you actually, most proship Tumblr I follow, but I feel very emotional right now so you're getting the thanks haha. I've been feeling guilty about an oc incest ship recently, I've never been that attached to a ship nor into incest but I keep turning The Suffering and The Horny all over in my head. It's reassuring to ground myself in reality and reaffirm that it doesn't make me disgusting. I just have 'ugly' feelings to process. And I don't even need that justification. I mean I've been a Sebaciel shipper since I was a pre-teen but before my current incest ship I've never felt guilt or a need to justify it tbh. It's getting long and rambly but thank you. And fuck thought police.

I do what I do for people like you.

But, really. Its actually pretty common to feel guilt or anxiety about your relationship with fiction or something you're consuming in regards to fiction, and I promise you its normal.

The best thing you can do is what you are; understand and affirm that fiction is encapsulated from reality and it does not reflect who you are or what you uphold. Painting a dead body does not mean I killed someone.

Fictional incest does not equate to a real life crime nor possess a victim.

Sometimes, fiction can even help us to process our thoughts and feelings more than reality ever could. Sometimes its easier to tell a blank piece of paper your feelings than it is to tell a real person. Sometimes it takes us reading someone else's fiction to understand or learn something about our own reality.

In the iconic words of the most shagalicious agent; its all groovin', baby.

Is normalizing problematic stuff in fiction actually harmful to others in real life, or is that just something said to prevent further talk of such things?

The notion that fiction can in any way normalize "problematic stuff" is a discussionary roadblock in much the same way that the moment you try talking to certain people about certain things they whip out pedophilia as a trump card.

Its also why its actually so fucking important that from a young age we are given proper, well-rounded education and opportunities to exercise things like critical thinking, self-reflection and the ability to analyse what is in front of us to form our own conclusions instead of blindly following and believing whatever we see at first glance.

(Which applies to everything.)

Its also why its so important to separate things like creative appreciation and reality. Which we see in the whole anti vs proship debate all the time. We are supposed to observe fiction from the outside. We are not supposed to try to convert reality into fiction or exist in the real world as if we are in fiction.

Have you ever watched Hannibal and gone out to kill someone to turn them into a fancy European dish? Have you ever watched Game of Thrones and tried to fuck your sister?

Lolita is another prime example. The amount of people who didn't understand the actual point of Lolita and still don't is fucking staggering. Lolita is supposed to make you uncomfortable because you know its not right. You know its not normal. It doesn't romanticize or normalize pedophilia and older men going after young teenage girls. It does the opposite.

There are two types of people who believe or are susceptible to believing things they see in fiction are acceptable in real life; the uneducated and the mentally unstable.

https://www.tumblr.com/myfandomrealitea/754160247551197184/as-an-ex-anti-i-feel-a-little-bad-because-i-only?source=share

I stopped being an anti because I was bored so I made a proship acc (not to expose people and harass them, just out of boredom /gen) and found out my #1 fav artist was a proshipper so I kept tha blog for a few more weeks just to interact with them more... 😂

and the more I came into proship spaces the more I realized how harmful anti spaces were. I was constantly stressed, and worried about getting harassed for my oc being gay due to childhood sexual trauma and many other things.

(btw me n my fav artist are friends now.)

I love asks like this. I'm so glad you got yourself out of that harmful space and even found a friendship to boot.

Honestly; a lot of people don't actually realize how harmful the more extremist/active 'anti' community is. If you're living in constant fear of doing the 'wrong thing' or constant fear that you're next, that you'll be harassed or called out or harmed, it is not safe. It is not healthy.

There's no right or wrong way to 'become' proship. There's no obligations to interact with content you don't enjoy if you do, either.

if you want to do drama sometimes why don't you want to do drama ALL the time <- some people apparently

My favorite thing is when people think this blog makes up the entirety of my existence when I don't think throughout an entire day I actually even spend a full hour on it.

I might pop on 2-3 times to check if I'm getting a lot of messages or there's a lot of action going on with a post, but consecutively I think the longest I've spent online is 30 minutes and that's because I was researching while typing up a post.

I'm only online right now because I'm sat on the floor watching my bread bake and need a distraction so I don't open the oven every two minutes.

okay, so- this is coming from someone who really hasn't engaged in fandom discourse, especially regarding shipping and such. I dearly hope this doesn't come across as bait or troll, I'm genuinely curious and want to learn. apologies for the possibly-dumb question, but I really just need to ask-

what is proshipping? and what are 'antis'?

you know how it is, when you ask around you always get a biased answer one way or another. "proshippers are pedos" "proshippers all condone incest" "proship Bad and if you interact You Are Bad" (i think these are 'anti' points of view? am i using that term right? that's the rhetoric ive mainly heard). but despite all of that, i don't know if ive ever actually gotten a straight answer as to just.. what it factually is. because it doesn't feel like the sort of thing that you can boil down to insults or accusations or whatnot. it's all just very confusing to me, especially because i come from a place that essentially just told me to avoid like the plague and never look back. sorry, this became a bit of a ramble, lol. thank you so much in advance, i hope i'm not being a bother or insulting with this ^^;

The modern term; 'proship' (s.a; 'proshipping' and 'profiction') is an evolution of an earlier fandom acronym known as: 'SALS.'

Ship And Let Ship

SALS was one of the earliest fandom adoptions and interpretations of the concept of not bullying others for what they shipped or their fandom interests, and not trying to control or dictate what was "allowed" to be shipped or enjoyed. The most notable origin of SALS was during the early years of accessible fandom via Star Trek, and the present homophobia and misogyny in a largely male-dominated community.

As woman became more involved in fandom spaces, the presence of 'other' ships and pairings began to increase. M/M, F/F that wasn't purely for sexual gratification, and M/O and F/O (where 'O' is Other) pairings were popular amongst women, much as they still are today.

Not only did the presence of women in a "male space" receive a not insignificantly negative reaction, so too did them filling the fandom space with their shipping content. Now; sexism and misogyny and homophobia were not entirely to blame. Again as is still very much present today, people simply Did Not Like Certain Ships or Characters. And as they still do today, they'd spread hate about them and to the people who did enjoy them.

Thus: the birth of SALS.

(In other words: I like what I like and it has fuck all to do with you. Shut up and move on.)

Back then, SALS was mostly contained to just that. Ships and characters. Since back in that era 'taboo topics' and 'sexual content' were still pretty covert, people weren't exactly arguing the merits of incest in public forums and at conventions.

However, as all things do, the internet evolved. Society evolved. Media evolved. And so too did 'SALS' evolve in keeping with the new culture and subjects present in fandom spaces.

Suddenly it wasn't just ships and characters to be advocated for. It was themes. Subjects. Kinks. Plots. The more things people found to enjoy, so too did the more things people found to hate.

'Proship' is actually grammatically pro-ship. As in; in support of shipping. This is why I always state that the modern conceptions of proshipping would more accurately be coined profiction. It is no longer just about ships, but fiction as a whole.

However; the core value and sole inherent point of being proship, SALS, profiction and so forth remains exactly the same:

[I/We] believe you have no right to harm others over the [ship/content] they create or consume and [I/we] do not have the right to dictate what is or is not allowed in fandom spaces.

That's it. Don't harass people for what they enjoy fictionally. Don't try to force them into not enjoying or being able to enjoy it.

Of course, the modern adaption varies wildly in terms of 'additional values' thanks to the evolution of the term and what it can encompass. However, there is certainly no obligation to:

Create or consume content you are uncomfortable with.

Create or consume content regarded as 'taboo' or 'triggering.' Such as incest.

Be involved with any aforementioned content beyond turning a blind eye if its not your thing.

Inherently, anyone who says they're 'neutral' on the matter but firmly believes in minding their own business is just a proshipper refusing to use the label if you're taking the term solely at its core value.

In terms of 'antis' they're just the antithesis of the above. Antis are people who generally believe that fiction is irrevocably tied in with who you are, what you believe/condone, and that real-life limitations and values should also apply to fiction.

Although, its is heavy debated and it wildly varies per individual to the degree this is taken.

(E.g: some 'antis' believe you should only write rape fic if you are a victim using it as catharsis or education. Other 'antis' believe there's absolutely no excuse or reason to write rape fic at all.)

Antis typically believe that enjoyment or being invested in content which is regarded as harmful or illegal in real life is morally unsound and reflects that you're a bad or morally unsound person.

Although I disagree, I can honestly say in some aspects I do understand this reasoning. I don't agree, but I do understand why people may come to that conclusion.

As with proshippers, antis vary from people who simply ignore and block content they don't agree with to radicals.

'Anti' is again a prefix. Although modern adoption of the term uses it as a singular signifier, it would grammatically be anti-[fandom], anti-[character], ect. As was commonly used in the past.

The rhetoric that all proshippers are pedophiles or support incest is common-spread and effective 'anti' propaganda. Similar to how so many people believe 'proship' inherently signifies that you must create and/or consume taboo or darker content.

It doesn't.

¹ Proship may also be accurately termed as simply: 'anti-harassment.' ² Its important to note the 'definition' of these terms may vary wildly depending on the individual. However, detailed above is the most historical use and evolution of the terms and their definitions.

hey, same person who sent in the ask about pro-ship and 'anti' definitions and such -

(sorry if this is incomprehensible i'm tail end of an all-nighter and my brain is fried lol) thank you, reading through it makes a lot of things make sense, and honestly, I definitely do find myself on the 'neutral' or therefore pro-ship side (as it appears to be), or just that "live and let live" idea. writing a fic about an abusive relationship doesn't make you an abuser or an awful person, and its always been so strange to me how people will say that 'writing it means you are it', to put it loosely. i have my own personal limits in how I like to consume and portray these things, but i literally have zero qualms if someone else's limits and tastes are different than mine because 1) not my business 2) nobody's holding a gun to me head to make me consume their content 3) doesn't mean they're an awful person who ought to be arrested or however some people make it out to be. if someone writes a rape fic that's between them, their audience and the google doc it was written on. it also kinds ties in to the whole idea of censorship and my opinions on it for me, with how vague some people seem to be about it - if you're calling to ban all fics that "romanticize abuse", that itself can be abused to take down the works of queer or disabled people, people who are open about different types of relationships, etc etc. what i'm trying to say is if you try to ban any fic like that, you're probably also going to ban fics of people in poly relationships, or who have an unusual kink that you don't like, because it's vague enough to be able to suppress people. am i making sense here? probably not, but I do hope you get what I'm saying here, sincerest apologies for my incessant rambling.. it's just been a long, long time since I've been able to say these views that I hold (I don't think I ever have, actually. Not to this extent anyway).

thank you, thank you very much. definitely going to be sticking around this blog for a while, I think ^^

What you've described is effectively being pro-ship. However, there's no obligation to use labels. SALS is still a somewhat popular acronym and there is also profiction, which a lot of people are more comfortable with using to describe how they relate to fiction vs reality. Fandom spaces are all down to the individual.

I'm glad I could help you better your understanding, give you a space to speak openly, and I never mind rambling or long messages.

It confuses me when people say they're "neutral" on the pro/anti issue. Aside from seeming dismissive, the strange part is that most of these folks actually do share the same beliefs as pro-shippers -- understanding that fiction isn't real, not harassing others over fiction, and being against censorship, etc -- but they don't acknowledge it for some reason? Because by saying that they don't harass other people over fiction and understand that fiction is separate from reality, they are agreeing with pro-shippers.

But then they supposedly don't "care" enough to "pick a side". Alright, so, why are you here? By commenting on pro-ship posts about how neutral you are, you are still getting involved. By saying, "I won't pick a side because [I think the fact that it's a problem in the first place is ridiculous since it's just fiction, come on now,]" you are sharing the exhausted sentiments of pro-shippers! We agree with you. We're also fed up with it!

(Sorry for rambling. Love your blog!)

A lot of it stems from not wanting to be associated with the concept of proshipping that anti-propaganda has perpetrated. The word 'proship' is a massive target on someone's back which has become synonymous for some people with things like pedophile and abuse apologist.

"Not caring enough to pick a side" can often be translated to "I support this one side, but not enough to open myself up to abuse and harassment on its behalf."

It can also be translated as "I support this side, but not enough to spend my time arguing about it with people."

All of which are valid stances to have. I'm friends with people who are both engaged and passive about proshipping.

someone was sharing info on how to keep yourself and also kids in general safe online, their sources came from credible orgs like RAINN and an anti reblogged the post and went “that’s great and all but I won’t share because this is proshipper rhetoric”

This is just kind of sad. They really think information about online safety is wrong

recently a Youtuber with a popular warrior cat fandom posted a video detailing the living characters family trees. 1. Because people wanted it and 2. To "avoid" the ppl shipping the cats that are related..

If you have a fandom I feel like you have to accept the fact ppl are gonna be "problematic" this is. A bit much lmao. Like look at Kim Possible

Ooh, I'll have to find it again but I had an argument with an anti the other week because they were doxxing people and posting their accounts for people to 'block and bully' and when I told them they really shouldn't do that they said:

"Can you really blame me for not wanting to share a fandom with these people?"

Ma'am you do not have a choice. Use the block button and curate your own space.

i've recently started drawing ship content for an age gap/timeskip version of characters of a popular fandom. people on twitter are really keen on giving me free engagement because they are quote tweeting it crying about how gross it apparently is; / "free the characters" / mentioning my age (over 30) and what i ship. i'm enjoying it because it's a free block list and i can bet these people have followers who are into it, just too shy to say it. they are spreading the post far wider than i could ever on my own.

I really do love when antis unwittingly boost proshippers and the people/content they hate. Hilarious karma and universal balance in action. Someone warned me recently that an anti had screenshot my posts and was spreading them around and that same week I had a 113% engagement boost and 20+ new followers.

We live in the age of algorithms. For better or worse.

where the hell are minor proshippers supposed to go?? like just not post or make anything till they 18 or

The unfortunate reality is that a lot of proshipping revolves around adult topics and topics which are largely, by law, age restricted. Exposing minors to or engaging with minors regarding or even providing minors with access to such things can come at a very real, very legal cost.

And yes, yes. I know. Minors aren't fragile little glass things who shouldn't know about kink and sex until they're 80, but the law is the law, and even the people who acknowledge that someone who is 17 is absolutely looking at porn and having sex do not want to be thrown in jail or fined.

That and muppets on the internet will see anyone over the age of 18 interacting even casually with someone under the age of 18 and start dragging them across the internet as a rampant pedophile, so.

That said, there are a fair few minor-friendly proshipper based or friendly blogs also. You just have to sift through and look for them, and I do highly recommend thoroughly checking them out and keeping a hawk's eye on them because a lot of the time they're "infiltrated" by people looking to deliberately cause trouble.

This is a common complaint minors in fandom spaces as a whole have (which is vastly understandable). I'm considering creating a masterlist of minor-safe spaces and blogs potentially in the future.

Sometime, I notice that for some people fiction is not fun anymore.

Like, they butt hurting for every single thing... fanarts, fanfictions. Almost from every ship in this world.

Without arguing and insulting any people lol.

I'm gonna say it.

It's unhinged to assume that someone's taste in fiction equates to what they believe is moral or good, or is something they want to see or experience in real life.

That is a bonkers assumption to make.

I'm tired of humoring people with long arguments about it when the simple fact is it is a totally fucking absurd reach to accuse someone who enjoys something in fiction of being in favor of it in real life.

I'm tired of pretending like this is a legitimate position to hold-- that they should be afraid of fiction's dire influence on a reader's moral decay or that it's a sign of what the author secretly wants for realsies in real life.