SALS - Tumblr Posts

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.

This user supports AO3

This user is anti-censorship

This user believes in “don’t like, don’t read”

This user believes in “ship and let ship”

This user believes that fiction tastes and preferences do not dictate moral character