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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