Tw: Zero Braincells Present - Tumblr Posts
That would require me to feel shame about this subject, which I simply don't 🤷‍♀️
it would be a little easier if the people who were "coping with childhood sexual abuse" by making content that is perfectly described as "child pornography" seemed a little less gleeful about it. But what do I know.
I feel like you're overcomplicating things just to feel better about yourself, frankly. CP is legally defined (and just, like, generally considered) as pornographic material depicting minors. It doesn't specify "real" minors or disqualify fictional/drawn material definitionally. A drawn image of a child is still a depiction of a minor, and pornographic material involving minors is still a depiction of a child even if it's fictional. You can consider them morally inequivalent all you want, I'm not here to argue morals with you and you can think one is worse than the other and I won't debate it, but "drawn CP doesn't exist" is a bad take because it's still porn depicting children. It's still porn involving children. It's still PORN INVOLVING CHILDREN. I truly don't understand how the children not being technically real makes this definitionally any different, or makes it "not child porn" by definition
Multiple federal and professional services who specialise in identifying actual CP and preventing it and protecting their victims: Fictional content is not legally CP and cannot be prosecuted as such please stop wasting our resources intended for real victims. You:
your post about fanfiction making it out to be the only source of free literature is insane. go to a library
Your inability to comprehend what you're reading is insane. So here it is simplified:
Fanfiction is writing. Writing is good. Free writing is even better. Fanfiction is not worth less than "professional" writing. If you'd pay for a book you can pay for fanfiction. Fanfiction = literature. 0 difference between book and fanfiction. If you say fanfiction isn't "real writing" you are stupid.
Also, libraries are sorely underfunded, underappreciated and also misunderstood in terms of the vast range of what they can offer. I love libraries. Support your local library please and thank you.
Don't you just love how people physically can't not cycle things back to pedophilia as some kind of gotcha net? I'm so tired of it. Its not a sick burn its a sad, tired old donkey trudging its last steps toward death.
The discussion was:
"Incest is disgusting and you should tag it."
"I agree (on the tagging part), but also, small creators actually tag things more than mainstream media, so I'm curious, do you just go after small creators or are you pushing mainstream media to follow the same respectful rules?"
"I'm not reading that."
"You mean you don't and I'm right."
"You're a pedophile blog."
Maybe. Y'know. Not all conversations are about pedophilia? Like at all? I was genuinely asking. Because my point still stands. You'll find more warnings on AO3 than you ever will in Hollywood.
Normalisation of warnings in mainstream media would promote warnings in fan and small creator spaces. I've been exposed to far, far more by movies and tv shows than I ever have fanfiction and fanart.
"I dont support it in real life!"
Then why write about it? If for coping purposes, why post it online for others (especially actual predators) to see and consume? Then why portray those things in a positive light instead of condemning them?And you're seriously going to tell me that just because as an adult you want to see a fictional minor (that mind you, is usually designed to resemble an actual child) depicted in sexual situations doesn't mean you don't share that same view concerning children in real life? You find fictional minors attractive but not real ones? Why does the line between finding someone who is (and usually also looks like) a child sexually attractive get drawn at whether the child is real or not? I'm not calling anyone pedophiles, but if the shoe fits... And also no, I am not talking about 18 y/os finding 17 y/os attractive. Use your brain. Creating content of underaged characters is still questionable regardless of age, however.
"I'm not calling anyone pedophiles..."
Proceeds to send in a ridiculous essay calling people pedophiles for the kind of fictional content they consume, for whatever purpose.
I swear, you'll all scratched CDs. If you genuinely cannot comprehend why there is a line between fiction and reality, frankly, you should not be trying to provoke or dictate discussions on that line.
You said 'use your brain.' In a pretty assumptive argument, by the way, but I'm going to uno reverse that advice. There are already plenty of resources available both on my blog and elsewhere if you'd actually like to educate yourself and not just try to use me like a sounding board for your superiority complex.
Since it is literally a fireable offence to attempt to coerce, force, bribe or bully your patient into adopting your own values and views beyond the scope of law and ethics. Which, most ethics are covered by law regardless.
And on the basis of 'normal' and corrections, again, that depends on scope and how you are defining both.
E.g; if my client is unhealthily fixated on, say, BDSM as a means of self harm, my goal is not to try to 'normalify' them by villainising BDSM and attempting to steer them away from it and toward vanilla sex only.
My goal is to harmonise their relationship with BDSM and steer them towards healthier ways of engaging with it and using it as a means of safe outlet and catharsis over self harm. My goal is to get them to understand how and why they were using BDSM to self-harm and help them fix the root problem.
You just read my post and immediately launched into a bad faith misinterpretation of it that completely disregards the actual purpose of therapy and my post.
You don't become a therapist to force your patients to have the same individual views as you do or the same values or the same beliefs. You don't become a therapist because you have a very specific approach to something that you believe is the Only/Right one and you want to force them to comply.
Also; antis getting into specific professions with the at least partial intent of such activity is not a new thing. I'll have to dig around for the post but one such anti did brag on Tumblr years ago about trying to convert her patients into adopting her views and mindset and she rightfully got ripped to shreds over it.
So I'll repeat. Anyone and especially antis who declare they are going into a profession specifically with the intent of causing harm to or manipulating people into adopting their views need a serious reality check and possibly also a prison cell.
It is unethical. It is dangerous.
Antis who proudly proclaim they're going to become a therapist so they can shut down and manipulate and unethically target all the 'nasty proshippers' make me laugh because they're going to get two months into any sort of qualifying course and be slapped in the face by the reality that therapists are obligated to remain objective and impartial and will lose their license if they're found to be using their position to be unfairly bias or negatively target clients based on their own personal beliefs and values.
"Objectivity helps counsellors avoid personal biases and allows them to focus on the client's needs without imposing their own beliefs or values." - American Counselling Association
"Therapy should feel like an inclusive and safe place for clients. Clients need to feel safe and supported in their work. And while all therapists have inherent biases and personal preferences, it is never appropriate for them to engage in discrimination, racism, sexism, or other forms of prejudice with clients." - Medcircle
You do not get into therapy to correct people. You get into therapy to help them. Therapy is not about the therapist.
Hi. Victim of childhood sexual abuse here.
We were talking about pedophilia. Because that was the incoming accusation. Never once did I state all child rape is a crime of attraction, either.
I lost all respect for antis the day that one said outright said that I, a disabled, fully mature adult was 'basically a child' and any person who was attracted to me was basically a pedo. Because telling disabled people that others being attracted to them is inherently evil is a totally normal, non infantalizing thing to do, right? There's nothing ableist about saying disabled people are 'basically children' right??????
Antis and the media have watered down the meaning of pedophilia to basically nothing. Its a defunct term at this point. It just means anything and everything that anyone wants it to and it makes me so, so angry for the actual victims of true pedophilia and the actual people who are being victimised by the trend of using it as a battering ram.
Neurodivergency and disabilities being weaponised, too, is part of the problem, not a contribution toward a solution. The more you tell people that disabled and neurodivergent people are vulnerable and open to risk the more risk you actually expose them to.
And, frankly, the more you piss them off.
I never said that therapists don't hurt people at all. In particular, religious therapists imposing their beliefs and religious values upon patients is a very prominent issue that the professional field is battling against on a constant basis.
(Experienced also in pretty much every professional field right now.)
((Re; the 'since when' response, the point of that was to reinforce that the people who do, when appropriately acted against, are not in the field for long. Because again, that is not the purpose of nor correct approach to therapy.))
My point was that, overall, therapists should not get into therapy for the purpose of nor use as a technique impressing their own individual beliefs upon a patient. While antis were the focal point of my post, the sentiment is universal. Regardless of why, and regardless of the fact that it does happen.
The main basis of their argument was dismissing mine by insisting that both "nobody actually does that" and then "but people actually do that!"
It was a totally moot argument fuelled by emotion and lack of literacy.
That's what I was responding to.
Antis who proudly proclaim they're going to become a therapist so they can shut down and manipulate and unethically target all the 'nasty proshippers' make me laugh because they're going to get two months into any sort of qualifying course and be slapped in the face by the reality that therapists are obligated to remain objective and impartial and will lose their license if they're found to be using their position to be unfairly bias or negatively target clients based on their own personal beliefs and values.
"Objectivity helps counsellors avoid personal biases and allows them to focus on the client's needs without imposing their own beliefs or values." - American Counselling Association
"Therapy should feel like an inclusive and safe place for clients. Clients need to feel safe and supported in their work. And while all therapists have inherent biases and personal preferences, it is never appropriate for them to engage in discrimination, racism, sexism, or other forms of prejudice with clients." - Medcircle
You do not get into therapy to correct people. You get into therapy to help them. Therapy is not about the therapist.
No they aren't.
Genuinely. Not every single micro-space within a fandom needs to allow you to address or think about negative or unsettling or stressing points. At all. I am part of some servers for fandoms where even critical discussion of the source material is banned because the sole point of the server is to be an exclusively positive space.
Even discussions of politics that apply to that fandom.
I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

Actually after making this post I'm begging people to learn critical thinking skills and media literacy. In what world do you see me say "actually not every space is obligated to provide a sounding board for you to be negative" and conclude that what I'm actually saying is racists and bigots should be allowed to run rampantly without consequence?
People like you are why other people get activism and compassion burnout.
I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.
This is for you.
I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

@through-thick-and-quinn
That's so many words for; "I didn't read a fucking thing this person said and aren't capable of media literacy and critical thinking!"
People already condemn relationships between 20 year olds and 25 year olds. People already condemn teenagers safely exploring sex and sexuality through literature. People already condemn 18 year olds having sex.
We are living in an era that is striving to simultaneously shove sex down our throats and make it borderline illegal to even think about sex. Drink adverts will show half-naked girls fawning over bottles and cans but women in the streets are being beaten and raped for wearing skirts or showing their hair or simply having the misfortune of being born with an extra hole.
The word 'pedophilia' has been watered down so badly that men in their forties are being accused of it for dating women in their late twenties. There's a post that's been circulating Facebook for as long as I can remember loudly declaring that 20 and 25 is still pedophilia. 16 and 18 is still pedophilia. 60 and 30 is still pedophilia.
Men dating short women is pedophilia. Men dating skinny women is pedophilia. Men dating women with small breasts or youthful faces or girls with higher voices is pedophilia.
Women dressing in cute outfits is pedobaiting. Women striving to look cute instead of hot is pedobaiting. Women who enjoy older men are pedobaiting.
I cannot stress this enough. One, none of that is correct. Two, literature does not equate to real actions.
If pedophiles genuinely are writing out their desires on AO3 instead of touching real children, guess what?
That's a good thing.
If victims of pedophilia are using AO3 to write about their trauma and process it and outlet it?
That's a good thing.
If reading a piece of fiction where your favorite character is groomed actually helps you realize the signs and methods of grooming?
That's a good thing.
If people are using literature to explore harmless desires and ideas?
That is literally what literature is for.
Re; censorship, if you still think discussing how one seemingly harmless act of censorship can actually trigger a landslide of creative suffocation is just dramatics, understand that Conservatives hopped straight from 'we need to stop pedophiles having such easy access to children' to 'saying the word gay or teaching children about their own biology is tantamount to grooming.'
Censorship is biased, prejudiced, and dangerous. It has its place within very careful structures but it is not something to wield like a hammer and it is certainly not something to advocate for in artistic and creative spaces.
You want an AO3 without all of that stuff? Guess what? They tried to make one. It never got further than a domain and an idea because nobody involved or supporting it could actually agree on their own rules and ideas about what should be censored and why.
Nobody is forcing you to look at that literature. AO3 explicitly gives you multiple tools to help you stay away from it. AO3, across literally any literature collection online, gives you the most tools to avoid it.
"Why can't the freaks on AO3 just go and make a site for all the gross stuff and leave AO3 alone."
Because AO3 is that site. Because AO3 was that site long before you decided AO3 was better than the sites you bullied us off of before, and I can promise you if someone somehow comes up with a fanfic site you like better specifically for the 'gross stuff' you'll try to bully us off that too so you can benefit from it.
AO3's specific core purpose is to preserve fanfiction, yes, but it was also instigated as a host site for the fanfiction that kept getting yeeted off other platforms like Wattpad. Its designed to preserve all fanfiction, not just the fanfiction you, personally, think is 'allowed' to be written.
AO3 is the site for all the gross stuff the freaks make. We've been there just as long as you. We've been funding it just as long as you have. AO3 has specifically said you have a place here. The timeline was literally:
Wattpad/FF.net/LiveJournal purge fanfics > AO3 is born > The people who's fics got purged moved over to AO3 > AO3 gains popularity as the best functioning site > The people who pushed for the fics to be purged off Wattpad move to AO3 > The same people try to push for AO3 to purge fics.
AO3's source coding is open-access. You go make a polished, strict, rigid site where nothing 'icky' is allowed. You go make a site where you can control what is hosted. We already have our space.

@yungcrybby-anonymousbosch666
um okay but actually that's not what this is about or even remotely close to the point of the post and deliberately taking it in bad faith to pull the 'evil racist white people' card completely ignores that even people of color have been asking for spaces where they are safe to simply Enjoy Things without being reminded of the issues they face in real life
Anyway. Asking people not to talk about genocide or trauma-dump on complete strangers in every single community space they insert themselves into is not even remotely the same as perpetrating bigotry. If I'm in a Discord server based on cooking and sharing recipes I am neither expecting nor consenting to you showing me photographs of dead children or suddenly telling me all about how your husband is cheating on you with his secretary.
This is for you. Godspeed and good luck.
I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.
I had to check myself recently because I'm so used to being in discord servers with vent channels, that when I ended up joining one *without* a vent channel, I realized Holy shit, where can I go to complain about the day-to-day things that piss me off? And I thought of your post & took a step back, like You know what? I can complain on my own time, on my own blog, or in private to a close friend who offers to listen. I can just let this server be fun.
Anyway, I think people are still furious over your post because (and forgive me if someone's said this before) the availability and reach of the internet has conditioned ppl to believe that it's acceptable/required/encouraged to vent in any space, at any time, to anyone, and that the audience should willingly receive it. It's like a form of brainwashing.
Honestly, the single major response I've gotten is people screaming that I'm an evil racist white bitch oppressing people of color because I'm asking them not to talk about genocide or police brutality in fandom spaces.
There is a huge, huge difference between stopping someone who is actually, actively being racist within a public space and asking people not to force others to constantly engage with and expose themselves to the horrors of the world, especially in spaces where they have retreated specifically to recover from those things.
Its basically like going to a wellness and recovery retreat and forcing everyone there to watch the news and read articles and watch videos about world horrors.
Almost everyone in a Discord server has profiles on other social medias. Everyone on the internet sees, willingly or not, what is happening in the world right now. We all know these things happen. We are not blind. We are not ignoring it.
When I go onto Discord and go into my silly little fandom servers, its after I've spent an hour on Tumblr on my main blog reblogging aid posts. Circulating information. Doing my best to connect people to people who can help them. Its after I've spent my lunch break at work listening to my colleagues talking about the latest knifing or child kidnapping. Its after checking Snapchat only to see headlines like MAN BRUTALLY STABS DOG IN PUBLIC PARK.
When I go into those servers, its because I need to get away from all of that. I need to have that time away where I can recover and recharge or I simply won't go online because I know there is absolutely nowhere online where I can simply enjoy something without other people grabbing me by the head and forcing me to look elsewhere at things that are horrific and upsetting.
And the thing about those spaces is they themselves need protection and moderation in order to remain safe. And you know what that means?
It means preventing racism and homophobia. It means if someone is being unpleasant, they get shut down. If someone is being bigoted, they get removed. Because they are making that space unsafe.
Literally nobody except these idiots screaming about racism are suggesting that we just outright allow racism to keep happening.
Or. Y'know. You can just let people rest without also turning their need for emotional and mental respite into a massive guilt trip about activism. Again.
Its a nice sentiment, it really is, but that isn't actually rest. Reducing people's privilege and right to rest and enjoyment back down to activism and the horrors of the world literally just voids the entire purpose and nature of rest and enjoyment.
I can assure you that when I'm in those political spaces I'm already thinking about people's rights and the things I have that others do not. I do not need you dangling my respite over my head like an unreachable carrot just to make me keep running on the wheel.
I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

My god. It truly never ends. I should start a counter.
(I've noticed every single person taking issue with this post also immediately vilifies "white people" as though POC can't also be fucking tired of existing in a constant state of misery and stress, too.)
I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.
Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.
Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.