houxe

[houxe]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[houxe]

Is anyone else starting to get a little weirded out by Tubbo, TinaKitten, and other CCs in their circles making increasing comments about keeping people as pets? Like, I understand that they likely don't mean it in a malicious way, but it's starting to get... gross. Especially because 'keeping' people has a lot of horrific historic context. Starts with an s, ends with an e, runs in the same vein as ‘keeping/owning people’, and we all should’ve learned about it in school? Even in the 'pet' nature there’s so much awful history surrounding it. Court Dwarves are just one glaring example and something I also only learned about recently. (More info can be found Here by Dwarfism History.) There were also other people who were dehumanized, taken, and kept for someone else's amusement, most often by British/European royalty. They were treated and kept like pets. Even if that wasn't their specific title.

It's also just such casual dehumanization of people that's really weird and becoming concerningly more frequent. Especially when they're streaming to a potentially younger audience and normalizing this behavior. Again, I don't think there's any purposefully malicious intent behind it, so don't attack or harass them. I also don't think they're awful people, they're just unaware and I, personally, want to help people grow. So let's not joke about keeping people as pets anymore, yeah? It's not cute and it's not funny.

EDIT 2: Also, as I've just watched the unbanning vod from the subathon, Tubbo egged on his whole chat to keep a random recently unbanned chatter as a 'pet' and that's uh. That's immediately concerning. This is not a friend of his who he can comfortably joke with like that and he should not be joking or egging on his chat to dehumanize someone like that. That's not cool and even Billzo said it wasn't okay.

Link Here - Timestamp: 16:47 - 17:12

EDIT 1: Changed it a bit so it doesn't seem like I'm saying Court Dwarves were the only example of human pets. <3

[houxe]

For like the past week and a half I've been seeing a quite a bit of content on here, but particularly on TikTok, of people being like 'oh you should've known Wilbur was a bad guy from his music and the characters he made' and like??? Stop doing that?? Do you know how close to victim blaming you are getting??

This man flaunted himself as a woman supporting feminist, a conscientious friend, and has stated before that his songs were made to be satire. (Which I don't believe now.) Saying someone should've known he was an abuser because of his music or one popular character out of the many he's made, which he didn't even write by himself, is WILD. Even some of his real life friends didn't know, what makes you think a random fan would?

Tone down the holier-than-thou attitude and focus on the literal victims that are still coming forward instead, thanks.

[houxe]

id: a set of 5 photos from alice (twitter handle alicenyanya.)

the first image is a screenshot of alice's tweet. it reads: "These past few years have been difficult but I finally feel safe enough to speak out about my experience with Wilbur."

the second image is a graphic titled "MY EXPERIENCE WITH WILBUR" with two selfies of wilbur and alice together underneath. there are trigger warnings for emotional abuse, domestic abuse, alcohol, self harm and sexual assault.

the next three images are alice's account of the relationship. the first one reads: "Hello, I'm Alice, I dated Wilbur back in 2019 and I want to speak out about my experience.

I felt like I couldn't talk about this sooner because I was scared of his public influence and the potential backlash from fans but now after hearing Shelby's story, seeing the support she's been shown, and admiring her bravery I finally feel safe to break my silence on our relationship.

Back in 2019 at the beginning of the relationship, I was immediately shown a lot of affection very reminiscent of love-bombing. One of his close friends at the time warned me in confidence to "be careful" as if they had seen people get hurt in the past but I believed he was good inside. After a month the honeymoon period was over and it was like I was dating a completely different person. I was told to keep our relationship a secret, but was framed in a way that implied that it was for my safety, as if it was in my best interest to keep this a secret despite my own feelings. I believe that he enjoyed having control in the relationship."

the second image reads: "I would have to hide as he streamed, and sit silently in the corner of his room waiting for him to go offline. He would say condescending things to me about my interests and the type of content I created as if he just didn't take it - or me - seriously and would only be enthusiastic about his future plans with music and desire for fame. I never felt like he was encouraging towards me or any of my goals and in the last few months he made me feel extremely unloveable and unwanted. I had suffered with self harm tendencies in 2019, he ignored the marks on my body and only took interest in retelling his own life struggles. I also experienced the biting habit, which has already been elaborated on by Shelby.

After a while I noticed that it was always me putting the effort into the relationship so I decided one day to not be the one to message first, just to see what would happen and he never spoke to me again so the relationship dissolved."

the final image reads: "Skipping ahead to 2021, we had spoken briefly over an instagram DM about the relationship and meeting up for closure on how things went in 2019, I gave him a second chance and met up hoping to get some answers. We walked through densely populated areas of town where we got stopped multiple times by his fans. In hindsight this felt very intentional, almost as if it was to flaunt his influence and desirability to me. We went to a bar to talk and he then proceeded to get me very drunk. He got us an Uber back to his house, I ended up blacking out in his bed due to the alcohol but the last thing I remember was him nonconsensually removing my clothes. The next morning he proceeded to tell me that I must be a lesbian because I wasn't interested in him.

These past years have been extremely difficult to navigate because of this, I couldn't go online without seeing him everywhere and being adored as this soft boy who heroically respects women and mental health issues. I couldn't even go to conventions and enjoy my own hobbies without seeing people dressed up as him.

Shelby was right, Staying quiet wasn't bringing me any peace, it was only keeping his."

end id

[houxe]

"who radicalized you" ever since i was a child i wanted other people to be treated nicely and fairly because i didnt understand why theyd deserve otherwise and it fills me with disgust seeing how people treat their fellow human beings sometimes

[houxe]

I hope you're doing ok, Houxe.

Is it selfish that after the shock of the entire situation settled in, I was immediately worried and anxious that writers would start deleting their works? It feels selfish. This to say, I'm relieved you have the separation of character and creator.

I want to say kind things in this time, I think we all need it. I love your work! I love your version of the characters, I love the stories, the vibes, the way you draw me in with every word.

I hope your mental health is steady, I hope you take the time you need.

And thank you for writing, I think I'm going to go read your works so I can stop watching everything happening.

Honestly? I feel selfish about it too, DSMP works have been a comfort for many people along the years, especially while we acknowledge the real abusive and disgusting behaviors of the creators and don't support them. I understand why people might feel scared or lonely that writers are leaving, which is totally valid that they are leaving, and I understand the anxiety.

The very real truth is, DSMP has been dead for a while and the works people have been making are almost always bounced off each other in a way. Genuinely, I have seen very few works that truly portray how the CCs are irl. A lot of ideas in the stories people wrote are things that were made up for fics and then were shared around. Like the nicknames or Tommy having dark blue eyes and Phil having light blue eyes when it's the opposite.

I think we'll all be okay, but I think we should be focusing on the victims first and giving them space to breathe whilst also holding abusers accountable. Enjoy what you've got and I'm glad people are speaking out against the guy more and more. We shouldn't let a few shit people ruin things that others also made and put effort into.

[houxe]

Regarding my SBI/DSMP Fics

TW: Abuse, Trauma, and Mentions of Suicide.

With all that has happened, I did want to come out here and make my stance clear. I will always stand with Shelby (Shubble) and all of the victims who are speaking out against Will Gold (Wilbur Soot). If you still support that bastard, unfollow me and leave my blog and whatever small community I made.

I've already stated this is my Discord channel, but I want to put it here too.

For me, c!Wilbur is so far removed from cc!Wilbur that I don't connect the two. The characters are vessels for my own characterizations and stories. It's a bit like writing Supernatural*, Twilight, or Hazbin Hotel fanfics. I don't support the guy, monetarily or otherwise, he does not interact with fanfics, I have plans to be very vocal that I'm on Shelby's side no matter what/make it clear that what Will did is wrong, and I don't use his real life events as plots in my stories. At least, I certainly don't try to. It's why I typically change traits about the characters. (I.e. Tommy is shorter, Phil is taller, Techno is bulky, and Wilbur always has golden/hazel eyes.)

I'm aware that it's a tad different because it's rp and not something like a full on book or an actor in a movie, but DSMP has also been over for over two years and the characterizations I make for SBI are not at all based on the CCs. Real life Techno isn't a literal terrorist, Phil ain't a father married to a goddess, Tommy is not a traumatized child soldier, and Wilbur isn't suicidal and blowing up countries.

I think I'll likely focus more on Techno, Tommy, and Phil for a while, but I'm not gonna let one dude ruin a fandom and things I've made for myself. Nothing I write is ever made for Wilbur, as I've seen people saying. Additionally, Wilbur was not the only writer. Technoblade, Philza, TommyInnit, and so many others made that story what it was. Not him.

However, if any CCs come forward saying they don't want their old characters interacting with his, I will respect that.

Though I do think there is a tendency to take real life events (i.e. Techno's cancer, LJ's music, Tommy's real life parents, etc.) and put them into fiction about DSMP. I, however, don't try to do that and have stated before that I don't feel comfortable doing so. The truth is that we have not gotten any genuine SBI content outside of DSMP for years. The dynamic in real life is very different from what was presented in the DSMP. Did personalities still bleed over? Yes, I'm not going to deny that, but I'm not going to act like they're exactly the same between character and person either. We've had that conversation like in 2021, it's why we have C! and CC!.

The rather sad truth is, SBI is what got me really into writing and it's a comfort for me that nothing can compare to. Obviously, I don't think it's appropriate to be writing certain types of stories right now or to be involving characters made by CCs outside of the DSMP. I think it's up to everyone else to decide on what they want to do, however, rushing it also isn't the way to go either. Give yourself time to heal and think it over first instead of throwing away something that gives you comfort and has not been associated with by the creators for over two years.

Anyways, fuck Will Gold. Fuck the fact that he hurt so many people, and fuck that he lied and manipulated his way around the damn internet. ESPECIALLY fuck the fact that he tried to diminish what he did and not take proper accountability.

Go and support Shelby so so much, she and everyone who spoke out really deserve it. I'm glad silence on these types of issues is not being normalized.

Here is a list of (American) resources for DV help:

TNLR

RAINN

WOAR

Love is respect

The Trevor project

Futures without violence

National domestic violence hotline

Resource on what DV and abuse looks like

*Changed it from Harry Potter to Supernatural because Harry Potter is a significantly worse and more problematic franchise, even just within the content of the books. It'd be better left in the dust. I've talked about it before, but it was the first thing that came to my mind at the time and was a poor comparison on my part, I'm truly sorry for that.

[houxe]

some more cc/circle of friends responses speaking out in support of shelby/against wilburs statement: This is not to give them acknowledgement I do believe we should be critical of the circle of friends in their history of silence against abusers. I just want to catalogue their tweets here.

I am not aware of anymore at this time feel free to add on

[houxe]

Hello everyone. Wilbur has responded to the allegations. For the record I don't forgive him and I dislike the message but this posts intent is to share what he said incase it gets deleted. I do not have the time at work to do a transcript in text but I can later (the responses are in images).

Tweet link

Screenshots

Lastly stay safe and support shubble

[houxe]

I have a couple things I'd like to say about current trends in the Dark SBI tag. (For full transparency, I don't explore or read from the DSBI tag very often, despite the majority of my writing falling under it. Mostly I read the isolated works of a few close friends and fellow authors. Everything I'm about to mention was originally brought to my attention by and discussed with these other writers.) One of the most unique parts of the DSMP, from the beginning, was the overlap of character and content creator. And even though we are writing and reading about the characters the cc's put forward, there also needs to be awareness that unlike with movies and tv shows, the "actors" are tied even more intrinsically to their characters. In name, appearance, and personality in some capacity or another. Because of this, be careful of what tropes you use and what it may be saying to your audience.

Most notably, I'd just like to urge all authors, whether it's your first time or your hundredth posting to ao3, please be sure to use robust tagging. It isn't just disheartening to potential readers when a fic isn't tagged properly with something they might not enjoy. It can potentially be extremely triggering. Especially with very dark topics like dehumanization, suicide ideation, self-harm, kidnapping, etc, etc. There's been a very strange and sudden surge of fics featuring topics such as slavery and/or ownership. If you truly want to write that kind of thing, I cannot stop you, but I beg of you, tag that shit. Tag it to hell and back. Everyone should have the ability to filter that out if they don't want to see it. Making readers walk in blind to potentially hurtful and disturbing topics is not cute.

If you are an author unsure of what tags to use, I recommend exploring what tags do exist and whether they apply to your fic. Additionally, I advocate for writing warning briefs either in the beginning or end notes. This can be a list of warnings relevant to the current chapter or a cut-and-dry summary of actions. Whatever works for you personally.

If you are a reader of one of my fics and believe I've missed tags/warnings, please let me know! I'm not a pinnacle in this fandom by any means and I always have room to grow and learn.

If you're a reader and truly dislike or are disgusted by what an author writes, don't send hate or death threats. Use ao3's blocking abilities and move on. I'm not pro-censorship, I'm pro-self-moderating.

[houxe]

Free Palestine

Listen, I understand that I am just a silly little fanfic creator and my work is often used as an escape for rl problems, but I am also someone who's made my stance on dehumanization and abuse of minorities (even in fictional works) extremely clear and what is currently happening, and has been happening for almost a century, to Palestinians is unacceptable. If there is anyone who follows me, or is in my little community on discord, AO3, whatever, that supports the state of Israel? Lose my account.

This is not a debate. This is not a discussion to be had. I will not be arguing with you in comments.

If you support the state and government of Israel and the war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the imprisonment they're committing on the people of Palestine and Gaza, get away from my works, my art, and whatever small community I have made.

These are people. Living, breathing people who had hopes and dreams and futures they wanted to live. Palestinians deserve to live, they've done nothing to warrant the murder and ethnic cleansing of their people.

And the only reason they're facing this is because people think they're inferior. As something not human.

They're human. They're human.

I am not going to explain to you why imprisoning and killing thousands of innocent civilians (mainly children) is bad. Especially when the Israeli government has quite literally been spreading provenly false stories about things like murdered Israeli babies, human shields, and attacks to make themselves seem justified, along with propaganda portraying Palestinians as literal bugs. Calling them animals and dogs and rodents to be 'exterminated', and has been putting them in an open-air prison for years and then turned it into death camp.

It's disgusting, it's evil, is is quite literally a known practice for suppressors to do against their victims as an excuse to murder them.

I should not also have to say that me being pro-Palestine and anti-Zionism does not mean I am anti-Semitic nor do I support Hamas.

That is also propaganda.

I am not anti-Semitic nor do I wish or encourage any harm on Jewish or innocent people, and I do not support Hamas.

Palestinian people are also considered a Semitic people which means some of them are Jewish. Jewish people as a whole are not the Israeli government or state and should not be treated as such. It is blatantly wrong to say being anti-Israel (the state and government of Israel) and anti-Zionism is to be anti-Semitic.

Additionally, not all Jewish people are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jewish people. It's not a religion, it is a political ideology. Many, many Jewish people have spoken up against this and have been protesting against the state of Israel for their genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and for the colonization of their land.

What I am is anti-genocide, Zionism, dehumanization, apartheid states, colonization, literal war crimes, death camps, and ethnic cleansing. Just to name a few.

Again, if you support Israel, lose my account. Stay away from my community and any of my works.

If you'd like to learn more about what is happening in Gaza, the people of Palestine, and ways you can help, your best option is to go to TikTok and find these creators who speak and share videos of what is directly happening in Palestine.

vivafalastinleen

arabicmclovin

edwardmliger

thanaa89

clios_world

jamesgetspolitical

naleybynature

aljazeeraenglish

genzforchange

fakegyllenhalal

artlust

devotedly.yours (this link keeps getting removed)

palestine_mwm

rahimehramezany

rynnstar

5149jamesli

wonderlandnews

mxnonme

hippiearab

redauxdefective

brainsballsncigarettes4

super_soniq_m

simkern

dianalomani (this link keeps getting removed)

jamesissmiling

eyes.on.palestine (this link keeps getting removed)

More will likely be added to this list.

Places you can donate:

baitulmaal.org

map.org.uk

irusa.org

mecaforpeace.org

unrwa.org

Lastly, I will leave off with a few videos that should be seen.

Where you can learn specifics on the history and current events of Palestine.

And one specifically for writers of fantasy and sci-fi like me.

Edits: Added more CCs to the list, added a list of places to donate, added more videos, and clarified my wording more. I did take down the comparison just in case, but I'm leaving it to Jewish creators (Redauxdefective) to speak on it. Note, some links to CCs keep getting removed and I'm not sure why.

[houxe]

Houxe's Post Directory

A directory of all my more important posts like discussions, art, and PSAs for anyone who wants to find them quickly! Yes, this will be updated whenever I post something new.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

I write about the characters, not the content creators. If you support cc!Dream (Clay) or cc!Wilbur (Will Gold) and dismiss/ignore what they've done, do not follow me or interact with my works. Fuck those guys, the characterizations I wrote are mine. Those assholes can eat a wet sock.

Discussions:

Free Palestine

Regarding my SBI/DSMP Fics

The Misuse of the Dark SBI Tag

The Ranboo replaces Tommy Narrative and how it’s Just Not True

The Problem with Using Certain Manhwa’s for Dsmp AUs

The Problem with writing Sentient Characters that Like being considered as Pets, Objects, Tools, etc.

My Art:

SBI Wolf From Reference Sheet - Tomorrow is Another Day (my Fic)

Wolf Form Techno and Tommy - Tomorrow is Another Day (my Fic)

Wolf Form Phil and Tommy - Tomorrow is Another Day (my Fic)

PSAs:

Tagging Correctly in AO3

[houxe]

The Problem with writing Sentient Characters that Like being considered as Pets, Objects, Owned, etc.

TW for discussion of slavery, oppression, suicide, mentions of SA, and abuse.

It took me some time to really admit out loud to someone why this troupe is so bad and harmful, and now that it’s finally off my chest, I want to make a post about it.

I don’t have much influence in the writing world, but this is the least I can do to get people to hopefully understand.

As the title states, there’s a big issue with writing sentient characters (sentient as in on par with humans or whatever creature is ‘owning’ them) that like being pets, objects, owned, etc because it touches far too close to slavery or oppression acceptance.

As in people that like being enslaved or oppressed.

Now, I am not saying that this is every circumstance of a character liking this, nor am I talking about trauma writing, kink writing, or consensual objectification. Characters who know it’s wrong but are too broken down to fight back and the narrative treats it as something bad, dystopian writing, the character is choosing to be loyal but pet/object is used as an insult rather than them actually being a pet/object, or even a character of a different species not knowing the other character is sentient and later fix how they treat them, don’t fit into this category.

What I am talking about is writers who merely write this sort of thing because it's 'not real and it's fun' or it's 'interesting to play with' and have not faced this sort of trauma and don't see or care for the very real harm it can cause and the historical context of treating someone like this. Or those who also then proceed to go on in their notes, interviews, or whatever else, and say this treatment of someone is okay and fine or call it cute and infantilize the victims and abusers.

Characters who know they’re being kept like an animal or property or used by someone or by a corporation like they're an object for entertainment and are fine with it because they ‘they’re happy with it eventually and get to do whatever they want’ or ‘they’re treated well as long as they obey their ‘owners’!' or even 'but they're loved by their 'owners'!', and the narrative treats it as something good and it's very blatantly not consensual objectification, are a problem. This adds up even more when everyone in the story and, again, authors outside of the story, dismisses it as something that isn't bad. Like the Fifty Shades of Gray author.

You cannot treat someone or something that's as sentient as you, like this. It's abuse, it's extremely damaging, and even if you say you 'love' them, you don't. Because if you did, you wouldn't be treating them like this and thinking it's okay or it's fine because they eventually start liking it. Sentient creatures on par with humans (or whatever sentient creature you're using as the 'owner': like a fae, god or alien 'owning' a human, dragon keeping another dragon as an object in their hoard, witch forcing sentient familiars into abusive contracts against their will, etc) cannot handle this kind of treatment. Historically they have often killed themselves, or others, because of it.

It's literally excusing fantasy racism/slavery/dehumanization to a T.

There's a difference between species having different morals amongst themselves, or rival species disliking each other, compared to being racist and oppressing/enslaving or owning an entire species (or even their own species) that's just as smart as them.

Whilst I understand that this writing is fiction and people like writing dark subjects (I do too, believe me, you can see my work), there are limits to what you can write that can be dismissed under fiction/dark fiction and this 'character is fine with being a pet or property' subject is not one of them.

This is very different from stuff that's messy, or toxic; or something like enemy to lovers, dysfunctional, Stockholm-like relationships, etc.

Why? Because being treated like a pet or property has massive and historical ties to slavery and oppression, (look up the disgusting 'breeding' they'd do create more enslaved people or the 'human zoos' that only ended in the 1960s) and as I said before there is a lot of historical and current context to treating people, especially minorities, like animals. Writing a character who’s okay with being treated like that, because they come to like their position eventually and are 'treated well and 'loved', or get what they want', is damaging to a large group of communities and it is something that continues to affect them to this day.

Enslaved people were not the only ones to be treated like this, either. Many communities (people with disabilities, people of color, and people with genetic conditions) were treated like this constantly and still are.

It's harmful to write like this. Especially when writing characters in such position (pet, object, etc.), to be in a sexual relationship with their 'owner'. (And not in a kink or consensual objectification way, that's not what I'm talking about here.)

Do not do that. It is literally SA. There are many real life stories of enslaved people and people without power being forced to please their abusers in such a way and, almost always, whatever children they unfortunately had were still enslaved and owned like property or sent away or killed. It's not cute, it's not some dark interesting thing to write and play with just because it's fun, it's extremely harmful and should not be something written and toned down with different words or portrayed as 'fine' or 'they're a different species so it's not the same' or 'they like it eventually' in any sort of way.

This goes double when you're writing from the abuser's perspective and are actively humanizing them (the abusers) and having them dismiss what they're doing or talking about it like their victims are just cute little things they keep for fun and that 'it's fine' or 'it's different because they're not the same (species, skin color, clan, etc.)'.

There are limits to what can be romanticized, and this behavior is not one of them.

Just recently there was a large creator online, on TikTok, spouting off bullshit about how they’re sure that ‘some slaves liked being kept as slaves’ and writing content where a character likes being kept as a pet or object is only adding to that rhetoric.

Especially when literal governments and hate groups are actively trying to rewrite history to make slavery and this type of 'ownership' and oppression not seem as bad as it actual was.

It is dangerous.

And what a lot of people don’t understand, or don’t know about, is that victims of slavery, oppression, people with disabilities, etc, were kept as pets and animals (human zoos, slavery 'breeding' done on plantations, court dwarves, etc.) because they weren't viewed as equals and being a slave already dehumanized them into an animal or property.

People have too specific of a view on what slavery and oppression actually is and as such, don't point it out when it's being shown.

There are multiple accounts in history of slavers or kings keeping people who were 'different' as pets or items of entertainment (like Eugenia Martínez Vallejo, Sarah Baartman, etc.), and perpetuating the idea that someone is ‘happy’ or ‘fine’ with that just because it’s fiction or under a different name than slavery or oppression and ‘they like it eventually’ or 'they're loved though' or 'they're different species, they think differently', is wrong and harmful.

It’s literally like writing the house elves in Harry Potter. It’s saying the same thing. ‘They’re happy to do everything in a house, they don’t need money! They like it!’ or 'They're not human though, they think differently so they like it!' Those are slaves, they are talked about like property, like animals, and have you noticed so many people defending it because J.K. Rowling doesn’t outright call it slavery? Yeah, that’s why writing someone as a pet, object, etc and having them genuinely like it, or 'it’s normal for them', or 'they’ll be okay with it eventually', is a problem.

And you are a part of the problem if you can’t accept that some of what you’re writing does have an influence on people and that it’s damaging and hurtful to many communities. (Like, look at what Fifty Shades of Gray did to the BDSM community.) Especially when it comes from, and is reflective of, a very real and disgusting practice that killed millions of people and still does.

Again, I'm not talking about writers who portray this to help with their trauma or write it in a kink type of fashion.

But if you are someone who's doing this just because it's 'fun to play with' and 'it's not real' or 'it doesn't affect anyone'? Well, it says far too much about you if you’re comfortable with this cute 'master' and their happy 'pet/object' and cannot see how dangerous that sort of writing is. Or at the very least, how it is far too close to slavery and oppression than anyone should be comfortable with.

Obviously, I’m not saying it’s you’re fault if you just don’t know. Unfortunately our world is full of biases, people who have not lived through this trauma, and is more intent on erasing history instead of teaching it. But these kinds of subjects (pet, object, etc.) are things that you have to tie into the real world, they do not exist in a vacuum, and you have understand the consequences and impact it can have on readers.

This kind of dehumanization is happening in the real world to many communities who are at risk because of rhetoric like this. You can’t negate the affects and damage of doing this to someone just because it’s ‘fiction’ when this fiction is dangerous. There are certain subjects in writing fiction where you can’t just ignore the huge historical and current context they have.

It's like trying to write a character enjoying SAed (Not talking about CNC) and that should never be written as something 'okay' because it's 'fiction' or 'fun to play with' when it's such a prevalent and disgusting issue in the real world.

Fiction has been well documented to affect people's perception of reality for a very long time. It is a well known phenomenon. It's quite literally why there is so much backlash whenever people stereotype ethnicities in books, shows, media, etc.

So why is it different to write other dark/messy themes as fine but not stuff like this?

Because toxic, dysfunctional, Stockholm-like relationships do not have the historical and current context that are specific to oppressing many communities like pet/object does. Nor do these themes reflect and spread the rhetoric that a large groups of people, even fucking governments, in real life genuinely want slavery, oppression, and dehumanization to return for people of color, people with disabilities, people with genetic conditions, houseless people, etc.

They do not continue to normalize something that is already very normalized and perpetuated against many marginalized communities to this day.

Other dark troupes are not normalized like this is real life.

Murder, kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome, hostage situations, etc, are all things the majority know are bad and are taught to be bad. Some of them can even have good reasons for why they're being done. However things like slavery, oppression, keeping someone as a pet/object, and treating someone as an animal or object, are things many people don't believe are bad nor are they taught that it's bad and are typically targeted towards marginalized communities. There is also never a good reason to treat someone like this unless it's their personal accommodation (kinks, mental health, consensual objectification, etc.) and something they agreed to rather than something they like 'eventually'.

These kinds of abuse are things that our own governments condone and even help support. To the point where the people who want to see these communities as 'less than' are, as I stated earlier, actively trying to change history to say the communities forced into this position had 'benefited' from their abuse.

It's extremely dangerous and extremely tone deaf to write like this when it's a growing thought process of many people in real life.

It's why no one thinks Debbie Grayson and Omni-Man's relationship from 'Invincible' is 'fine' and is actively treated with disgust when he admits to loving her like a pet, even when he treated her well. Especially when you tie in the historical context of how Asian women are often fetishized and dehumanized into objects for pleasure because they're 'obedient'.

It's just not a something to write as 'good' or 'eventually liked'.

Again, troupes like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, fake relationships, kidnapping, hostage situations, villains/heroes, Stockholm syndrome, etc, are not as problematic to write because all of them do not help spread rhetoric and carelessly diminish the very real harm and historical context of treating people like animals. Especially when it's something that is still affecting communities today.

In fact, for those who don't know, Stockholm syndrome actually originated in a 1973s bank robbery, because the victims of it got their attackers to humanize them. To be equals. Their attackers even protected them from getting hurt, once they got to know them, or accidentally shot by police, even when their hostages were freed.

The police in Stockholm made up the entire syndrome as a way to blame the victims who were, rightfully, pissed at their incompetence and having to be protected by the robbers instead of the police. Stockholm Syndrome is not even a real syndrome yet people often mischaracterize it anyways lol.

Though note, this does not mean I agree with their actions, this is merely to point out the difference between Stockholm syndrome and treating someone like a pet/object, because some people assume they're same thing, when they're very much not.

This is just to show how one of them (obviously Stockholm syndrome) didn't and doesn't continue harm entire communities. Because while yes, Stockholm syndrome is often used in dehumanizing pet/object stories, the two actually should not coincide. Which is why it's not such a problematic issue to write Stockholm syndrome or dysfunctional relationships/dark topics similar to it (Forced proximity, etc), like it is to write a character that enjoys being treated like an animal or property. It's not spreading rhetoric, especially when it's based on learning to view someone as an equal in a poor situation.

This is even a direct quote from one of the attackers who had a hand in creating the term:

'--They [the hostages] made it hard to kill. They made us go on living together day after day, like goats, in that filth. There was nothing to do but get to know each other.’

This is humanizing someone. It is not the same as keeping someone as a pet or property because the abusers/'owners' in those situations do not humanize their victims. That is literally why they're treated like that, they're not viewed as equals no matter how many 'luxuries' or 'privileges' they get. No matter the fact that they're 'able to do whatever they want' for obeying, or how much 'love' they're given.

They are not equals to the ones 'owning' them. They are viewed as objects of pleasure and amusement. To them, it is literally like spoiling a dog by giving them gifts or letting them run around.

Pet literally means: 'a domestic or tamed animal kept for companionship or pleasure.'

You do not tame people. That's an absolutely crazy thing to say.

As I've stated before, just to drive the point home, this isn’t like writing other dark/messy themes (true enemies to lovers, Stockholm syndrome, fake relationships, etc.) and you should be checking the historical context when writing about certain subjects (like you would when writing goblins or ogres or gnomes because of the historical context of antisemitism, racism, and the fetishization of little people in fantasy).

Other dark, messy, toxic themes do not have historical ties to such a specific abuse and dehumanizing multiple marginalized communities that still damage those groups to this day.

Writing someone that likes being a pet or property and is clearly not writing Consensual Objectification/kinks is like writing 'The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas'. No character would have fun or enjoy being in a concentration camp where they killed the children first, nor should you humanize Nazis. Just like you shouldn't humanize slavers and oppressors. And by humanize, I don't mean talking about them like they're human (they are and that's a scary truth), I mean using instances like 'it's normal in their world so it's not bad' or 'it's how they love they can't help it' or 'it's from their trauma so it's not bad' as a reason to excuse and diminish the awful thing that they're doing.

Hundreds of thousands of people have killed themselves because they’ve been treated like animals and property. Don’t ignore that and say ‘the character likes it!’ or ‘they’re okay with it because they're loved and can do whatever they want as long as they listen!’ or ‘they’re being treated well though so it’s fine!’ or even ‘but they like be treated like this later! They just didn’t like it in the beginning!’ just because you’re reading or writing fiction. All you’re doing by saying this or writing it into the story is perpetuating a harmful thought process that we’ve seen convince people that it’s fine (the house elves from Harry Potter).

Especially because it's a dehumanizing rhetoric that, again, is spreading rabidly in the real world right now.

Obviously I don’t think this will get very far nor will everyone agree with my opinion, but I do hope people who write this stuff in my community and other communities, realize the damage they’re doing by writing this and dismissing it because the character ‘likes being a pet/object’ or ‘they’re being treated well by their 'owner' so it’s fine’ or 'they're a different species though, it's not the same.'

Treating someone like a pet or an object stems from extreme, generational abuse, oppression, and slavery of many marginalized communities, something they're still feeling the affects of, and it shouldn’t be dumbed down into softer words and dismissed or brushed off because ‘it’s fiction/dark fiction’ or 'but they're different species so it's not the same' or even ‘everyone in the story treats it as fine and the ‘owned’ character is treated nicely/loved so they’re okay with it.’

Humans, minorities, are not animals. They are not property. There is a difference between something like treating someone like this for their own personal accommodation, and treating someone like this just because you can or because you think it's 'interesting' or 'fun' to play with. Again, you need to remember the historical context of things like this.

Your writing and your thought processes are hurting a large group of people. You are not in a vacuum.

It is my hope that by talking about this and pointing it out, we can start to notice the damage we may be causing without realizing it and hopefully write in a way that isn't so reflective and promoting of a harmful rhetoric that has been growing.

So please, do research before writing topics like these.

Even if you think writing this does no harm, that just unfortunately isn't the case.

Also, again, to clarify just in case: this is not talking about trauma or kink/fantasy or consensual objectification writing in any sort of way. If you write this subject because of a kink or trauma you are valid and not who I'm talking about.

As usual, do not attack anyone who does write this, this post isn't for that intention nor censorship. It is merely to spread awareness and discussion to grow as a community. People are more than free to write what they want, but sharing how some plots and ideas can be harmful is important to learn.

Remember, just because something isn't censored, doesn't mean it's free of consequence or harm.

(EDIT: Also I tend to edit this often so the wording isn't censorship promotion or too reactive and/or personal (as someone who is disabled lmao), so this is just a PSA!)

[houxe]

How do you become so cool like you?

Uh- honestly I have no idea I didn’t think I was all that cool LMAO- It’s something something be yourself?

[houxe]

PFFT I didn't even notice this omg- it ain't even raining tho, and I have heard zero knocks this evening! Obviously I am being SLANDERED!

at last- i've found your account- hello there ao3 author houxe of the fic tomorrow is another day. i've come to be a menace ./j./bit

LMAO- Yes, yes hello, I have been expecting you

[houxe]

houxeeeey dew is bullying meee

I have to ask what you did first beloved, it might be deserved

[houxe]

at last- i've found your account- hello there ao3 author houxe of the fic tomorrow is another day. i've come to be a menace ./j./bit

LMAO- Yes, yes hello, I have been expecting you