#audacity to exist in a popular piece of media as a woman or poc. because. the number is. distressingly high.) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

musical-chick-13 · 10 months

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The THING is. When people (I am including myself in this) try to talk about how "Why is there overall less of an emphasis on women's stories and female characters and f/f shipping, especially when according to the stats we see being shared, fandom is significantly populated by queer women, hmm this seems a bit strange," there's ALMOST ALWAYS this assumption that it comes from a place of gender essentialism or purity culture or hating every single man for existing or something. ARE there some people who mean that? Yeah, there are going to be people like that in EVERY group of people who try to talk about anything. But when people complain about this, it's most generally because WE EXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL MISOGYNY IRL, AND NOW WE ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME SOCIAL EFFECTS WITHIN SOMETHING THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE "FUN." THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

And this goes for when people try to talk about racism in fandom spaces as well. And ableism. And transphobia. And any other form of prejudice you can think of. Is talking about this in one (1) context that is not directly political going to forever eliminate bigotry? No. Obviously not. But the thing about systemic bias and prejudice is that IT IS PRESENT AT EVERY LEVEL, EVEN THE "FUN" ONES.

#THERE IS NUANCE IN THIS CONVERSATION #fandom misogyny #misogyny in fandom #like...honestly I don't think the Main Problem re: ignoring stories about women or the women in stories is Fetshizing MLM™ actually.#I mean there's some of that that goes on. there's some of that that goes on in regard to characters of color or trans narratives or f/f #media too. there are people who dehumanize people through over-sexualization in EVERY context unfortunately. HOWEVER. I AM #wondering how much of that assumption comes from an attempt to explain the disparity between the focus on queer men #& queer women. personally I think a lot more of it is related to misogyny than we think it is but I'm not omniscient I'm just evaluating #things in accordance to dialogue I've observed and my own personal life experience which is ADMITTEDLY IMPERFECT AND INCOMPLETE #(you have NO IDEA how much shit I've gotten over the years simply for being a woman and no other reason.)#(and if it wasn't for being a woman it was for being disabled)#(and there's a particular intersection of THOSE things I feel like there could be more discussion about too)#and the thing about 'fandom isn't activism' is about how IT SHOULDN'T BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR REAL-WORLD EFFORTS.#it's about how YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY HARM FICTIONAL CHARACTERS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT REAL.#it doesn't mean 'we never examine personal bias at all because this is a hobby'. I played soccer as a hobby once. I danced as a hobby once.#the sports and dance worlds are still affected by bias and prejudice and that should be discussed and evaluated accordingly #fandom is still MADE UP OF real people. and the people who create and/or act in the pieces of media that spawn fandoms #ARE ALSO real people. looking at the effects ON THOSE /REAL PEOPLE/ is still important in understanding structural prejudice and #oppression. (and...lbr. how many actresses and poc have gotten harassment and threats just for playing a character. for having the #audacity to exist in a popular piece of media as a woman or poc. because. the number is. distressingly high.)#(I myself have been the target of shitty forms of harassment just for DRESSING UP AS AN UNPOPULAR FEMALE CHARACTER AT A CONVENTION)#it might be one thing if all of this NEVER translated into how people viewed and affected real life people. if it ALWAYS stayed within the #context of playing around with fictional characters BUT IT RARELY DOES! IF EVER!!!#anyway I say nothing new but I saw something that made me angry. and until people Get It™ I am going to keep screaming about it #y'all knew what you signed up for :)#you know what I'm not even going to tag this with my general conversation tag for this phenomenon because I think people need to #see this occasionally

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