#avoiding problematic media is pretty easy if you're not looking at media anyways

[arcaneyouth]

becoming somebody who doesn't really """consume content""" (i don't watch shows or movies other than maybe once every 4-6 months, i play games 3-5 times a month and it's usually skyrim, i haven't read a book in years, i don't listen to music that wasn't recommended to me by friends or showed up in a cool animation i saw, i don't participate in fandom, and i mainly watch the same 3 video essayists and 3 vod channels on youtube) makes being on this site such a fascinating experience. because even normal drama is like a shadow under the water for me. "how fucking dare you watch [x] problematic media just because you like the genre you need to look at stuff that isn't problematic PLEASE" and i don't even know what the x problematic media is. obviously these posts are not for me but these posts will cross my dash like "YOU have to STOP and GET BETTER" and it's just about consuming content from more diverse creators. which isn't an entirely bad message it just feels like someone walking into my house and going "you have to stop watching dune and instead watch anything from this list in the same genre RIGHT NOW or you're RACIST" and i don't know what dune is. like the sand???????????

[uncle-fruity]

Hello! I've just been browsing and seen you mention art a lot. Do you have a tag for your own art or an art blog alt you post on?

Completely get it if it's not something you post online for whatever reason, I just like finding more artists online!

(Your art may also be obvious and on this blog but scrolling on mobile makes it easy to miss stuff OTL).

Hello! Thank you for asking about my art, anon! True to form, I have over explained myself in this response, but the relevant information is at the bottom if it's a little tldr for anyone.

This is technically my side blog even though I'm most active here. I originally made it to have a place where I could be separate from my main blog, which I mostly left behind because I was getting harassed for having Nuanced Opinions about problematic media while also being trans. I haven't posted much (any??) art of my own on this blog, because I was a little paranoid about people somehow recognizing my art style and moving here to continue to harass me.

That said, it's been a couple years and I've since learned how to block and move on better than I used to & have taken a lot of steps to have a healthier relationship with social media, so I don't mind giving you the information for my (new) art blog. You won't find any of my old stuff there, because I pretty much just started the new art blog within the last year to go along with my Twitch account & to avoid the baggage that came along with my old main. It's still pretty barebones because I don't casually post much there, but I'm trying to be more active and hoping to gain some more followers. I've reblogged a few things from that account here, but not a lot.

Anyway!!! Here's the information & art you're looking for:

I'm @artquilliam everywhere. I'm on Tumblr, obviously. I'm on Bluesky. I'm on Twitch (where I frequently stream art & video games). I've got a Patreon that isn't super active, but when I finish comics or any kind of major narrative art project, I post them there at least 2 weeks before I post them anywhere else. I also have an art website, which is where you'll find the biggest collection of my art online -- including comics, digital art, and some of my acrylic paintings.

I'd say the best places to interact with me & my art are Twitch & my website respectively. I consistently stream multiple times a week, and I update the art on my website fairly regularly (about once a month).

Thanks for asking! I hope you like my art! Take care of yourself, anon!

[heretherebedork]

(completly diff anon) If you don't mind continuing the discussion, I'd like to add some to the whole liking bl and being a "bad queer." It's something I struggled with a lot for a while. For relevance, I am also queer (bi, ace, afab nb), but that's one of the points I wanted to make. I guess I am slightly disagreeing with the statement authentic queer media has to be made by queer people? Because then the person has to be out in order to be considered to be making valid queer media. Which feels icky to me? Especially given my understanding that a lot of Asian countries are still pretty homophobic. And then I think in some ways that can lead to the thinking that you have to be the right type of queer to right a certain type of story. Also kinda icky.

Also, I don't deny a certain amount of the criticism of bl as a genre comes with racism, I think there is a certain amount of misogyny too. A lot of the flack I've gotten and seen for bl was directed at women, particularly straight women, who like all mlm content. But what bl and mlm fanfic has in common is that it's mostly "romance" which is always seen as a lesser genre because it is mostly made by women. I think it's important too to look at who is throwing around the criticism and who benefits from it. In my experience, it's almost always t3rfs.

Anyway, I personally don't think we have to think critically about everything we watch. There is enough chaos and craziness in the world, it is okay to just shut it out and enjoy a cute story. (Or a dark problematic one, you do you.) Morality isn't defined by what we watch in our precious free time. I hope this helps the other anon, because I've been there! You're okay anon! You are valid! You are not a bad queer!

(Sorry for rambling on so much and I hope any disagreements with stuff you've said come across as a friendly discussion type commentary and not critical.)

And that's why I was so specific about that being my personal way of defining 'authentic queer fiction/cinema', because it is entirely personal and, frankly, has not to my knowledge been codified in anyway. Which definitely leads to a lot of these debates and discussions. As someone who, frankly, avoids most things people call the 'authentic queer experiences' because they don't tend to be to my taste... in order to define something, there must be some kind of guideline even if the guidelines aren't perfect.

Frankly, I think the intent is what matters most for the definition of authentic queer cinema. Is this specifically written to show a queer experience or is it written for the intent of a non-queer audience, is the intent to show queerness or to just do a light drama/romance/comedy? The rest is framework but the intent and intended audience matter the most.

But also, the honest answer, is that most BL, especially BL prior to 2021/2022, is not made for or by queer people. Even when queer people were and are involved, which they are, the show's intent and intended audience was not queer people. And that's fine! I love it! I have no issues with this whatsoever and it is, in fact, my preference 100%. But that makes it not an authentic queer cinema/fiction and that's okay!

Now a lot of the criticism definitely comes from misogyny (@absolutebl has talked about this in a few of their posts about why romance is a much bigger genre in East Asian versus the Western World and it's fascinating but I know nothing, honestly, this is not my expertise at all) and I'm sure, again, that it comes from racism as well. But I think a lot is rooted deeply in the fact that it might not be written for queer people but it is definitely written for women and that's just as easy to insult.

It always makes me think of how my father's favorite genre is RomCom and how many people raise an eyebrow when I say that because it's not 'traditional' and boy, I get into the home dynamics of how I grew up and suddenly people seem to realize there's a reason I don't think it's odd but that's just... personal background that shapes a lot of things.

Now, as for who is throwing the criticism? I avoid it entirely so I have zero idea. None. Absolutely none. I have never read a single genre critical article or rant about BL because, frankly, that doesn't interest me. I read them about specific shows but not about the whole genre. So I am also approaching this without prior knowledge and I am totally content please don't link it to me. I don't want to know!

I did also specify that you only should think critically if you want. Like, I think watching critically is a good thing even if you only want to figure out why you like what you or what you like the most... but that's still totally optional if you don't want it. I just don't know how not to.

Uh.

Anyway!

Watching media does not make you a bad person or a bad queer. Never. There is no media consumption that can make you a bad person or a bad queer. Nothing. Enjoy your shows, love yourself, have a grand old time!