#because it's a very 'safe“ ship to ship and not actually one that's interesting | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

damnfandomproblems · 3 days ago

Text

Compiling all the submissions from January 2025 through April 2025 from this user to trim down the inbox.

January 2025:

I'm getting REALLY bored of "We need to teach men to be kind! That's the ONLY point of kind male characters uwu! 😢" from the same people who write off all kind all male characters as boring AND believe a fictional woman needs to be a one-note jerk to everyone in canon in order to be a good character. It's hilarious when that fails miserably. Kindness is not a weakness in female characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It really is disappointing how no one says we need to fight back against the man hate spread by terfs & radfems because man-hate is wrong due to the fact that men are humans. It's always, "You might hurt trans women!" It's always, "You might hurt trans men! The ONLY good men!" It's always, "They're not using it to humble men! Otherwise this would be okay!" It's always, "There are good men in fiction! The ONLY place where they are! This is wrong!" It's always, "That's NOT a priority! They might attack other women!" Some people hate a certain group until they don't.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really infuriating when a story has NOTHING to do with "humans are the REAL monsters!" in anyway, shape or form, yet the fanbase still finds a way to twist it as meaning that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everybody LOVES a fictional "bi queen" until she's shipped with male characters. The idea every single fandom is super chill with every single canon bi female character being shipped with men has always been a big fat lie to me. Especially when nonsense such as "she's a strong, independent woman who needs NO MAN!" and "Why would ANYONE ship her with icky men!" and "How can anyone look at her and believe she's attracted to men???" starts popping up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is downright SCARY how many people run around with the assumption that every single woman alive is super accepting of bi men (and bi women) right off the bat. Look. I'm sorry for any experiences with biphobic men, especially if you are a bi woman, but this is far from the truth. And no. How many bi characters and headcanons someone has is not an indicator of being accepting of an irl group. Plenty of people love fictional characters and treat real-life people like crap all the time. And the same can be said for any minority group. Treating all women as the "safe" group or a group that is not capable of any form of bigotry is not the huge bigotry ending solution you believe it is. Stop putting certain groups on a pedestal and erasing any experiences that says otherwise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's interesting whenever a large group of fans look at fan-content that ships bi female characters with male (original) characters as "attacking/invalidating wlw representation!" or "you only hate women!" or "What about her makes you believe she's attracted to men!?" Very funny when said bi female characters are with other female characters in canon and they STILL get worked up. None. Of. This. Is. Canon. And a simple "don't like; don't read," is all it takes. Fan-content you don't like and/or care for is always going to exist. You're not the only ones in a fandom. And oh noooo, someone is shipping a Bi female character with MALE characters?! WHO COULD'VE SEEN THAT COMING?! What do you think "Bi" means? Interesting when a fanbase also asks for more bi female characters to be used more in shipping and gets worked up when some are shipped with male characters and not only other female characters. WHY did you even ask to begin with?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still funny to me whenever stuff like "Velma" or Sweet Baby Inc has actual defenders. Weird hill to die on, but okay! Bye!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's hard to take "BOTH SIDES ARE BAD!" seriously when most who state that don't state it until they're the ones facing criticism for being a negative person and/or group. Always saying others need to critique themselves while they don't practice what they preach.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're a BIG fan of this series AND you acknowledge it's flaws??? THAT'S ACTUALLY POSSIBLE!?!?" Yes. Plenty of fans do that all the time. Just because someone loves and adores something, doesn't mean they're always blind to what went wrong. They just don't focus on that as much. It's not hard. Try to focus on the good. It's often better to do that than staying angry all the time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really exhausting how much of a positive view people have of fictional bi men or their many headcanons, yet real-life bi men are never given the same amount of support and positivity. Though I'm not too surprised. Plenty of fandoms are full of people who treat fictional characters MUCH better than real people.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing whenever people stereotype and insist bisexuals as being nothing but disgusted by men & only being attracted towards women (in a PURE way), than project said box onto fictional bi characters and get so shocked not everybody agrees with such a narrow definition. What did you think was going to happen?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The funniest part of "WE HAVE TO MAKE FANDOMS MORE INCLUSIVE OF WOMEN!" is how many people involved in this process, actively ignore all the women who were already in said fandoms for years and write them off as either not existing or suffering from "internalized misogyny" all because some disagree with them. How progressive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is nothing funnier to me whenever someone assumes being a bigot is either a gendered thing or women are just inherently anti-bigotry and always care about all groups on the planet. You're in for a rude awakening if you honestly still believe that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're not helping end any discourse if you constantly equate a fan who merely dislikes a character with haters who go out of their way to attack fans of said character. Every character you like is always going to have fans who either dislike or just don't care for them. "I like a character... THAT MEANS EVERYONE WHO DISLIKES THEM IS EVIL!" Is not logic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You CAN'T be a fan of this character AND critique badly written appearances of them!" Yes I can. And yes I will. It's called "constructive criticism" for a reason. This is only a concern when that's all you focus on when related to said character. It's also very immature to go "LA LA LA! I can't hear you!" and act like certain character never had any badly written appearances. They happen. They don't happen. Life goes on. The important part is understanding where the writers went wrong and trying to avoid that in the future.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is nothing like watching a male character either be seen as the most evil person in canon or an annoying "incel" for rejecting a female character he has no interest in. And never does in canon. Made worse when said female character either treats him like crap and/or has no clear idea of boundaries around him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love how some franchises can have popular female characters for many years, but because of very trivial reasons (e.g., men like them being seen as a red flag, assuming they suck because they're from an older time, assuming they're only liked out of desperation, etc) modern fans ignore them, often bullying preexisting fans of them and act like every new female character made is "the first female character ever!" and that's somehow logic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure someone has said it before, but I find it amazing how you can pinpoint how much writing these days is so "sanitized" or trying to "protect" the audience from "problematic" elements that might imply the audience or the writers are just as problematic, when you rewatch older movies and/or shows. Case in point: the Netflix ATLA show. It removed Sokka believing women can't fight from the start and yet the original show show could handle him believing that for 4 episodes and him admitting he was wrong to believe that, before he accepted he had a lot to learn. On both sexist notions and most importantly, growing as a warrior. That's not his ENTIRE character, it's the warrior part, but that further highlights how many writers these days can't handle something as small and ohhh-soo "problematic" as that being written into a story. "Writing about it means you encourage it!" It does not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's very tiring watching someone who has nothing but harsh words for the american government, turn around and praise other corrupt governments (or other forms) in the world. Even worse when they carry that view over into fiction. No. That fictional government that is not american in any way, shape or form, is meant to critique to US. Which is very funny how blatant that can be (e.g., yes. the empire in star wars is based on the nazis. you really didn't need that said out loud for you), but someone's idea of "corrupt government" just stubbornly means the US. It's not any better when someone just narrows down to either the nazis, or the US. There are numerous other forms of government in today's world & history for writers draw inspiration from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So many only care about fictional bisexual characters being erased, and it shows.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Progressive" DOES NOT mean anti-bigotry. "Progressive" is what the majority views as good. And fandoms are notorious for viewing the most heinous & evil shit as "progressive" in the name of good. If the majority views it as good to attack & suicidebait others over ships, then that's seen as progressive. If the majority views it as good to tell certain fans to kill themselves over liking or disliking certain characters, then that's seen as progressive. If the majority views it as good to tell certain fans to kill themselves over liking or disliking certain movies or games, then that's seen as progressive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Few things frustrate me more than "every single (straight) man alive is secretly bi and the reason they all don't come out is because they're all a bunch of fragile masculine idiots!" First off: Stop. Treating. Real. Men. As. Fictional. Characters. Keep this intrusive nonsense for your fictional headcanons. "Any man who doesn't want to secretly get with his male friends is lying and suffering from fragile masculinity!" Second off, stop treating bisexuality as some kind of "uwu! quirky trait!" in men. It's disturbing as heck. Lastly, yes. It keeps more in the closet. Saying it's someone's own fault for being there to begin with. Similar nonsense applies to "I can't believe there are fans who DON'T headcanon EVERY single canon character as bi! They must be fake bisexuals who don't see the obvious bi vibes and a bunch of icky straights in disguise!" Full offense, but you are not encouraging most bisexuals to come out if you keep on saying "I can't believe there are people who AREN'T bisexual! They MUST be lying!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There will never be a funnier flaw than a fandom that refuses to acknowledge horny women & fangirls.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watching a fanbase label the most evil and vile male antagonists in fiction as "case studies in toxic masculinity," even though most of them are just written to be evil for the sake of being evil, with it never being that deep, while female antagonists who are or almost or just as toxic and evil are never seen as examples of "toxic femininity" and are often praised for being horrible people, really tells you a lot on how fandoms view toxicity in both groups.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We NEED to fight back against EVERY form of bullying and ostracization in fandoms! EVERYONE deserves to feel welcome!" Y'all can't handle examples of men who have been harassed and feel very ostracized in fandoms and certain fandom spaces. And want it to end.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We need more fictional male abuse victims!" You all can't look at one who without screaming, "THAT'S A WOMAN/FEMALE-CODED! ANYONE WHO DISAGREES IS SEXIST!" "We need more fictional male victims of women!" You all can't look at one without screaming, "SHE DID NOTHING WRONG!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really can't stand how many fans can't look at a work of fiction without projecting their own "politics" into it. For example: characters who mourn deaths of other characters. If a female character mourns the death of a male character she loved and was close to, it's often met with "Why does she care so much? IT'S A MALE! They deserve to all die!" If a male character mourns the death of a female character he loved and was close to, it's often met with "SHUT UP! Stop crying and GET OVER YOUR MANPAIN!" For wanting to expand and deepen the conversation around certain pieces of fiction through your own "politics," it looks like all you're doing is ending the talk before it starts and simplifying things down to the most negative conclusion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Has anyone else noticed that in the majority of m/f pairings, it's the male character who has to jump through hoops to prove that he is worthy of her? While the female character just...exists? She doesn't have to do anything to gain his trust or prove her worth toward him. She's already perfect. But the male character has to win her trust and prove his worth, often in dramatic or dangerous ways. I know radfems twist this into the narrative that the female character is nothing but a prize to be won, so it's sexist. But what about female characters proving their worth? What makes them worthy of a male character's affection? I want to see more female characters who fuck up and need to win the affection of a male character. I want to see female characters going on voyages and journeys to prove that they are worthy of a male character's time and affection. I want to see more female characters having to be humble and beg for forgiveness. I want to see more female characters realizing that they had treated others badly and seek redemption. I want to see female characters be written as flawed and imperfect humans. I am so tired of female characters being the one and true victim, and how everyone else is at fault, so must prove their worth to her. It's so boring.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm tired of every fandom labeling almost everything related to the abuse suffered by male characters as "toxic masculinity" and created some of the most messed up conclusions, yet female characters of similar experiences are never referred to as suffering from "toxic femininity."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's astonishing how if a female love interest for a male character is seen as antithetical towards said male character being a good or "strong" character, it's commonly (and rightfully) seen as sexist. Yet the opposite is usually praised. Not many bat an eye at the idea that every "strong, fictional woman" is too good for a male love interest and that they're all, "strong, independent women who need NO MAN!" and many are fine with reinforcing the stereotype that love is a weakness for female characters. "OH! BUT WAIT! There are EXAMPLES of female characters who ended up with male characters and it was BADLY written!" So let me get this straight. You are going to give constructive criticism to writers that did not know how to write relationships for male characters, but the opposite should be seen as never being attempted again, because some writers really messed up???? That's nonsense. Look at where they went wrong as what NOT to do. Plus. There are well-written examples. Usually from older media. It's just sad how they're not as common these days and leads to the same stereotypes being reinforced. And you're not exactly helping subvert certain tropes around female characters by constantly saying they should all never fall in love.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular Opinion: All you're doing is absolving responsibility of fandoms who INSIST that the ONLY way to write a good m/f pairing, is to make the man an affectionate idiot to his wife and emphasize his wife as being flawless 24/7, if all you do is blame badly written sitcom couples for they're existence. They aren't the same. Especially with how the fandom version tends to act like it's "helping" women in ways the sitcom one doesn't. Most fandoms are to blame. Most fandoms see themselves as far removed from said sitcom pairings and go out of their way to make preexisting m/f pairings that dynamic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without being in an ironic or victim-blaming way, it would be nice to meet a Star Wars fan who doesn't hate Anakin with the heat of twin suns.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really frustrating and annoying how many fandoms base a "good" m/f pairing on how many men love said pairing or not. A fandom can't hear "male fans happy" without getting angry for no reason. "The only reason this m/f pairing is popular... IS BECAUSE IT'S A DISGUSTING, SELF-INSERT FANTASY FOR MALES!" No. Plenty of men AND women enjoy said m/f pairing. Also, even if a lot of men like the pairing because they like the woman in it, so what??? Numerous fandom women like m/f pairings and romanticize about meeting men like the one in it, so why can't men do the same? Treat them like humans.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular Opinion: I find it kind of boring how when a beloved female character enters the world of fandom, the fans all insist that her character was actually about rising above sexism, when her gender had nothing to do with said character arc(s) at all. She went through so much in the story that had little or nothing to do with being a woman and was related to other things, but the fans still act like it was about sexism towards women. It feels like you guys (fans) can't look at a female character without insisting she has to face sexism in some way in order to be a "good" female character. When there are numerous other things to do with fictional women.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wish more people cared about real-life bi men being erased to the same extent as bi male characters (or their headcanons) being erased. It's sad how many ignore or mock the former yet instantly become defensive of the latter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is nothing more annoying than a fanbase that will complain that men don't like any of the female characters yet every instance of a male fan liking a female character is met with "MALES AREN'T ALLOWED TO LIKE HER!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can hate a character without hating the (voice) actor/actress who played them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is really boring how many modern audiences these days can't imagine an historical documentary or historical (fiction) story on a famous woman in history, without tagging imaginary "men, bad!" traits onto a figure that assumedly had none to begin with. "I REFUSE to believe a strong woman in history can be strong unless she hates those damn males!" Changing historical accuracy on purpose to, "get back at those damn men!" How "progressive" and smart of you to do that. Which is funny, because you would think a significant woman in history being supported by her male peers in her (future) landmark endeavours who didn't look down on her, that will be remembered for many years to come, would be seen as much more progressive than "YOU CAN'T BE IMPORTANT UNLESS YOU HATE ALL THE MEN AROUND YOU!" But no. That's not the case. A woman is only as major as the amount of men she hates.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A woman can hate men (and male characters) for no reason other than being a hateful, toxic person, WITHOUT being a terf or radfem, or ever becoming one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are few things more hypocritical than watching a fanbase screech "STOP SEXUALIZING WOMEN YOU MALE CREEPS!" towards fans and adult female characters (thanks for ignoring female nsfw artists), yet all the teenage male characters are put in fanart and drawings that should be considered just as "bad" but never is. This is all fictional. Being horny isn't gendered. And all you're doing when you ignore those as well is deepening how hypocritical and foolish you are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The female lead kissing the male lead takes away ALL of her agency!" But if she kissed another female character, that'd be perfectly fine, right? If a kiss between leads feels completely earned, why erase it? Especially after they've both been shown to be capable of surviving a stressful life-or-death situation and have grown closer. To imply a heterosexual kiss would be removing the female lead's "agency" when a same-sex kiss wouldn't, that comes off as a double standard. We can't only focus on other double standards around female characters. A (strong) female character having a male love interest should not be seen as a weakness. If you can conceptualize a male lead not losing any agency when with a female lead, then the opposite shouldn't be hard to understand at all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hot Take: We can't only focus on the misogyny towards certain female characters when it comes to shipping. Too many fandoms have gone too long believing a female character is too much of a "strong, independent woman" to ever be shipped with any of the other characters (or the ocs) or ever fall in love. Which is ignorant when they say that and STILL complain about the lack of usage of certain female characters in shipping. You caused that on yourselves. And it's not any better when a fanbase adds "...who needs NO MAN!" to that phrase. If you can understand a male character being shipped with female and other male characters leads to them being used a lot in shipping, then it should be easy to understand something similar for female characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Funny how many ''strong, independent women'' in most media these days, are basically written as toxic men yet are supposed to be seen as likeable, or else you're just sexist.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular Opinion: We can't only focus on fandoms that are sexist towards female characters when it comes to shipping. Many fandoms believe every female character is too "strong and independent" for a relationship. Many fandoms believe love is a weakness for every fictional woman. Many fandoms believe that just because a female character was a victim of abuse, that means they should never enter another relationship with another character. Many fandoms believe the last three points are only applicable to male love interests, because she's "too good and strong for a man!" The issue is deeper than most believe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really amazing how many blogs on tumblr are fine with man-hate and treating men like dirt, unless the bloggers in question put "trans" before "man" and/or "men."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but there will never be anything more foolish (and hilarious!) than fans who can't accept the fact that a "hot" fictional woman is popular and loved for who she is, so they go out of their way to INSIST that said female character is only into other women and every fan who disagrees is a bigoted sexist. (Which often drives away potential fans of said female character, doing the complete opposite of what was intended) Because apparently, that's when it's A-OK. Often times with redesigns nobody asked for or even wanted, that are full of very problematic implications (e.g., "this short adult female character was a child the whole time! I! Am! smart!") that are MUCH more troublesome than a fictional woman being "hot." It gets A LOT funnier when the fans were so caught up in their moral panic that they FORGOT that the female character they were changing and refused to accept for who she was... is canonically into men. Which is shown in canon a few times and they somehow, still go, "HOW WERE WEEE SUPPOSED TO KNOW!???" and they still erase that fact about them because apparently that's problematic, "inherently sexualizing" and never will be a sign of a GOOD or strong female character. Which gets much worse when said female character was bi the whole time and they act like that's still a bad thing for all those aforementioned reasons. As it turns out, fans who accept a "hot" female character and love her for who she is and are big fans of her, are MUCH more "progressive" than fans who blow up for no reason and have a moral panic over her fictional character design. Often leading to her popularity sinking. Purity culture and puritans stay losing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After all the simps (gender neutral) for Lady Dimitrescu in the trailers for the recent Resident Evil game, it's hard to take any "gaze" theory seriously or even serious at all. Anymore than I did before, as I barely did since we're talking about fictional characters. Who aren't real. Some people are horny. Some people are not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is downright disgusting and disturbing, how many people will go on forever about how men apparently NEVER "romanticize" about fictional women (in a "soft" context) yet EVERY example that proves that has always been very wrong, is seen with negative assumptions, robbing female characters of agency because men like how she cares about a male character and men being seen as gross, lesser people who deserve to be seen that way and deserve to be treated like dirt. When a male character stands up for a female character, it's usually seen as grand or "wishing more irl men were like this." When the opposite happens, men are yelled at for not standing up for themselves. When a male character tells a female character that the abuse she suffered was not her fault, it's seen as amazing or wishing more irl men were like this, especially if said fandom women have negative relationship experiences with men. When men want more of the opposite, it's seen as wrong or gross or "men DO NOT know what it's like to be an abuse victim! ONLY women do!" When a male character loves and treats the woman he's in a relationship with, female fans tend to romanticize about him. When men enjoy or want the opposite, it's seen as "appealing to nice guys" and men being sick and gross. When a male character is seen as physically attractive, it's usually shrugged off. When men find a female character physically attractive, it's seen as gross or "sexualizing" regardless of how covered up or not "sexy" she is. When a male character is protective of a female character, it's commonly seen as him being "the one decent man." When the opposite comes along, it's seen as a woman who doesn't know her own worth and men being gross for liking her for that. Don't even get me started when a "strong female character" rolls around and almost EVERY instance of men liking her is seen as wrong, corrupt or "predatory" or "men can NEVER love her the way women do!" The double standards are ridiculous. You all can't seen men as human beings or not that different from women. It makes up too much of your toxic identity. Be normal about men who merely like and adore female characters. They just want to be accepted by a fanbase and have fun. Stop. Stereotyping. Male. Fans.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's sad how due to how media views female on male abuse and "strong" women, you don't see a lot (or any) examples of female characters telling male characters that the abuse they suffered from another woman was not their fault, it NEVER was and that they deserve much better. And male fans are not allowed to want this in media. Too many other fans view this idea as either "robbing strong women of their agency" or men being "gross" for wanting this or yelled at for not being able to be victims of abuse by women.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Women can handle falling in love male antagonists and villains! Because women KNOW what its like to be hurt; men DON'T know what it's like to be abused! The opposite doesn't work because men only want to romanticize abusing a woman and than being with her!" Can you all just let men enjoy evil women (and enemies to lovers) in peace? And BOY is that stereotypical.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's still amazing to me, how many fandoms get SOO worked up at the tiniest mention of horny women and men who barely care about sex. Your stereotypes were never right to begin with. The quicker you are to accept that, the quicker you are to having more nuance in a fandom.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Few things are more annoying than when a story had NOTHING to do with a certain theme fans assume was there the whole time, that they insist it was there or else other fans be viewed as sexist and/or bigoted. Case in point: when a fictional woman goes through an entire story that had NOTHING to do with "boys VS. girls" yet a (modern) fanbase and audience refuses to accept that, and acts like they have to insist it was there the whole time. How interesting and oh so progressive. You are only allowed to write female characters that have to face sexism at one point in the story or be her ENTIRE character arc, or else you just hate women. A "strong" woman only exists to face men. Media literacy. As common as common sense. Nothing enrages & confuses modern audiences like a popular female character who is popular and beloved, despite never facing any sexism at any point in the story and other fans are completely fine with that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is absolutely disgusting & frustrating how many "progressive" people view irl bi men as gross, dirty or privileged, yet much of those same people are so protective of fictional bi men (and their headcanons) from erasure and hate. (Which can be said for men in general, but you get the idea)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Too many people hide in the comments when it comes to engaging with discussions or discourse. You are not adding anything unless you say it out loud and reblog the post yourself. Comments are ignored for a reason.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It sucks that the only m/f ship dynamic that seems to be accepted nowadays is "bland girlboss with no flaws or emotions and her pathetic man who worships the ground she walks on, despite getting nothing in return". Especially when people try to shove characters that canonically don't fit the dynamic at all into these boxes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will ALWAYS respect a fandom that looks down on the unfunny treatment a female character has of a male character, much more than a fandom that views any bit of criticism for her behaviour as "sexism"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I LOVE how many people have so many quick words and anger for famous men who are with younger women, yet famous women who are with younger men just receive radio silence and being largely ignored. When both should be looked at the same. Thanks for the double standards.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really can't stand when certain fandoms can't enjoy a (non-canon) wlw pairing, without villainizing or making up nonsense ("this male character is ABUSIVE!/INCEL!/A NICE GUY!") about the male character that one half of the pairing is with in canon and insisting that's canon. It's made much more annoying when it's seen as justified due to being seen as "dunking on males!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's downright hilarious watching all the "this franchise was always woke! Pay attention to every lesson they preach!" people want to throw hands with the creators of a series because said series had the audacity to say "your trauma doesn't give you the right to harm (or kill) people who had nothing to do with it." You have A LOT to learn if that still angers you everytime a piece of fiction states that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is downright disgusting & horrifying (& a tad fetishizing) hearing "HOW can women believe their attraction towards men is GROSS when bi men exist!?" from the same fans who act like zero bi women have ever been biphobic towards bi men, zero bi men face any issues and erasure or bi men only exist to be "safe" counterparts to "icky" straight men. Any issues they face is a lie because they're just too "privileged" for that to be the case. Made worse when much of those same blogs are all like, "I went on a date with a bi man. It sucked. This means ALL bi men are gross monsters like men!" That's not an indicator of morality. That just tells you a man is bi. Once again, no one cares about (bi) men unless they're fictional or in theory or trans.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing watching most of the "bisexuality isn't binary! it's different for EVERY bisexual!" crowd turn around and insist every single bisexual person & bisexual character is either "attracted to every single woman alive and three men, because men deserve to DIE!" or is only attracted to women & men in theory or not at all, otherwise, said bisexual person or character is not actually bisexual. Just faking it. Replacing a stereotypical binary with even more stereotyping. How smart of you to do that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing makes me want to roll my eyes harder at someone, more than how they view fictional men as the "only" good men and the ONLY men capable of traits such as "kindness" or "tenderness" and "good," while irl men are just mocked constantly by them, seen as lesser and deserving to die. How can you willing view a group that DOES NOT exist as being the only ones worthy of kind words while wishing wrongdoings (and death) onto real people who have done nothing wrong? That's sick in the head. It's so cruel to believe and do that. "Oh! Some people are only saying this out of trauma/negative experiences!" No amount of trauma will ever give you the right to hurt anyone you please. Being the victim doesn't make you immune to making your own victims. And no. It is NOT any better when you view them as examples of how men MUST better themselves because you think they're all "evil," when plenty of irl men already possess those traits and aren't inherently evil. It is unbelievably frustrating how many fandoms willing view "healthy" male characters as the writers way of saying good men don't exist and you should treat real-life men as nothing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular Opinion: There is nothing wrong with certain creators wanting to appeal to certain audiences. It should come as no surprise when the audiences expand to outside of the intended ones. And certain fans are morons when they act like that's a bad thing. You REALLY believe stuff like the Powerpuff Girls or My Life As A Teenage Robot has zero male fans? You REALLY believe a book written by a woman with female protagonists have zero male fans? You REALLY believe a comic series by a man with male protagonists have zero female fans? You REALLY believe a tabletop game has zero female fans? Just because something was made for a certain audience doesn't mean it will only stay with just them. Chances are, it will just tell you who the majority are. And NONE OF THIS is ANYTHING new. The only thing stopping someone from getting into any of the aforementioned examples is not getting into them. And a lot of fandoms tend to be a lot more accepting than most let on. As it turns out, fans who just like a series for what it is are FAR more "progressive" than certain fans who act like only THEY are allowed to like something and they have some kind of "moral" obligation to keep out the "icky" new fans. Or change the fandom itself. And if it turns out you just didn't like a series, you didn't like a series. As true as a lot of this is, it was still made for a certain audience in mind. That's not a bad thing. It's all down to one's opinions and one's tastes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So many fandoms are all like "NO ONE KNOWS A GOOD M/F PAIRING BETTER THAN BISEXUALS!" until a bisexual headcanons a hated m/f pairing they like as both characters being bi.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If more women didn't view body shaming men as some kind of badge of honour to wear, than maybe more men would actually buy into the idea that they don't need to look a certain way to be desirable and worthy of kindness & respect. It's infuriating.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed due to all the popular male characters with "undesirable traits" or a "funny" persona.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed because some women do a lot of the body shaming and they are seen in the right for doing that.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed because of all the "conventionally" attractive male celebrities that exist.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed because of all the "unconventionally" attractive male celebrities that exist.

How many people will believe men DESERVE to get body shamed because they are men and they deserve dehumanization.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed because they LOVE doing it themselves.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed because they refuse to believe others engage in body shaming men.

How many people will believe men don't get body shamed because women get body shamed. It goes both ways.

And NO. It is NOT any better to look at all the male celebrities who open up on dehydration and what they have to do to get into certain roles, then turn around and STILL take pride in body shaming men in general. "OMG! Men were hotter in older movies! That means every single man today is too STUPID to realize what makes them hot and have themselves to blame!" Have some sympathy for the average man. They're all still people. Y'all will do ANYTHING but be a a safe space for men with traumatic experiences with body insecurities just because they are men. It's all so messed up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is so messed up how so many of the same fandoms that are supportive of romances where the "main selling point" to romanticize, is a man who would never hurt the woman he's with (because they clearly don't exist) and she feels safe around, write off any men that want more of the opposite as just a bunch of freaks or "incels." "MEN DON'T KNOW AND WILL NEVER KNOW, WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE ABUSED!" Keep telling yourself that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fanbases will call male fans (and fandom men overall) "incels" for reasons that have NOTHING to do with being an "incel." Male fans liking a certain female character doesn't make them incels. Male fans finding a female character attractive doesn't make them incels. Male fans romanticizing about fictional women doesn't make them incels. Male fans liking an unpopular or hated m/f ship doesn't make them incels. Male fans disliking a show or movie you like doesn't make them incels. Male fans liking a show or movie you dislike doesn't make them incels. Male fans engaging in fancontent doesn't make them incels. What does ANY OF THIS have to do with men who can't accept rejection? Y'all will claim to the sun and back, that fandoms are supposed to be a place of community and a place to foster close bonds! But will jump at EVERY opportunity to make male fans (MANY of whom are teenagers and little boys. this is disgusting. have a heart), make them feel like they're a bunch creeps who deserve to feel like nothing, and write off all critiques and complaints from them being bullied as a sign that it's a GOOD THING. For wanting to see fandoms change and be a more positive place, all I see is finding an excuse to divide it as "who to harass" and "who NOT to harass." And no amount of "fandoms are for WOMEN only! We made it!" will EVER make this okay. There is NO excuse for bullying and harassment. It makes me sick. You all make me sick.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just because a character doesn't have a temper, does not mean they are void of anger and never get angry at anything.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm getting tired of fangirls thinking they can be awful to marginalized men just because they're women and think they can go full bigot just by hiding behind their gender.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The "OMG! EVERY BI PERSON SHOULD HOOK UP WITH ANOTHER BISEXUAL! IT MAKES THINGS MUCH EASIER!" crowd when a bi woman is biphobic towards bisexual men (or vice versa): O_O Seriously. Much like other forms of a bigotry, it's a choice to be biphobic. And no amount of fandoms shipping two bi characters means this never happens. You're not going to help anyone by acting like all bigots are coincidentally a bunch of "gross" straights and erasing experiences like that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Did you know that most of the characters in this series is bisexual?" Yes. I am well aware. The fact that most fans and fancontent INSIST each of them must only be shipped with characters of the same gender, gave me a feeling that they are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The amount of pure hatred a fanbase has for a male character who has committed sexual assault & harassment (or has tried) towards fictional women versus the empty (and "What's wrong?") reactions you get towards the opposite does a really good job of highlighting double standards.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Taking a hated male character and saying they would be beloved or NOT hated if they were a woman instead NEVER happens!" I've seen the way you all look at female on male abuse & rape in fiction, compared to male on female abuse & rape in fiction. That much is proof enough.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hollywood doesn't know what a strong woman is. Being feminine isn't weak. Experiencing love isn't weak (and how come it's ok for the men to experience it and still be considered strong?!) Kindness is not weakness. Being gentle is not weakness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fandoms: CLEARLY! It's only gross men drawing all this nsfw fanart of female characters! Those neckbeard, incels! Those misogynists! The many women who draw them: Yo! What's up? Fandoms: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Man... I miss the days of fandom when there was NO fighting and NO discourse..." Me, a fandom dinosaur who has seen discourse for many years: You're more than welcome to reminisce, but to act like there was never anything negative in the past is a bit of stretch.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but NO amount of "THIS WHY EVERYONE MUST STOP SHIPPING AT ONCE!" will erase shipping discourse. Shipping itself is harmless and just a hobby some people have. Shippers are people. Some will chose to start fights and start discourse, other fans won't and carry on with their day. Forcing all fans to get rid of it all together and treating all shippers as toxic won't solve the problem.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's so annoying when a fandom assumes an age difference, just because of a height difference, between two characters.

February 2025:

I love how many fandoms claim male fans are accepted everywhere, while also refusing to believe any man can be a victim of bullying or (cyber)harassment. Or that they deserved it. It's messed up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's soo EVIL to treat all bisexual women as all privileged and/or as a bunch practically straight women!" -> proceeds to treat bisexual men like that (I swear you all only care about fictional ones and/or your head-canons)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nobody is reinforcing stereotypes or doing it out of an insecure need to hate the straights™, when they headcanon an m/f pairing as being two bisexuals in disguise and not understanding why all fans don't do this!" Those same fans when other fans headcanon a very hated m/f pairing as bisexual: [LOUD ANGRY SCREAMING] I don't buy it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing says, "We need cautionary tales NOW more then ever!" than the fact so many audiences and fandoms can't handle being told that certain actions are wrong and corrupt if a character keeps doing them. Regardless of how sympathetic they are, and other characters are in the right for seeing it as a sign of caution and what not to do. "I can't BELIEVE so many fans don't sympathize with this character's trauma and doesn't believe in letting them do whatever they want!" "We do sympathize. We just don't believe it justifies said character taking their anger out on whomever they want as opposed to just those who hurt them. Which is plainly stated & shown in canon." "YOU ALL HATE ABUSE SURVIVORS AND SIDE WITH THE BAD GUYS!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's AMAZING how many progressives insist that sexual attraction is a purely "predatory" "peverted" "male" trait, and all women are sexless beings who experience none. Whether it's in regard to real people or towards fictional characters. "This isn't reinforcing any stereotypes or erasing any harmful groups!" Yes. It is.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's nothing like coming across a (fandom) blog run by a bisexual who won't stop talking about how much they hate men. Happens far too often in my opinion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe I'm older than I let myself believe, but it's so mind-boggling whenever fans call something that has been going on in fandoms & media alike a "current trend." Anybody else feel this way?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is a feminine and conventionally attractive female character! That means they were ALWAYS a pretty face! And they were ALWAYS a badly written character!" - The Fans and writers alike who constantly state this (Who REALLY need to go outside) The many fans of her for many years: Only you believe that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate when someone (whether famous or not) is exposed as being one thing, that everyone assumes they're obviously many other things. For Example: "This famous actor is sexist AND racist!" "Where does it say he's racist??? All it says is he's sexist." "HE OBVIOUSLY IS!" You need evidence to back up your claims.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Male character: Wears nothing but a loincloth Readers: Crickets Female character: Wears nothing but a loin cloth and bra Readers: OMG, THIS DESIGN IS SO SEXIST!!!! 😡

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"HOW can you ship HER with ANY (original) male characters!? SHE WAS *ABUUUSED! BY A MAAAAN!" And? That's not a universal sign every single fan in the fanbase now has to go along with only shipping her with no one or ONLY with other women (or else!) Plenty of women irl had an abusive boyfriend/husband before entering a relationship with a MUCH more caring & loving man. HOW is fiction ANY different? None of this is proper or any actual logic. Funny how this is often reinforced in fandoms yet when similar logic is applied to male characters, that they can't be shipped with any female characters... those same fans will screech sexism like no tomorrow. And you all wonder why fictional women tend to be underused in shipping. *or worse

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but if you want an entire fanbase to have fun, experiment or "get weird" with female characters to the same extent as male characters, you have to start calling out the sexism of the women who live in fear of female characters being used more in fan-content, because apparently said fictional women are either perfect as is and/or they're trying to "protect" them. They all treat female characters like a bunch of little girls who need "protection" from the fans... but none of them are real. And many wondering why there's not more fancontent, while doing that, have the audacity to ask why you don't see them as much. "...It's because of MEN!" is not solving the issue. Like at all. And yes. This also includes nsfw fanworks. If you can handle a male character being used a lot in "adult" fancontent, female characters shouldn't be any different.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel bad for all the stoic male characters in fiction, who have routinely shown to have a good and kind heart, get written off as heartless a-holes by fandoms and oftentimes worse than the literal villains, all for being not that expressive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps it's because i'm Bi... but it's really, REALLY boring watching a fanbase simp for and talk about the male characters in very romantic and VERY adult ways... while all the female characters have a sphere of safeness and "don't touch or look!" around them. (And you all wonder why the fictional women are largely unused in fan-content) And no. It's not any better when it's only certain women allowed to simp for both groups in that way. How progressive of you to make men and "horny" women feel bad for themselves for no reason.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're not a clever person for hiding a bunch of negative nonsense (it's not as "witty" as you believe) for OP in the comments. Either reblog the post or not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is a kind character! That means they don't believe in fighting other characters AND killing their enemies/the main villains!" LOL! Even funnier when we see this disproven in canon multiple times. It's not universal guys, just because they have a big heart. Some kind characters in fiction are against taking a life, others are not and many others see it as a last resort.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If I project hard enough and insist it's canon, my headcanon WILL be canon!" Those same fans when it stays non-canon: *surprised pikachu face*

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Too many fandoms be talking about, "MEN!" in the same way Anakin goes, "IT'S ALL OBI WAN'S FAULT!" in Star Wars Episode 2. Just blaming everything.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I LOVE when a piece of media is badly written, but the stans/defenders are too bullheaded and angry to admit that, so they resort to "this is only hated because of x group i hate!" as opposed to accepting constructive criticism. "You only hate this movie because you're all a bunch of dumb incels who can't handle a strong woman!" "Many of us are women and there's many, MANY other glaring flaws with it." "SHUUUUT UUUUUPPPPP!"

March 2025:

I'd love to see a man-hating fictional woman actually be treated as a bad person in a piece of fiction for once. Especially if she misuses and hurts (or worse) innocent men for no reason other than "#girlpower"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A character realizing the error of their ways and how wrong they were, doesn't always require everyone they've hurt to forgive them and act like the past never happened. The choice to change is up to them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All these female characters. . . and you would much rather call like 2 or 3 male characters "female-coded" instead? And for very stereotypical reasons like being a victim of abuse (or assault)??? That's seriously messed up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love when an upcoming movie or tv series looks utterly horrendous, but because it's not from a "bad" or plain hated company, audiences are all like, "it doesn't look THAT bad! You're all just being haters LOL!" And then their defense ends up being false. It was that bad! TLDR; the company producing a product doesn't always predict the quality of said product.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will never get the mentality behind avoiding, erasing and blocking any & all criticism for trailers. Plenty of good movies and games have bad trailers. Plenty of bad movies and games have good trailers. Plenty fall somewhere in the middle. Nothing is above constructive criticism.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't IMAGINE sitting down through entire movies and TV shows without any people of colour!" Me, a "person of colour", who has sat down through numerous shows and movies without any people of color: Skill. Issue.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"WhEn YoU cAn'T sAy KiLl Or DiE iN a ChIldReN's CaRtOoN!" The Children's Cartoon: *says die and kill on NUMEROUS occasions"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is so damn hypocritical watching everyone who won't stop talking about "evil toxic masculine" traits, turn around, and praise those traits when they're in a female character who never gets called out on them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You CAN'T go around saying male fans aren't allowed to like female characters and they're all a bunch of gross freaks for as much as looking at one, then act so surprised and so shocked you almost NEVER hear them mention them, then act so surprised and so shocked you almost NEVER see them used in fancontent. Swallow your pride and get over ego, and understand that fandoms are made up of women and men.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is amazing watching everyone who goes, "THOSE DAMN FANDOM RACISTS!" towards every fan who writes off every interracial ship between a poc female character and a white male character as "boring." (especially to prop up an mlm ship) Not hold the same level of criticism or hate for when it happens towards an interracial pairing between a poc male character and a white female character. Apparently, negative stereotyping (e.g., inherently violent, boring and emotionally abusive) and villainizing poc men is A-OK when it happens to the opposite because those damn, dirty MEN! KILL YOURSELVES! But is the worst thing imaginable when it happens to fictional women. Especially in shipping. Don't even get me started on when this nonsense happens to canon female x (poc) male oc pairings. So many fans can't swallow their ego and accept the fact that not EVERY shipper or fan wants to put a female character with a female oc, or view every canon female character as being above male characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but I find it downright hilarious whenever a fandom is all "erm, ackshually!" and goes, "CLEARLY! The true meaning of this entire series is that your waifu is trash, and men MUST NOT like these certain female characters! We are so SMART!" And then those same fans immediately get worked up when plenty of female characters still have male fans. "Bu-Bu.. But.. THE SERIES THEMES! WHYYYY!?" Dudettes (and dudes) who do this... if a female character has a character design, a character, and a personality, she WILL have fans (and simps). And you are a horrible person for making certain fans feel bad for liking female characters and telling them they aren't allowed to like them, all because they are male. Whether you like it or not, fandoms are full of men and women. They either like a character or they don't like a character. That's all there is to it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Male fans liking *m/f enemies to lovers pairings will NEVER be a universal indicator of them being abusers/"romanticizing abuse towards women." One's tastes in fiction are not an indicator of who they are, and men aren't exempt from that. Leave men who like ships with that ship dynamic be and leave male fans alone. You can't state a fandom is a safe haven for all and WANT to pick certain people to attack for such nonsense reasons. Male fans are a part of fandoms as much as everyone else. *similarly can be said for men who like female antagonists/villainesses in fiction.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just because something is relatable, does not make it good. Plenty of people can relate to having an overprotective father and we all know the usual reaction to one in a movie or a TV show.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Replacing "Fiction DOES NOT impact reality!" with "Fiction only impacts (icky) men who deserve to die! ONLY women are allowed to consume whatever they want!" will NEVER be any better. It's a double standard for the ages and only creates more discourse, and encourages bullying. You can't say fandoms should always be welcoming of everyone and believe that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry, but it's a little entertaining watching the "every villain is the hero of their own story!" part of a fandom, deal with a complete 180 when it turns out the main villain doesn't see themself as hero of the story. Like, at all! They know what they're doing is wrong and they embrace that. And fans are somehow surprised by that, despite the story showing this on numerous occasions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You guys can prefer enemies to lovers with two fictional men or two women without calling every m/f enemies to lovers pairing romanticizing abuse towards women and/or a lesbian trying to murder the world's most annoying straight man. Or some other insane assumption. Let shippers enjoy m/f enemies to lovers ships in peace.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I still think it's amazingly disgusting how many fans can ship real-life celebrities (e.g., One Direction members) with each other, spread rumors based on them just being close friends, and write off criticism as homophobia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wanting female characters to be used more in fancontent, ALSO means allowing other fans to use female characters in any kind of fancontent they please. Much like with plenty of male characters. Whether it's something minor (e.g., ships you don't like) or something major (e.g., AUs, dark AUs, etc). You can't complain about fictional women being barely used by other fans while also putting up rules that limit the kinds of fancontent that fans can make. And calling every fan who dares to ignore said rules as sexist and being surprised it's still not generating more fancontent. You're not the only ones in a fanbase that are fans of these certain female characters. You have to accept there will be fancontent you either don't like or don't really care for or just don't see the appeal of.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A great number of people in fandoms (& in general) just can't conceive of something bad that is not done by men.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's so boring whenever someone defends a unequivocally bad movie just because they assume it's only hated by men and therefore all the hatred is unreasonable. Calling out bad writing is sexist apparently. Because as we all know, women are too dumb to hate a bad movie for being a bad movie. They're only capable of love and unproblematic emotions!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Weirdlyspecific critique: No, the majority of "damsels in distress" are not "pathetic female characters" (especially when compared to pathetic male characters) and it makes no sense to label them as such. It's also very insulting. Some fictional women get kidnapped and need rescuing only a few times, have a more confident, smarter and deeper side to them when we actually get to know them outside of that... but the fact they need rescuing and help a few times means they're ALL idiots??? "Y'all can't handle pathetic women!" (Lists female characters that aren't pathetic) This is so damn dumb.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Constantly showing up on every (rare) tumblr post that talks about issues related to male victims going, "I care about them too for equality... BUT WOMEN HAVE IT WORSE! KYS STUPID MALES!" Just shows you don't actually care about them; you just view being a victim as inherently part of the female identity, and your ego can't handle when part of that "identity" is stripped away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It breaks my heart whenever the conversation around male fans being cyberbullied or harassed in a fanbase is brought up, the main focus is never "they're people and deserve to be seen as human beings." It's always "this will only hurt trans women!" (great stereotyping and implications. how progressive) or "these bullies might go on to hurt women: the ONLY group that can ever be victims of anything! Only women matter!" Don't even get me started on when someone mentions how this will hurt neurodivergent men and everyone goes on and on about how gross they all are. So many state that fandoms are a safe haven for everyone and then gag the moment anyone else says that means for male fans as well.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm never taking the same fans, who send death threats towards the cast of series due to their fictional pairings, seriously.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure it's been stated here before, but I find it frustrating when a fanbase ignores when a female character has been with (or shown attraction to) male characters in previous media, all because a recent version or reboot puts them with another female character. And then they turn to the rest of the fanbase and call some of them "homophobic" for still shipping them with male characters. Or male OCs. Made more frustrating when the fanart blatantly depicts the older version of said female character and they still cry, "homophobic." Also. It's fancontent. You can simply ignore it and carry on. You're not the only ones in a fanbase.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rule 34 content will always exist, regardless of how much you dislike it. "I know it's called rule 34 is rule 34 for a reason... BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO EXIS-" Regardless of how much you dislike it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I wish more men were into romance!" - Screams a lot of women who tell men to kill themselves for being into romances that are often made with a male audience in mind "No man ever romanticizes about being treated kindly by a woman who loves them..." - Screams a lot of women who bully, mock and call men "incels" for finding that in fictional romances/the fictional women present in them Y'all don't want to meet certain people or "men" in this case. Y'all want more innocent men to bully and harass. It's sickening.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's still so damn funny to me, whenever a lot of fans go, "HOW can you believe she's into men!? She *KILLS men!" and then when you check out the canon source, said fictional woman murders as many women as men in-universe. One is simply viewed in a romantic context while the other isn't. And instead of filtering out content they don't want to see, most who do view it that way, complain and whine about not everyone conforming to their viewpoint. You're not, and never will be, the only ones in a fanbase. *"kills" can also be replaced with "hits" or "beats up" or anything physical and less lethal in general.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How can ANYONE hate this m/f pairing?! He worships the ground she walks on!" Because the writers did the most EVIL thing you can think of. . . She reciprocated those feelings equally instead of being mildly affectionate in return! How DARE they!? Sarcasm aside, it's amazing how many fandoms aren't interested in a m/f ship if the woman loves her man as much or even deeper than he loves her. Even if canon shows she does. Only he loves her deeply, and that's it. (Which tends to be on thin ice if the man has a personality outside of that)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An underlooked part of fandoms erasing canon character sexualities and insisting their actual ones to other fans: "What would a straight woman find attractive in him? He's CLEARLY only for the gays!" OR "What would a straight man find attractive in her? She's CLEARLY only for the gays!" And here I thought you all hated sexuality stereotypes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really tiring how many people are all like "cringe culture is dead!" and turn around, and go on and on about how they like a series, but can't help but bring up how "weird" or "absurd" or "so bad it's good!" it is, despite being fun or genuinely good. No one can unironically enjoy something these days. Especially if they don't look "cool" because they enjoy something unironically. It's infuriating.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing how many people believe calling something weird will make it stop in a fanbase.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stop accusing every fan who ships a canon bi character with a character of the opposite gender of "comphet" and understand you curate your own fandom experiences. You are not the only one in a fanbase, and the one thing stopping you from seeing fancontent you don't like is not looking for it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's so annoying being a male fan of a female character, that is either propped up as being "ONLY for the girls!" or "Men aren't allowed to like her!" or "She HATES men!" or "KYS men who dare like her!" by the rest of the fanbase. (Not surprising if some keep it to themselves or only share that love for said female character with a few friends) And then those same "defenders" have the audacity to go, "Why is she not MORE popular?????"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No, some fans not using fandom wide lgbt headcanons in their own fan-content is not lgbtphobic. They're headcanons. Not everyone is obligated to agree with them or use them or even like them. Fandoms are full of all kinds of opinions. You have to learn to accept that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They're NOT THE MAIN VILLAINS/THE BAD GUYS! Who are MUCH worse! That means they did nothing wrong and they're a good person!" Just because certain characters are "better" people by comparison, doesn't always make them decent people on their own.

April 2025:

Unpopular opinion: Fandom women are often very overlooked and often ignored enforcers of many female characters being underutilized in fancontent.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We NEED to bring back weird art AND weird fanartists!" You all can barely handle fictional adult women who aren't flat-chested. And will still get angry and call those female characters "child-coded" when you get your way, and a redesign y'all cried for happens.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I support fandoms being strange and embracing how odd it can be!"

Screams the same fan who complains about furries.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow, there's A LOT of fans who HATE filler episodes in media. Wait a minute, I've got it! Let's tell other fans they're not allowed to dislike them! That will get rid of filler discourse!" "Wow, there's A LOT of fans who HATE (insert character here). Wait a minute, I've got it! Let's tell other fans they're not allowed to dislike them! That will get rid of character discourse!" Keep the fans who simply dislike things and the fans who hate things & attack other fans of it, as separate people. You have to face facts and accept that while it is fine to try and fight discourse, there will always be negativity. You'll never erase it entirely. Fans will always like and/or dislike something. It's all opinions at the end of the day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How can you even SHIP this???? There's an AGE GAP!" They are both adults.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

None of you all are proving the "men are universally accepted in fandoms" spiel each time you virginshame and/or bodyshame fandom men, for as much as being in a fanbase. Similarly applies to them liking a series or character you dislike.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing how many fandoms view male on female abuse as the most evil thing to ever grace fiction (ignoring how it's often put in a negative light); but the opposite is either shrugged off, ignored or the male character is seen as the actual abuser or a one-note misogynist for daring to hate an abusive woman.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing like watching the same fans who drool and fawn over every mlm pairing they love, going on about how "evil" and "gross" every male fan of a (popular) wlw pairing is. Shipping is one of the quickest ways to spot hypocrisy, I swear.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calling every gnc women a lesbian who hate men... You guys really love your stereotype aren't you?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sorry, but I immediately zone out and stop listening the moment someone talks as if they're so smart on fandom related issues, when really, it's mostly their own biases and their own biased opinions, compared to actual facts & logic. "NO ONE had a problem with boys and men watching MLP! It's true!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is amazing hearing, "It's not forced representation or diversity in fiction these days! Some people just exist!" from the same fans who called writers giving a main character a black best friend "racist!" for years, on the basis of main characters simply having one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strong Male Characters: Empathic, self-sacrificing, respectful, charming, skilled. Goes through trials, makes mistakes and endures consequences. Has quirks and flaws, making him human. Sometimes an asshole but quickly humbled. Works well with the rest of the cast, seeing them as equals. Strong Female Character(tm): Rude, self-serving, disrespectful, arrogant, violent, stoic. Short training montage if there is one at all, never makes mistakes, never punished for any crimes she commits. And if she did commit said crimes, it was someone else's (usually a man's) fault. Has absolutely no flaws for she is a goddess and perfect in every way. Stands out from the rest of the cast because she is obviously so much better than them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular opinion: It's a good thing when a fanbase views a female character mistreating male character as an unfunny joke, in a negative light. That trope has gone on too long.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps instead of turning the 50 billionth character into a person of colour and begging writers/companies to do that for more, why don't you try doing more with pre-existing non-white characters? I'd much rather see a Static Shock movie (for example) by people who love the character, than see yet another "If you don't love this character raceswap -> YOU'RE A RACIST!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think it's great how they changed Movie Sonic's design and all the great Sonic Movies we're getting, but I believe it's important to understand that not every other company is going to look at that and follow suit. You didn't see it with everyone who criticized initial Sisu's design, you didn't see it with everyone who wanted Charles Martinet to play Movie Mario instead (though I still liked the movie), I doubt you'll see it with Shrek 5 (submitting this early 2025) and there are bound to be more movies where that's the case. Feel free to criticize but understand that each company is different. Just because one listened doesn't mean they all do. When they really should in certain cases.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Few things can make me roll my eyes quicker than fandoms who go on and on about how a male character loves "in a way irl men don't." (Whether platonically or romantically or both) And irl men have to accept seeing them as better and put up with all the insults and not being allowed to relate to them. Of course. Apparently, seeing them as representations of irl men in general is such an evil thing to do. "Good men only exist in fiction (or as certain male celebrities)! Obviously, the creator doesn't personally know any men like this and writes about decent men who will never exist!" (Funny when the latter is exposed as cheating on his wife or something else you can't overlook. Almost as if you shouldn't put certain people on a pedestal to stigmatize entire groups)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You guys gotta stop seeing men who love female characters and want to meet real-life women like them as "evil" or "pedophiles asking to die." Plenty of women want to meet men like the ones they see or read about in fiction. If you are fine with that, the opposite shouldn't bother you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I HATE when someone famous is exposed as being a bad person for one reason in particular, EVERYONE insists they're also bad in many other regards and believes everyone who asks for evidence is defending them. "This famous person is an abuser AND sexist!" "I know about the abuser part; first time I've heard about the sexist part. Where does it say they are?" "You can tell!" "That's not good enough." "STOP DEFENDING SEXISM!" That. Is. Not. How. It. Works. You need evidence to back up your claims. Sometimes, someone is only sexist or only racist, for example. Some are both, some are only one. "But... but... THEY'RE A BAD PERSON!" I'm well aware. Asking for evidence is not the same as defending a piece of shit. It's literally asking for facts and the truth. Hate crappy people what they have done; not what they've haven't done.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't get why so many folks are surprised by ableism and related issues being seen as A-OK in fandoms, if exclusively done to boys. Plenty of people hear "equality" and think, "be nice to women!" and leave it at that. When in reality the focus shouldn't be finding a suitable target. It should be everyone's treated fair and feels accepted.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No offense, but every time someone says, "this male character is a subversion of male tropes/masculinity!" and the male character in question is just kind; I view it as projection.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're never going to solve the "A female character can be strong AND have a (male) love interest!" Problem unless you also call out fandom women who also don't believe in that and reject it each time. Especially ones who believe they're "protecting" women.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More fandoms (and writers, in many cases) need to understand this: You will NEVER be able to stop villain simps from happening. No amount of "but they're a bad person!" or "but they're ugly!" or "but they're evil!" is going to stop other fans from simping. You're welcome not to, but that's your opinion. Other fans with differing ones will always exist.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow I sure do love this fictional het couple that don't strictly adhere to gender stereotypes. I wonder what others think?" The tag: "HE'S SUCH A HIMBO SIMP FOR HER MALE WIFE GIRL BOSS THEY'RE LESBIANS HAROLD T4T THEY HAVE EVERY MENTAL ILLNESS"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sorry, but have to be seriously insane to believe every single "evil" male character in fiction is a representation of every single real-life man alive; while every single "good" male character is purely fictional and the "one" good man.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate how every time someone on this site makes a positivity post for autistic men, there's always a bunch of blogs (mainly run by women) rushing to the notes and going, "ALL AUTISTIC MEN ARE CREEPS!/A man being autistic doesn't mean he has less of a chance of being an abuser/a creep! That's why they should ALL DIEEE!" There are trashy people in all groups. It's a choice to be a bad person. You're not special for treating them as the universal standard. You're just ableist. You all hate ableism until the victims are neurodivergent men.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't care how much this headcanon "pisses off the creators," other fans are still welcome to not like it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Fake Gamer girls NEVER have existed at all because ALL male gamers are inherently unfuckable and are a bunch of overweight, incel, virgins who deserve to die!" You guys can talk about the harassment one group faces, WITHOUT dunking on another group. You can't want to mend the bond between two groups by creating more division between said groups. Which is interesting of me to bring up, considering how many cases of women bringing up experiences in gaming communities that weren't that toxic or not toxic at all; is often met with insults, name-callings or assuming the women in question are lying or simps or "pick-me's". You can't want an issue to end and write off all signs of it ending as nothing. You have to acknowledge SOME change before bigger change. And yes. There are actual gamer girls and fake gamer girls. Distinction matters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is seriously messed up how many people look at famous men being exposed as horrible people and see it as an excuse to treat the average man or boy horribly. You guys don't care about equality as much as you claim. Even worse how it's mainly for reasons not related to the stuff they did to begin with. I don't care about the nose shape of this famous man who ruined his own career. That's NOT a sign of every man who shares that nose shape as being evil. I don't care about the facial features of this famous man who was caught doing something creepy. That's NOT a sign of every man who shares those facial features as being just as bad or creepy. I don't care about the weight of this famous man who was exposed as being a bad person. That's NOT a sign of every man who weighs a lot as being evil. I don't care about the skin tone of this famous, (non-white or not) man who is a bad person. That's NOT a sign of every man who shares that skin tone as being just as bad. I don't care how famous this bad man was. That's NOT a sign every man is evil just because they are also male. It's a CHOICE to do bad things. Hate people, certain men in this case, for stuff they've done.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really counterproductive whenever someone on this site goes, "I wish there were more m/f pairings where the woman is not perfect 24/7," and the moment someone else has an idea for that, hundreds of blogs (usually run by women who critique m/f ships like this. how ironic) flood the notes and makes said idea back to square one. -- "What if... we made the woman a lovable goober instead of her male love interest?" "BETTER IDEA: They're BOTH lovable idiots! BUT she's a 'smart' idiot, respecting women here by doing this, and he's just a plain, old idiot, we can't help but love!" -- "What if... we made the woman pathetic and her love interest isn't, but doesn't disrespect her and loves her?" "BETTER IDEA: They're BOTH pathetic! BUT he's a lot more pathetic than she is!" -- "What if... we had a woman who fell harder and she's not that good at first at trying to win him over, but still loves him a lot and is still trying? "BETTER IDEA: They both fell hard! BUT he fell harder, was a little clumsy around his feelings and now worships the ground she walks on!" -- "What if... we had an m/f enemies to lovers pairing where they are actually enemies and she's actually evil?" "BETTER IDEA: It only works with two guys or two girls! Or an evil man humbled by a cool heroine!" -- Note: None of these are inherently bad ship ideas, they seem fun and it's also not impossible to write a fictional woman with an air of perfection around her in a relationship. It's annoying how many people view this as the only way to write them and insist that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As someone who is a "person of color" I'm so bored of the idea you can only love a non-white character because they are non-white. Loads of popular white characters are loved because of their character.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a fictional universe where both men and women are capable of fighting regardless of gender and its a known fact, I find it very odd (and frankly very dumb) to defend male characters who still have a, "I REFUSE to hit a woman!" mentality. Feels very out of place from both the writers and fans who do this. In one moment, the women can fight; in another, they're all just a bunch of fragile, glass dolls... and we're supposed to take that seriously? Also. How progressive. Feels even more out of place when female characters are allowed to hit and mistreat the male characters all the time (as a joke), yet hitting back (and/or calling them out) is somehow still wrong. Also. What a lovely message to send to boys and men in general who have been physically abused by women; even when it's a known fact that women CAN be violent, hitting back is wrong and you are a horrible person for daring to challenge the double standards around female-on-male abuse.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing how these days, female characters are expected to overcome sexism from men in some way and it must be a major part of their character, while male characters usually face a variety of obstacles that have little to do with their gender. And then the fans who insist the former must always happen are surprised when it seems like writers are limited in what to do with fictional women.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is AMAZING how many people on the internet, not just in fandoms, constantly spread negativity and harassment towards others with no shame, while asking for kindness in return from those same people. And actually get surprised when they're met with anger in return. (Especially if it's to make a point) What else were you expecting? You can't want people to treat you nicely while treating them like crap yourself and insulting them. It's called the golden rule for a reason. Some will not get angry, not because what you're doing is right, but because they understand not wasting anger on someone as immature as you. It's a skill to be unbothered by things meant to rile you up online. And not everyone is going to be the bigger person. You aren't being the bigger person yourself. And no. That will never mean what you're arguing is right, just because some get angry at what you say.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Too many fandoms in the last few years are full of too many fans too obsessed with calling everyone who disagrees with them a nazi. The one saving grace: it's a very quick way to tell whose not the most mature when trying to argue their point.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's so annoying when a character who started off as good, goes through a character arc in the story that pushes them to be evil (or we know they are going to become evil and we see said character arc that explains why), only for most of a fanbase to still ignore this and INSIST they were born evil.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's frustrating how many people on this site want to talk about "man-hate" without speaking on how it affects male victims and men as a whole. Most of the time, it's spoken as a "shield" used by radfems/TERFs to cover-up the REAL concerns we should have them: how it hurts trans people. The fact they may hate men as much as trans men and trans women is not a focus, from what I can tell and have heard. In addition; VERY interesting implications how many of you are fine with speaking on how it impacts trans men and trans women, and your mind goes straight to trans people.... yet men as a whole deserve to be hated and deserve to be silenced from the entire conversation. How progressive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure it's been stated before, but please accept that not everyone headcanons a "healthy" m/f ship as both being secret bisexuals and fans don't need to do that to enjoy said ship. And no. They are not "icky gross" straights for not doing this. This is all opinions. Some who headcanon them as bi will be LGBT and some who don't will also be LGBT. And please stop calling it "healing" m/f relationships. Being LGBT is a morally neutral thing. Being straight is not an indicator of "toxicity" in a relationship. You are not more "enlightened" for headcanoning a straight ship as both being bi when others don't. Which is funny of me to state all of this considering how many fandoms react when a canon bi character is shipped with a character of the opposite gender. No matter how "healthy" that opposite gender character is and the fact one or both of them are bi in canon, the anger is there despite everything that was previously stated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate whenever people who are attracted to men, and hate it, project their hatred onto characters who are attracted towards men in canon and insist said characters feels the same.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sorry, but I don't feel bad for fandom women who go on and on about how male fans apparently don't have any fictional female faves (liars), that the moment it turns out men do, those same women turn around and go, "THIS ISN'T FOR MALESSSSS! DIE MALE FREAKS! STAY AWAY FROM HER! ONLY WOMEN are allowed to like her!" "Why isn't she more popular...?" Take a wild guess.

"The Bi Guy" Superpost

This is where we're gathering all the remaining inbox items submitted by that one anon. Keep in mind that you may still see some posted in the fandom problem queue, these were submissions that were already scheduled in advance before we decided to finish them all off in one big post.

People have dubbed this submitter "the bi anon", but we're just going to post all remaining submissions of his. This may include some that don't mention bisexuality at all. Submissions from other users on the topic of bisexuality will not be included in this and will receive the normal Fandom Problem image format at some point.

And just a disclaimer in advance, since these were all submitted on anon, we're just making our best guesses for which posts are his, based on formatting, proximity, theme, and for lack of better words, "vibes". It's possible that we could make a mistake at some point and include submissions from other posters. We apologize in advance if we make any mistakes.

Originally we planned to include everything into one big post, but there were so many and the post was already getting so long that I've decided to break it up into a few separate posts. This first post will comprise all the submissions he's sent from the months of February 2024 through May of 2024. So, four months, and we've still got quite a bit of catching up to do. Remaining posts to follow in the coming days.

February 2024:

Most of the time, it's pretty clear and feels like a vast majority of fandoms and in general, don't really care about bi men and only "care" about bisexual men either in fictional characters, in theory, in headcanons, celebrities, or celebrities they headcanon as bi. That last one is in the same boat as shipping real people. Don't do that. It's a huge ick and very gross. In addition to that, it's annoying watching the same people who praise and hype up a (internet) celebrity for having a "queer" taste in women, than assume those are the only men who are like that and men in general like this don't exist. Ridiculous to say, bi men have a "queer" taste in women than not stand by that view, say you need to be bi to be like this than not stand by said view and only pick a select few (straight) men as the good ones. It's even more irritating using this to dunk on men in general. Reinforcing stereotypes, one stereotype at a time. It also doesn't help that erasure is seen as a "privilege" for bi men, when much of the same people who claim that hate erasure directed towards themselves and don't hesitate to call it bigotry. "Bi men face a lot of erasure, therefore in being forgotten about and invisible, they have it easy! The fact they're erased and ignored means nothing bad happens to them!" Way to keep more in the closet. I understand them in some cases; why come out to a community that will ignore you and actively assume nothing bad happens? This view also does nothing for fanbases. Caring about fictional characters over real people will never be a good thing. Writing off all male fans as a bunch of dumb straight incels is never going to be a good thing. I wish things were different. Watching bi men posts turn into posts about fictional characters, and headcanons are never going to be good.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If there were more canon bi male characters, they would be shipped with canon bi female characters!" Lol, no, they wouldn't be. When a fanbase makes it crystal clear that they never want to see a (bi) female character as much as look in the same direction as a male character, they mean it. Also, why do we need qualifiers before accepting that some fans just genuinely like "straight" pairings? It's possible to just like it and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with that. And that shouldn't earn negativity from other fans who can just adhere to a "don't like it, don't read it," view when participating in fandoms. Lastly, what a fan does in headcanons is rarely an indicator of what they say about canon. Otherwise, you would see a lot more tolerance for bi female characters being shipped with men or acknowledged as being attracted to men in canon because of all the headcanons brought up the moment a "good straight" pairing rolls around.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many times, a fanbase comes up with some of the most boring and annoying reasons other fans should never even look at putting a female character with a male character. Or even just m/f ships in general. When they themselves could adopt a "I don't ship it but I'll leave shippers of it be," view, as opposed to bullying or forcing other fans to never touch these kinds of ships. "The main female character is in a relationship of the same gender!" I can see that. Not an indicator of who other female characters should be shipped with. Also, there will always be fans who ship the main character with other characters "She's a strong independent woman!" Falling in love is not a weakness, even for "strong" female characters. A fictional woman is not a weaker character for falling for a man and loving one deeply. "She's bi, that means never shipping her with a man!" I don't believe you know what that means. Or you just don't respect a bi female character being attracted to men. Also, it's possible to accept the fact that you'll never ship her with any of the male characters, but plenty of other fans will. "All the male characters suck!" That's an opinion. Even if that's somehow the case, OCs exist. "No one is allowed to ship her (with men)!" Not up to you. "She was abused by a man in canon! That means romanticizing abuse if you ship her with other men!" Plenty of women have gone through an abusive relationship before entering a much healthier one with another man. Fictional women aren't any different. "How can you look at her and believe she's attracted to men?" Stop stereotyping. A female character being gnc doesn't mean she's not attracted to men. "She hates men!" Most of the time when this is said, it's either haters projecting or a line or a scene taken out of context. Or both. Leave other shippers alone. It's not that hard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is some sweet and REALLY annoying irony in how the moment a fictional woman is revealed to bi, she takes a complete nosedive in the shipping department. Irony only gets deeper when many of her fans who insist she must never as much as be even seen around a male character (because as we all know, that's what bi means, right?) in both fan and canon content act soo surprised by her sudden lack of fandom popularity as of late. My friends kicked out by the manager, YOU caused this on yourselves. Viewing a female character as incapable of being a popular character and one that is attracted to men at the same time is never going to be the win you think it is. Not even just in the context of bi female characters & biphobia. Female characters in general who are attracted to men in canon being seen by a fanbase as only worth attention and popularity when you ignore that attraction is not a win either.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to talk about how a fanbase feels about a fictional woman, you need to stop acting like it's exclusively men who have ever (irrationally) hated any female characters. Erasing certain fans who create discourse does more harm than good.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want animation to stop being seen as lesser by audiences and the larger entertainment industry or regarded as "just for (dumb) kids" like many celebrities or famous people have condescendingly said in the past, you have to stop acting sooo surprised when animation does many wondrous things in both the animated and writing department just because most of it is for kids. "I can't believe this cartoon for children tackles so many serious issues in such a well-written way for children! Did I also mention it's a cartoon for children?!" Yes. Because children aren't idiots. And just because something is for kids does not imply the overall quality, nor does it imply being bad or lesser by definition. Your welcome to be surprised when something animated surpasses many expectations, but saying or implying it would be more possible if it wasn't for kids is rarely needed. "Animation can't be worthwhile or worth real respect! It's for kids Lol!" is just as annoying as "It's amazing how this animated movie for children is so well written despite being written for children." If you want animation to earn more respect and stop being seen as a lesser children's thing, you need to let go of this stance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amusing how much of the same people who go on and on about how other fans can't handle "complex" female characters, not only actively act like there are ZERO pre-existing examples of said characters, also tend to have some very dumb reasons for not handling them either. "THEY RUINED (INSERT FICTIONAL WOMAN HERE)!" "Oh no! What happened? Did they forget all of her character development? Was she reduced down to a stereotype? Down to a bunch of tropes? Is she losing character agency as the plot goes on? Don't tell me she's blatantly being set up for a badly written death!" "It's worse than that! They're... giving her a male love interest*! How dare they give strong female character a (male) love interest!" *It's even more frustrating when she's just shown to have a crush or just finds a (male) character attractive, and fans still get worked up. Or other fans aren't allowed to ship her with male characters in non-canon works for very stereotypical and annoying reasons, such as being a "strong female character."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular Opinion: It's pointless for to go on and on about bi men having a supposed "queer" taste in women, if you're going to not stand by that and then turn around, and praise straight men with a "queer" taste in women, acting like they're the only ones like that. No surprise, more bi men don't come out with all this dismissal and erasure. Which is not only hurtful towards bi men. You all complain and stereotype about how straight men in general lack any real preferences (in both fictional & real women) outside of societal beauty standards that the moment you come across men who are different in this regard, you think it's smart to act like only a select few are like this while others are straight-up liars worth stereotyping. For example: "Why can't more men be like (insert male celebrity/internet celebrity here)?" Or "Only this (insert male celebrity/internet celebrity here) has a 'queer' taste in women." Plenty are. You all just hate seeing your stereotypes not be as widespread as you think. Another example: "Why can't more men be like (insert male character here) when it comes to women?!" This also does nothing for questioning men. E.g. you don't need to be bi to find gnc people of the same gender attractive. Reinforcing stereotypes, one stereotype at a time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I fail to see what's oh-so-evil when someone points out how a fanbase loves a bi female character points out how fans are NEVER (oe rarely) allowed to ship her with male characters. Or if she never displays any attraction towards male characters and they want to keep that way. In both canon and fanworks, unless it's laced with contempt. And honestly? If it turns out there's more bi female characters, this happens to than male characters? By all means, bring it up and give the problem more attention. "I respect this (bi) female character unless no one acknowledges her attraction towards men," will never be a smart take.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This fictional woman is a 'strong female character' because we remind the audience that she's better than the male characters and all those icky men, every second!" is A LOT more prevalent than everyone who stubbornly believes most writers these days have flawed male characters peacefully coexist with flawless fictional women, with some kind of invisible barrier between the two. And I'm tired of fandoms acting like that's not the case. Male fans shouldn't have to put up with all these depictions that are poorly disguised insults and caricatures, especially when written by women who try to hide their bad writing under something that's not even that deep. It's just their contempt for others, in this men. And more fandom women should stop viewing flaws in a fictional woman as some kind of insult towards them. Otherwise, you're not gonna see many good female characters anytime soon, like you used to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really bonkers hearing a fandom claim: "More would ship this if it was between a male character and a female character!" When most fandoms make it pretty clear, they only care for certain ship dynamics when it's between two fictional men or two fictional women. Anytime it's not, it's all "problematic" or some other nonsense. Made even weirder when it's a popular pairing to begin with.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Gays are the only ones with good taste in m/f ships!" Those same "Gays": Why are these bisexual characters being shipped by other fans with characters of the opposite gender??? Bi erasure is not just from the biphobic straight fans.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's something amusing in watching fanbases prop up certain characters that are also given more attention by the creators that they and the creators get sooooo surprised when said character is the one keeping that attention, winning awards related to said character in award shows. Or other big things. If you didn't want them to be this popular, why did you give them said popularity? You put them on the same pedestal you claimed you never wanted them on. There's a cause & effect on all actions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I CANNOT BELIEVE THE BIGOTRY THAT IS ALIVE AND WELL IN FANDOMS TODAY! ESPECIALLY FOR CANON!" ... All I said was I don't ship Sam & Frodo? You're always going to meet fans who don't ship the same things as you. Difference of opinion is everywhere.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Love to one day come across a tumblr blog run by a bisexual here that doesn't go on and on about all men are worthless and deserve to die. And then some of them have the audacity to be so surprised more bisexuals aren't coming out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There really needs to be a term (unless there already is one) for when an older male character is close to and looks out for a younger one, but calling it a father son dynamic is a bit of a stretch to some fans who want to purely view it as a close friendship. Especially if the younger character still has a good (alive) dad. And when the older of the two realizes/remembers what it means to be a parent. Or wants to be one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing screams apathy harder than everyone who goes, "ARE THE STRAIGHTS OKAY!?" everytime a post about a woman mistreating a man rolls around. It's even more annoying when it's a post that actually puts the man in a sympathetic light, and yet there are still those comments being made. Yet the opposite is often treated as no laughing matter. Double standards, am I right? Made only worse by the same people saying it's men's own fault that they're not believed to be victims of abuse or rape. Also. Way to erase abuse victims of same-sex relationships. Yes, there are examples of posts of fictional relationships where this happens (because we all know how fiction usually tackles women on men abuse), but this is about real people. Tackling the issue in real life will most likely lead to less of it happening in fiction.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I sincerely doubt there is a shortage of well-written m/f pairings in media, in regards to many badly written ones, I can't help but feel as though a big problem with the way they're written is right there yet it continues to be ignored. Whether purposefully or just naively. That problem? Most audiences and writers don't ask how men feel about said m/f pairings. Men are just written off as either being why the pairing sucks, not knowing what makes a good one and/or not the ones to turn to because they're men. Even though it's a pairing between a man & a woman. This also sucks because men are rarely given the chance to voice how they feel about how male characters are depicted in m/f pairings. Just put up and be silent, especially around all the "fictional men are better than real ones!" claims. If you're gonna let women voice their critiques, you might as well let it go both ways. Which is most likely also why female characters mistreating male characters get ignored or swept under the rug. They're a part of audiences and fandoms as well. Excluding them goes against the idea that fandoms are inclusive of everyone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure it's been said before, but it's just odd to me when a fanbase insists more fans would ship (insert same-sex pairing here) if one of them was the opposite gender. Which is rarely ever true when a fanbase (these days) makes it pretty clear they only care for certain relationship dynamics if it's between two men or two women. "Enemies to Lovers only works if it's between two women! Women can't hurt each other like how men hurt women!" "More would ship this if it was a straight pairing!" The pairing: (a shonen rivalry between two male characters) Yeah, that isn't happening. But as I said before, it is certain ship dynamics. The fans who make this assumption usually don't point towards the ones where more or the same amount of shippers would ship it. And it gets annoying when said pairing is already very popular inside a fanbase, yet the shippers not only can't accept when they're wrong about this assumption but can't accept only like roughly 30% of a fanbase not shipping it. Differences of opinion will always happen. That's part of being in fanbase.

March 2024:

I'm never going to take any fan who refuses to acknowledge or believe there are any women who hates female characters, seriously. You can't want to change how a fandom feels about a female character and purposefully ignore half of the fanbase.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I never really cared much for the trope to begin with, but I just LOVE how "himbos" has lost all meaning in the last few years in a fandom. And boy is it annoying watching a fanbase still try to cling to it. At first, it was fans (mainly women) romanticizing about male characters who are simultaneously the dumbest, kindest, and most muscular men fiction had to offer. And, for some reason, that's what a woman should be encouraged to look for in real-life men as well. Because a man with a brain is a red flag, for some reason. Anyways, it wasn't bad in some cases. It just got WORSE when a fanbase insisted that it's the only kind of male characters to write. So, of course, fans started to call every male character they like a himbo, not caring about the fact many examples didn't meet the all criteria, making the term lose all meaning. As long as it was a kind male character they liked, than they just went with it and straight to stereotyping. "My favorite ship dynamic is girlboss x himbo!" The himbo they're referring to: *a kind unathletic male character of average intelligence* Which is horrible, considering how many smart male characters are made dumb in fandom content just to appease these fantasies. Taking canon characters and flanderizing them should never be encouraged. And even funnier when they question the lack of "himbo women" in fiction. How about not turning every fictional woman, uber compentent, and absent of flaws?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canon: This character's trauma is valid and not hard to see why they snapped. It still DOESN'T mean they're allowed to hurt whomever they want, especially innocents who had NOTHING to do with it. Pay attention to how some characters may lose sight of what really mattered and became as evil (or worse) as those who hurt them. Most Fandoms: Problematic. Cancel the story right now. They did nothing wrong. This is now the worst writing in existence. Trauma means everything they do now was right and justified. Whose to say every innocent person they harmed was REALLY innocent? How dare the writers victim blame!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the weirdest and most backward things I've encountered about shipping is the number of shippers that just utterly HATE when certain ship dynamics or clichés are not only written one way. You can only write enemies to lovers when it's two men or two women. You can only write enemies to lovers if it's two characters who argue. You can only write friends to lovers if it's two men or two women, or not at all, otherwise you're romanticizing incest. You can only write a ship between a male character and a female character if the former is madly in love with the latter; the opposite or mutual is erasing a woman's agency. You can only write a "strong female character" if she never falls in love because love is a weakness for her. I can't relate to any fan or shipper who thinks that way. Especially with the number of potentially interesting stories and/or pairings that get erased because a fanbase is too caught up in playing it safe. Yet, you can argue that a lot of these examples aren't even playing it unsafe. The fanbase needs to change.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know fans are welcome to ship whatever they want but oh my god, it is so disappointing when a women in canon is attracted to men and next to NO ONE in the fandom wants to explore that in fanon or any fan works. A fictional woman is a "strong female character" until fans even just acknowledge she's attracted to men. Her attraction to men is seen as lesser and an antithesis towards being a strong character. Love is a weakness, in many contexts in their eyes. A bi woman is so loved by a fanbase that most of those fans will tell others to NEVER ship her with any of the male characters. Apparently, being bi means not being attracted towards men. Because a woman was abused by a man in canon, that means her attraction towards men goes poof and no one is allowed to put her within 5 feet of a man. Even though loads of abused women in real life say otherwise. And let's not forget when a fictional woman being attracted to men is seen as "romanticizing abuse" on the basis of being attracted to men.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm still amazed by the fact I have to say, "If you want a fictional bi woman to become popular in a fanbase, you have to accept there will be fans who ship her with men," to entire fanbases. "But she has no chemistry with any of the men!" That's just your opinion. "But shipping her with men is romanticizing/normalizing abuse!" Go outside. "But the icky men get in the way of my cute wlw ship uwu!" None. Of. This. Is. Canon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really annoying in Fandom where people get mad at others for shipping a confirm Bi Character with a character of the opposite sex in the show, especially weird when its implied the bi m/f will not canon, its just a ship people know won't be canon but just like the ship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fandom: "We support our Bi Kings and Queens in canon!!!" Fandom *People start shipping Bi characters in m/f ships* Fandom: "No!! why are shipping them together!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing (and very annoying) how many women in fiction from a few years or even decades ago would be viewed as "repressed lesbians" if the stories they starred in came out today. As opposed to audiences respecting the source material and stop viewing all the headcanons and non-canon shipping they do as canon. Or accusing writers who don't deserve it of being bigots. It's not a good thing that this is the case. It just goes to show how many people are chill with stereotypes when they're the ones doing it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's some hilarious irony in watching the same people who go on about "normalizing gnc," throwing hands the moment they see anyone who is gnc is in a relationship with the opposite gender. In regards to both real people and fictional characters. Always halting the progress before it begins.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe the amount of sympathy the fanbase had for this character dropped, all because they attacked (or worse) whomever they wanted!" Good. A character's trauma can never be an excuse to hurt innocent people who had nothing to do with it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing when a bi woman is not ashamed of her attraction towards men in canon and maybe even open about said attraction, yet fanbases ignore it at every turn. Because most fandoms and most people in general can't conceptualize a bi woman not going on about how much she hates men or feels ashamed or wishes she wasn't or just makes fun of being attracted towards men; fans love to ignore that she is none of those things. And man, does all of this show in shipping circles. As seen in fanart and fanfics that make it looks like she hates being attracted towards men and ignores canon like the plague. Clearly, fanon is better (it's not). Or worse. They take a scene or line out of context to prove she is bi and hates men. Just be more accepting of it. It's not hard at all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People SERIOUSLY need to stop asking for Bi representation for a character if they’re just going to get mad when said character is in a relationship (or just shipped in general) with the opposite gender. Like, do you guys KNOW what Bisexuality means??? It’s not watered-down Homosexuality, it’s just as valid.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Misandry doesn't exist" What realm do you live in?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's interesting watching the same fans who call every fictional adult woman with breasts "sexualization!" based on just having them. Often calling for them to be flat chested immediately, when many of them will yell, "child-coded!" on the basis of that. And no doubt already have for pre-existing female characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe the audience preferred the flawed male character(s) OVER the perfect female character(s) who we blocked criticism of at every turn!" And? What else were you actually expecting? It's basic logic at play.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why aren't there more women in fiction who snapped and became evil after losing the man they loved deeply and adored?" Y'all can barely handle when a woman is a "strong woman" and loves the male love interest she is with, often viewing it as her "losing all agency by the writers" or "she can't be a strong woman and with a man" on the basis of such. Is it any surprise that something this complex is avoided by writers, when fans get this unnecessarily worked up over something this simple? It should come as no surprise something as deep as this is avoided. Especially considering how much hate a fictional man gets for daring to be with a fictional woman and, considering how many hate the simple idea alone of her caring this much about a man. "WHY does she care so much for HIM!? HE'S A MAN!" I wish more or anyone would tackle this concept for a female antagonist as well, but some introspection is worth looking at. And biases that need to end now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't see why one should take discussions about "sexualization," of female characters seriously when the majority of those involved call flatchested (and/or short) women in fiction "pedophilia" or "child-coded" and simultaneously assume the creators are pervs. Made humorous when it's a woman doing the supposed "sexualization" and they still assume it's men, staying in denial. It really is blown out of proportion in many cases.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS FANBASE ERASED THESE TWO BI WOMEN AS LESBIANS JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE WITH EACH OTHER! Bi erasure is horrible to see a fanbase embrace!" "Have you tried not erasing their attraction towards men? Or leaving fanfics that ship them with male characters alone? And stop acting like they either hate men, when they don't, or they're only good characters if they hate on men?" "NEVER! ALL MEN DESERVE TO DIE!" Seriously. Y'all want to avoid bi erasure so badly yet contribute to it yourselves and act so surprised that you are. Or are you well aware of this and want to end bi erasure but draw the line at liking men. No wonder a fictional woman takes a nosedive in terms of shipping the moment she's revealed to be bi.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing how next to NO ONE actually stands by the stereotype of "you need to be bi to find (fictional) gnc men and/or (fictional) gnc women hot!" in execution. Only in theory. And yes. That stereotype does more harm than good. As most of them do. You don't need to be bi to find those kinds of people (or characters) attractive. There are plenty of straight women (for example) who find feminine men attractive. That's rarely ever a statement on their sexuality; only a statement if a lot of them realize they are attracted to women as well. It is interesting how, once again, most only stand by this in theory. Most of the time, they won't even assume bisexuality of other people while still stereotyping. E.g., "You need to be bi to find (insert character here) attractive!" (Later) "... Why do so many men find her attractive??? Can't they look at her and tell she's not for dumb straights!" Or assuming only certain men find gnc women attractive (and vice versa), and all of them in general are just creeps or fetishizers. It's really not hard to understand. Straight men are attracted to women. Straight women are attracted to men. It REALLY isn't hard to understand. And don't misunderstand me. This does hurt bisexuals because it's such a boxed in and stereotypical view. For example, a bi woman being with a man (or the opposite) who looks like an average person shouldn't receive so much anger. This is anything but progressive, and it's very telling how many so-called "progressives" believe it to be.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing is more telling than when a fanbase assumes a character is a victim of assault based on how "conventionally" attractive they are or aren't. Or when a character is in canon, but biases such as those prevent most fans from viewing it as canon. This is almost as bad as a character's gender affecting that stubborn view ("How is this character a victim? HE'S A MAN!")

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's nothing like watching a bunch of people who aren't bi call actual bisexuals "straight" and spread biphobia onto them for the most petty reasons. (Not any better when it's other bisexuals by the way) Yes, there are bisexuals who don't need to headcanon the male and female characters in a pairing as bi in order to like said pairing. Yes, there are bisexuals who ship bi characters with characters of the opposite gender. Yes, there are bisexuals who are accepting of bi female characters and don't erase her attraction towards male characters. Yes, there are bisexuals who find (insert character here) attractive. Yes, even THAT character. Yes, there are bisexuals who headcanon THAT character as bi and enjoy the wide array of characters to ship them with. Both male and female. Yes, even the ones commonly headcanoned as gay. None of this deserves biphobia. Please be more mindful and nuanced of others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I miss when there was no drama, no discourse, no ship wars, no morality contests and nothing negative going on in fandoms." Me, a Fandom Dinosaur: ... There was always negativity like this. It just got worse in certain areas when it shouldn't have. And as much as I hate to say it, ship wars are always going to be a thing because shippers exist in basically every fanbase, and not each of them avoid discourse. Some start it. Fandoms in recent years just felt the need to tag more "moral indicators" onto it for no reason and/or just made them more apparent and known to all fans (e.g., "If you ship this! You hate female abuse victims/all women!") There's nothing wrong with wishing things were better, but acting like there was never anything wrong forgets how long a lot of this has been around for and needs to end by now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When people only want to make a character “Bi” so they can be attracted to the same gender and then call YOU Homophobic when you ship them with the opposite gender. This is mostly annoying when said character is possibly Straight, because it seems like they’re just using Bisexaulity as a tool to have their precious gay ship and deem any wlm ship as “siblings”. These are the same people who will claim that “Bisexuality is just watered down Homosexuality”. How Biphobia/Bi-erasure can you get??? Doing shit like this, you’re is just making Bisexuality more invalid, which is terrible.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It is homophobia when male celebrities are disgusted over being shipped together and the fans are the ones being told to stop all their gross fantasies around their friendships! As celebrity men aren't allowed to say anything unless they want to be labeled as homophobes. And it's a good thing that we do call them that!" Go. Out. Side. Touch. Some. Grass. These are real life people you're being gross around. Save this for the characters they may play but please don't view that as "ship fuel" for what relationships they have outside of this.

April 2024:

It's possible to enjoy a close canon friendship between two characters and leave the fans who ship them alone. For example, for every "close m/f friendship," you love, there always will be fans who ship them, and just because you don't, doesn't mean they're not allowed to. There's no need to insist that no one can ship them or shout something unnecessary like, "Only boring people ship this!" Or "Why can't fans let men & women be friends!" (Way to nitpick) Differences of opinion should be embraced in a fandom.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Me, joining Tumblr for the first time: Wow! So many fellow bisexuals! (5 minutes later) And they won't stop talking about how much they hate men, and the world is better off without them. Facing no consequences. Great (sarcasm). At least they're not surprised more aren't coming out while doing this... ... (further sarcasm)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is nothing more telling when the same fans who call a series, "so bad, it's good!" When it is legimately well-written and they actively ignore that for the most fussy reasosn. Even more when they are also (toxic) shippers. You'll lie about a work of fiction just because your ship isn't canon? Go outside.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Fandoms are meant to be escapist!" - Says the same blog that says all art is political regardless of how much people say it isn't.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love how all the "representation" in the last 10 or so years in media has just encouraged more people to watch older media and/or media from their childhood. Bad writing is bad writing, and no amount of "WE HAVE REPRESENTATION!" Is going to erase that. Which is funnier when older media has "representation" and so many people act like they didn't. They just understood better writing and not making it such a big deal. Or they acknowledge it to prop up something from today that either doesn't get it or defend the bad writing of another series. There's more "representation" and good writing in a season of Rugrats than most TV shows in the last few years.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm just gonna say it out loud. If you want a fanbase to treat more fictional women with the same level of "shippability" as some of the male characters, you have to leave other fans be. And stop hating the simple idea of a female character who doesn't hate being attracted to men. Or acting like other fans shouldn't ship her with men. Yes, those fans won't always be the same person (some ship her with men, some with other women, some both, you get the idea), but I'm talking about the fandoms at large. No, it is not "romanticizing abuse" towards women when a female character is given a male love interest. No, a "strong female character" is not less of one for having a male love interest. No, a fan doesn't think less of her for shipping her with a man. That alone is not evidence. No, she doesn't lack chemistry with the male characters. That's subjective; also, fanfic writers often do more with them and often better. In addition, OCs exist. Even if the "all male characters have no chemistry with her (and/or are badly written)," was true, original male characters exist. You shouldn't judge OCs based on canon characters who fanfic writers did not make. If you want more fandoms to embrace the cringe (affectionate) of xOC pairings, that also applies to canon female characters x male ocs. All of this also applies to bi female characters. Yes, that means accepting if they don't hate being attracted to men in canon. Yes, that means accepting the fact that some fans do ship them with men. What do you think bi means? Yes, that means Many times, fans claim to "protect" a female character when they're clearly doing the opposite. And hurting many fans in the process.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A character being mean doesn't instantly translate to being morally gray. It's not always an indicator of their morals. Oftentimes, just a part of who they are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bisexual blog: *exists* Me, who is also bi: "Cool! I can't wait to see it mys-" That same blog: *keeps going on about how all men must die like it's a good thing, wishes death on all men, says being attracted to men is disgusting and horrible, makes rude & biphobic comments about anyone who isn't ashamed to be attracted to men, says being bisexual is "half-failed" when attracted to men; "half-success" when attracted to women* Also, that same blog: *claims to be accepting of all bisexuals here and still spreads positivity* Me: "Don't know what I was expecting. This isn't the first blog where this has happened. And they wonder why so many stay in the closet..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We need more bi characters because they help more bisexuals to come out! Representation matters!" They scream before treating real people as fictional characters and fictional characters as real people. Bullying all around and forcing more to stay in the closet. "Why is this bisexual character being shipped with the opposite gender? Damn straights." "Why are you shipping this bi female character with men?! ONLY DUMB STRAIGHTS DO THAT!" "I don't trust fans who ship (insert bisexual character here) with characters of the opposite gender! They must be straight!" And many more.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Full offense, but as someone who is bi, I can't stand the insistence that every "good" ship between a male and female character needs to be headcanoned as bi in order for you to like it. You are not going to die liking a pairing between two straight characters. Especially when much of the same fans who do this have such a stingy relationship with canon bi characters. No, it is not romanticizing abuse towards women when some fans ship a bi female character with a male character. Also, how hypocritical. You will headcanon every pairing between a male and female character as being two bisexuals in disguise, all because you see being straight as something inherently toxic, but fans aren't allowed to ship canon bi characters with anyone they want? The insecurity speaks for itself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calling enemies-to-lovers "romanticizing abuse" makes about as much sense as calling friends-to-lovers "romanticizing incest" and it's time fandoms start to retire those retorts. It's been around for WAY too long.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate how normalized and casual it is to treat the men in fandoms like crap. "Men are not allowed to like (insert series here)!" "Only men ship this horrible m/f pairing!" "Men are not allowed to draw (insert fictional woman here)! Only women can like her!" "Men are not allowed to like (fictional woman here)!" "All male shippers do is imagine themselves as the men in m/f pairings to take advantage of (insert fictional woman here)!" "FORBID MEN FROM DRAWING (fanart)!" "BAN MEN FROM WRITING (fanfiction)!" "Keep this fandom men free!" "This male character is better than every man alive!" "All male fans are incel, neo-nazi, overweight, neckbeard, perverted manbabies!" "Why are other women coming to the defense of male fans? THEY'RE MEN!" And no doubt many more. Fandoms should be accepting of everyone, and that means everyone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love how it's always, "respect all female characters!" Until it's one, a fanbase can't project their hatred of men onto.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If this show was made today, the evil side would condemn it for being too woke!" And you all would call all the flatchested female characters "children-coded" and accuse the creators of being perverts. Or accuse the creators of "romanticizing abuse towards women" because they gave a female character a male love interest. Or accuse other fans of being pedophiles because they ship a pairing you don't like. Whichever comes first. :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate when a fictional woman is given many options of both male and female characters to ship her with, but the fanbase can't help but reduce all the male characters to boring and uninteresting options for her that only the dullest of people ship her with male characters, (Or worse; assume abuse is wished on her, just on the basis of fans shipping her with male characters) And then the fans who do this discourse have the audacity to question why she's so untouched in the world of shipping and overall ship content. Stop projecting for one minute.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just because you view every pair of male and female characters as siblings does NOT mean no one is allowed to ship them, nor are the fans "romanticizing" incest. A difference of opinion should always be embraced in a fanbase. No matter how hard you try, it's going to be there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's funny to me how watered down to nonsense some things are in a fandom, because so many fans lack nuance and expect to be praised for the lack of such. "THIS EVIL MALE CHARACTER IS A RAGING SEXIST!" The male character in question: *teases both men and women they are friends with* Which is funnier when the opposite is seen praiseworthy and "let's welcome our man-hating queen!" just because fans purposefully don't get a woman playfully teasing her male friends. Funniest when the fans who do this get so shocked if she ends with a man down the line. Your only evidence was misinterpreting teasing and banter? Weak.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate it whenever there's a post on Tumblr about men being able to defend themselves from abusive women, the notes either feel the need to make it gender neutral (where's that when posts purposefully stereotype abuse as purely man on woman? Double standards), defend the women who mistreat innocent men, or say neither side should be hitting one another. In regard to the last one, first off, stay on topic. It's hit "back" for a reason. And you know that. Stop being ignorant. Secondly, I love how no one treats abusive men the same. They see them as unreasonable abusers who won't listen to words and need to be dealt with immediately. While abusive women are so complex and just need to be talked to in order to stop. I'm sure they didn't mean it! Thanks for the double standards. I know who not to call when a man is abused by a woman. Third, stop defending abusive women. Men have every right to defend themselves as much as every other abuse victim.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most interesting (yet often annoying) things to see happen in a fanbase is assumptions on how a character reacts to crushes on them. Two things: most crushes are one-sided, AND it's not always a universal indication of a character's sexuality. Maybe a male character rejects a female character because he is attracted to men, OR they are attracted to women; this one they are either not into, only see as a friend, or has little regard for their personal space and/or can't take no for answer. Opposite is also true. Yes, this fictional woman fell for another male character after rejecting one they're not into; pay attention to why. Don't even get me started on all the bi erasure that comes with all this assuming. Most fans either assume gay or straight. Nothing else. No, this canon bi woman (for example) rejecting 1 male character doesn't mean they're bi and hate men or gay and hate men; they're not attracted to this one in particular. Not every character who rejects a character of the opposite gender is telling the audience they're not straight. Many times, they just don't share the same feelings as another character, who just so happens to be of the opposite gender.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"None of the anti m/f shipping discourse hate on the male characters in those pairings!" Y'all assume the writers are romanticizing abuse towards women, just for giving a (strong) fictional woman a male love interest. Or the creators, who are male, are clearly projecting onto the men in these pairings. Or the male fans who are fans of these pairings just have some gross "power fantasy" with the women in them, over genuinely liking said pairings. Or go on about how the women in these pairings "deserve better" than this. Or just hate certain male characters on sight. Only confronting half the problem helps no one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really can't stand how bisexuals (both real AND fictional) are treated as some kind of political stance to support very flawed and idiotic views. "ALL BISEXUALS are sexually attracted to men, so men (who DO NOT deserve it) know what it feels like to have evil sexual attraction towards them! AND romantically attracted to women because they're the fairer sex who don't feel evil sexual attraction and are the only ones who experience romance!" Way to keep more people in the closet by being this boxed in.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A fandom's inability to acknowledge all the women in it who hate certain female characters is just plain stupid. And will only halt them from being more popular. Assuming all the women in a fanbase loves each female character on the basis of just being a woman, erases all the haters. If you want a character to be popular in a fanbase, you have to call out all haters. Both the men AND women. And differentiate between the haters and fans who just don't like them. Not everyone who doesn't like them is a hater or a raging sexist. It's just their opinion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Everyone who has ever asked why two characters can't stay friends, are CLEARLY homophobes!" My sister kicked into Hell, you look at every pairing between a male and female character asking why they can't stay friends, while praising those same tropes put on same sex pairings. This isn't a bigoted problem. It's a difference of opinion from fans that certain fans don't want to accept, often out of ego.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing how simple the lesson of "this character's trauma is not an excuse for them to hurt whomever they want; especially innocents who had nothing to do with said trauma," is so despised by audiences these days. This is what separates the "heroes" from the actual heroes in a work of fiction. Yes. A character is not a "hero" if they hurt whomever they please, as opposed to those who wronged them, and view it as justified. What else were you expecting?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate when bisexuals are treated as some kind of unarguable or "you must agree with this, or else!" view in fandoms. "All bisexuals only feel sexual attraction towards male characters and men! Now, men know what it feels like! No man alive provides romantic relationships!" "All bisexuals only feel romantic attraction towards women and female characters! Women are the pure, fairer sex! Everyone who feels sexual attraction towards women is a damn freak! No one finds 'sexy' women in fiction attractive!" It's funny how much of this same stance comes from the same people who call fictional women "child-coded" on very empty reasons.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just because a problem in a fanbase got worse as of late, does not mean it came out of thin air. For example; shippers who believe shipping will lead to their ship being canon. And getting angry when it does not. This has been around for awhile. It's just dragged in more toxicity in recent years. And questionable viewpoints ("You can't ship them with Character B! It romanticizes abuse! The ship with Character A is the healthier pairing!"). It's important to know how old a lot of these problems are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When a bi female character has a wide selection of both men and women to ship her with; I hate when the fanbase decides all the male characters you can ship her with are all the "boring" or "lukewarm" or "only lame straights ship her with men" ones. Or her attraction towards men is seen as lesser and "it doesn't count" in the eyes of an entire fandom. Or giving her a male love interest is seen as "romanticizing abuse" by these same fans. And then the fanbase has the audacity to question why she's barely used in shipping while doing all of this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone hates corporations until some of them make a huge "men bad" comment. How easily swayed a lot of you are.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe more bisexuals won't come out!" - Said the same Tumblr Blogs who won't stop talking about how horrible and disgusting it is to be bisexual and attracted to men. "No bisexual is actually, happily attracted to yucky men! If they are, something is wrong with them!" You are the ones keeping more in the closet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's astounding how many fandoms get so angry seeing the ship of bi female characters often involve shipping them with male characters. Like, yeah? What else were you expecting? If you want fictional bi women to be popular in fandoms, that means letting fans actually embrace the "bi" part of them. You can't say, "I want (insert bi female characters here) to be used more by fans!" And then get worked up that some of them put them with male and female characters. Also, don't act so surprised or mad if these fandoms avoid as much as looking at her or others. You forced fans into not wanting to touch them unless they abide by strict guidelines, or else. Putting limits on other fans will only limit fancontent and thus, how often you'll see her in said fancontent. Shipping bi characters gets enough toxicity as is. Avoiding this should be necessary.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The amount of FEAR a fanbase has for a strong woman potentially ending up with a man is just plain pathetic. Made even more pathetic when shippers are afraid to ship her with male characters due to how widespread the negativity is. "You can't be a strong female character and have a male love interest!" Go. Outside. Love is not a weakness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Finding a female character hot means you DO NOT respect her as a character! You can't admire her as a well-written character AND find her physically attractive!" Go Outside.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's so EVIL when you KNOW a character is BISEXUAL but the writers don't!" "Does that mean the fanbase is gonna leave fans who ship them with characters of the opposite gender alone?" "NEVER!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing how many fandoms answer their own questions, yet remain so unnecessarily confused like the answer isn't right before them. "This character/show was made for bisexuals!" A few seconds later. "WHY ARE MEN HERE!?!" Take a wild guess.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Back in my day, we NEVER shipped with the hopes our ships became canon, and we NEVER got any ship wars." I hate to break to you, but this was always a thing. Ship wars did not just pop into thin air a few years ago, and doing so erases how long this has been an issue.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Would be nice to have more kind male characters in modern media who aren't also dumb idiots.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While there's nothing fundamentally wrong with having this kind of headcanon, it really grinds my gears when the majority headcanon in a fandom between two unrelated grown ass adult men is a father/son relationship, just because one is a mentor to or just older than the other. It especially grinds my gears when I'm considered "weird" for enjoying them as a ship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I find it very frustrating in one of the fandoms I'm in how there are people who are like "it's ridiculous that there are people who think these two male characters have a father/son or master/student relationship, the way they interact and speak to each other is not how people in the culture the series is from would behave if they had that relationship' like I'm from that culture and they are absolutly right, in my culture you would not speak so casually to a parental or teacher figure. however the thing that bothers me is that most of the people bringing it up insist that since they relationship can't be father/son or student/teacher, then obviously the only option is lovers. And they act like anyone who thinks the relationship could be platonic is a total idiot and disrespecting the culture. But the thing is that while yes, the way the characters address each other is a way that lovers might, it's also a way close friends or siblings might. There are multiple options for what their relationship is besides father/son and student/teacher that could be the case. But they totally disregard that and treat people horribly for not bending over and agreeing that their ship being canon is the only possible option. Like can you not fucking ship your ship without trying to stop other people from interpreting things differently

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A lot of fandoms these days are full of fans who are under the impression that there is clearly "something wrong" with other fans who wishes there was less "politics" in media and most media these days focused more on quality over politics being brought up. When they are the ones who are in the wrong. First off, most turn to fiction for escapism. They rarely want to connect what they're doing for fun to current events in the world. Secondly, that dates media fast and I mean FAST. Making EVERY. SINGLE. Movie, TV show, cartoon, video game, etc, also be about the current politics and events in the world is gonna leave audiences with less reason to care about it years later, when those same current events become a thing of the past. Thirdly, no. Just no. The examples you bring up of older media pulling off "political" themes in fiction were most likely not entirely political to begin with. Or political at all. And even if some of them were, as I'm sure many examples have crossed your mind by now, that was less of the focus and more focus on the themes themselves. Plus, they most likely wrote it with more talent than most writers these days, who are waiting on fans to defend it for reasons that have little or anything to do with writing quality. In addition, that LIMITS the kinds of stories writers are trying to tell to audiences and fans. "Freedom" for example, cannot be a purely a political theme when writers can do so much more with it. Lastly, all of this applies to fandoms. If the fans don't want to talk about politics 24/7 with people who make wrongful assumptions about others and focus elsewhere: Good. For. Them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really can't stand when the "we need fiction to teach important lessons" is made biased and selective by fans. "I hate how they removed this one male character being sexist for 3 episodes because we need to teach little boys that they're all born fat, misogynistic, rapist, incels who deserve to die and can retain some decency!" "Are you gonna recognize the importance of the same lesson when writers say it's wrong for a woman to hate every single man? It can go both ways." "NEVER!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This male character barely, if ever CRIES at ALL! THAT MEANS! HE'S A HEARTLESS JERK and MUCH more evil than the antagonist(s)! AND the writers are CLEARLY saying men aren't allowed to cry!" The male character in question: *kind, looks out his friends and loved ones, compassionate, enjoys making other people happy, sympathetic for others who have been hurt and still expresses a wide range of emotions* As it turns out, crying is NOT the only way to express one's emotions and writing off characters, male in this case, as being a heartless person for the lack of it is ridiculous. I hope no one who does, this treats the real-life men their friends with like this. This mentality is too close-minded for its own good.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Common pet peeve; fans calling something plot armour when it isn't.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 2024:

One of the problems with, "bring back [more] canon x OC!" is not tackling how many fandoms live in pure FEAR of other fans shipping canon female characters with male OCs. Made more frustrating when some of the canon female characters in question are bi. If you rightfully hate the opposite, this shouldn't get a free pass. You can't want certain characters to be used more in fancontent and not stand by that want.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's pointless to go around saying, "Fandoms are a safe space for everyone!" if you're going turn to around and write off all the male fans as a bunch of degenerates.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The worse piece of "criticism" for "The Simpsons," is how it's "so great" that Lisa went from feeling like an actual kid in older episodes, to just being a mouthpiece for whatever the current issue in the world is. And that piece of "criticism" should be taken into account for anyone who writes children characters. Not making them feel like children is bad writing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Media illiteracy is astounding, and I hate how well-written stories have stereotypes and projection forced on them, all because the audience can't enjoy what's there and feels the need to replace it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sorry, but I can't vibe with any fans who insist ALL m/f ship dynamics and relationship tropes only work one way and ONE WAY alone. Made more annoying by all the double standards that follow. "This harmless thing is romanticizing abuse towards women!" They scream before shipping it when the dynamic is reversed. How telling. Not only that, but all they're doing is limiting creativity in shipping and character pairings. Both in fan-content and official content.

A woman who is deeply and madly in love the man she's with, can be just as interesting as the opposite.

A woman who wants to burn the world after losing the pure-hearted man she loved can be as intriguing as the opposite.

Pathetic female characters can be potential love interests of male characters, not just the opposite.

A grumpy female character with a kindhearted male character can be as cute as the opposite.

There's bound to be more. And I wish more fandoms understood all of this. And I hope they do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is no bigger slap in the face on Tumblr than coming across a bisexual blog, and it's full of posts about how being attracted to men is horrible, and everyone attracted to them are disgusting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's so odd to me when a fanbase acts like you can't like two characters at the same time, all because of the contrast they share in canon. Or one made by them. e.g., "They're both in-love with the MC (or potential love interests for said MC), how can you be fans of BOTH of them?" Chances are, they have identities and character outside of this. Or some of us are fine with either pairing happening. Or we're multishippers. And fans don't really care either way. Not every fan who likes Character A views that as some kind of intended attack on Character B. This is made even more nonsensical when the contrast between both characters is a major part of both characters. And we as fans are supposed to pay attention to said contrast, since it was written by the writers into them and for us to notice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If these two characters were not of the same gender, you would ship them!" No. I most likely wouldn't. Why? 99% of the time, I ship based on tropes and ship dynamics. Changing the genders of the characters won't erase how "meh," I feel about pairings I don't find too interesting. A boring fictional pairing between a man and a woman is just as boring as a pairing between two men or two women. This is amusing when this same accusation is often made by the same people who refuse to ship certain pairings unless both characters are the same gender. And insist that everyone who doesn't ship the same as them are bigots. No. A lot of the time, fans just like or hate ships regardless. No biases present.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hypocrisy of a fanbase to say, "Looks aren't everything!" Then immediately turn around and go on and on about how ugly an unconventionally attractive actor is. With the occasional comment on no one having (insert facial feature here) being an attractive or a good person. With more comments about how no one finds him attractive and everyone who finds him attractive is a gross person.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I cannot believe even after everything this male character has done for the woman he's with and madly in love with, the fandom still writes him off as just some jerk!" Because he's a man. Who cares if he has a bunch of positive traits? The fanbase won't care. It doesn't endear him in their eyes. Once a hated male character, always a hated male character. Especially if they would rather see her with a woman and don't see what the issue is in resorting to actively lying about him. Or accepting other fans who do like shipping her with him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not everyone who says "This character deserved better," is talking about them in the context of how they were written. Some are. Some are talking about the life they lived in canon. As we see with tragic characters. Context matters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm never going to feel bad for fandoms that lack the ability to acknowledge women who hate female characters. You can't keep the attention exclusively on toxic men and be surprised by the lack of progress you play a part in halting. "This female character is a bad role model for young girls!" is often said by fandom women. Amongst others. I fail to see the appeal in letting them off the hook.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm never going to be a fan of the assumption that every straight man is a bi man who is too much of an insecure jerk to come out ("They put themselves in the closet! Those privileged morons!"), hence why we need more representation in media. Or all straight men will come out as bi and become the "safe" group to be around. Focus on good writing, and drop this view.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't stand terfs or radfems as much as the next person, but the assumption a woman needs to be one or become one in order to be a toxic woman (both in and out of fanbases) is downright infantilizing. No one says you need to be in PETA in order to hate animals. This toxicity is based on choice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"THIS IS ALL A DUMB POWER FANTASY!" My sister dropkicked in Limbo, anything, and I mean ANYTHING, can be a power fantasy. It's not just a male character having a bunch of women faun over him (or the opposite), it can be anything big or small. Limiting it to purely romantic fantasies limits the term.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This conventionally attractive actor is playing a conventionally attractive fictional male character who has a couple of scars. They have a lot of fangirls! THAT MEANS NO MAN ALIVE HAS EVER BEEN BODYSHAMED (by a woman)! And any man who has deserved it! Or those incels are lying! All because this male character exists!" This is a major reason as to why fighting bodyshaming and a lot of "body positivity" have largely failed. A lack of empathy for certain people. And outright dismissal fueled by a lack of logic. In addition to how some people enjoy this level of apathy and power over others. This doesn't diminish individual experiences. This just creates more.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't stand the "All fandoms must be women (and gay men) only!" mentality. Look. It's bad enough that male fans (with little regard for teen ones) are written off as incels and creeps for as much as being in a fanbase, but all the memes and jokes are pointless, and only creates more division. Not only is it antithetical to the idea that fandoms are inherently welcoming of all people, regardless of who they are, but it's present in so many fanbase circles and hurts so many innocent people. All for getting back at those so-called gross men; the nuance is NOT present. As we see with fanartists. "CLEARLY! The artist who drew this is an icky male! No real woman draws like this!" "... I'm the woman who drew this." "LIAR/GET OVER YOUR INTERNALIZED SEXISM!" Or with fictional characters. You're not a clever person for reminding men how disgusting they are for finding a fictional woman attractive. Nor are you funny for making "leaves you for a woman!" jokes about female characters towards male fans. Which is ironic, when a fanbase applies this nonsense to a fictional bi woman. How progressive. Seriously, none of this is acceptable and fandoms don't gain anything from treating the average male fan like $hit. For both all the bigger reasons here and the fact bullying is plain wrong. It will never be justifiable.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone who acts like the anti-anime sentiment that's been present for many years is not fuelled by sexism in any way, shape or form, is making the issue go for much longer than it needs to be. And chances are, many who do this hate the fact they can't be sexist in peace. Of course most haters who go on about how inherently degenerative all anime and animation from Japan is, feels the need to remind you that it's the fault of men who live there and make those series to begin with. Why would any haters care about the fact they might be racist? They're attacking "icky" men and placing themselves as some kind of moral good, protecting you from them. "We're doing this for the right thing!" And any men who doesn't make a series "like that" (grow. up.) are just rare exceptions. As we see with all the unfunny Miyazaki jokes. This is also present in how most perceive women there who work on and/or create anime. The constant assumption that no woman "would make a series like that," is not as progressive as you think it is and is backwards as heck. In addition, praise them for their talent and not the fact they only made something worthwhile because they are women. It erases the years of talent they put into what they made. And it's not progressive to act like there are only a select few women who are actually good at making an anime, while the others suffer from internalized sexism or are not "real" women. Or secretly gross men in disguise. None of this is proper criticism. Treating women or men as a monolith is never going to be progressive. Once again, to act like it's not fuelled by sexism is ignoring an entire part of the larger problem.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whenever a franchise is going to get a new installment or addition that is bound to fail based on many clear bad factors already present, it's amazing how all the creators have to do is just say something "woke" to drag in a bunch of defenders who won't even consume the product to begin with. Or many of those defenders do openly admit to either not being apart of the audience or even a fan to begin with, yet still feel the need to be here and write off all legitimate criticism as bullying of the creators. Like, all you're doing is making things worse and defending something destined to fail. I miss the days when a creator didn't have to fund very questionable charities and/or be exposed as a bigot of some kind, in order to not defend what they're going to make. Empty excuses for something badly made is not any better.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm never going to pity a fandom's inability to acknowledge women who hate female characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You have little room to talk if you wish more fans would acknowledge bi women in canon as being attracted to women AND men, if all you ever do is go on about how much these characters hate being attracted to men in canon and how disgusting it is. I see it all the time. Fans adding to stereotypes they claim to hate.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I always hold in a big laugh, whenever someone says the biggest problem with how most fandoms treat m/f pairings is taking a canon pairing and making it into one where a woman "MoThErS" a male character. My brothers and sisters kicked into purgatory, this level of flanderization and obsessive need to take an m/f pairing and make it into what it is not, would not receive so many fans if that were the case. This is NOT the dynamic present. The actual problem is not only a fanbase making canon pairings very OOC, but it's making it into one where a woman is stripped of all her flaws and the man she is with only exists to be a pathetic cheerleader, as opposed to an actual character. In other words, fandoms refuse to believe that a woman in a piece of fiction can be a good character AND be with a man that compliments her flaws and strengths as much as she does with him. This is not any better than saying a fictional woman is too good or too much of a "strong female character" to be in love. This is just that under a different coat of paint. It's also very alienating in certain circles, when all a fanbase wants to do is go on about her fanon version, writes off all her canon flaws as sexism and views acknowledging how she treats her partner instead of the just how he treats her, also as sexism. The alienation also applies to how fans who actually like the canon pairing and not the fanon version that is almost unrecognizable in comparison. In addition, this level of hyper-fixating on how he treats her instead of looking at how they treat each other makes it feel like less of a relationship and more of a dull power fantasy disguised as one. I see what other fans mean when they say, "sometimes, fandom is worse."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I hate stereotypes." Much of those same fans: "This fictional woman is gnc/tomboy-ish. That means no one is allowed to ship her with fictional men." "This fictional woman is bi. That means no is allowed to ship her with fictional men." "This fictional woman is muscular. That means no one is allowed to ship her with fictional men." "This fictional man is effeminate. That means no one is allowed to ship him with fictional women." "This fictional woman has a mean side. That means no is allowed to ship her with fictional men." I love how hypocritical many fans are, and then are in denial they're the ones creating so much division.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unpopular opinion: I'm often disappointed in the lack of male oc X canon female character pairings and related fancontent in fandoms these days. Especially in regard to all this talk of bringing back canon x OC pairings. I know this won't seem like much to most who read this, but it's a bit sad when a woman in a piece of fiction has attraction to men, yet a fanbase has little or no real interest in exploring this part of her character. Mainly when you look at many of the reasons given. Such as. . . Many fandoms refuse to believe a woman can be a "strong female character," and attracted to men at the same time, looking down on that part of her character, refusing to view any pairings with male (original) characters as interesting, or outright ignoring said attraction. And then there's when we get around to canon bi female characters. Oh, when we get around to there. Yes, letting a fandom have fun with bi female characters in shipping means leaving any who ships them with male (original) characters be. They're bi. It's not that shocking. I also see this similarly with female antagonists. Both in comparison to male antagonist x female ocs or not. Look. It's great hearing how many fans and fandoms want to see more canon x OC pairings, both for bringing them back, and for helping fight back against this being "cringe" when fun to should be the focus in a fandom. And I'm in full support of that. Along with encouraging others to do that themselves. I just wish this was brought up more.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

unpopular opinion: I really cannot stand the recurring fandom takes on a fictional bi women's attraction towards men (and women). It's so annoying, when a fandom pats itself on the back for being so accepting of bi female characters in a very narrow way. Bi female characters must either hate being attracted to male characters, make fun of it every two minutes, or experience it with such a low opinion. Bi women in fiction are rarely allowed to just like the fact they're attracted to men in fanon; a fanbase can't be normal or accepting of that fact. And fans who are accepting of said character's attraction to men and women equally, are bullied or ignored for not following this mindset. In addition, it sucks when this is applied to ship dynamics and shipping in general. I'm sorry, but I don't see the appeal of every pairing involving bi female characters with male characters only being with pathetic male characters. Whether it's actual ones or flanderized canon male characters. This trope is commonly in comparison with female characters who are often allowed to be actual characters when paired with bi female characters. Which sucks when fans who don't portray that attraction to women in a "pure" way are looked at differently. Or bullied. All this stereotyping is not worth it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's always been so odd to me, whenever a fan acts like there aren't any male characters demonized in shipping, when there are plenty of examples and trends to go off of. It would not surprise me if some fans who act like this are aware of said hatred; they want it to stay. For example, some male characters are often called incels or "nice guys" just for being awkward or shy around a woman they're crushing on, when that is not what either of those terms mean or refer to. Or all interactions they have with a female character are seen as trying to get with her and/or force a relationship with her. Because apparently they're not friends in canon and there's no ulterior motive present. (Or them along with many other male characters are written off as incels just on the basis of being there) And this view is commonly heightened if the female character in question that they crush on is either too much of a "strong female character," to be with a man or she's popularly shipped with another fictional woman. That latter especially. Demonizing other characters in shipping will never be a good thing. It doesn't help when no one seems to want to fight back against this view. By not fighting against it, this treatment tends to leak outside of shipping. The same contempt for male characters here is present outside. Hating a character for traits they don't hold is not any better. Ship and let ship should be the main focus. Not this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want being gnc to be normalized so badly, that means accepting and acknowledging "Le Evil Straights" in this discussion. To elaborate, there will not only be plenty of people who will be gnc and straight, but also plenty of people who are into said gnc people who are straight themselves. Not every woman into gnc men will come out as bi. Not every man into gnc women will come out as bi. The same applies to fictional characters. For both fans of said gnc characters and for fictional relationships those characters enter. And with shipping. It shouldn't surprise you to see gender nonconforming characters being shipped with the opposite gender. Don't even get me started on phrases like "this man has a lesbian's taste in women," being tossed around. Stop stereotyping. Some may realize they are bi, but expecting it to happen for each one is weird. And very gross and invasive. Also, this is not doing any favors for anyone questioning their sexuality. Stereotypes are not a step in the right direction. And it's interesting of me to say that when some who believe in this stereotype don't stand by it afterward. In other words, it's interesting how many people will say you need to be bi in order to be into gnc men & women, only to turn around and act like bisexuals don't exist. "You need to be bi in order to be into (insert gnc character here)!" (LATER) "This proves you were straight all along!" Once again, stereotypes are not a step in the right direction.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hate how the phrase "gay people have great taste in m/f ships" ignores biphobic gay fans in fandoms and shipping. It's not good when those same fans with "great taste" in m/f ships are also biphobic. Nor is it any better to listen to their alone opinions when it comes to m/f ships. Or worse. Which ones to ship and/or are good ships. It's all opinions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I've met/know people who don't act like the ones you mentioned therefore it NEVER happens and what you said NEVER happened." Your (fandom) experiences do not mean someone else's never happened. Stop being this dismissive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah, as a bisexual I CAN'T relate to only finding (fictional) women attractive because they're all goddesses that walk this Earth while men are weird bugs (affectionate). Sounds like yet another box to be forced into. And the assumption everyone who doesn't think like this not-so secretly hates women. Get a hobby. Which is funny of me to say, whenever someone says they're only into "weird-looking men" and the men or male characters in question are all conventionally attractive men that either smile a lot or just give off "weird" vibes. Especially attractive actors for some reason. Average man, who? I see a lot of denial.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lack of kind female characters in today's media is disappointing. Made more disappointing in how it's great that more fans understand that kind characters and kindness aren't boring; yet that is rarely extended over to fictional women. This also extends to when fans believe making a preexisting female character only mean makes them a good character. Being kind and/or driven by kindness is not a weakness for female characters who embody said traits.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm happy to hear more and more fandoms and audiences these days are starting to get that a kind character is not inherently boring, and there are plenty of worthwhile kind characters in fiction. I'm not against edgy characters or characters in general with a "dark side" to them, but it's great to hear that not only are more growing tired or bored of the badly written ones, but ask themselves this: should a character having kindness as a big part of who they are be a barrier to being a fan of them? And more answer no. It should not. It never will.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many fandoms either deify female characters (strip them of all flaws) or infantilize them for very empty reasons (child-coding is one of the worse things to happen to fandom) or both, than act so surprised those same female characters are largely left behind by the same fans they force these views on. Made worse when much of those female characters are loved, but they believe everyone else must love them for aforementioned reasons, or else. The fans who treat these female characters as whole characters and as fictional people with flaws? Sexists. The fans that understand a woman in a piece of fiction does not need to fight to be a good character and loves her all the same? Misogynists. The fans who don't infantilize or deify them? How dare they hate women. The women who don't join in on all of this? Suffering from internalized misogyny. It's amazing how it's viewed as respecting (fictional) women to infantilize them or put them on a pedestal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not every character in fiction who is against killing is a morally gray character. That's too broad and often not applicable to many of the examples people give of a "morally gray character" who isn't one.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How interesting that the "ALL MEDIA IS POLITICAL!" Fans tend not to be in support of any anti-communist messages or themes in said media. Or put any to begin with. Either identical, half-baked political messages or subtext inserted by the fans that narrows down to their own interpretation. I wonder if there's any coincidence.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stop calling men ��porn addicts” or “gooners” for liking attractive fictional women. Especially since some of you have a whole bunch of porn of your favorite male characters and some of you sexualize them way worse than a man sexualizing a female character. Porn addiction is a serious addiction like every addiction. Stop reducing it into an insult as a “gotcha” towards men because you hate men because of your one terrible experience with them. Stop letting your confirmation bias determine your opinions towards all men in fandoms. And gooner is not the insult you think it is. Might as well tell a man to edge himself to his favorite female character. He won’t see it as an insult. He’ll see it as a command. Jokes aside though, sexism in fandom generally is a huge issue. It’s not just misogyny that is an issue in fandom. It’s also misandry. You guys can’t be crying about sexism in fandom meanwhile you treat men like they’re subhuman and like they’re objects.

#bi anon #character problems #shipping problems #mod sf

89 notes · View notes