#because you get one post of a full proshipper enjoying the ship in the most 'problematic' way possible

[cherrymoonvol6]

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[just-antithings]

Sometimes all it takes is the right fandom to turn you away from the anti mindset tbh. I used to be an anti for YEARS but my most recent fandom is full of proshippers. It shook me to my very core and it took me days to think on what to do when my Twitter feed would be incest if I followed any artist.

Very quickly though I realized that these people are minding their own business, so I should mind mine. If they post something I do not like, I scroll past, no harm done. Followed various artists but kept my guard up.

At some point morbid curiosity got the best of me so I'd start looking purposely at things I previously thought utterly grotesque. It still made me uncomfortable and it wasn't healthy, no, but what is it about it that piques people's interests?

Cut to me now who doesn't really ship anything of that caliber, but I've realized that it's fascinating to put certain characters in a romantic/sexual context and that, again, it's none of my business. Sometimes I even enjoy what they make because it gets my thinking gears turning and I love over thinking things.

I don't really like the labels of anti or pro, but I'm certainly not an anti anymore.

(And also, antis are a minority in this fandom and I've seen people harassed for shipping two very legal unrelated adults above forty just because one was already a working adult when the other was born. They initially met when the youngest was thirty. Batshit opinions.)

I’m glad you got out of there anon!

[starrbar]

Ships and kinks don't actually reveal how deeply one can enjoy or appreciate a story

I noticed that lately I have this small paranoia in my head that goes kind of like this: "I just experienced an amazing, deep, or wholesome thing. If I start shipping or sexualizing the characters this soon, that will make it look like I never cared about the story or characters or nuances or lessons etc. It'll be like I was only looking for wank material and never appreciated the truly great stuff about it."

And that's not true. It's never true in my case. And though I don't condemn people who may genuinely only care about the ships of a particular media they like, I personally DO care about the whole packages and I analyze media extensively, so I really don't want people to think that of me.

I haven't seen a lot of claims of specifically this, but I have seen sort of adjacent claims about proshippers. Usually goes something like, "It's really Concerning™ that proshippers can't recognize red flags of a predator / don't understand sibling love", as if their ships indicate the ultimate limit of their capacity to comprehend anything. And that's just ungodly wrong. It's almost awkward to see comments like that because it's so bizarrely illogical.

I remember one time, I had expressed the opinion that one of my favorite stories, while it did not contain any plots about incest or pedophilia, was so well-written that it would have handled those topics with grace and care if it had decided to include them. And someone accused me of "PURELY seeing it as sexual and getting off to it" as if I hadn't literally centered my comment on the capabilities of the writers, and had even said that I preferred the relationship as it is in canon. Nowhere in my comment had I even mentioned finding the ship hot or wanting it to be canon. I demonstrated that I was able to appreciate the canon material while shipping a problematic non-canon ship on the side, and people still chose not to see that.

And it's actually one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had with antis. If someone makes a shit claim to start the conversation, it's annoying, sure. But if someone purposely ignores or rewrites what I JUST SAID in order to make a shit claim, that makes my blood boil tenfold.

Couple example stories for me are Omori and Arcane, two very deep, meaningful stories with some very wholesome scenes too... which also happen to have problematic fanon ships that I enjoy exploring both for analysis reasons AND for horny reasons.

And I've seen people get genuine backlash for enjoying the wholesome side of a story purely for sfw E-rated reasons while also enjoying a creepy ship in a completely different space, in a completely different context. Or even just not caring if other people enjoy those things. "How dare you draw a child while being a proshipper!? You must be a creep!" a la this incident.

And now that I think about it, one reason someone may only see me horny-posting about something is because frankly those types of posts are easier to finish writing than a full essay about my intricate feelings about a plot. But then I find it embarrassing that I frequently fail to publish those essays because they would at least serve as proof that there's more to my enjoyment than just "sibling ship hawt".

Another reason is that I do manage to get those essay thoughts out, but unfiltered and ungrammar'd, to my friends. In servers or in DMs. Where I can express myself frantically and unpolished and still be fully understood. And if I say something that could be taken badly, I can just explain myself further instead of risking a sea of harassment BEFORE I have the chance to clarify something weird I said while jittering in my seat and flailing in excitement. With published essays about complex topics, I have to be VERY CAREFUL with my wording and quadruple-billion-check my posts, because I am aware that the internet gets enraged if you mention a thing and then don't give 20 disclaimers about every other possible interpretation of that thing.

Anyways.

Regardless of my probably unnecessary paranoia, I still recognize that everyone has a different reason for enjoying something. Everyone gets something different out of a positive experience. And it's not my job to judge and dictate which reasons are good and allowed and respectable. If something brings you joy, who am I to take that away from you?

Regardless if you enjoyed a show because of its plot or because of its "plot", there's nothing wrong about it. There's nothing gross or insulting about the way you enjoy things.

Keep being you and doing things you love!

[kharmii]

When the recent events happened in the fandom I have been curious on your stance on the whole thing (to clarify: I have sent the ask stating my very neutral stand on the whole shipping drama and how I can see the appeal + how the japanese have the better grasp on the twins)

Honestly, the revelation about the shipping content has come to no surprise for me, I always thought: "If anyone is secretly into blankshipping it's got to be them!"

Observing the whole thing from the outside and viewing a few sides I can't shake the feeling that this whole drama has shaken up the whole fandom. The whole thing has been held surprisingly quiet so far... I remember quite a few other artists that have been shippers all along things blew up and they have been getting the worst treatment until the fandom had something new to be upset about. I think the silence is mostly because other bigger artists (most who have been collaborated on this sticker sheet) worked alongside them and don't wanna spoil the profits they gain from these. At least it is my guess...

Hearing from you their furry stance further explains the silence from one of them, who's also known to be a furry... along with working on that sticker sheet.

Seeing that artists explanation to the situation (no apology so there is definitely more hidden to that, not that I care either way) has given me the feeling that things are going to change in the fandom from now on.

I've gotten the feeling this has split the fandom in half. People who are okay that they did these commissions since money is money, and people who are not okay with this and decide to stop engaging with their stuff (and possibly harass them depending on the level of cruelty these antis have) I have seen people withdrawing entirely from engagement getting harassment in the like of "how dare you not choose to see they needed the money REEEE" and so on, and the artist who have all collaborated on the sticker sheet still have been silent on the whole thing as well.

Personally, I couldn't care less what that artist is doing or not (at least they should be honest in the first place) and I'm too old to engage in this fandom kindergarten drama.

But yeah, getting the feeling the fandom will be different from now on.

Hope nothing's is gonna affect you and your work! Hope no harassment reaches you! Take care!

Cue South Park clip:

Cartman: She was young and needed the money!

Kyle: That blankshipping drawing was done last week!

I hope the fandom will be different. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE let it be different! Stop playing politics and acting like hypocrites, people in the submas fandom! It's ridiculous how the same artist who got themselves in trouble doing the blankshipping commission could have drawn shitting dick nipple fucking furry galvantula Emmet packing Depot Agent Josh's werewolf ass-womb full of joltik eggs, and nobody would have batted an eye. -But it's unacceptable to do twincest because that would be weeeeeeeird…. It's all dreck, and everybody is dumb as hell, so why are we taking Train Clowns that seriously?

I give the big-name artists a lot of credit for being tolerant. After all, anyone reading this blog would see I post art from a lot of popular Tumblr artists despite being an unapologetic proshipper. Many of them pretend I don't exist, and at the very worst, they somehow block me from showing up on their tags, but I'm still allowed to enjoy their content. That's appropriate behavior from people who are basically running a hotdog stand. You aren't going to move a lot of hotdogs if you act overly discriminant over who gets to buy one. I wish they'd do more though, like if every big-name artist was to get together and tell people to stop harassing proshippers, then they could make real change. They could say, "Imagine the fandom without us. Interest would fade really fast. We give the western wing of this fandom life."

Also, it's shitty when artists have to sneak around and make sockpuppet accounts to post their twin pron. That makes it so there's no middle ground. Nobody wants to do the cutesy romantic spice-of-life content because that might show they actually have a personality. If they do that, people might figure out WHICH personality it is, and next thing you know, they inadvertently out themselves. -So instead, we have to see a blankshipping tag full of everybody's grossest deepest darkest fetishes on full display. If I say something like, "Hey! I just want to see twins being cute without all the farty furry fatfatfat..", then it ends up being easier for them to act like I'm the oppressor than to challenge the wider money machine.

I suspect a few of the blankshippers with sock puppets made a point of rubbing it in on the trainwreck tag, like, "Look at me! I'm better at playing politics! My two-dick snake man erotic cannibalism belly kink fic is socially acceptable because I do fwuffy wuffy twainweck! Your (actually on topic) fic where Emmet goes to Hisui like a bat out of hell to beat up Volo with all the rage of a cop avenging his dead wife is not socially acceptable! You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking a story about an autistic guy beating the shit out of a crazy guy would be HILARIOUS.

Srsly tho, this is why I wrote an Arceus!Volo losing his memories fic once. This whole thing reeks of a Giratina fucken with, like Giratina is so pissed at their parent for locking them in the distortion world, they came up with the twin separation scenario. Next thing you know, Volo is all, *flips hair* I JUST WANTED TO MAKE A BETTER WORLD! INSTEAD, I HAVE THIS PISSED OFF MUPPET FROM THE FUTURE BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF ME WHILE THREATENING TO 'BREAK MY BACK IN HALF LAYING A RAILROAD TIE ACROSS MY ASS'. WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEEEEEEEAN!!111!! *sniffles*

Do other fandoms have to put up with this sort of thing? I get people are protective of the Subway Bosses because they are autistic, but could it also be because they aren't villains? They look like the sort of guys who could be villains because of the creepy puppet design, but they aren't. Would problematic ships make people less mad if they were villains?

Makes me wonder because I want to write Dabi x Geten from My Hero Academia. Just so people realize where I'm coming from, this ship relates to the Subway Bosses. The twins have a black and white dynamic where they are opposites who complement each other. Dabi and Geten are Fire and Ice (water basically), and they are both villains. One is a member of a cult who was taken as a child(?) and thoroughly brainwashed. The other was selectively bred for a specific purpose but is unable to fulfill said purpose because of a genetic defect that has left him badly mutilated, mentally ill and longing for vengeance. The 'enemies to friends to lovers' premise will be that Geten figures out that if he cares enough about Dabi, then he could offer to use his ability to relieve the strain of his genetic defect, and they could complement each other. It might end up bittersweet because in the canon manga, there might not be much left of Dabi, even if his immediate family is able to cancel out his defect and cool him down enough to prevent him from dying (fucken guy got an arm blown right off and might be blind..).

This new ship might be stealth incest, as Geten reveals he is in a branch family related to Dabi's mother, (how close is not given. They could range from being cousins to being people sharing a similar heritage who aren't related at all) but I'm not in it for that. I'm a complex and nuanced individual, and I'm more into the idea of complementary opposites than into incest. *hint hint* Just like I am with the Train Clowns (that, and the idea of their psychic identical twin bond, per my imaginative head canon). That doesn't mean people into actual incest as a main focus are wrong either. Same goes for people into the furry bullshit, but again, one shouldn't be considered socially acceptable and one not. Again, either everything goes, or admit it's all garbage and everybody into it is a hypocritical clown.