#don't invalidate them to push your fanon agenda

[florallylly]

warning: i rant

imo fanfic and shipping is FANTASY and wish fulfillment which is SO okay and valid. and i an avid consumer of fanfic am obviously not going to disagree with people fulfilling their fantasies bc that's literally what fanfiction and fandom spaces are for.

HOWEVER putting your opinions online opens you up to criticism and it's also completely valid for other fans to point out discrepancies according to the canon work. bc at some point, fanfic becomes a completely different thing and the characters are unrecognizable.

and that's fine but understandably something people would find issue with, especially people who hold canon dear to heart. there's like two camps (with people in between but) which are like those who take the bare bones and IMAGE of the characters and setting and those who try to adhere to canonical depictions.

to also be noted, it can be frustrating for those who want to read canonical depictions to be having to comb through pages and pages of fic to find one that isn't pure wish fulfillment. neither camp really has an excuse to criticize the act of putting those fantasies out there, but criticism regarding characterization and the lack of recognition for the source material MAKES SENSE. so keep that in mind

though once again pointing out media literacy and how every interpretation is different and built on the viewer's personal experience and perceptions.

i do notice that in mlm ships, there is a lot of feminization of the bottom. it makes sense BC it's wish fulfillment. maybe it might not seem like it, but it's the fantasy of having two hot guys and often the bottom is more of a surrogate for the author/reader. bc a lot of mlm fic is written by straight women. to reiterate WISH FULFILLMENT

and also, a lot of media does prioritize the characterization of male characters over female ones which means it's a lot easier to analyze and theorize more in depth.

now my gripes: this doesn't mean that female characters should be villainized. i get how people want to make canon love interests no longer an option or up the angst, but why not include a completely new character. you could relegate the love interest to simply a friend or someone who used to have a crush on them. there's so many possibilities other than writing out a female character to have some kind of vendetta for being rejected.

not going to say that sometimes people aren't vengeful bc i certainly am, but if a character is so far off from their canon depiction... once again, it's open to criticism.

and making the love interest a lesbian or wlw can be valid, but at least make it make sense rather than just having two attractive women together to keep them out of the way. DOES THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE

like yeah i'm talking about ro//nance bc i have opinions on it. (not invalidating people who ship it, just stating my personal opinion on it) and i do prefer canon over some fanon

so either way, respect people's choices BUT also respect people's right to comment their views on your work, obviously, do provide constructive criticism or your own commentary in a respectful way, or just block people that don't agree with you.

personally, i choose to not comment on other people's work bc i KNOW i have harsh words, so i'll make my own post which others can ignore. at that point, it's their choice whether or not to block me and my content.

so don't try to police other people's content. UNLESS. they are being profoundly misogynistic, racist, transphobic, etc etc. which is in fact prevalent within the mlm fanfic community and it's UNDENIABLE. and it's further pushing the agenda that coed friendships aren't possible unless they aren't attracted to each other.

bc in doing so, you're not just pushing an agenda that makes no canonical sense, but you're also degrading the character that you claim to love so much.

again again these are my opinions and what i choose not to consume. i won't complain about it in fics i read bc i CHOOSE to read them DESPITE my hang ups. that's on me (but also bc i'd lose a good chunk of content) note: it's also possible to simply skip over the parts that you don't like. no one is going to crucify you for that

here's the thing though. taking your opinion and then twisting canon and posting it as your reasoning behind your fic and headcanons. OBVIOUSLY there's going to be criticism.

and i'm not counting subtext and actual chemistry between actors bc that's Proof. that's something that can be seen and felt and happened in canon.

just like. just like. a consideration into how you treat women in mlm fan spaces and how they're either villains or wlw. there's so rarely an in between and . idk that's sad to me.

this is also prevalent in other media, so i'm not going to say it's not a societal issue bc it is and smth smth sociological theory i won't go into. i know AND i consume as a woman, but i'm able to actually reflect and say "that's not right" i am under no illusions that media is unable to be criticized

like even this ! it can be criticized it can be skipped it can be ignored. and idc about being flamed bc TRUST me when i say i've had worse. it's my personal opinion i'm putting out into the world and that's the consequence

[seekingxanadu]

Every time I see someone begin with “I love Dick but”, I brace myself for a piss poor take on Dick’s canon characterisation. And when that take is DickBarbara and DickKori is misogynistic and instead, there should be KoriBarbara or DickKoriBarbara in canon, I begin to wonder at the takes-person’s intentions. One has to have absolutely no understanding of any of these characters to advocate either scenario. 

Look, in canon, there are so many instances where Barbara has been absolutely terrible towards Dick and barely anyone bats an eyelid because “the man is being put in his place" and that is feminism and something we are supposed to cheer. Problematic behaviour doesn’t become unproblematic just because a woman is doing it. The same goes for people who think Dick’s r*pes by women is inconsequential because men cannot get r*ped. This is a rubbish take. If your problem with Dick is so pervasive, a suggestion that maybe you cheer for  BarbaraDinah or BarbaraTed or BarbaraBatOfTheWeek (which, DC please stop - pairing a woman with all her ex's family members is misogynistic af) instead of accusing Dick of being misogynistic. 

Examples of Dick being misogynistic, I guess *shrugs*: 

I see people say that Dick is emotionally unavailable and scared of commitment. Some of you guys haven't read The New Teen Titans and it shows. Dick and Kori were one of the most emotionally open DC couples. It was what made them so popular among young readers. Dick was talking about starting a family with Kori. 

DickKori didn’t end in marriage because Bat office dragged Dick from Titans office and to pay back Marv for refusing to give him when they demanded him back, Bat office deliberately destroyed DickKori. Mark Waid’s Flash issue of the time even has an already married DickKori in its pages. That issue either went to print early or no one bothered to tell Waid about DC nixing the DickKori marriage. 

Dick has no problems with commitment. If he likes or loves someone, he is willing to “settle down” as we say in our part of the world. Once he married a woman he suspected of being a serial killer offing her husbands. Later, he he found out she was innocent, so he cleared her name, offered to marry her legally and adopt her young son. 

When Shawn thought she was pregnant, Dick was right there for her. 

Of course, DC played the "is she is she not” soap opera line but Dick was committed. So yeah, please GTFO with your “Dick is afraid of commitment” nonsense.

For those who think Dick going to therapy is a revolutionary idea, guess what Dick has often been shown on page as going to therapy. Perhaps the only Batman adjacent character who has willingly gone to therapy multiple times to deal with his grief.

I am pissed off now. Need some DickKori goodness to get back my vibe : 

[questioning-aspec-culture-is]

who wants to hear me rant about how fandoms treat asexuality and aromanticism for a bit?

To me, it seems like there is no place where amatonormativity is more rampant than shipping spaces. And it's infuriating.

The way many fandoms treat lgbtq+ characters is sketchy at best - there are several instances of explicitly gay characters being shipped in straight relationships, and other such invalidation of sexualities, but that is a wider issue that I won't go into here, because my main issue is the complete eradication of aspec identities.

Aro and ace representation is rare. Good aro and ace representation is even rarer. And I know what you might be thinking. So is gay and lesbian representation! So is pan and bi and polyam representation! But here's the thing. If fans don't like the overwhelming straightness of characters in canon media, they will fix it for themselves in fanon. They will put straight characters in gay relationships. They will put characters who have no canon love interest in relationships (gay or otherwise).

And this is where the problem lies.

In a society where romantic relationships are valued over nearly everything else, it's rare and exhilarating to find characters who aren't in relationships, whether they are explicitly stated to be aro/acespec or not (which is even more rare). And fans invariably take those characters and ship them with other characters, because heaven forbid a character be happy without a romantic partner who will 'complete' them!! /s

It is obvious that to most people, queer representation in media/fandom is important... until it comes to aspec identities. Because the allos don't seem to give a shit about us and it fills me with rage. We deserve to be included in those spaces, and we deserve to have our identities respected in the same way that gay/lesbian/mspec identities are.

And there will always be queer people who say "oh, well if they've not got a canon love interest it's okay... that's not aphobic... if you tell us we're not allowed to have those ships, that's erasing our identities" and yes of course if it's not canon aromanticism there is nothing *strictly* wrong with shipping those characters but just. just have a think for a minute. If you are so openly eager to ship those characters, and you get so outwardly upset when you can't, what message is that giving to aspec people? you're telling us that unless there is a 'valid' reason not to, you think that being in a relationship is necessary, normal, the default state of things. You are upholding amatonormativity and yes, that is harmful.

And that doesn't only hurt aspec people!! not even allos are in relationships 100% of the time - when you're pushing this agenda, it is harmful to everyone. We need to de-normalise the need for relationships. Characters and people are allowed to be single and live fulfilling lives and not need to have a partner!!

thank you for reading my angry rambly rant i hope it makes sense and if you are allo and think i am being too harsh i do not care because i am fed up of you overlooking and outright excluding us <33

allos are welcome and encouraged to reblog but I would ask that you don't add on! aspecs I would love to hear your opinions, if you want to add anything to what ive said :)