#its shipping yourself with a fictional character or fantasizing about real people especially those who are out of your league

[panuccispizza]

ok I'm watching the hbomberguy video and this later section about James somerton's misogyny is so weird because why does he look 43 and keeps talking about teenage girls' interests almost obsessively

[monstermonii]

Shipping & Fandoms (from an adult who spent too much of their adolescence on the internet, but now cares way more about real life)

There’s probably hundreds if not thousands of posts about the moralities of shipping and fandoms and whatever, but whatever you align yourself with just take the time to read. Or don’t. It’s up to you. I typed this out while waiting for my hot chocolate to cool down so take it however seriously you want. I just felt like posting something that I feel like isn’t shared a lot in fandom spaces and I think its important for younger people to learn about.

I would say only about 5% of people in fandoms that consider themselves pro-shippers are looking to promote pedophilia and/or incest and genuinely think that its acceptable in media and in real life.

These are people who genuinely think fantasizing about pedophilia & incest is perfectly okay to do (note: It’s not, and they should seek help).

They will call it anything. They’ll call it coping, they’ll say anyone who disagrees with them is censoring and oppressive, they’ll say fiction doesn’t affect reality (it does, thats not up for debate or argument) they will do anything to look like the victim.

They will especially entice normal people in fandoms with those quirky harmless ships that might get made fun of, that they are on your side. They’ll bait people with traumatic experiences that these fantasies are healthy ways to cope. They aren’t, they are using you to promote interests that most likely do not fall in line with yours.

There’s a certain extent to which “Do whatever you want, as long as you’re having fun!” is applicable, that applies to fandom spaces. Pedophiles intend to blur these lines.

About 90% of people shipping characters in fandoms are normal people that fantasize about age-appropriate characters in relationships with each other, whether their canon relationship supports it or not.

Whether someone calls themselves a pro-shipper or an anti, I genuinely think most people fall in this category. The vast majority of people no matter which one you call yourself are against pedophilia and incest.

Pro-shippers, I assure you that “antis” genuinely aren’t trying to call you unmoral for having a non-canon ship. But recognize that in your midst, there are real pedophiles that are looking for supporters and they aren’t always easy to distinguish, just be aware of that.

Antis, the majority of people that consider themselves pro-shippers aren’t actually in favor of pedophilic or incest relationships (fictional or irl), bullying them (especially minors that consider themselves a pro-shipper) is what pedophiles want. Bullying them will make it so much easier for the pedophiles to groom minors. 

And probably 5% of people in fandoms that consider themselves anti-shippers are puritanists that’ll bully anyone that doesn’t promote their vanilla and morally perfect ship.

Just like the % of the people who are actual pedophiles is small, the % of these puritainists is very small too, but fandom pedophiles will try and persuade you that this is a bigger number-- that anyone who disagrees with your ship is out to censor the media you love because they don’t like anyone that disagrees with them.

In the same sense as pedophiles, will try to convince the younger normal people of fandoms that harassing and bullying anyone that disagrees with them is the morally right thing to do, and anyone thats a “pro-shipper” is supportive of pedophilia.

Fandoms are meant to be fun, but at some point it’s turned into a fight against what group is more morally right than the other. 

It’s so much more important to invest your moral growth from experiences in real life than it is from strangers on the internet. When most of your social life stems from the internet, you’re missing out on vital social skills built in your adolescence.

When we use labels like “antis” and “pro-shipper” and whatever else, it not only makes it difficult to distinguish between who is actually bad and who is someone that thinks a little differently, it polarizes communities that could otherwise be connecting over their favorite entertainment.

In conclusion, most of us aren’t bad and we need to protect people who are vulnerable to actual bad influences on the internet. Be nice to each other, and log off every once and awhile.

[sadsinclair]

I cannot stay silent about this anylonger, I have seen some posts in the bioshock hashtag that have aimed to down on those who ship certain characters in the fandom. This of course goes for every fandom!

This is a FANDOM, these ships do not have to be cannon and do not have to be agreed by everyone on the internet. And to add to this, these are fictional characters and not to be taken seriously. And if you take them seriously be mindful that not everyone is going to be doing the same.

You don’t get the right to dictate who can like specific content on the internet, especially if what they are doing isn’t harming anyone. I won’t be sharing names of accounts because I’m not that low and I’m almost positive that it’s only children being children. We make mistakes! But bashing on others and spreading harmful allegations based on a persons personal liking of a relationship amongst FICTIONAL characters is not acceptable behaviour. This can absolutely damage someone’s personal life, weather it be getting a job or even mental health.

How would you like it if someone called you a rapist, or claiming You as a abuser because of the fake relationship you ship between two fictional beings. These are serious allegations! This can harm someone’s personal life. And all these are claimed and spread about just because you don’t agree with the pairing of FAKE CHARACTERS.

I in no way think abuse is ok! And if you believe I think it is due to my liking of atlas and jack then you are very mistaken. I judge people based on their real life mistakes not their fictional character pairings.

Stating stuff like “well actually all the characters are ____ insert sexuality (weather it be ace, gay, lesbian, pan—-“ that’s a personal depiction of the characters you love. Doesn’t have to be cannon and you all don’t have to agree with one another. But this doesn’t mean you dictate how people view characters.

To add onto this I find it absolutely heart breaking to read posts where others bash on a ship post (example- jackXatlas, sinclairXdelta, RyanXfontaine) simply because they find it disgusting due to the history’s of the characters or even because it’s man on man, girl on girl, or man on women.These relationships are not meant to be cannon! They are created by the fans for their own entertainment. Doesn’t mean it’s really in the story.

Have an opinion and a preference but this doesn’t give you the right to bully people on the internet or allow you to spread harmful allegations. Ask yourself, is this person harming me or someone else by Drawing or writing this? If the answer is no then be kind and swipe by.

And before ANYONE wants to start with “well shipping children characters aren’t ok” I agree, it isn’t ok to fantasize young children doing adult things! This post isn’t to defend those who believe it’s ok to sexualize underaged characters. This post is simply meant to get the point across that we can like different content and ship others without bullying those who have a different depiction of a character as well as not spread harmful allegations.

You don’t know everyone personally! Stating life threatening claims (abuser, pedophile, etc..) are not acceptable. It’s one thing if they are a danger to media and you have records of said person doing illegal things and such but unless you do... do not say these things.

I’m positive this message won’t change the minds of those who are stuck in their own way of thinking and are not open to others ideas but hopefully down the road this can help someone out.

Remember, ITS A VIDEO GAME! it’s FICTIONAL. fandoms are created by the fans exploring with new ideas with an already made storyline and character base. Stop Villianizing those with non harmful opposing viewpoints on something so pointless like fake character relationships. We have bigger problems to fight about! For example, getting grown ass adults to not groom children and getting equal rights for those who should have had them to begin with.

You don’t have to like everyone’s content and you also don’t have to comment.

Once again I’m not saying that it’s ok to sexualize underaged characters and to add to that I also don’t think real life children should be sexulaized either: that’s nasty af.

No one owns the fandom! Sure the franchise might be owned but all the fan made story’s and art.. that’s the community’s lovely doing. Embrace different depictions and engage with your community. Bring eachother up! Most likely everyone’s self conscious about their lovely creations.

Xoxo 💋 yours truly

(If you want to discuss further or have questions my dms are open. I’m not here to put people down but uplift them.)

[awed-frog]

I really enjoy your blog in general! but i found you through spn so that's my focus here. I was so relieved to find someone else with a strong attachment to the show but also legitimate criticisms, I've seen so many people that either can let go of it easily or defend it past the point they really should. But your writing is amazing, your crit posts are thought out, and i almost cried when i opened your blog and found quality destiel content that didn't veer into actor rpf. Thanks for existing ✨

Hi, thank you so much for this message! That’s so sweet of you!

Belonging to a fandom is still very new to me, and to be honest I’m still not sure what it means and if I’m any good at it. Generally speaking, I’m a big believer in the power of fiction, and to me that means that, sure, there are things we read or watch just for fun and not everything should be Proust, but at the same time, nothing is wasted and nothing is forgotten, you know? The stories we absorb every day, from your mom’s embellished version of what’s going on with aunt Ruth to that thing you saw on the news all the way to a PWP you scrolled through on the train home, latch on to some part of your soul and become part of who you are. This is how we function as human beings, and that’s why we should be careful about what we expose ourselves to. 

That’s mainly why I’ve been trying to think critically about Supernatural - I love it to bits, but I don’t want it to seep into my brain completely unfiltered. That’d be dangerous with anything, and I believe it’s especially dangerous with a show that’s so easy to adore and devour, because even after all these years - I’m sure you feel the same - there’s just something about that story and about those characters that - resonates. It’s a story that works, maybe it’s as easy as that, and I found there were moments in my life when it had become difficult to remember I had my own life and my own reality, and Supernatural wasn’t, for all its virtues, real at all. So, no - I don’t believe in full devotion - not to a person, not to a country, not to a religion, and certainly not to a TV show. Some people seem to think that makes me a bad fan, and I got my share of howlers, so I’m really moved and happy when I get messages like yours. We’re increasingly steeped into a culture where whoever screams the loudest is seen as a natural and legitimate representative of everyone else, and here on tumblr it’s sometimes hard not to take that seriously, so, really - thank you for sharing your views and reminding me we’re actually allowed to love something and still be critical of it.

As for the RPF thing - I honestly didn’t know what that even meant until two years ago, and I remain deeply suspicious of the whole concept. Zan Romanoff said it better than I ever could, and while I now understand why some people see it as harmless fun (I was going to say, ‘Some of my friends are RPF writers’ but that sounds like, ‘Some of my friends are gay’ or some shit, so you see my problem here) I don’t think I’ll ever come around to that way of thinking. I don’t know. Maybe I can’t get over the fact that if I ever became famous, I don’t think I’d be very happy if people created entire blogs to prove I dont’ actually love my husband and celebrated my imaginary sex life (complete with dubcon, noncon, bestiality and everything in between) with short stories, novels and paintings. Don’t do unto others, and all that? It’s bizarre, it’s what it is, and - inevitably - an invasion of privacy, because thinking about someone else’s sex life in so much detail and - let’s be honest - getting off on reading how your favourite actor looks as he’s being gangbanged - I’m not sure that’s harmless fun at all. It may be harmless to the actors themselves, which is why so many people brush it off, but what about the harm it does to the people actively reading and writing and metaing and fanarting? I’m not talking about a casual interest here - about that natural, gossipy part of our brain that will be interested to know Tom and Dick got married and Harry was six squirrels in a coat all along. No, what worries me is what is described in the article I linked above, and what you regularly see on tumblr, including in our fandom: people who allow their lives to be almost completely taken over by those of others. I don’t know. It seems to me that no matter how fun it may be, it’s really not healthy in the long run? Sure, those people are seductive - they’re talented and handsome and rich and lead this exciting lifestyle and everything else - but your life is worth living too, and it’s worth thinking about and fantasizing about and obsessing over. 

(It’s your life. It’s you.) 

So maybe I’m old and too much of a mom friend, but I can’t help but seeing a direct link between how unhappy and unsatisfied many people seem to be in real life and this widespread and slightly creepy interest for celebrities and what they do in bed. And fandom, by the way, is exactly the same thing, and poses the same dangers - just like other time- and soul-consuming hobbies (think politics, religion, sports, relationships, work). What’s been interesting over the past few years was discussing these issues with people who were going through the same thing I was - people who were drowning inside an increasingly dissatisfying show and were frustrated with themselves for taking it so damn seriously, yet unable to stop. I know what that’s like, and for them, as for me, and as for everybody else, it’s always about the same thing: when you get lost into something that’s not real to the point of considering it real, it’s because there’s something about your own life that’s just not working. It seems self-evident, but even common patterns are not easy to spot, or be overturned, when they’re about yourself. For all of those reasons, I believe it’s best to stay away from shipping real people and looking too closely into their lives and instead enjoy what they share with us - be it books, music, movies or shows - in a joyful, but not mindless, way. Easier said than done, I know, but to me, that’s the goal.