#ofmd harassment

[ladyluscinia]

It will never stop amazing me (in a morbid fascination way) that every once in a while the shambling corpse of the ofmd fandom makes some noise and it's always - always - more warriors of the same faux-purity culture ship war that drove the whole fandom to eat itself alive and implode over the course of a single hiatus. How are they still doing this? They hate this character and any ship involving him so much they have made tags uninhabitable, harassed out every "problematic" fan they could and basically killed the fandom in the process, and now apparently a few of them are experimenting with active homophobia against his queer actor for being a "bad" queer (liking the character he played). They're running a toxic thoughtcrime surveillance state on an abandoned ghost town. And still innovating new ways to be more toxic about it!

It's absolutely bonkers 🙃

[izzyferal]

Hope you get your teeth shattered today. Fucking die, izzy stan.

You sound like some of the racists I've dealt with my whole life 🥱🥱🥱 Your will never stop me from loving Izzy. Go to therapy and get a hobby, this isn't good for your health.

Tagging this because I refuse to hide my harrassment due to being an Izzy fan and allow it to be minimized or ignored by the wider fandom and Izzy critical folks.

@izzy-anti-archive

[ldrmas]

*hug

I'm here for ya

i think there's something so mean about how, when S1 ended and GB broke up, izzy AND his fans were called abusers (among other, horrifying things), i closed all my anon asks and twitter/ig dms because of it. i came into the fandom when the season just ended, "this feels like coming home" i said, and got a death threat a few days later. "i just want izzy to be happy", and a dm saying "you don't belong here" arrived. i got dragged in a doxxing scare, someone i know did get doxxed. now S2 has ended and what we feel is a disservice to his character, on the road to recovery and healing after the horrors of episode 1-3 and a suicide survivor dealing with disability, he gets killed off unceremoniously because 'he has no more role in the narrative'? just when he found a family and belonging he could've sailed with? he could've been written out without dying, getting his own happy ending. instead, he got killed by a stray bullet, on an avoidable 'suicide mission' (had someone else taken his place). and with us being upset, suddenly we have no right to grieve and be sad about this? suddenly we have people laughing at us and downplaying how heartbroken we are? we saw him happy and at home, we just wanted to end the show with that, him alive and experiencing the world with family. i related to him so much, of course it hurts. a lot of izzy fans started the S3 renewal campaign because we wanted to think everyone would get their happy endings. it's so sad to think about the show now. it's been more than a year and i still love this character and the community he's brought me. he's gotten me through tough times and given me hope. let us have this, let us be sad and upset and speak our criticisms, for kindness sake, for the kindness the show used to promise us. the same way people whose ships get broken up on cliffhangers and tragic ends are upset, let us have this too. this is a public message, but you have nothing good to say, if you're here to downplay the hurt, if you're here to laugh, please just scroll on by or block.

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

my lukewarm fandom take is that even when there's a fanon thing that I despise with a fiery passion, seeing people who also hate that thing (but haven't bothered to curate their space to avoid it) get their brains pickled by haterism about it is genuinely equally annoying/exhausting/stupid.

if you see a post that's like "I'm not really into [ship], but this is the only way it would make sense to me" and you respond to it with "ew omg why are you even THINKING about [ship] that's SO gross" then my guy you have got to log off and touch some grass or maybe find an actual problem to be concerned about.

you can be critical of something without turning into a frothing at the mouth reactionary every time it's mentioned.

[fivehundredpagesoffiller]

Girls is gender neutral here ofc

[ladyluscinia]

Every once in a while I'll scroll the Izzy Hands tag and be blindsided by the sheer confidence with which haters assert that the majority appeal of BlackHands is *insert dynamic I have thank fuck never been subjected to in this fandom and would click out of instantly*

Like do you guys need actually enjoyable BlackHands fic recs? I feel like maybe you're reading absolute garbage or someone is fucking with you? I definitely know you did not do the reading on those metas you casually referenced, or maybe just needed someone to hold your hand and walk you through it again because you kinda missed the central point by a mile 😔

Surely you wouldn't be insulting a bunch of people for their shipping preferences based on shit you just made up

[ldrmas]

I hate to be a deppie downer, but I didn't hold out any hope for spn Jared/Sam stans to have empathy when we lost Castiel then lost Dean exactly next and have a show we loved all wrapped in a shitty series finale. So let's just assume that I have very little hope for this Fandom.

There's something I think is important to say, in the wake of the season finale.

And that is that Izzy Hands' death wouldn't be such a huge blow to Izzy fans if the fandom had treated them better for the last year and a half.

Losing a beloved character can be devastating. I personally have cried for days over it. (In retrospect I had Other Shit going on that made me extra susceptible.)

But Izzy fans have been through the wringer. Outcast and targeted for abuse in the fandom, accused of every kind of derangement and personal flaw, death threats, doxxing, organized harassment campaigns.

I don't even know most of it, because I'm not someone who spent time in the Izzy trenches, I still got death threats for talking about him. But I saw things that really made me disgusted with the whole fandom.

Then they got the high of being proved right by S2 in their interpretation of Izzy's character. The writers agree with Izzy fans, full stop. And just when it seemed like all the shit might be over and have been...IDK worth it? Rewarded?

Well, then he's killed off.

I understand the rage, the grief, the despair to feel like you were finally getting the thing you wanted from a show and then to have it soured. (coughTheMagicianscough)

I think it's important for the fandom, if it doesn't want to descend back into toxic sludge, to have some compassion and tolerance of Izzy fans emotional reaction. Talking shit about the fans that just experienced a great loss is not a class move.

Please try to have an ounce of empathy and humanity.

Because it's only NATURAL in in such a hostile fandom environment, Izzy fans grew deeply attached to their messed up little guy. They suffered abuse for it. That only makes things more intense.

I've been there, multiple times. It fucking sucks. We all are having a lot of emotions about the finale, and the very least we can do is to not turn on fellow fans.

I have very little hope for this fandom not turning back into a dumpster fire, because frankly the track record is POOR. But, well, figured I give it a shot in the dark.

[izzyferal]

You cry over an abusive rapist.

I can't wait for you fucking cultist cunts to get yours in s2 when Izzy doesn't get redeemed, doesn't get a love interest, continues to be THE racist abusive villain, and eventually gets burned to a crisp.

I am only publishing this for the sake of documenting the harassment that Izzy fans receive on the regular. I dealt with it on twitter and I now deal with it here. I know if I post anything to my insta, I will be harassed there as well.

This fandom has a problem with harassment and it isn't izzy fans doing it.

@izzy-anti-archive

[actual-changeling]

one single hot take from me before i go rewatch the reunion scene ten times and then go tf to bed.

we have a show full of queer people. every single person we encounter with the exception of the british probably is QUEER. ALL OF THEM. let that fucking sink in for a second.

and the queerness is so multi faceted and well done and reflects the realities of so many people watching it.

so if you sit down after this finale and type a post that in any shape or form calls izzy's death homophobic, "bury your gays", or anything in that direction? i need you to go outside for real. i need you to fucking log off and look at the news. maybe look at some nice queer media statistics from 2014-2016. maybe turn on the fucking tv and scroll through the programs and THEN you can come back and tell me how many queer people you saw. how many shows that are unashamedly about queerness.

yeah that's what i fucking thought you absolute twat.

if you are harassing creators over their writing choices when they are out there risking their careers to create queer media you are a vile person and i want nothing to do with you.

[eduobsessed]

besties i hate to break it to you but izzy has literally Not Changed That Much compared to s1 like sure he's moved on and is learning to not repress his shit as much but his personality is exactly the same. we're talking about the "daddy... daddy..." freak. the creature who hate-flirted with stede in s1 with "plumb the depths *slutty curtain touch*". Like if you couldn't stand him in s1 and now think he's ok only because he's a "completely different person" maybe what happened is that your reaction to him was too visceral and people who seem cunts sometimes are people with shit going on (in his case his husband was cheating on him while he tried to take care of the household ok) that deserve some grace

[dementian]

NO IM FUCKING SHOCKED

Who could have ever guessed the real abuse apologists would turn out to be the people who were harassing, abusing, bullying, and doxxing their fellow fans for a year and a half.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I'm seeing a lot of hate in the tags today so let's just go ahead and take all the bitching over the ads campaign to its natural conclusion.

Ignoring that the ad campaign raised over ten thousand dollars to be donated to charity and we have the receipts proving that happened, come on a little thought experiment with me.

A bit ago, I finished saving up 300 dollars and I spent it on a Lego kit I'd been wanting (the motorized lighthouse, if you're curious). That's the kind of purchase I usually don't have the disposable income to make responsibly, so it took me months of putting money aside for it. It was a responsibly-timed purchase; I made sure my bills were paid and grocery needs were met before I bought it. It also brought me many hours of happiness as I assembled it and I love looking at it displayed now in my home. Obviously, because I bought this thing from the Lego company, none of that money went towards charity. Was this purchase morally wrong of me because I chose to spend what is, to me, a fairly significant chunk of change on a selfish purchase instead of donating the money I'd been putting away little by little?

If your honest answer is yes, then honestly that's a pretty online take and we've got nothing more to say to each other. There are many terrible things happening in the world right now, but the idea that someone is morally reprehensible for spending money on something that matters to them instead of donating is wildly out of touch. Yes, I think you should absolutely donate to many of the excellent charities providing relief if you can! I've been running charity drives through my university for months, it's very important to me! But making the occasional selfish purchase is not morally wrong, and harassing people for doing so is not activism.

Renewal campaigns for cancelled shows are not new. Fans of other shows (I think Shadow and Bone?) have also been collecting money to put up ads recently. OFMD is an incredibly important show to many people - it's the first time I've ever felt so seen and respected by a TV show, and the first time I've ever seen a brown, gay man like myself as a romantic lead. It's a fucking good show, there's nothing wrong with us for wanting it back, and honestly if you donated to the ads campaign who fucking cares. That's no worse than me choosing to put money aside for a Lego kit instead of donating it. People making selfish purchases, whether towards a renewal campaign for a show they love or an overpriced cup of coffee, are not your enemy.

[cushfuddled]

Thank you for the wonderful video essay and also for reblogging Izzy enjoyers talking about their negative experiences in the fandom. Feels like our experiences are being amplified in a small way and it's cathartic <3

In response to your message: Thank YOU so much for watching my vid! And god, I'm just so furious at the way the OFMD fandom treated Izzy fans. I remember when I watched OFMD S1, I saw the way certain fans slapped a "wholesome" sticker on the show's forehead, and I went, "Holy mother of god, the antis are gonna be insufferable about this one."

The sheer vitriol leveled at Izzy fans reminds me soooo strongly of my experiences in the Voltron fandom. Like "the canyon"—from what I can glean from the outside, at least—there was this huge divide in the Voltron fandom where like, Shiro fans and Sheith fans were chased into the corners of social media/private Discord servers. We had to become a fandom-within-a-fandom in order to safely enjoy the show we loved and create fan stuff with each other.

I've been traumatized by these fandom campaigns, y'know? People pretend like suibait and accusations of racism and homophobia and transphobia and even abuse and grooming are just...words, I guess. Or they know the power of their accusations, and the cruelty is the point. Either way...I wouldn't wish that harassment on anyone. And Izzy enjoyers are such a creative, hilarious, wonderful group of people. It seems to me that y'all just want to enjoy your "skrungle" in peace. It kills me knowing that some of you aren't going to be able to just...shake off this hate campaign. It's going to leave scars. And all these wounds, whether superficial or deep (I remember the doc where an Izzy fan described how a group of antis got them fired from their job), were inflicted for such petty reasons. The practice of bullying-disguised-as-social-justice will never cease to infuriate me. Wishing you peace and catharsis.

[natjennie]

I haven't really engaged with the izzy drama bc its mostly so boring to me but. just saw a post that was like "it's so fucked up that djenks said izzy was a father figure to ed, the whole time he's been psychosexually obsessed with him" like okay have you never heard of a daddy kink? do you have no idea about the concept of a relationship with older men? you are the same kind of person who assigns found family roles to characters and then gets mad when people imagine them fucking. father figure does not mean literal biological father. you have no understanding of authentic queer experiences if you think being a father figure is in direct opposition to having a weird sexual obsession with someone. what the fuck are you talking about. being queer is literally all about subverting classical understandings of relationships and family roles and love and sex. have you not been paying attention? to anything?

[ladyluscinia]

Been thinking about this too, and like. There's already the glaring issue that this fandom cannot seriously expect the people who were actively getting harassed (and still trying to bring attention to it / bring down the hostility levels / foster understanding) to now take responsibility for begging everyone else to think about X, Y, and Z so we can collectively move forward after that. Victims of harassment campaigns should not be the ones responsible for peacemaking afterwards?

That's absurd.

But like... On another level I'm not even sure how successful that peacemaking could be if it was led by someone who was in "Izzy Canyon" over the hiatus? At least not on tumblr. Because on some pretty important fronts, the antis won.

One thing Izzy enjoyers from S1 never had going for us was numbers. For all the comparisons to Reylos or whatever problematic fandom was in vogue, the gen fandom centered on BlackBonnet that felt neutral to negative about Izzy was always the juggernaut section, and Izzy enjoyers a small minority hanging out in the Izzy tag.

Meaning we were actually small enough to successfully ostracize.

There's people digging their heels in and there's people having their "oh I guess he wasn't terrible" moments, but there's also undoubtedly a very large group of people who mass blocked all the "problematic" Izzy enjoyers starting in June 2022 (or got blocked for putting the 300th "Izzy is racist and his stans need to stop pretending otherwise" post in the tag, inspired by whichever popular meta had popped up on their dash).

And like... Can we meaningfully address the harassment campaign if most of the passive supporters - the people who read a couple metas about homophobic / racist Izzy and built the general assumption that his fans were "problematic" and deserving of ostracization - are completely insulated from engaging with (or even just having awareness of) any of the discussion?

There weren't enough antis to do all that without passive support.

There's literally nothing stopping most fans from just deciding S1 Izzy was still all of those things and S2 Izzy just developed / was punished enough that he's fine now. Which can easily extend to S1 Izzy fans were all of those things, so any mumblings of "discourse" with them before S2 were no big deal.

We couldn't bring attention to the harassment campaign in large part because most of what we said had to go through the antis to even hope of reaching gen fandom, and even then blocked blogs don't necessarily show up on your dash if someone reblogs them.

Has that changed?

Is there any likelihood of an Izzy enjoyer being able to successfully take the lead on these kinds of discussions if it hasn't?

And also to what degree would we be talking about damage already done? The person who was doxxed and the creators driven out of the fandom, absolutely. But what about the successful ostracizing? As soon as the blockwalls started I was wondering how they would shape the fandom, because blockwalls don't tend to come down. I don't even know if people would want to interact with gen fandom, but it still feels kind of like a hollow victory to consider the rest of fandom getting cool with Izzy while they've long since wiped every trace of "problematic" S1 Izzy enjoyers from their tag searches and dashboards 🤷‍♀️

It's a thorny issue, to say the least.

slowly moving out of my smug phase and transitioning into a "okay... so what happens next?" phase.

cuz like... what does happen next? i really really think the fandom as a whole needs to address whatever the fuck was happening for more than the past year. and i guess i'm wondering what does that actually look like? and what are you supposed to do if you spent a year and half being awful to people about a character you were wrong about?

and ik a lot of people will just brush it off or dig their heels in deeper that they weren't wrong and they didn't do anything bad, but i like to believe that not everyone will, ya know?

but idk it feels like part of a larger convo on fandom, antiracism, fan activism, and harassment.

[frooogscream]

oh my god you can not still be framing Cons inappropriate and to be frank suspicious behaviour as him being "relatable" and "quirky about fan art". I also don’t see why you are calling it queer fanart, trying again to rephrase it into something positive he is supporting, when in reality it is simply porn. Porn that children that watch a family show like Our Flag could be seeing on his account!

He has shown clearly who he is in that livestream, showing his fucking bulge to fans! I don’t care if it was just for a few seconds! I don’t care if it was just for a sketch! It is still predatory as hell!

Ok I’m not gonna go through all the BS and why it is BS that reproduces homophobic fearmongering and sexualises queer bodies (esp. comparing it to Rhys and Taika doing the same and coming to the conclusion that them doing it was harmless but the queer man doing so is a "danger to the children" or whatever) again, you can look back to the things I posted when that was fresh if you care to know my stance on this.

Here have a meme instead, I saved yesterday just for occasions like this:

(And to be clear, I’m using 'queer person doing something weird' loosely. I actually think being supportive of queer -yes depicting a character as trans or in homosexual relationships is queer art, don’t know what about that you didn’t get- and kinky fanart though more rare and refreshing is not a "weird"/surprising thing for a queer actor to do. And doing a comedy bit in underwear is not particularly "weird" or uncommon in entertainment ether.)