#shipperdiscourse

[bloodyrakshasi]

I just saw a post that said that fictional characters cannot be abused- they absolutely can. These fictional characters are representations, and the trauma they face can more often than not, in some way or another, be replicated in real life.

On that note, I fully believe in shipping whatever you want to. Why? Because although fictional characters can undergo abuse, they are also not real. If you are shipping abuser x abused irl then yes, we need to have a talk, but in the fictional realm the world's your stage.

I genuinely do not get why people feel the need to police the media that other people consume- that's their own right. I definitely don't agree with certain ships and can't read fanfics of them but how the hell am I supposed to judge someone enjoying that? You know nothing about this person. For all you know, this could be the only light in their life- are you really going to shame someone for having this?

And besides, shipping something problematic is not the cause of problematic behaviour. It never will be. Perhaps it might be the result of it (i disagree, but for argument's sake), and if so, what effect will that ship have on them? It's only a symptom, attacking it will have no effect.

ALSO, how is this any different to the libraries in america banning books?

There's a difference between disliking something and attacking someone. For example, as someone into the grishaverse, I've noticed that a deeply polarising subject is darklina (I don't care about darklina or malina, so consider me a neutral party). Some people like it, some don't. I know people who have gone as far as to block that tag from their dash, which is totally! okay! Encouraged even. But the trouble comes when you attack another person for liking it.

Now that's for consuming, onto producing.

The ethics of fanfiction are wildly different than that of original fiction. Firstly because, as a fanfic author, you are writing for fun. You are not commercialising your craft, which also means you don't have that much of a responsibility towards what you are spreading- it's only going to reach a small percentage of people anyway. This is why published authors get bashed for toxic relationships but fanfic authors generally get a pass for it- because fanfic is primarily for indulgence. It is primarily written "for fun".

(By the way, I don't mean to trivialise fanfiction, i love fanfiction)

This is why if someone ships a problematic ship I will not care. But if this ship becomes/is canon, then I will criticise the author. It's not that deep.

There's a fine line between it's just fiction and let's critique the values and messages this piece of work espouses because it is harmful and fanfiction or any fanwork will lie safely in the territory of the former. Try criticising fanfiction and you will feel like a fool. Why? Because these authors of fanfiction are not making money off of their work. It's that simple.