#you are responsible for your internet experience

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #7594:

Fandoms everywhere need to heed the following: Strangers are not responsible for your internet experience. No one is here to be your babysitter, tagging stuff isn't a requirement it is a courtesy, and sometimes people don't feel like it. The tools for managing your online experience are always right fucking there! The exit button, the back button, the block and unfollow button, the fucking cursor moves so move it to curate what you want and don't want!

[solis-solaire]

TL;DR: Let people hc whatever they want without attacking them,, as long as folks tag correctly and provide ample warning around sensitive topics, it shouldn’t matter what someone thinks about a funny fictional character. Love one another and sing kumbaya, thank you

I find the conversations around fictional characters who are headcanoned by any part of the fandom as gay, or any part of the LGBT community to be really weird. I’m using Miles Edgeworth from Ace Attorney as an example, but this post reflects my views across all fandoms.

Whenever I see a piece of ace attorney fandom media where Phoenix and Miles are in the same room and interact with each other, but isn’t explicitly shipping them, a lot of people in the comments will imply nrmt (narumitsu/wrightworth) with their comments anyways. And I FEEL THAT,,, because oftentimes it is just on the brain like that,, however if it wasn’t intended it might make the creator of the fanon work uncomfortable,, or make folks who don’t like nrmt upset.

When this happens a lot of shipping folks like to say “well it’s BASICALLY CANON that he’s gay,” which I don’t think is great. Even though I myself hc he’s gay, and a lot of the fandom thinks similarly, and even if that is the intention of the creators of the series, other people are allowed to think differently about it. That’s what’s nice about characters that aren’t confirmed to be any type of way: people can draw their own conclusions or label them as something they can relate to more, and explore what the universe would be like if those hcs - no matter how “out of place” they may be - were the case.

Alternatively, people who respond to the “they’re basically canonically gay” comment tend to say a variety of things that I believe are equally hurtful, if not more so. I get that it can be frustrating for folks who may happen to see Miles as anything besides gay to constantly hear this in this fandom, however I don’t think replying to that with “you’re homophobic for stereotyping gay people this way and immediately thinking they’re gay because they have these traits” is right either.

It’s true that many people see certain traits in fictional men and then like to assume they’re fruity. Miles Edgeworth for example is very well-mannered and kinda posh, he wears a cravat/jabot thing and speaks like he has a thesaurus shoved down his throat. He also drinks a lot of tea and is a closeted fan of a popular kids’ show. These surface traits are often the points folks who argue against the headcanon that he’s gay like to bring up, as these traits are often considered stereotypes of a gay man. As such, many folks argue against the “he’s canonically gay” point with the counterpoint that if you think he’s gay, you’re stereotyping gay men, or fetishizing them, or even that you’re homophobic for hcing that a character is gay if they DARE have any of these traits. And that’s pretty weird to me.

Sure, if this were the only things that could lead a person to hcing that Miles Edgeworth is gay, then maybe they have a point. Even if they did, I personally do not see the harm in hcing a person to be any type of way, as a lot of the folks who enjoy these headcanons are part of the LGBT community. Headcanons can be a way for an audience to relate to a character even more, no matter how out of place they may be to someone who is not within that audience. I think personally that as long as we can all exist in our separate internet spaces where Miles is gay in one and he’s straight in the other, he’s aroace in one and poly in the other, ANYTHING you might like to hc Miles as, that everyone can enjoy themselves and not be upset/offended by what other people think of a fictional man.

However, many people who come to the conclusion that Miles Edgeworth is gay usually like to reference the way he speaks about women and men, and also how he speaks about Phoenix Wright if you like the nrmt route. I like to reference AAI’s Turnabout Airlines for the first point, as there’s quite a few sentences that could be referencing Miles’ sexuality in them. There’s a scene where a man you decide to talk to on the airplane flirts with the female flight attendant accompanying Miles by saying something along the lines of sharing a glass of “grape juice” together. Miles thinks the man is talking to HIM and replies “I’m sorry, but I must decline.” Lots of people like to reference this moment as a hint that he’s gay, as in previous interactions where women have tried flirting with Miles, he doesn’t notice at all (except for Wendy Oldbag because NO ONE can miss that), but when this man flirts, he immediately notices, and sounds almost disappointed to have to decline the offer. Additionally, Miles and Phoenix are VERY WEIRD about each other throughout the entire series, and I’m not gonna talk about that because there is so much and many other people have spoken about it already. MY POINT IS that there are more reasons people like to hc he’s gay than “oh he speaks nicely and drinks tea”.

Not to mention that I heavily dislike that folks believe that we HAVE to assume a character is cishet unless the media they’re in explicitly states otherwise. Like why CAN’T people say this man is fruitier than a fruit salad, huh? The show didn’t explicitly say so? Well, they didn’t explicitly say he was straight either sweetie. Most media doesn’t do that if it’s not a focus in the plot, they’re more concerned about writing a neat, convoluted murder plot. For all we know Miles has had a secret boyfriend all along. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter what canon says, people on the internet can and will do whatever they want with this funny, traumatized little man, and I think it’s awesome that we can all share our ideas in this fandom. But I’m tired of people attacking each other or forcing their headcanons upon one another.

PEOPLE CAN CHARACTERIZE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS HOWEVER THEY WANT. IT SHOULD NOT MATTER WHAT THEY’RE DOING WITH THEM AS LONG AS THEY TAG CORRECTLY AND PROVIDE WARNINGS WHEREVER NECESSARY. GRRRRRRRRRRR

[violentlyexplosive]

it's always so funny to me when i get a new follower and they have shit like "proship DNI!!11!1!1" in their bio or pinned post. like brother my blog is not a safe space for you (neither is the entirety of the real world, but I don't think you people are ready for that conversation. on account of being probably 12 years old. cus that's what you're acting like.)

"censorship is bad" should not be a radical take in the year 2024. stop trying to sanitise the internet into some uber-puritan, ultra-virtuous, squeaky clean space. like what are you, catholic? i beg of you- grow up.

[yandere-sins]

I am hoping and praying for all the people that like to ignore the obvious signs in my blog + blog name, requests, writing, etc. that it's yandere that their eyes will be opened and always see more than what their first thoughts tell them and that no one dictates what they do with their life as they like to do with mine.

I will make a header to slap on all my requests from now on with general warnings, you people won.

[bitchofdarkness]

So.....hello new follower who seems to be underage ???

You made me realize I probably need to state these really obvious things about me in case there are more underage followers in hiding:

I am not kid friendly in any way and I don't plan on changing that. That means....

...I swear a lot.

...I write smut.

...I'm a proshipper.

And I am not a parental figure, more like the mentally unstable aunt with a questionable gray moral.

[spaciebabie]

hey guys did you know that in your settings you can filter out tags AND words that show up in posts??????!?!?!??!!?!?!?!?

WOW!!!!!

[lesbiansanemi]

Every now and then someone will follow me and in their ridiculously long DNI it will say “Renkaza shippers do not interact” and in that moment I always just. Have so many questions

[kitkatcadillac]

not to be dramatic or crazy controversial or anything but building walls and policies against the people around you based solely on what boxes youd slate them in before giving them the basic respect of them being people just like yourself first and then moving from there doesnt actually do good for anyone in any direction i think and its been Really Weird seeing the separatism get more and more intense and Righteous or whatever has actually been insane

[pedripics]

shipping accounts on here rlly just mind their business and still get attacked….meanwhile pedri x y/n users are thriving and no one talks abt them 🤷‍♀️

it’s both fiction at the end of the day and that’s completely fine. as long as it stays on the platform i don’t see a problem with either because it’s not content meant for them to see but from fans for fans. imo there’s a line crossed for both when it comes to smut involving minors (especially when written by a non-minor!!!) or when it involves topics such as sa but that’s exactly what the block function is for

[thetriangletattoo]

today my nephew asked me what an mp3 reader is I finally understand my elders

[spitblaze]

because i am always always ALWAYS anxious that someone is gonna interpret something i say in bad faith i made that anti-transmasculinity post bc there was a minute or two on tumblr and twitter where trans men were the Embarassing Cringe Queers Du Jour and people were like 'lol trans men dont even face any sort of discrimination outside of garden variety transphobia' which is patently fuckin untrue and im very tired of being called a 'pussy' and a 'whiner' because people do not take me seriously as a man unless its to claim im a predator or violent so. theres that

[carnographix]

The one good thing to come out of me being in guro spaces a bit too young is that all my takes on fiction are incredibly real and based

[spotsupstuff]

ur grading people and if they get an f theyre blocked? my main you aint a kindergarten teacher this is a microblogging platform

yeah, that's why there's that function called blocking! :) cuz this is a microblogging site! that's what microblogging platforms have! :) so you don't have to put up with people's shit! :) interesting that kindergarten teachers where you live are capable of blocking people in real life, hope you had fun with that

[bonniepop]

Hi! i read your fics from reblogs and i really like them, but i saw you write smut- will you block underage blogs if they interact with you?

hi! thank you for the compliment, and thanks for asking

i mean this with absolutely no ill intent, but i genuinely do not have the time, patience, or interest in policing people on tumblr

[giraffeter]

I often see posts about curating your own online experience that make the point, “content creators aren’t your parents.” And, yes, that is absolutely true! And I try not to be like “as a parent,“ but as a parent…

EVEN PARENTS ARE SUPPOSED TO ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE READING/VIEWING BEHAVIOR. NOT filter everything ahead of time for their kid.

When my kiddo was 5, his pediatrician was asking him the usual Well Child Visit questions (“What are your favorite foods? What do you do to get your body moving? Do you know what to do if you get lost in a public place?” Etc.) and she asked, “What do you do if you see something on TV that scares or upsets you?”

I piped up like, “Oh, he doesn’t watch TV without one of us in the room,” which was true at the time and is still largely true now. She said, “Yes, but that won’t always be the case, so make sure you’re talking to him about what to do if he sees something that upsets him.”

So we started talking to him about that, and the answer is simple: “Turn it off or leave the room, and talk to someone you trust about what you saw and what you’re feeling.”

The answer is NOT “Ask your parents to make sure you never see anything upsetting again,” because that’s just not possible — and ultimately that would be doing the kid a disservice, since sooner or later he’s going to be out in the world where we can’t control what he watches or reads. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to make sure he’s watching/reading age-appropriate stuff, it just means that’s not the only safeguard he has — and that’s a good thing.

So yes, content creators aren’t your parents and aren’t responsible for making sure you never see anything you don’t like — but also, your own parents should have taught you what to do when that happens. So if they didn’t, take it from me, your internet mom:

Turn it off.

Walk away.

Talk to someone you trust about how you’re feeling.

And leave the person who created the thing that upset you alone.

[threadmonster]

I honestly have a lot more crotchety old mad energy over things than I should for someone my age.