#I'm hesitant to tag yoi but ehh

[freshmilko]

Okay so I can actually tell you exactly why the whole killing stalking shitshow went down. And why Yuri on Ice is related when it’s such a completely different genre. It didn’t come out of nowhere, it was just a bizarre series of events that has led to… This.. Disaster.

So basically what started it all was the godsend that is Yuri on Ice. Now I’m pretty critical about the fiction I consume and while I do have some issues with the show, I think they did an amazing job and its a huge step in the right direction for queer representation in media! And people recognized that.

So now you’ve got this show attracting all kinds of different people! Everyone loves an exciting, well balanced show, no matter their usual preferred genre. YOI had excitement, beauty, tragedy, and queer romance all wrapped up in one little single season anime. It attracted a Very Big and Very Diverse fan base Very Quickly.

There was so much love for this anime that EVERYONE felt inspired to create fan works for it! There was a huge influx of art, comics, fics, etc etc. And all of this was loved by the other fans who like and reblogged all these great fan works; so much so that a huge number of blogs basically converted to YOI blogs. And you have all these different types of blogs all becoming relevant to each other because of YOI, so people follow one another and there are all these new connections on blogs, which previously would never have interacted.

And then Yuri on Ice ends. It was still loved, don’t get me wrong, but naturally obsession faded and blogs returned to posting about what they used to post about. And in these post-YOI phase blogs there are also, of course, guro blogs.

Now guro is a pretty controversial subject, so guro blogs tend to keep to themselves and other guro blogs. It’s a pretty closed off and tight knit group on tumblr, for good reason. I’m an outlier, since I don’t reblog any hardcore guro and barely any of the soft stuff, but I follow a lot of these blogs. I personally saw the YOI phase in a lot of them! And I saw them return to previous interests. You know, guro.

But suddenly these blogs have a lot of new followers(many of whom are self identifying fujoshi ((which is a whole other rant))) who came for the YOI, and obviously don’t /mind/ the guro but these new followers don’t know the general philosophy guro blogs follow. Things like always having warnings and tagging potential triggers. Also warning off minors from R18 blogs. And a lot of the time these new followers ARE minors. Hell, I’ve been following porn blogs on tumblr since I was 13. I may be an adult now but I remember being that age and desperately searching for some validation for what I experienced. As an adult, I agree with blocking minors from R18 content for legal reasons, but sneaky kids will be sneaky kids. Especially on tumblr, it’s very easy for immature minors to lie about age for the sake of following this content. And usually that’s harmless, let girls read some josei or yaoi and become comfortable with their sexuality.

But now they have found guro. And all the interests that often go with it. Horror, abuse, psychological horror, you name it. Extremely triggering material for a lot of people. Extremely cathartic material for some (like me). Often kept to the sides of fandom by the use of warnings and tags. And killing stalking is gaining popularity in this little pocket of tumblr. It’s a good horror manga. It’s gross, terrifying, and full of horror. It’s good. But it’s good /horror/. That means it’s not a healthy happy story. Any decent guro blogger will tell you that yes, it’s a good horror, and yes, it’s gross and terrible. But that brings us back to the immature YOI fujoshi!!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all minors. There are definitely many adults who are doing this, too. Because many adults are immature, just like kids. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t hit a magic age that changes you. And you don’t suddenly learn what a healthy relationship is either!! Especially fujoshi and fudanshi who drown themselves in fetishized and romanticized yaoi. It’s these fans that are being exposed to killing stalking, and taking it as another cute yaoi couple that just maybe has a few issues they need to sort out. Such as breaking each others legs and poisoning each other. But they love each other right!!!!!!!!!

Wrong. It’s abuse. It’s horror. Horror loving fans know this, accept it, and when we recommend killing stalking to anyone else? We warn them. We tell it how it is. And we only recommend it to people we know are into this kind of media. The story and relationship are horrible. Horrifying. It’s horror.

BUT!!! It’s not just our little pocket of self aware weirdos anymore. Now there are immature people who “came for the YOI, stayed for the weird porn!!” And they don’t know or don’t care about warnings. They enjoyed killing stalking so why won’t everyone else? They also are so desensitized to abusive relationships in yaoi they think it’s normal. And because of this mindset they have, I see a lot of my favorite non-horror or even nsfw fandom artists and bloggers getting asks that just say “have you read killing stalking? It’s so good!!” And I just cringe so hard because A:this blogger doesn’t read horror and B:this anon did not give any warnings of potentially triggering material.

So now, killing stalking is being romanticized and spread as a “yaoi” to people who are expecting something different and in the first place do not want to read something so gross. And they hate it. And I feel for them. They should never have read something they aren’t comfortable with, and that’s on the anon that sent them the message and gave them false expectations.

But now it’s become a witch hunt. Just like everything else on tumblr lmao. People on tumblr have trouble recognizing the different between reality and fiction, and I have a whole other long rant as to why that is, but I’ll let it slide for now. The point is that these antis equate a person to the fiction they like, which is ridiculous. And so they condemn the people who like killing stalking. Regardless of whether or not the individual actually romanticizes it.

Basically what happened is that whereas before the “morally correct” side of tumblr could just ignore the “less morally correct” sides interests, now ignorant and immature fans are forcing “less morally correct” media to be consumed by people who Don’t Want It. So they blame all of us. And it sucks. But mob mentality is what it is and the only thing we can do now is hope idiots stop recommending the goddamn manhwa to random people and the antis get bored.

Ok so I hope this is coherent at all idk why I decided to type this at 6 am. I just find this whole thing super annoying but also strange and interesting. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Tldr: probably that fujoshi culture is the worst sorry also children are terrible

Real tldr:WARN FOR ABUSE AND POTENTIAL TRIGGERS ASSHOLES