fandom purity culture has me with my head in my hands. there was this fandom project thingy i was really looking forward to and then i joined the server and one of the rules was like 'if you're found to be making/consuming problematic content you will be removed from the project' and it just pissed me off so much i decided i didn't want to be part of a project like that and exited the server as soon as i'd entered it. like GEEZ. why does that matter? why does it even matter what people are making and consuming outside of a separate project? how do you decide what's problematic and what's not? why are you so obsessed that you're gonna police actual people's lives like oh so and so saw you reblogging something problematic so we can't have you tainting our pure and perfect project. like, damn, purity culture is a hard thing to grow out of (i know. i fell into it in my mid teens and it's still hard unlearning it), but at some point you have to accept that it doesn't matter that much. that people aren't that simple. that it's just words on a page. there're things that make me uncomfortable, but as long as i block the tags and avoid that content why should it matter? it doesn't affect me. i'm sorry if i've ever said otherwise (as i said, it's a hard thing to unlearn but i am unlearning it) but god, we're all just people, aren't we? who cares about other people's fucked up little ships. it just sucks
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Done with vacation, prepping for a big workday tomorrow and finally got a chance to look at the container worksheet for ""the izcourse"" and it's been really nice to see people's responses to it and to the post.
Thank you to everyone who’s given their two cents, reblogged, and who’s expressed support to the idea of a restorative approach to harm (especially racist harm) in the fandom.
In the spirit of seeing this bear fruit, I've decided to make the spreadsheet "view only" since the last time it got a response was three days ago. I think it's reached a point where there's enough to glean useful information (DM me if u wanna add more).
@ourflagmeansgayrights thank you for doing the work of disseminating the post within your circles. and for keeping this dialogue open. I hope your tumblr break goes well 👋🏽 Tho I was hoping for other voices to join in on the conversation, I didn't expect for them to come in thru our dialogue like that.
When you shared that list, I saw an opportunity to contribute skills and knowledge I have in service of a fandom community that I really care about. A lot of people have expressed in tags that they want to see this go somewhere. Even if its just out of curiosity, even if it’s A Lot, even if it’s really intense, and even if they’re not invested in “the izcourse” itself.
Community care, especially liberation-centered community care, takes vulnerability and creativity and courage and discomfort. I’m sure a lot of us didn’t sign up to do “community care” as part of our fandom experience. We also didn’t sign up for verbal abuse, targeted harassment, and strangers on the internet threatening our livelihoods.
As I mentioned before, I’m a trained facilitator and educate community members on anti racism irl. Creating spaces for people to come together and learn from each other is just what I do 🤷🏽♀️ and this IS A Lot. It’s also well worth the trouble. I think @blow-me-a-kis put it beautifully in these tags.
#the izcourse #ofmd #I fucks heavy with the work Snann is doing to improve the conditons of fandom #we don't all have to be best friends #but we can make this fandom better and we should try #because ofmd means a lot to all of us and we deserve to have accord in the few places in the world where we get a say #talk it through as a crew #also Hell Yeah to my fellow BIPOC canyonites!!! #the responses to the worksheet are brilliant and such a satisfying read #| want yall to understand this is LOVE #Bell Hooks said # Love is a combination of care commitment knowledge responsibility respect and trust #thats what we are building here
(I know that the bit about the Izzy Canyonite responses won’t resonate with everyone. I left it on the tags because believing one can be objective about anything is a trap. 🌻 I can own that “Izzy Canyon” is the subset of the fandom that I’m in and still be invested in the well-being of fans of color and other vulnerable fans throughout the fandom. Also leaving Kis’ words of affirmation because it feels good when ppl recognize that work’s been going into this. Loving and freely given but work nonetheless)
Love is caring about the well-being of the people in the ofmd fandom matters in both concrete (I want my friends to be ok) and abstract ways (other fans deserve to have a fandom experience that’s life affirming). It’s standing up for fellow fans, especially People of Color and other vulnerable fans, when we see them being abused in our digital sandbox. It’s accepting that our hearts beat faster (and not in a pleasant way) when we talk and think about these things because they matter to us.
So this is a direct request to everyone, particularly “Izzy critical” fans, who’re interested in an effort to address harm in our ofmd fandom community restoratively.
Little explanation for each point
Illustrates the “social landscape” we’re working on, particularly the extent of our common ground. Especially useful for an online community
What are the wounds we’re dealing with? Where does repair need to happen?
Compile the responses to harm listed. This will help determine what responses actually mitigate and discourage harm. It could also help us see where there’s room for culture change/innovation.
Identify the grievances expressed by Izzy fans (particularly fans of color) as well. @ourflagmeansgayrights suggested this. I’m pretty sure this information can be gleaned from the sheet itself and any of the earlier posts that brought us here.
This is not the only way to proceed, but it’s an idea.
The end goal is “come up with restorative ways to address and reduce harm, especially racist harm, in the ofmd fandom.” I don’t know exactly how we’ll get there but it’d be really neat if we could do it by honoring one of the show’s iconic lines and central themes:
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Honestly the fact that I have so many thoughts and connections and revelations about what’s going on with El, her arc and how it contributes to the inevitable downfall of her relationship with Mike but feel hesitance to explore them solely because it flies in the face of some really vocal and vitriolic fans is…lmao.
I know why the duffers never talk about it now fr 😭😂
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