#in creating more healthy and inclusive fandom spaces

[brackenferns]

This is just curiosity if anyone else notices this. People say that the TFOTA fandom holds no toxicity but I don’t think that’s the case. We just don’t have ship-wars. But have you noticed that a good amount of the fandom has a holier than thou attitude on how you’re supposed to enjoy the fandom? I admit I dislike wren and have been open about it in the past, But I noticed that the fandom will defend her and call you names for stating your dislike of her and being rude to you than do the same thing you’re doing with a character they love but do it with Taryn or another character they dislike, and hate noticing that they’re doing the same thing and call you names for stating that. I also noticed that some fans will call you names and be rude to you for having a different opinion on the next faerie book. Say the fandom is not for you for not liking things they like, and call you toxic for not having the same headcanons as them or not liking the same thing as them and being open about it. It’s especially bad on Reddit. But it can be bad on tumblr or any platform that has them do the same actions but say you’re the toxic one for not liking things they like. I’m curious if you’ve noticed that

hi! I'm really sorry you've had those experiences. honestly, I'm pretty new to tfota tumblr, and I don't engage with the fandom anywhere else (you mentioned reddit), so I've had less time to pick up on behaviors like that. I don't know if I'm lucky, or if I've just cultivated a pretty chill group of followers and accounts that I follow, but my time here has been pretty lacking in toxicity (& if people seem like they're trying to be inflammatory, I usually try not to engage)

in general, fandom lives in this really interesting intersection between entertainment (so we get the "let people like what they like; it doesn't matter" crowd) and truth/meaning (so we get the "stories reflect your ethics & our world & therefore shouldn't just be mindlessly enjoyed" crowd). I'm just a person yapping on the internet, but if I had to take a stab at where a lot of fandom toxicity comes from, it's in the clash between those two ideas. everyone has the right to form their own opinions and preferences for the media they consume, and yet at the same time, we often want to have conversations about what those stories mean & whether their themes are good reflections of our real world.

but if a character is your favorite babygirl who can do no wrong & you see someone criticizing their actions (or, alternatively, if you're deeply disturbed by the themes in a story & see someone ranking it as one of their favorite books), it can feel personal. we can forget that the individual behind that account is a whole person with life experiences that form their perspectives & whose opinions are no less valuable than our own.

I'm sorry you've experienced name calling and gatekeeping; that's really unfair. fandom is for everyone (just don't cause harm), and people are allowed to have differing opinions. I wish open & respectful conversations were more common than they are, but they do exist, and that's why I'm still here—I've had so much fun jabbering with people (who often have different perspectives on the books we read!) because I learn from them. I hope you're able to find that comfortable niche here, too.

[acourtofthought]

The behavior you're displaying is exactly what's wrong with this entire discourse, it's not just about "liking a different pairing," it's about creating an environment where people can't have differing opinions without being attacked or belittled. Fandoms are meant to be inclusive and fun, not divisive and hostile.

When you immediately shut down someone for expressing frustration with your hate, you're contributing to the toxic atmosphere that prevents healthy discussion. It’s not about which ship is "right" or "wrong", it’s about the fact that you're actively fostering an environment where people can’t simply enjoy what they like without fear of judgment or being told they’re in the "wrong" part of the fandom. That’s the real issue here.

The need to project this level of hostility over something as trivial as a fictional ship is what’s truly toxic. At the end of the day, we’re all here for the same thing: enjoyment of the fandom.

What’s even more concerning is the continuous hate speech you're directing at Elriel fans. It’s one thing to disagree or even joke around about differing opinions, but actively creating a space where one side is vilified and demonized is messed up. This behavior mirrors the kind of toxic rhetoric we see from far-right extremists, where it’s not just about differences of opinion, but about dehumanizing and attacking people who dare to think differently. It’s honestly disturbing to see someone approach a fandom with that level of vitriol - it’s the same type of petty, divisive mindset that fuels political hate and intolerance. The fact that you’re using the fandom as a platform to spew that kind of negativity shows just how far you’ve gone to undermine any sense of community or respect. That’s not just toxic - it’s outright harmful, and frankly, it's incredibly disappointing.

Sure, nameless faceless keyboard warrior, your opinion is one I'll definitely take to heart what with your baseless accusations.

If you want anyone to take you seriously, have the balls to have a real discussion without hiding behind anonymity and provide specific examples of how I'm behaving in a toxic manner, completely unprovoked. Because let's be honest, most of what I write is in response to what e/riels say with their toxic posts.

You want me to take your pleas to be "less toxic" to heart while you engage in the most toxic behavior around.

[fusionfanatic]

Hot take (maybe?): Penny’s torture of cigar was a totally unnecessary inclusion and I think speaks to mg’s habit of emphasising shock value at the expense of good writing.

Most of the analyses and deep dives of Penny’s character that I’ve read discuss one or more of the following scenes: her upbringing pre-FAYZ, her cementing of Caine, her attempted coup of Perdido Beach, her interactions and relationships with other female characters in the series, namely her sisters and Diana, and her infatuation with Drake. People have made links to how Penny’s upbringing, which involves witnessing her sisters being sexually exploited and being emotionally neglected herself as a result of her sisters’ sexual exploitation, has informed her self-image and her understanding of love, sex, and affection throughout her time in the series. People have discussed how her cementing of Caine and her poisoning of her sister demonstrates her inclination to react with violence when she feels her attempts to receive the love and affection (i.e. sexual attraction) she so desperately craves are rejected, a manifestation of her low emotional intelligence and lack of healthy coping mechanisms stemming from the neglect and lack of emotional guidance she experiences pre-FAYZ. People have explored how her interactions and relationships with Diana highlight the toxicity of trying to live up to the unrealistic standards of beauty and desirability imposed upon women by patriarchy and how such standards unjustly pit women against each other in their attempt to meet them. And although her interactions with Drake in the series are limited, I have seen people mention that it illustrates how Penny, in her desperation, is willing to sacrifice her own self worth in the pursuit of receiving any type of attention, to the point where she latches on to the most toxic man in their entire series. What all the discussions of these scenes have in common is that the people who have discussed them have done so in a way that substantively contributes to our wider understanding of what it is that I believe Penny’s character is meant to represent.

Of course, Penny’s torture of cigar is one of, if not, the most popular scene I’ve seen mentioned in Penny analyses and deep dives. I’ve seen people say that Penny’s torture of cigar is among one of the most memorable scenes from the series period. But every time it’s mentioned in a deep dive or an analyses, it is usually some variation of this sentence “Penny is an [insert adjective/s] character, but I also hate that scene where she tortures cigar and, as such, I do not defend her actions.” That’s it. For a scene which is supposedly so memorable, to the point where it’s all people remember about Penny, its inclusion begins and ends with just one sentence. It is relegated to being the obligatory “understanding a character doesn’t mean defending them” disclaimer at the beginning of every analysis and deep dive that I’ve read, a disclaimer which is oftentimes shoehorned in to every discussion and discourse surrounding morally complicated and unpalatable characters because people in fandom spaces have little grasp of nuance (a problem which is of course not exclusive to the gone fandom and one which I actually think this fandom in particular navigates well).

I’ve seen people make the argument that Penny’s torture of cigar is meant to highlight the deterioration of her emotionally unintelligent mind up until this point in the series, and the depravity of her imagination (channeled through her powers) as a result. However, if that’s what it supposed to be representing, then I think a scene she has later on in the same book where she demonstrates a new vision to Dekka in order to stop Dekka from pursuing her does a better at highlighting this. Penny creates a horrific vision just for Dekka which she describes as being new, clearly illustrating the depravity of her imagination and the deterioration of her mind up until this point. And it also showcases one of the talking points from earlier, in that it shows Penny’s desperation to seek love and affection at the expense of her own self worth (going to the mineshaft to work with drake and the gaiaphage) and her inclination towards violence when she is denied love and affection (going to enact her revenge on the citizens of PB and Caine by aligning herself with drake and the Gaiaphage following the failure of her coup). On the other hand, if you were to actually analyse Penny’s torture of cigar using the same talking points brought up in discussions of the other aforementioned scenes, you’d realise just how inconsequential Penny’s torture of cigar actually is to understanding who she is as a character.

In fact, the reason I’m writing this at all is because the only contribution Penny’s torture of cigar made to Penny’s character is canonically giving her a foot fetish 💀 way to go mg, sexualising the 12 year old girl that you were using to explore how the sexualisation of young girls can warp their self-esteem and emotional intelligence.

[thehypnone]

Hi,

I've come across your post about the perceived decline of the Ghost fandom on Tumblr, and I wanted to share some thoughts that have been on my mind.

I completely understand your concern about the impact of people being rude or harassing on the community, and it's disheartening to see negativity affecting what was once a vibrant space for enthusiasts. However, I believe it's crucial for us to reflect on our own interactions as well.

In any community, fostering a positive and inclusive environment is a collective effort. While we may identify instances of rudeness from others, it's equally important to examine our own contributions to the conversation. Sometimes, unintentionally, we may convey messages that others perceive as rude, and it's essential to remain open to feedback.

This is why I want to tell you that a lot of actions you did/things you said can be definitely considered rude and disrespectful as well as your wording/the way you express them.

Instead of solely attributing the decline to external factors, let's also consider how our individual actions shape the community. Constructive dialogue, empathy, and respect go a long way in nurturing a healthy and thriving fandom. By fostering an atmosphere of understanding, we can collectively contribute to revitalizing the spirit of our community.

I value your dedication to our fandom and believe that together, with mindful interactions, we can create an environment that truly celebrates our shared passion, but that doesn’t work if it ends in disrespect.

i agree with you completely on this. Im not even close to considering myself someone perfect or better than others, the truth is I really don't like myself, especially my anger. I always say my messages and askbox are open to any kinds of messages. I try my best but I'm human and I may not realize some things, what is important is that if I'm made aware of them I do my best to change my behaviour. that's something one person on here decided not to do after being made aware of some things politely, so the situation became more heated. this ask anon is the first time anyone had ever told me on here that im rude and disrespectful sometimes, thats why i may have not been aware. I'm not saying that means I'm perfect because I'm not, I appreciate you telling me this and being polite about it. you're pretty vague tho, and I can't change anything if I don't know what exactly I did wrong, what had possibly upset people. nothing like that was ever brought to me so I'm just not sure what you'd like me to do. i just genuinely don't know what actions of mine would be considered rude. if you'd feel so inclined as to inform me i really want to know

[ben10shera2020]

Netflix She-Ra is like the MAGA Cult

Title: The Toxicity of the Netflix She-Ra Fandom: A Comparison to the Cult of Donald Trump Introduction: In recent years, the Netflix She-Ra fandom has gained significant attention for its divisive and toxic nature. This article aims to explore the parallels between this fandom and the cult-like following of former President Donald Trump. While fandoms are typically spaces for celebration and camaraderie, the She-Ra fandom has unfortunately devolved into a toxic environment that mirrors the characteristics of a cult. 1. Echo Chambers and Groupthink: One of the key similarities between the She-Ra fandom and the cult of Donald Trump lies in their propensity for echo chambers and groupthink. Both communities tend to isolate themselves from dissenting opinions, actively shutting down any critique or alternative perspectives. This creates an environment where individuals are discouraged from engaging in critical thinking and open dialogue, ultimately leading to the reinforcement of extreme beliefs. 2. Intolerance towards Dissent: Another striking similarity is the intolerance towards dissenting views within both the She-Ra fandom and the Trump cult. In both cases, any criticism or questioning of the prevailing narrative is met with hostility and personal attacks. This intolerance stifles healthy debate and prevents the growth and development of the community as a whole. 3. Online Harassment and Cancel Culture: The She-Ra fandom, much like the Trump cult, has exhibited a disturbing tendency towards online harassment and cancel culture. Individuals who express differing opinions or engage in perceived "problematic" behavior are often subjected to relentless bullying, doxxing, and public shaming. This toxic behavior not only creates an environment of fear but also discourages individuals from expressing their thoughts openly, further contributing to the cult-like atmosphere. 4. Blind Adoration and Hero Worship: Both the She-Ra fandom and the Trump cult display elements of blind adoration and hero worship. In the She-Ra fandom, the show's creators and cast are placed on a pedestal, with any criticism of their work seen as a personal attack. Similarly, the Trump cult idolizes their leader, often disregarding his flaws and mistakes. This unwavering devotion to a single figure or entity hinders critical thinking and promotes a dangerous "us versus them" mentality. 5. Lack of Accountability: Lastly, both the She-Ra fandom and the Trump cult exhibit a lack of accountability. When confronted with instances of toxicity or harmful behavior within their respective communities, members often deflect blame or dismiss the concerns altogether. This refusal to take responsibility perpetuates the toxic cycle and prevents meaningful change from occurring. Conclusion: While fandoms can be a source of joy and community, the Netflix She-Ra fandom has unfortunately devolved into a toxic environment that shares striking similarities with the cult of Donald Trump. The prevalence of echo chambers, intolerance towards dissent, online harassment, blind adoration, and lack of accountability all contribute to the toxic nature of these communities. It is crucial for fans to reflect on these issues and strive towards fostering a healthier and more inclusive environment that encourages open dialogue and respectful engagement. 

[floraone]

As promised, this year I'll host it again: September is around the corner, and with it smutember, or at least the Sailor Moon fandom corner side of it, that is, if you're on-board here lol. It's open for all types of fanwork, and all ships within the fandom.

Just like the previous years, it runs alongside to the official daily word prompts on the official smutember blog: Smutember is an event that runs all throughout September for all fandoms. The following is meant as an addition, not a replacement. If you want to do daily prompts, please use the official word prompts (linked above). And while these prompts are amazing, for older fandoms such as ours, daily prompts can sometimes be a little intimidating. Because of this, and in now Sailor Moon fandom smutember tradition, I again customized an alternative weekly trope list that can still incorporate the official themes.

As always now, down below you have a list of TROPE AND THEME PROMPTS. This year, since it's our anniversary year in the Sailor Moon fandom, I've added a few of the classic tropes, as well as a remix of some you've seen in the previous years. Because they're meant to spark a variety of ideas, there's a lot of them! You can pick as many of the tropes you want and with them, post once (or if you're motivated, more times) per week, instead of daily.

Be it for fanart or fanfic or any other sort of fanwork, tropes can be combined, (and they can be combined with the daily themes too), whatever floats your boat. Also, specifically: This event isn’t Usamamo-centric only. I will reblog any Sailor Moon content of any pairing as long as it follows the rules! (See below)

The aim of this event is to create sex-positive content together that celebrates a healthy depiction of consentual sexuality. Erotic fanfiction is a beautiful art, especially in a fandom of ours so largely cultivated by women and for women, as well as a strong inclusive focus on queer and gender-queer content and their creators!

And like in 2020 previously, all entries that follow the rules will be compiled in an online-only e-zine! This also means that art that may be too explicit for tumblr can still be included in the e-zine!

Here are the weekly trope challenges:

Reinvent a trope!

WEEK 1 (September 1st - 7th): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Bedsharing 🍋 Flirting Under Fire 🍋 You Wake Up In A Room 🍋 Huddling for Warmth 🍋 Second Chance Sex 🍋 You Talk In Your Sleep 🍋 Awkward/Clumsy Sex 🍋 Freaky Friday 🍋 Friends to Lovers 🍋 Bathhouse/Onsen/Shower/Bath 🍋 Traveling 🍋 Sex with the Ex/Break-Up Sex 🍋 Established Relationship 

WEEK 2 (September 8th - 14th): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Fake Dating 🍋 Shunga 🍋 Battle Couple 🍋 Two-Person Pool Party 🍋 Missing Scene 🍋 Work-Out Sex 🍋 Enemies to Lovers 🍋 Blackout/Quarantine/Lockdown 🍋 Roommates 🍋 Now or Never 🍋 Sleeps With Everyone But You 🍋 Sexual Fantasies 🍋 Slow Burn 🍋 Reality TV AU 🍋 Woke Up Gay

WEEK 3 (September 15th - 21st): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Only One Bed 🍋 Sex At Work 🍋 Pegging 🍋 Hurt/Comfort 🍋 First Times 🍋 Special Delivery 🍋 Friends With Benefits 🍋 Introduction By Hook-Up 🍋 Touch-Starved 🍋 Pining 🍋 Accidental Pornomancer 🍋 Locked In Together In A Small Space/ Trapped Together 🍋 Dry Hump 🍋 Wall Bang 🍋 Guilty Pleasures 🍋 Bad Ideas 🍋 Caught In The Rain 🍋 The Internet Is For Porn 🍋 On The Run 🍋 Stranded

WEEK 4 (September 22nd - 30th): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Just the Tip 🍋 Accidental Nudity 🍋 Praise Kink 🍋 _____(pick whatever)___to-lovers 🍋 Mrs. Robinson 🍋 Dr. Chiba 🍋 Talking In Bed 🍋 In Public 🍋 Aroused by your___(pick a feature)___ 🍋 Mindlink 🍋 Quest For Sex 🍋 Sex Games 🍋 Online Dating 🍋 Confessions of lust and love 🍋 Teach Seduction 🍋 Practice Kiss 🍋 Coffee Shop AU 🍋 Identity Reveal 🍋 Middle of the Night Sex

In Addition to these trope themes, now and until September, I'll be posting a few sex-positive cues of the next weeks as a sort of checklist that is meant to help you generate ideas for your sexy trope fics!

RULES

1. Rating: These fics don’t necessarily need to be M or, in the case of Ao3, E- rated. Obviously, they are very, very welcome to be explicit for this event, but you can also go T-rated and stay in lime or ‘blacked out’-territory if you’re uncomfortable with writing explicit scenes! Both is perfectly and absolutely welcome! This of course also goes for fanart - your fanart may depict sexy scenes, but does NOT have to be explicit! (It can, though! Be aware that for tumblr’s guidelines, when sharing your art first, you may have to clip your images as a sort of preview. The original can then be sent to me privately to include into the e-zine!) 2. Minimum Age of Characters: Since this is a community event, if you do go explicit M rated material: age them up where necessary! So that everyone can be comfortable writing and reading these, let them be 18 at the minimum if they’re going to openly and explicitly wohoo. (16-17 is the global average age of consent worldwide, and also the average age for first sex among girls in many western countries. However, since most fanfic readers are located in the US, where the age of consent is 18, we’re going with 18 so that everyone can be comfortable reading!) If you go for canon fics at a time they are below this age, where you do not want to age up (say you’re going for an episode fix!) please stay in T territory for this event. 3. Off limits: Depictions of sexual acts that contain harmful, violent and non-consenting behaviour with non-consenting individuals (or those that aren’t able to consent, for instance because of their age, or state of mind among else!). If it doesn’t fly by law or the ICD in real life, please refrain from depicting it in the context of this event. This means that dubcon and noncon will not be reblogged for the event, so that people can be safely consuming the content without being triggered. All content will be screened in this regard, and I may contact you regarding trigger warnings. This is not at all to censor content, or that this content is in any form less valid (as long as it is properly tagged and not including characters that aren’t of age), but simply to ensure a safe environment for everyone reading. 4. Tag your triggers. Except the aforementioned limitation of harmful content, nothing is off limits. Explore your kinks! But if you write something that might be offensive to your readers, please tag it. This is ALSO a good way for your readers to find exactly what they ARE looking for! On Ao3 this can be done directly on the fic tags, for FF fics and fic links you can do it here on Tumblr via the fic post tags or in ANs. This is in consideration of your readers. 5. You can obviously post art for this event too. All previous rules apply here, as well. Unfortunately, Tumblr is now against tasteful nudity. That doesn’t mean you can’t link to a deviant art or similar account though, should you want to. And, since this year will include an e-zine at the end of it, all art will still be included fully in it. Here too, please tag your triggers. If you still want to post art on Tumblr, choose a T rated image - clip them where needed, or keep them (semi-)clothed, show us a heated kiss, etc! (Obviously we would love ALL the art and the nude body is a beautiful, wonderful thing, but obviously Tumblr doesn’t agree with us anymore!) 6. Have fun! Celebrate sexuality in an open, sex-positive way with us, try to be unapologetic about your likes while you write this, and appreciate the beauty that comes in the form of content with a largely female-gazing creator-base and audience! Smut in fanfiction has been beautifully put as the subjectification of sexuality (as opposed to  objectification). So let’s celebrate this art form together! 7. Reviews: No one is forced to review. It can be uncomfortable to review a fic that contains sexual acts for any number of always valid reasons. Keep in mind, however, that much like a Burlesque dancer on stage, putting out sexual content can also be very intimidating to an author, and nothing is more discouraging than silence when baring yourself to an audience like this. That being said: Both Ao3 and FF have the option to review in anon mode. That means you have the option to remain anonymous while cheering the author on all the same. Just like the Burlesque dancer, your resident smut authors prefer to go on stage to loud cheering - it makes it all less awkward for them, and feels a little more like a big celebration!

If you’re unsure what sex positivity entails and want to read up, I wrote a post about it here.

This event is not supposed to cause harm. This means that I will screen all content before I reblog it here, and include it in the e-zine. So that everyone of age can feel safe reading the fanworks in the event, dubcon and noncon will not be reblogged and included in the e-zine, and accurate tagging and content warning will be watched. This does NOT MEAN that you cannot post this material: your own desire to write it and someone else’s desire to explicitly read this material are valid. I do not entitle myself to censor. It just means it will not be reblogged and shared through the event so that everyone may feel safe to read to the best of my ability. (But, of course, remember that I, too, might be biased, and not discover subtle forms of it, either. We’re all, in the end, a product of our upbringing and society, and I cannot be completely unbiased.)

During the event, I will be posting all Sailor Moon Smutember contributions in this format on my blog if you @ me to the post.

The official hashtag for the event is #smutember2022 hosted by the official smutember blog. Using it helps people find the content who search for it as well as those who wish to block it!

[takaraphoenix]

When I started out in fandom, I was a kid. I was twelve/thirteen. Tentative, curious and with absolutely no idea about how anything works.

When I started out, the ones that made that fandom florish were all between 20 and 30 years old. They were absolutely amazing, I loved their writing styles so much, just reading their works already taught me a lot.

I soon joined what can be described as an old-time version of Discord. An exclusive group of writers for that fandom. About 80% of them were adults, the other 20%, me included, were minors.

We learned from them. We received guidance and advise for them. Both, on our writing, as well as our fandom experiences. How to stay safe, how to avoid things that could be potentially dangerous. How to interact with others in fandom spaces, respectfully. We wrote the same things and we commented on each other’s works, with praise and constructive criticism, to learn to become better.

Now that I’m an adult, I strive to be like that. I keep myself open here on tumblr to give advise, I encourage people to come to me if they have questions of any kind. Because I know how important this was for me back then and because I know that the internet has actually become a much more dangerous place for kids these days.

And you get thanked by false accusations, name-calling and childish, cringey gatekeeping attempts from children who, for some unfathomable reason, have come to believe that adults shouldn’t be in the very spaces they created.

The saddest part is that every adult I’ve talked to on the issue is just... as tired as me, but far more done with them. I tried to create an inclusive space where the fandom experience can be shared. Other adults told me “nah, that’s not worth it, kids these days have such a twisted attitude, they only mean problems”, “see, this is why I only interact in adult only servers”, “oh yeah I don’t allow kids into my fandom servers at all”.

And that just makes me incredibly sad. Because it makes me remember how important fandom olds’ guidance was for me. And because I see a real danger in this separation - kids who act like they should never-ever interact with adults because every relationship between a kid and an adult is Inherently Weird because they apparently do not have any healthy relationships with adults (which in itself is very concerning) and adults who are done being falsely accused and harassed and talked down by kids so they don’t even try to reach out anymore.

All this does, in my opinion, is leave the kids even more open to be preyed on by the very Purity Cult that’s brainwashed them into this twisted thinking in the first place. Because they got what they wanted; kids don’t have safe adults they trust in fandom spaces anymore, who would warn them and teach them how unsafe this is, leaving them completely reliant on the Purity Cult, to teach them all they want to teach them.

I truly do fear what fandom is going to be like in five years or so and where all this nonsense is headed.

[babooshkart]

hi!! i have loved harry potter for so long but i get sad and mad thinking about jkr and her ignorance. i don’t know how to separate the books from her. like i don’t want her to take away what i love so much

Hello!! 💕 First of all, you’re entirely valid!! I feel like it's very normal for us to be feeling angry and sad about the hateful things that JKR has said, and the unhealthy rhetoric she has spouted throughout the books and post-publishing (ie the books’ overwhelming whiteness, and “Albus Dumbledore is gay but only when you’re not looking directly at him” nonsense). I feel like fandom can be such a safe, loving, and beautiful space to create the kind of content that we wish we could have had in actuality--I’ve been seriously loving drawing Harry and Hermione as POC, and have plans to work on some trans illustrations as well. Artists and writers in fandom have done a lot to reclaim the Harry Potter universe for ourselves, I think, and for me, that has overcome any hold that JKR has on Harry Potter. The author is dead, etc etc.

But you gotta do what feels good and healthy to you!! And if that is stepping away from HP fandom for a little while, go for it!! Go sink all your love and appreciation and talents into what you enjoy--maybe you’ll circle back to HP in a couple of years. 💕💕💕

If you want to get involved in more inclusive art and writing, here's an itty-bitty list to get you started!

UpTheHillArt has some gorgeous trans art

Grounds for Divorce by the lovely @tepre is a heartbreakingly beautiful fic that digs deep into the feelings of displacement and identity, especially related to race.

This perfect Hermione x Luna x Ron art by the amazingly talented @dragontamerdame (there is a NSFW panel, so mind your screen 💕)

The Girl Who Lived (Again) by @ink-splotch is one of my absolute favorite Trans!Harry fics--such strong friendships, and such a beautiful depiction of what could have been that it brought some serious tears to my eyes.

@hptransfest is a really great resource for beautiful fic and art, as well!!

TL;DR: I love you, you're valid and welcome here in this space, fuck you JKR, fuck you racists, fuck you transmisogynists

[stomp-that-ho-regard]

the existence of the "cr discourse" tag itself makes me kinda sad honestly bc of the culture of fear it contributes to. if you scroll down for like 5 minutes you'll see that every other post in that tag is tagged w some kind of hedging like "not maintagging to be safe" or "oh this isn't really negative I'm just tagging discourse to be safe" meanwhile the post itself is something like "I wasn't a huge fan of [x moment]" or "I wish more people in the fandom recognized [y fact]" like ... do you not realize how sad and toxic it is that people are scared to maintag even the most milquetoast criticism of a thing they like ....

I was thinking about this a few days ago.

It’s the combination of toxic positivity and canon worship that has fostered this fear. Fans are genuinely afraid to post their honest opinions in the main tag because they know at the barest hint of criticism, they will be dogpiled. This is not how a healthy fandom space functions. This is NOT NORMAL. 

It’s not just a problem on here though. I’ve seen this same kind of thing on Twitter, and it’s usually ship-related. Tweets that have anything positive to say about Beaujester, are typically prefaced or followed with some kind of praise for Beau/yasha. Like, “I love BY, they’re great together. They’re perfect. But BJ was done dirty.” or “I really miss BJ. Don’t get me wrong though, I love BY. It’s amazing!”

It’s the same fear. The feeling that you have to add a whole ass disclaimer to your opinion, which is insane. (It even happened to me on here. Right after ep108, I had to work up the courage to post in the main tag, and I put a disclaimer at the top saying, “This is not a hate post, I’m just venting.”, because I was worried I’d get ripped apart.)

Those kinds of ‘disclaimer’ tweets are usually coming from people who multi-ship, or used to multi-ship. But because a majority of their followers/mutuals are BY’s, they feel they have to be very careful about what they say and how they say it. They cannot express ANY kind of affection for BJ without blowback, so the disclaimer is tacked on in order to avoid that. (I know I’m making assumptions here, but that’s what the situation looks like, because why else would they feel the need to qualify it?)

So it’s not just being critical of character interactions or wishing there was more focus on a certain story aspect, or even company decisions. It’s fairly innocuous ship stuff too. And as I said, the toxic positivity and canon worship has created a whirlwind of hostility. It’s almost hilarious how ironic it all is. That in the larger CR fandom’s quest to make this a positive, uplifting, ‘safe’ space, they have actually turned it into a cesspool of negativity. They achieved the very opposite of what they wanted.

The cr discourse tag reminds me why I’m grateful that, even when I watched the show, I never really got too involved with the fandom.

Well, I’m glad you've been able to avoid that, anon. I wish I could’ve avoided getting too involved. It’s easy to fall into fandoms. And it can be fun and is usually pretty nice... until it isn’t. They all implode at some point. But the spoiling of the CR fandom has been more disappointing then most, because it’s sold itself as something different; more open, more loving, more inclusive. But there’s way too much ego floating around for any real love or inclusiveness to exist. People are too obsessed with ‘being right’; the ‘right’ opinions, the ‘right’ behavior, and policing other fans with some made-up ideas in their heads about what the cast really wants. They act as if they’re the casts��� mouthpieces.

It’s exhausting.

[withinsnow]

I think people here should be more vigilant about echo chambers. Looking from the outside in it might be easier to notice when it forms, however in most cases people within an echo chamber won't realize they are actually in one.

Echo chambers are a real problem, and they are toxic as hell. The perpetual spiral of negativity and resentment feeds an environment in which people get so caught up in their one-dimensional view they take poorly to any kind of opposition, and thus blinds them from seeing exactly where and how they might be wrong and misstep. With mutuals validating your every word and frustration you'll sit in the belief that you're right about everything no matter what, and those who try and point out the flaws in your reasoning or actions are the enemy by default. There's no room for benefit of the doubt, or for growth.

I've seen it play out in real life more than once. What might start from valid frustration and a need for support in one's view, might spiral completely out of control into sweeping generalized judgements, hostile behaviour and harassment. There are real victims in this, and one might fail to see it due to never looking past the walls echoing uncritical support and validation back at you. Even worse, people will make up justifications for themself that the victims in fact do deserve it, no matter how disproportional the reaction is to the alleged offense.

The possibility of tailoring your experience to the smallest detail is a double-edged sword. On one side it's useful to help people, especially marginalized people, avoid toxic environments that do nothing but harm their mental health. It's vital to create safe spaces, filter out potentially triggering content and build a healthy and supportive community. However that also makes for prime breeding grounds of echo chambers. Knowing how to recognize one, prevent yourself from being caught in it and foster a more healthy and inclusive environment should be a crucial skill when having an online presence.

The thing with echo chambers, and what makes them so effective, is that there's little in the way of notifying somebody already in one that they are, in fact, in one. They'll have to realize for themself, and the ground for that realization lends itself heavily to self-reflection and self-awereness. I bet there's a lot of people here who are in those chambers, who will, upon being questioned about it, think that it doesn't apply to them. "It's not that bad", "well I'm correct in what I say", "we don't engage (negatively) with people outside of our group", "I'm simply tailoring my experience". This is especially common in fandoms, and instrumental in fueling discourse.

One rule of thumb for recognizing an echo chamber is this: the community within the echo chamber is primarily centered around negative feelings towards the same thing, and it makes up a majority of the content. Occasional venting and salt posts do not an echo chamber make, but if it's the primary factor knitting it together, well, you might be in one.

[classyghost096]

This is gonna be a hot take and I’m probably getting cancelled after this... but

(This is gonna be a long ass text so grab some popcorns and get comfortable)

Something feels pretty wrong about Evra, she came out of nowhere, she got close to Ash instantly and they became friends almost instantly (not to mention Ash fell for her after just minutes of talking with her)

Knowing the nature of the series and that Evra was found in Final Space, chances are high that Evra is actually a trap of Invictus, for everything I’ve said before...

But what if she’s not.. (and this is where the hot stuff begins)

If she’s actually gonna be an ally and probably Ash’s couple, then I have a lot of things against that, and you see, that means Evra was created to, literally, say "Look, this character is a lesbian, look how inclusive we are" and that is a problem I have with Final Space and other series.

I love Final Space, it’s a (mostly) mature series that touches a lot of topics (sometimes they get them right, and sometimes wrong) such as found family, forgiveness and the lost of a loved ones, and lamely "inclusion and representation" has not been handled in a proper way.

You have Olan, the crew and basically everyone involved in FS hyping the fact that a Character is gay, with the argument that is inclusive and representative, yet Hyping the sexuality of a character is like, y’know the LAST inclusive thing to do, because basically you’re telling me that something is gonna be special just because it is gay, and that sounds pretty exclusive, at least to me.

And the series doesn’t handle it better, the relationship between Ash and Evra is rushed, Ash starts falling for Evra almost instantly after knowing her and they only had a few minutes of developement, and Evra is the typical character that exists to be the romantic interest of the other, making Ash feel good and telling her basically everything she wants to hear instead of what she NEEDS to hear (Basically she has a "make me feel good-inator ").

And this is not right because first, that’s not how relationships work. When you want a genuine, healthy romantic relation with someone it takes more than just being comfortable around that person, you must complement each other, not complete them, you have to be there in the good times and the bad times aswell, you must trust each other and when the truth must be said, then say it, do not just be nice and make each other feel good all the time, when you must say, feel or do something to right a wrong of your partner, you must do it. Find a partner, not someone who just makes you happy.

Lamely this is not the case, Evra is just there to make Ash feel good and have fun, in fact the first thing they did together was destroying everything on their sight (The reason of why that is a bad thing should be selfexplanatory ), in other words, to the moment their relationship is pretty toxic and not organic at ALL.

The problem is not the fact that Ash is a lesbian, the problem is that the series is advertising this as something special and that stuff with a poorly developed relationship between her and a character they invented just to tell you that she’s a Lesbian (if they were really inclusive, they wouldn’t talk about how special is having a gay character, because people’s sexuality is nothing special about them, is just another little detail about them).

And I can’t explain myself why they couldn’t make an actual organic and well done relationship with Ash when they already made one with Gary and Quinn.

They were organically introduced in the story and their relationship takes the best out of each other instead of just them being happy. (I will talk about their relationship in another post)

So, if they wanted to have Ash having a romantic relation with someone ¿Then why not with Little cato? They’ve already shared a lot of experiences together, Little cato cares about Ash and Ash about little cato, and they actually can work out together as something genuinely good instead of a "I like you because you make me feel good"

Knowing that they also want to make Little cato Gay, maybe the writers used every resource they had to not make them a couple (Yeah maybe even aging Ash, btw if she goes back to normal then the relationship between her and Evra is going to bring soooo many awkward moments...)

It’s a bad thing when a show throws away good writing decisions and interesting things I order to follow an agenda.

And now a few problem I have with the fandom...

I like this fandom, I really do, I have made friends here, shared experiences and I’ve had a lot of fun over all...

But why the fuck are you guys and the writers so desperate to have a gay character, and making Little Cato that Gay character?

Because people were upset that Little cato was not the gay one but my question is ¿Why do you need one so much and why particularly him?

If it is because he is fragile, and a little shy then you’re literally begging for him to be gay just because he acts like a gay stereotype. And that is totally wrong. Heterosexual people can be shy and Fragile. Gay people can be shy and fragile. Everyone can be shy and fragile because your sexuality just defines if you like men, women, or both, and nothing more.

The fact that that people want a teenager character to have a certain quality just to represent them seems off to me, you don’t need a character to be gay to represent you, YOU can represent yourself better than anyone can.

So yeah, if you ask me, the writers took some Poor choices in order to have a certain part of the audience "Happy with how representative they are"

Now this is just what I think and if you want to disagree you totally can, you maybe even can change my mind.

But come on guys, people are not made of sexualities, races or political agendas, it’s just a little part of a bigger something, and that’s why giving importance to sexualities is just wrong.

Now this does not mean that Final Space is bad or that I don’t like the people behind it, I think that Olan Rogers and his crew are really lovely and talented people and they’ve put a lot of their soul in a show that, while is not perfect, is truly a great story and full of awesome moments. But I definetively don’t like some of their choices and I will express that, and that doesn’t mean I dislike any of them, because I love this series and the crew behind it, and I’ll always do.

Sincerely, a Fantrexian

[elizabethrobertajones]

Did Bobo really create the Wayward Sisters? If so, why weren't Jack and especially Cas included in that episode? That's my biggest issue with that pilot honestly, I mean, the fact that the show abandoned Claire and Cas' bond after season 10 and gave that storyline to Salmondean. Her bond with Cas is more interesting because of their connection to the Novaks. I also think that Claire and Jack would've made a more engaging dynamic and spin off together, I think they're strong characters & actors

Hi there!

Bobo isn’t the “creator” of Wayward so much as it can even have one, as it was a very organic idea, which even involved a healthy amount of fandom input. The original campaign in season 10 was for Wayward Daughters, and the idea picked up so much steam the altered title for, I guess, a mix of copyright and thematic relevance was the Sisters one. I’d say 10x08 was the real genesis of it as something that could be really solid. Once Kim and Briana were put together the chemistry and star power they could have had together was really meteoric as far as our small SPN world was concerned. Phil Sgriccia directed 9x13 and wrote 10x08 and was more of the parent of Wayward than any specific writer in that sense. Jody and Claire were pretty much common property of the show by that point. Claire was really introduced again in relation to plotlines and questions about Cas and less to do with them really going out of their way to re-launch her. I think they’d have been much cornier about it from the start and while YA protagonist diary writing her way through the end of Wayward Sisters was cute, it’s the sort of cutesy that really has to be earned. If she STARTED that way, like maybe me and 3 friends would be stanning her and everyone else would be revolted :P

(I am a YA fantasy novel author, but I do think everyone should make room in their hearts for this level of cheese)

In any case, Bobo just threw his hat into an already crowded ring with Alex, but obviously loving the characters and having his own personal wayward child to contribute did help elevate him to the prospective showrunner seat, but also all the other writers who’d written these characters except Dabb had left at that point. If Bobo was going to shepherd them through to their new show, he’d be the legacy writer, even though he was a new baby writer in the season Donna was introduced... Attrition aside, he did genuinely write them very well, loved their stories and was great with writing Jody when he could get her, so he would also have been a good choice even if all the others were left still... 

But anyway. Season 10′s subplot for Cas was about Claire and learning some stuff about himself along the way, but she was used very much for his personal development and for Dean as well, being a mini Dean herself in a season where he had lost a lot of his sense of self. It’s a total accident of scheduling but Angel Heart (10x20) being the last episode before 10x22 is a nice touch in that regard. And while Cas tried really hard with Claire and awoke his inner Dad side so that he’d be more prepared for fatherhood next time, it was pretty insurmountable between them to have anything more than a bittersweet relationship where the best he could do was make up with her and see her somewhere safe. The fact of him looking like her actual dead father is horrendous the more you think about it and while she managed to see him for who he was instead of a horrible monster, that’s more than enough trauma to inflict on an already traumatised girl for the sake of helping Cas’s manpain and tidying up the sticky question of Jimmy and Cas’s right to the vessel. 

Angel Heart very specifically ends with TFW mailing Claire to Jody because they know she’s already good with Alex in a genuine way and can handle these sort of issues and has done it before. And also because she can be a guardian who will not constantly remind Claire that her father is dead but something is walking around wearing a perfect reconstruction of his face. Carver era did a few things here and there with bodily autonomy and the problem of angel and demon vessels, but it was also really hit and miss. They’d get random waves of feeling guilty about it but then by necessity go back to stabbing angels in their still-living vessels an episode later. Claire was a way to address at the very least that whatever Cas was being put through was only a punishment on Cas and not on Jimmy as well, which is probably why we got such sappy Heaven scenes. We NEEDED to be shown he was in Heaven and largely okay with what was going on so that the show could justify using Cas at all as a character without breaking the code of ethics they tried to make their own characters adhere to. Aside from that it also gave Cas a side plot for when he wasn’t needed in the main plot, and any emotional connection to anything that wasn’t Sam and Dean.

Anyway 10x20 caused this huge fandom high which was followed by one of the lowest lows of the fandom immediately after, and both centred on female characters (in fact, now we know, 2 lesbians even! Though I’d wonder if, The Gay Agenda aside, Bobo spite-wrote that specifically because of the roots of Wayward) and I think that galvanised the whole movement of fans and hopefully some self-reflection in the show. They DID start making an effort in season 11, which shows some of the early signs of better inclusion but also backtracking or edging nervously away from the more intense Carver era stuff. Not just because Dean didn’t have the Mark any more but in general it was like someone had opened a window and let in some fresh air... Even before Carver bailed somewhere around the midseason to go do a different show and Dabb started to step up. 

All this to say that the Wayward stuff was always about the female characters and making up for the past sins of the show. It’s even a riff on the “wayward son” line which obviously centres around male protagonists and their journey. Claire stumbled into being a part of it in the lucky way of being in the right place and time, but the journey had already started even in the season 10 momentum with earlier work and it was that which suddenly made the prospect that Jody had two young women living with her now seem like a starter for the next generation of the show as it was a mirrored format to season 1 in a way, if you took Alex and Claire as the new Sam and Dean. It was exciting but people flipped out after Angel Heart because stuff had been bubbling since season 9 and earlier in season 10, so this was just pouring more candy into an already visibly full bowl of potential tasty gems. It made a possibility seem real that hadn’t before because we already had Kim bitterly complaining that the CW refused to hear the case for a Jody spin off because she was too old. The next best thing was a Jody spin off where she was the Gandalf to some CW age appropriate characters.

(the CW is and always has been garbage)

Anyway in season 13 Jack was introduced as a Claire 2.0 but as a male character with staying power for that reason, but he was filling the space she left for Cas. He couldn’t be a father to her and neither really wanted that set up anyway. But thematically it had created the possibility of Dadstiel and the space he had in his heart for that. Since the show was in its waning years they would be looking for endgame and handing Cas an easy win with a son he could unconditionally love who would love him back unconditionally absolutely filled that gap. It was a non SamnDean thing that Cas could have for himself outside of whatever happened with them. Not sure the memo came back that he was supposed to have mORE than that but oh well it’s not real if you don’t watch it :))) But yeah Jack was always going to be linked to Cas’s endgame, he wasn’t a free-floating character such as Jody who could go where she wanted and do as she pleased. He was main story relevant from start to finish and tied inexorably to another main character’s fate. Because the show wouldn’t do that with its female characters they could be bundled into spin offs but in practical terms Jack was both never what the Wayward as envisioned by fans or writers was about, nor would he have been free to go. 

Since it would have been about centering the stories of people overlooked by the main story, Claire a case in point that she had her life ruined in season 4 and it was a footnote until season ten, and then metaphorically more the concept of having queer and non-white characters in the mix of main characters, it would have represented a future of the story where the main show was unable to tread. Probably because of the CW. Also inherent biases in the writers. Bad cocktail. Jack is both too white and too male to fit the brief to ever leave SPN, and not only that but he is so as a precise mirror to the main white male characters, being passably any one of their sons if you squint, and meant to be instantly instinctively read as such... he was one of the safest bets of representing the show as the network wanted to imagine its target demographic.

So I really don’t think that Jack has any place being in a spin off of the show unless you want more of the same. They tried to give us something different and the CW didn’t like it because it wasn’t more of the same. Ironically a Jack spin off, with or without Claire, would have more chance of being greenlit and more chance of success. But the spin off they put their heart behind was Wayward Sisters as it was. And I think it was absolutely correct that never mind leaving Jack out of it after his work was done in the lead up episode to help set the table, but honestly they could have cut all the middle scenes of Sam and Dean wandering in the woods and gained precious seconds with the girls and still had a functioning story with those guys. It was like some cowardly missive was sent that the show couldn’t actually go more than 10 minutes without showing a flesh and blood Winchester or the whole thing would spontaneously sizzle out of syndication and the money tree would wither on the spot. And in the mean time, we could have been having Banter with the girls. Or Claire and Kaia holding hands some more. The good stuff :P 

[cap-ironman]

A Happy 2021 to the Cap-IM Community!

We would like to wish everyone in the Cap-IM community a happy Gregorian New Year! Despite the global pandemic, we've been busy as ever, and we want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped us make 2020 another fantastic Steve/Tony year. 

We hope that you've enjoyed participating in this year's events and that the community has been there for you in these trying times. Thank you to our wonderful community of commenters, creators, event mods, reccers, readers and signal boosters! We wouldn't be here without you, and we hope that we see you in 2021.

In May, we launched a brand new event: the Stony Trivia Quiz! Held online via Discord to bring our vibrant, Stony-loving community together, this was such a success that we ran a second quiz in October. We loved seeing people's guesses and enthusiasm in cheering the teams on! Also in May, a year after Avengers: Endgame screened, we looked back to 2012-era Stony with a special challenge, Fanwork Like it's 2012! Creators of all kinds got involved in this fest, with lots of fabulous prompts and fills. What a great way to reminisce about them good ol' fandom days, or try your hand at a classic prompt! We also ran all our usual challenges, with a return of the Tiny Reverse Bang as our mid-year event.

Two of our community mods, dapperanachronsim and faite, stepped down this year, and we welcomed on board a new addition to the comm mod team: Neverever. We have also made some changes around the comm with the aim of making it as welcoming, accessible and inclusive as possible. These have been based both on our observations as fandom culture has shifted, and on specific feedback — thanks to those of you who shared your thoughts with us!

We're still on that journey, and have some more improvements in the works! Also to that end, we would like to introduce our Community Check In survey. We recognise that it's been a while since we touched base with you all, and we'd appreciate your feedback immensely.

Navaan generously gifted us with another year of paid Dreamwidth account. If any of you feel inclined to give the community some paid time/DW points to help us keep things neatly organized, that'd be very appreciated — we went over the 1000-tag limit for free accounts back in 2018 and the tag list just keeps growing ♥

What will 2021 bring?

Well, lots of Marvel-ous new Stony content, for sure! Holiday Exchange and Community Gifts reveals are in progress, and Remix Relay and Remix Exchange participants are creating fabulous works as we type. Remix Madness will be opening on January 10th, and the 2021 Reverse Bang opened for artist submissions today. We'd like to make a special mention to our beloved RBB event, which is entering double digits this year as we celebrate its 10th anniversary!

The rest of our annual events will also be coming round again, with STONY Bingo, Comment Bingo and Kinkmeme still open throughout the year. We have also have what we hope will be a fantastic new event to keep you thinking about Steve/Tony across the multiverse — it was delayed by COVID, but we aren't letting that stop us and, of course, a we'll run a midyear event again, so keep your eyes peeled for an announcement!

Finally, a reminder: you are all welcome and encouraged to post content to the cap-ironman community platforms. We do ask that some basic info be listed in English if you're posting a fanwork, but you can post in any language that you like! We encourage everyone to post in the cap-ironman community — this is your space to talk about Steve/Tony and what you love about it, chat about the latest canon, as well as promote your works or run mini-events!

A happy 2021 to all Steve/Tony shippers! We hope you all have a fantastic, safe and healthy year wherever you are, and that we can once again invite you to join fun Steve/Tony events to get the creative juices going and give everyone new Steve/Tony works to enjoy.

Here's to another smashing Steve/Tony year!

Your Cap-IM Community Mods,

Lore, Navaan & Neverever

[angels-heap]

Okay hello I feel like you are Wise and Know things... it’s kind of hard to explain but is it wrong to just... Enjoy Things? With all the HL pisscourse going around it’s making me nervous about liking things like TF2 and missing something critical and huge in the media I consume and being labelled as a bad person for doing that. ESPECIALLY for liking characters like GLaDOS or Wheatley from Portal. I want to just Enjoy Things but there’s guilt tied to not being critical about every single detail

Thanks for reaching out, friend, and I’m so sorry to hear the current nonsense has you feeling this way. I have a hunch you’re not alone, and although I don’t claim to have all the answers here, I hope hearing my thoughts on this helps alleviate some of that guilt. This got long and I’m not putting it under a cut because it’s important. 

The short answer to your question is no; it is not wrong to just enjoy things. You don’t have to constantly examine all your favorite media under a microscope and incessantly highlight or dwell on its faults to be a good person or a good consumer of media, and here are a few reasons why:

(CW for brief mentions of all the squicky/potentially triggering things that tend to come up in ship discourse conversations.)

1. It is virtually impossible to find a truly unproblematic piece of media.

And that’s okay! Media is both created and consumed by people, and people are notoriously imperfect and complex. Sometimes creators choose to explore dark or taboo themes that are always going to squick some people out, no matter how well (or poorly) they’re handled. Sometimes content creators are actually terrible people who deliberately try to perpetuate their messed-up ideas through media. Sometimes creators’ deeply internalized prejudices seep into a work in a way they may not even consciously realize. Sometimes consumers’ experiences or prejudices color the way they perceive a piece of media and may lead them to a very different interpretation than what the creators intended.

Point is, there are a lot of shades of gray here. We should always strive to do better as creators and consumers, but the goalposts for “perfection” are always moving.

There’s almost always going to be something about your favorite media—no matter how benign it is—that rubs some people the wrong way, or (perhaps unintentionally) perpetuates harmful stereotypes, or starts out okay but doesn’t age well down the line. Period. That’s an uncomfortable truth that we all have to sit with. But don’t despair, because…

2. It is still okay to engage with and enjoy media that you know is problematic. Even if it’s really problematic. For real. I promise. The media you consume does not determine your worth as a person. 

Since you specifically mentioned Valve games, I’ll start out by clarifying that (as of July 2020), Valve games and their fandoms are pretty benign overall. Perhaps in the future, more of the humor will start to age poorly, or Valve will make some extremely questionable design choices with their next game, or Gabe Newell will be outed as a prolific serial killer, or whatever, but for now, there’s really nothing about Valve games that should make the average person go, “holy shit, you’re into that?!” when you bring them up in polite company. (And anyone who insinuates otherwise re: Half Life shipping discourse is either very confused about the definition of certain words or is maliciously trying to stir up controversy.)

That said, everyone has a different threshold for what they do and don’t want to see in media, and those boundaries are totally valid! But it is absolutely possible to enjoy even notably problematic media (e.g., Game of Thrones, the new Star Wars sequels, old movies where the directors were huge assholes to the female cast members, etc.) without being a bad person or a bad social justice activist. Instead of rambling about that at length, I’m going to link you to this excellent blog post on the subject.

The big takeaway here is that you can love a piece of media while also acknowledging its faults. In fact, I’d argue that a key part of loving something is being able to think critically about it and trying to hold its creators to a higher standard whenever possible. However, that doesn’t mean you have to be constantly analyzing it or prefacing every single public acknowledgment of your love for it with an “I know this is problematic and I swear, I just like it for XYZ” disclaimer, because…

3. Tumblr’s black-and-white thinking about media consumption is not healthy, “normal,” or (usually) present to the same degree in other virtual or real-world spaces.

I think most of the people on Tumblr who seem to be on a constant (and ultimately futile; see point 1) quest to find the One True Unproblematic Media have good intentions. I really do. And I applaud them for actively trying to understand and un-learn their own biases while becoming critical consumers of media.

Unfortunately, for a bunch of complicated reasons I still don’t totally understand and won’t get into here, some online communities tend to take these things to such an extreme that, in their quest to create a safe and/or inclusive environment, they actually end up creating an even more hostile one. To reference the recent drama again, nowhere is that more apparent than with “pro-ship” vs. “anti-ship” discourse.

Basically, “pro-shippers” believe that fiction is entirely separate from reality and therefore, “problematic” content (up to and including p*dophilia, inc*st, noncon, etc.) has just as much of a right to exist as any other content; this makes some sense on a purely intellectual level, but in the real world, obviously things are much more complicated than that. “Anti-shippers,” on the other hand, claim to be specifically against the aforementioned Big Three Bad Things in theory, but in practice, they’re basically the fandom purity police; they strive to criticize and shut down any media or fandom activity that could be even remotely construed as problematic, because they seem to have a (perhaps well-intentioned but ultimately misguided) perception that discussing anything “bad” in fiction will glorify/condone/promote it in real life and that all creators of “bad” fiction are inherently malicious. Often, they’re willing to twist definitions and jump through some very strange hoops to justify why something is “bad.”

The truth lies somewhere between those two extremes; fiction absolutely can (and does) impact reality, but not in such a clear-cut cause-and-effect way. People can see or read about dark/complicated/problematic things without condoning or enjoying them in real life, and conversely, people can dislike even relatively benign things without having to have an extreme, profound reason for feeling that way. People can also enjoy “bad” media while being fully conscious of what’s wrong with it and taking steps to ensure that it doesn’t negatively influence them, or they may lack the knowledge/context to understand why something is “bad” at first and change how they engage (or don’t engage) as they learn. There’s a lot more nuance to this issue than Tumblr is willing to acknowledge, and as a result, a lot of innocent people who just want to enjoy things in peace get sucked into some truly absurd drama that can be really hard to deal with. And that sucks. A lot.

So, TL;DR: Almost all media is at least a little problematic, but that’s okay, because the media you like does not determine whether or not you’re a good person. (And especially if your primary interests are Valve games... you’re good, mate. Seriously.)

The fact that you’re even asking me this question shows me that you’re being a thoughtful, responsible consumer of media, and that’s all anyone can reasonably ask of you without being a gigantic hypocrite—because whether they’ll admit it or not, everybody who’s perpetuating this discourse both on and offline likes something “problematic.” It’s impossible not to, unless you live under a rock and consume exactly zero media. Take care, and try not to let the discourse get to you! Go forth and enjoy things! (As always, my inbox is open for follow-up questions.)

ETA: Here’s another excellent tumblr post on this topic! And another one! 

[fanexus-dot-net]

FAQ

What is the purpose of Fanexus?

Fanexus was originally conceived as a way to make it easier to organize fandom content. The founders are fans who have followed fandom activity as it has migrated across many different social media platforms, and found that none of them quite suited their needs. After spending years thinking about how each of these platforms could be altered to better support fandom activity, we eventually realized that we’d amassed the money, skills and connections to make a platform ourselves.  

Fanexus is also open to use by original creators; original works are where fandom begins, after all. Enthusiasts of non-media fandoms, such as people who are passionate about interests as broad as cooking, crafting, interior decorating, brewing, extreme sports, rock collecting, history, model-building, archaeology, philosophy, etc, are also all welcome to use Fanexus as a place to post about and discuss their interests and ideas. Fanexus can be used for any type of interest so long as it doesn’t violate our rules regarding legality, harassment and hate speech.

While we originally wanted to create Fanexus as a means to better organize our content, as we’ve watched toxicity in fandom grow to increasingly alarming levels in the last few years, we’ve decided that making Fanexus a space that actively opposes this toxicity is a goal of equal importance to us. We want Fanexus to be a place where people can explore weird, complex and dark things in art and fiction without being accused of endorsing those things, and can have nuanced discussions and debates without things immediately devolving into insults and dogpiling.  

You can read more about the philosophy driving Fanexus here.

Why an integrated wiki?

We would like to go over some of the issues we’ve faced as fans that inspired the inclusion of the wiki:

There are a lot of fandoms that have very complex fanon worldbuilding/terminology/characterisations/etc, and this can be very confusing for a new fan. The way we have the wiki set up means that users will be able to go straight from a post that mentions those concepts to the wiki page for those concepts (we’ll elaborate on how this works in a later post dedicated to this feature), instead of having to search through other parts of the internet for an up-to-date fanon wiki for this fandom. We feel like people will be more likely to keep these wiki pages updated than they would if it were an external wiki, because once they have accounts on Fanexus, it will be very easy to quickly go and update a wiki page on the site, rather than going and creating a new account for a separate wiki.

In a similar vein, fandoms can produce very interesting AUs that many different fans contribute to. We’ve had the experience of coming across a piece of artwork or fiction based on one of these AUs and wanting to know more, but then finding it very difficult to track down information that explains what the AU is about, and people’s various different takes on it. We thought that by providing a wiki feature, people could create pages for each of these AUs and then update them as they develop. The AU itself may not be complex enough to justify the creation of an entire wiki for it, but having a page or two dedicated to it could certainly be helpful. The same logic applies to things such as OCs.  

People develop their own personal headcanons which can be very complex, and it can be tiresome to have to explain them over and over. So if users can create wiki pages for each of their headcanons (or AUs, OCs, etc) and link them whenever they’re necessary to understand the context of say, a fic they wrote or a piece of art they made, it could save them a lot of bother. Personal wiki pages won’t be available on launch, but we’re endeavouring to add them as soon as we can.

Can you tell us more about your other features?

Details of the features we’ve announced so far can be found here. 

We intend to add new features to Fanexus to improve our users’ experiences for as long as we have the funding to do so. We endeavour to add features that are highly demanded by our userbase, so long as the features in question are within our legal and technical capabilities to implement, and align with the philosophy of Fanexus.

How is this being funded? Will it be free to use?

Right now the beta is being paid for by the founders. Once the beta is online and in use, we plan to have a Kickstarter to fund the development of additional features we couldn’t afford to include in the beta. Fanexus will be freemium, which means it will be free to use, with premium features such as added customisation, that will be used for the ongoing funding of the site.  

Will there be a mobile app?

Currently we have a responsive web app, but a mobile app is one of the first things we intend to develop should we get the required funding via the Kickstarter. 

What kind of customisation options will Fanexus have?

In the long term, we hope to introduce in-depth customisation options to Fanexus, some of which will be premium options. We will take feedback from our userbase to decide what customisation features we will prioritise implementing first.

Are all ships welcome on Fanexus?

Yes. We understand that the reasons someone may enjoy a ship can be very complex, unexpected and/or personal, and have nothing to do with a belief that the ship is healthy or a desirable relationship to have in reality. So long as a person understands the separation between fiction and reality, and knows what a healthy real life relationship is like, we maintain that they should be able to ship what they like. We just ask that they tag their content for people who wish to avoid it. This extends to the shipping of real life people, with the provision that if Fanexus gets a direct request from any of these real people asking to have shipping content of them removed, we will remove content containing them specifically, out of courtesy.

Is NSFW content allowed on Fanexus?

Fanexus welcomes NSFW content, simply requiring that it be tagged with an adult content warning so that it is hidden from underage users.

Our servers are currently hosted in Denmark, so content posted on Fanexus must abide by Danish law. 

Further details of what sort of content is and isn’t permitted on Fanexus will be outlined in our TOS, which will be shared prior to launch.

How old do you have to be to use Fanexus?

Fanexus will be 13+, with adults-only spaces. On sign up, users will be asked if they are over 18, and anyone who indicates that they are a minor will be required to enter their DOB. Posts and blogs that are marked as Adults Only will then be hidden from minor users until they turn 18. Minors found to be lying about their age to interact with adult content will be banned. We looked into ways we could have people prove their age on sign up, but we couldn’t find any practical, reliable method. People were uncomfortable with providing personal information, and given that many adults don’t have credit cards, while many minors borrow their guardians’ credit cards, having people make a credit card deposit to prove their age wasn’t a viable solution.

Will Fanexus be doing anything to protect minors?

We believe that the best form of protection against online dangers is education, and so we’re in the process of compiling educational resources to be made available on the site so that people are aware of what sort of red flags to look out for when it comes to a variety of online threats. We also want to provide information about the separation between fiction and reality, so that minors (or anybody impressionable) won’t misunderstand or be manipulated with fiction into thinking that unhealthy behaviors and attitudes presented in dark/complicated/self-indulgent fiction and art are acceptable in reality.

We currently have the following ideas for distributing this information:

We’ll have a staff blog that provides site updates, and also periodically posts articles containing this information.

We’ll keep a compilation of this information available on a page on the site, which will be easily accessible via the navigation bar.

Eventually we want to introduce a feature where if a user searches for particular keywords, a banner appears above the search results, linking to helpful/education information relevant to the keywords. The banner will be able to be hid so it doesn’t show up again in subsequent searches.

We will of course also have a mod team watching out for any reports of suspect behaviour that may be endangering minors (or any of our users), who will take action to neutralise these threats. Another feature we are planning to develop to help our mods protect minors is a keyword detector for comments and DMs. This will scan the comments and DMs of minor users for any keywords that suggest they may be being targeted, and send a warning to our mods to check up on them. 

What is your affiliation with the Prostasia Foundation?

The Prostasia Foundation is a child protection organization that adopts an evidence-based approach to child sexual abuse prevention, that respects human rights and is sex-positive. Being evidence-based means that their positions are based on scientific research. Fanexus reached out to Prostasia because we agree with these tenets, and wanted to find ways to create a safe space that doesn’t resort to censorship. Prostasia proved to be extremely helpful in this respect, offering us information on legality, the impact fiction actually has on reality, and effective methods to protect minors, all based on research. They have also offered to help us develop our keyword detector feature.

Prostasia has an Advisory Council made of voluntary, unpaid experts from relevant fields. These advisory members do not carry any vote or authority on deciding Prostasia policy, and the views that they express on social media or elsewhere are not necessarily representative of the views of the Prostasia Foundation. Fanexus’s point of contact with Prostasia has been with the Foundation’s Executive Director, and we have no affiliation with the members of their Advisory Council.  

Similarly, Fanexus has no vote or authority in deciding Prostasia policy, nor do we sign off on anything they publish, unless it directly references us. The reverse is also true, while Prostasia provides us with advice, they don’t sign off on all the decisions or statements made by Fanexus.

Are you trying to replace Archive of Our Own?

No. We love Archive of Our Own and we have tremendous respect for the Organisation for Transformative Works, but we can’t affiliate with them due to the rules that govern not-for-profit organisations. You will definitely be able to host fanfiction and original fiction on Fanexus, but we’re currently more focused on covering the areas that Archive of Our Own doesn’t already have great features for, such as providing a space where people can host art, have discussions, role play, and document information about their headcanons, worldbuilding, original characters, etc.

Will Fanexus be open to all or invite-only?

We want Fanexus to be open to all eventually, but we also anticipate that the sort of people who promote and thrive on fandom’s toxicity will sign-up with the express purpose of breaking the rules we put in place to protect people from them. To avoid that happening en masse on launch, Fanexus will initially be invite-only. Once we have an established community of fans who can report trolls and other troublemakers, we will open Fanexus up.

In order to get an invite to Fanexus, you will need to apply via this form. If you are accepted, you will be emailed an invite (please check your junk mail) to our  Forum and Discord. Users of the Forum and Discord will be given priority invites to the site.

When’s the release?

As of the 29th of August, most of our initial features are finished, and are in the process of being bug-tested. We plan to start allowing users of our Forum/Discord on the site within the next month. Fanexus will open up to the public after the Forum/Discord users have thoroughly tested the capabilities of the site, and we’ve implemented any further features required to cover weaknesses they’ve found.

Are there other places I can follow Fanexus news?

We share updates on the following accounts:

Tumblr

Twitter 

Facebook

Mastodon

[floraone]

So, September is coming up, and with it smutember, and we’re doing it again! (At least I hope you’re with me, lol).

Just like last year, it runs alongside to the official daily word prompts on the official smutember blog: Smutember is an event that runs all throughout September for all fandoms. The following is meant as an addition, not a replacement. If you want to do daily prompts, please use the official words prompts (linked above). However, since daily prompts can be a bit intimidating (especially for a fandom corner that’s 25+ years old like ours and people in it have busy lives), as the resident smut advocate in our fandom, I again customized an alternative that can still incorporate the official themes.

Just like last year, down below you have a list of TROPE AND THEME PROMPTS. They’re a remix of sorts of last year’s tropes, with some you’ve seen before and some new ones, meant to spark a variety of ideas. The idea is that with these you can post once (or twice) per week instead of daily.

Be it for fanart or fanfic or any other sort of fanwork, tropes can be combined, (and they can be combined with the daily themes too), whatever floats your boat. Also, specifically: This event isn’t Usamamo-centric only. I will reblog any Sailor Moon content of any pairing as long as it follows the rules! (See below)

The aim of this event is to create sex-positive content together that celebrates a healthy depiction of consentual sexuality. Erotic fanfiction is a beautiful art, especially in a fandom of ours so largely cultivated by women and for women, as well as a strong inclusive focus on queer and gender-queer content and their creators!

What’s new: I’m taking a page out of the mini-bang’s impressive book, and when smutember is over, I will compile all entries that followed the rules into an online-only e-zine! This also means that art that may be too explicit for tumblr can still be included in the e-zine!

Here are the weekly trope challenges:

Reinvent a trope!

WEEK 1 (September 1st - 7th): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Reunion Sex 🍋 Sex Fails 🍋 Second Chance Sex 🍋 You Talk In Your Sleep 🍋 Unresolved Sexual Tension 🍋 New Old Flame 🍋 Go Seduce My Archnemesis 🍋 Bedsharing 🍋 Sex with the Ex/Break-Up Sex 🍋 In Public 

WEEK 2 (September 8th - 14th): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Make-Up Sex 🍋 Battle Couple 🍋 Mission Sex 🍋 Work-Out Sex 🍋 Accidental Pervert 🍋 Bathing/Shower 🍋 Pool/Onsen 🍋 Sexual Fantasies 🍋 Blind Date 🍋 Aroused By Your____ (pick a feature) 

WEEK 3 (September 15th - 21st): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Established Relationship 🍋 “Thank God We’re Alive” 🍋 Caught In The Act 🍋 First Times 🍋 Introduction By Hook-Up 🍋 Pining 🍋 Locked In Together In A Small Space/ Trapped Together 🍋 Huddling For Warmth 🍋 Socially Distanced Sex 🍋 Stupid Sexy Friend 🍋 Caught In The Rain 🍋 Living Food Platter/Eating Off You 🍋 Shunga

WEEK 4 (September 22nd - 30th): Pick 1 or 2

🍋 Mutual Masturbation 🍋 Awkward/Clumsy Sex 🍋 Oh Crap There’s Fanfic Of Us 🍋 Talking In Bed 🍋 Fidelity Test 🍋 Fake-NOT-Dating 🍋 Mindlink 🍋 Sex Games 🍋 Tinder 🍋 Blackout/Quarantine/Disaster Warning/Weathering The Storm

RULES

1. Rating: These fics don’t necessarily need to be M or, in the case of Ao3, E- rated. Obviously, they are very, very welcome to be explicit for this event, but you can also go T-rated and stay in lime or ‘blacked out’-territory if you’re uncomfortable with writing explicit scenes! Both is perfectly and absolutely welcome! This of course also goes for fanart - your fanart may depict sexy scenes, but does NOT have to be explicit! (It can, though! Be aware that for tumblr’s guidelines, when sharing your art first, you may have to clip your images as a sort of preview. The original can then be sent to me privately to include into the e-zine!) 2. Minimum Age of Characters: Since this is a community event, if you do go explicit M rated material: age them up where necessary! So that everyone can be comfortable writing and reading these, let them be 18 at the minimum if they’re going to openly and explicitly wohoo. (16-17 is the global average age of consent worldwide, and also the average age for first sex among girls in many western countries. However, since most fanfic readers are located in the US, where the age of consent is 18, we’re going with 18 so that everyone can be comfortable reading!) If you go for canon fics at a time they are below this age, where you do not want to age up (say you’re going for an episode fix!) please stay in T territory for this event. 3. Off limits: Depictions of sexual acts that contain harmful, violent and non-consenting behaviour with non-consenting individuals (or those that aren’t able to consent, for instance because of their age, or state of mind among else!). If it doesn’t fly by law or the ICD in real life, please refrain from depicting it in the context of this event. This means that dubcon and noncon will not be reblogged for the event, so that people can be safely consuming the content without being triggered. All content will be screened in this regard, and I may contact you regarding trigger warnings. This is not at all to censor content, or that this content is in any form less valid (as long as it is properly tagged and not including characters that aren’t of age), but simply to ensure a safe environment for everyone reading. 4. Tag your triggers. Except the aforementioned limitation of harmful content, nothing is off limits. Explore your kinks! But if you write something that might be offensive to your readers, please tag it. This is ALSO a good way for your readers to find exactly what they ARE looking for! On Ao3 this can be done directly on the fic tags, for FF fics and fic links you can do it here on Tumblr via the fic post tags or in ANs. This is in consideration of your readers. 5. You can obviously post art for this event too. All previous rules apply here, as well. Unfortunately, Tumblr is now against tasteful nudity. That doesn’t mean you can’t link to a deviant art or similar account though, should you want to. And, since this year will include an e-zine at the end of it, all art will still be included fully in it. Here too, please tag your triggers. If you still want to post art on Tumblr, choose a T rated image - clip them where needed, or keep them (semi-)clothed, show us a heated kiss, etc! (Obviously we would love ALL the art and the nude body is a beautiful, wonderful thing, but obviously Tumblr doesn’t agree with us anymore!) 6. Have fun! Celebrate sexuality in an open, sex-positive way with us, try to be unapologetic about your likes while you write this, and appreciate the beauty that comes in the form of content with a largely female-gazing creator-base and audience! Smut in fanfiction has been beautifully put as the subjectification of sexuality (as opposed to  objectification). So let’s celebrate this art form together! 7. Reviews: No one is forced to review. It can be uncomfortable to review a fic that contains sexual acts for any number of always valid reasons. Keep in mind, however, that much like a Burlesque dancer on stage, putting out sexual content can also be very intimidating to an author, and nothing is more discouraging than silence when baring yourself to an audience like this. That being said: Both Ao3 and FF have the option to review in anon mode. That means you have the option to remain anonymous while cheering the author on all the same. Just like the Burlesque dancer, your resident smut authors prefer to go on stage to loud cheering - it makes it all less awkward for them, and feels a little more like a big celebration!

If you’re unsure what sex positivity entails and want to read up, I wrote a post about it here.

This event is not supposed to cause harm. This means that I will screen all content before I reblog it here, and include it in the e-zine. So that everyone of age can feel safe reading the fanworks in the event, dubcon and noncon will not be reblogged and included in the e-zine, and accurate tagging and content warning will be watched. This does NOT MEAN that you cannot post this material: your own desire to write it and someone else’s desire to explicitly read this material are valid. I do not entitle myself to censor. It just means it will not be reblogged and shared through the event so that everyone may feel safe to read to the best of my ability. (But, of course, remember that I, too, might be biased, and not discover subtle forms of it, either. We’re all, in the end, a product of our upbringing and society, and I cannot be completely unbiased.)

During the event, I will be posting all Sailor Moon Smutember contributions in this format on my blog if you @ me to the post.

The official hashtag for the event is #smutember2020 hosted by the official smutember blog. Using it helps people find the content who search for it as well as those who wish to block it!