#it was possible to make work even if finn weren't the protagonist

[onewomancitadel]

I also heard recently that apparently Reylos made up all of their harrassment as a cover for their racism in not shipping Finn/Rey, and to be perfectly honest with you I think racism is not a fandom-specific issue but kind of a social issue where you aren't insulated from it based on what you do or don't ship? And shipping isn't political activism? I wouldn't be granted rhetorical immunity if I did, in fact, ship Finn/Rey, because I could equally be responsible for perpetuating racism in writing their dynamic (and in addition to that, romantic relationships are not free of sexism or racism; how does this immunity hold coherently at all?) and in fact, I don't like Finn/Rey because I don't like enjoy how it services their characters. If Boyega were cast as the main villain we'd be having a different conversation.

If you wanted to reckon specifically with the ST's racism, we can start with TFA where TFA refuses to expand upon Finn's psychological evolution and turns him into a sanitation worker as a fucking dramatic punchline at the end of the film, or is unceremoniously knocked out by Kylo so he can't do anything narratively? Or just being there for bathos-esque quips? No matter what you say about TLJ, Finn's epic confrontation with Phasma and the potential of a Stormtrooper rebellion is there, and instead in TROS it's turned into... some people are just born right and others deserve to be Stormtroopers. *shrug*

That is not a fucking Reylo problem. That is, in the first place, teasing Finn as the 'main' character and then doing a reversal with Rey, and choosing to focus a new Star Wars series on the Skywalkers again. A Black Jedi with his own original story not contingent upon white legacy characters could've worked but by design it was not made so, and then they erased his character from Chinese marketing anyway. That should tell you were D/isney's priorities lie. If they actually had any gumption that is what they would've done following the ST to mop up what they did with Finn and actually got onboard original storytellers who were not looking to rehash nostalgiabait.

I'm particularly sore about this because I don't enjoy the implication that racism is a fandom-specific issue or that fandom is where the conversation starts and ends, or not that on some level these commercial productions with millions of dollars behind them influence the conversation. Or that there is a competition of socially-minded interests. Or that if we got rid of the Bad Shipping fandoms we would only have the Good Ones left with no problems forever. That's not how it works.

But inventing harrassment is an interesting accusation. We're just outright accusing each other of making up our experiences now? We're allowed to do that? I've never been 'in' the mainstream Reylo fandom enough and if there were evidence of Reylos behaving badly or, in the case of this context, being racist, I'd take it seriously as much as I can and challenge it, but I'm not sure what other authority I do have in intercommunity politics. Fandom doesn't work like that. There is only so much you can do. But accusing us of making up our experiences when I know that I personally keep to myself because of it is a new one.

I don't want to tell you the things I've seen or experienced myself in the Reylo fandom. Sure, the ceaseless crossfandom stuff is bullshit, but anti-Reylos are probably people I wouldn't get along with anyway and people can draw boundaries as they see fit. There are a bunch of ships and fandoms I don't want much to do with. I don't even think that anti-Reylos themselves are uniquely -ist in whatever given way; they probably just enjoy the opportunity to be sexist or racist or anti-Semitic against someone they think deserves it (and it always comes out when the opponent is sufficiently Of the Wrong Sort).

I think it is extremely dangerous to treat activism as a performative endeavour where I ship the right ships and interact with the text in the way I have been mandated to. Because it doesn't actually insulate me from racist behaviour or beliefs. I think it is true that there are times this notably happens, but equally, is shipping Finn/Poe alongside Rey/Kylo a way to mitigate this? How do we square it out?

I think this conversation with Reylo is probably over. Reylo's online legacy is always going to be mixed at best. But I don't think the anti-racist conversation begins or ends with it.