WE BATE THEM!!!

[kennahijja]

pornish_pixies

Fandom rocks *so* very much!
You've all seen the long-overdue post, I guess.

Ecstatic as I am, though, I have two - well, two-and-a-half - issues with things as they are:

1) Some fanfiction communities and fannish personal journals still remain suspended (you can see the details here). Though LJ might be working on those.

2) I won't breathe easily until there are safeguards in place to prevent something like this from happening again - I don't want to have to look over my shoulder (or want anyone else to) for fear of being targetted for writing stories/producing art.

2 1/2) I'm still pissed off over the way last week's "hoax" was laughed off publicly by LJ people, when they were in the process of setting up *exactly* what has been described. I would love to apologise to the brave soul who leaked this for disbelieving along with everybody else when the dementi came...

Of course what I'm still pissed about to no end (and have been for a long time) is the way people throw those of us who write about the darker/illegal sides of sexuality into the same pot with those who actually commit crimes. If I'm be interested in the discussion of incest, it doesn't mean I'll go and, heck, proposition my mother! The several hundreds of LJ users listing 'crime' in their LJ interests are not promoting the committing of it, nor will they shut off their computers and embark on mobster careers!

Sometimes I wonder if there's something more to this sort of thinking than just prudishness and a distinct inability to differentiate between reality and fiction, discussion and practice... Is there something so intimidating in women (and it is to a large degree women) exploring sexuality, light and dark sides, through fiction-writing that leads to such irrational responses? Because really, they talk about fandom escaping into a fictional/unreal world to hide from reality? Fandom at least has enough of a grip on reality (with some few exceptions, that is...) to distinguish between fiction and fact.

Comments

[elfflame]

Re #2:
Yeah, I'm not resting easy until they tell me what they're going to do regarding "interests" in the future, and give us a much clearer view of how they'll deal with this sort of complaint, too.

And I knew, last week, when everyone breathed easier, that it was too good to be true. And that's exactly how I feel now. That with pornish_pixies back, everyone will just go back to business as usual, and forget this all happened, which we really cannot afford to do right now. :S

[mad_maudlin]

Re 2.5: The people who laughed off the hoax were LJ Abuse volunteer, who rightly believed it was ludicrous; they didn't know that 6A higher-ups were being badgered by WfI any sooner than we did. I, too, want to know more about the hoax and whether it was actually related to Strikethru, or just eerie timing; remember, though, that Abuse is staffed by volunteers who don't know must more about the ways and means of TPTB than us chickens, much of the time.

[snorkackcatcher]

2) I won't breathe easily until there are safeguards in place to prevent something like this from happening again - I don't want to have to look over my shoulder (or want anyone else to) for fear of being targetted for writing stories/producing art.

I doubt there can ever be thoroughly effective safeguards for this -- if you know you're operating near the edge of the cliff, checking over your shoulder from time to time is something you naturally want to do to avoid plunging onto the rocks, it's just common sense.


Is there something so intimidating in women (and it is to a large degree women) exploring sexuality, light and dark sides, through fiction-writing that leads to such irrational responses?

No, but I think that's a bit disingenuous. It wasn't the exploration of sexuality per se that caused the problem, it was the type of sexuality being explored. Anyone writing about (say) lesbianism or BDSM or orgies or all three at once wouldn't generate such a reaction. WFI in particular didn't seem to have a clue what the fiction comms were -- they were just collateral damage.

Basically, it's a Voltaire situation. It's important to defend this sort of writing on general principles, but it's also necessary to retain enough perspective to remember that it's a hard sell to anyone outside fandom (and it would be best in any future row to try to keep some of the loonier fen away from the front lines!)

[ejab62.livejournal.com]

I honestly think that many of those people are very unhappy themselves. Really. When I look around in my own *real* world, the people who shout, try to control and are quick to judge are all unhappy and (dare I say it?) scared.
If you feel you have a sense of control over your own life, are pleased with yourself and the way your life has turned out to a certain level, you honestly couldn't care less about other people's lives. You'd be too busy living your own!

Just my humble opinion.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you how many posts I've read during the course of all this that started out, "Well, I don't read chan or incest or non-con and think the people who write it are creepy, but still LJ is bad for what they did!'

Grrr. I sort of feel like despite the uproar some sections of fandom would happily sacrifice all the dark fic writers to keep themselves safe.

[ex-ms-katoni171.livejournal.com]

I'm not hopeful that it won't happen again, I'm really not. Six Apart has proven dramatically that it doesn't care about LJ users, and it's got no scruples whatsoever about coming down on hard on things it or its advertisers don't like.

A year ago, I could never even have thought about leaving LJ. Now? Only the presence of my flist is keeping me here.

[narcissa-malfoy.livejournal.com]

Since LJ won't let me post my long, thoughtful reply, (though apparently it lets me post everything else. Again, so sorry :)), I'm just going to say: Word.

[karaontai.livejournal.com]

I really could say a lot about this particular topic -- unfortunately I would upset people very near and dear to my heart with my opinion :-(. So, somethings shall be better left unsaid....
But if "Silence of the lambs" was written from Hannibal Lector's viewpoint -- it wouldn't not be published. That is just to disturbing -- but very interesting to profilers and psychologist in general. See how a disturb mind works.
The insight that can be gained through people's writing is for students of psychology really amazing -- and that's why it is best to always censor yourself (I know you guys don't believe in censorship), because what sounds innocent to oneself might be offensive to someone else at best -- at the worst giving someone else a really good luck into ones subconscious (it). And that might get one labeled in a not so positive way.
Know I will stop I have already said too much.......