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

[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.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Yes - that annoys me to no end as well! I'm not bloody creepy (only the most boring thing in the world), and I dunno... dealing with 'darker impulses' through fiction sounds saner to me than not dealing with them at all. Maybe that's what's behind the 'creepy' comments...

[snorkackcatcher]

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

No, because they wouldn't necessarily be that safe -- when a wave of moral panic strikes, it's important to try to stop it in the first ditch rather than the last before it builds up a head of steam. (Wasn't that a splendid mixed metaphor, eh?) On the other hand, I think it's useful for fans of this stuff to stop and take a good look at how far off-centre it actually is for most people -- if for no other reason than that there's a better chance of formulating a successful response then.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm fully aware of how horrifying and weird some of the stuff I write must seem to the uninitiated. If I'd come across Harry Potter chan without any introduction to fandom, I'm sure I would have been totally outraged.
Now, I see it very differently.

But, you know? It still really bugged me to see a bunch of people on my Flist talking about how they don't respect people who write chan or non-con.

[snorkackcatcher]

One of the many things that depends on the person doing it, I think. There are some I don't respect, because they appear to be idiots.