Haha, this was about a singer who im a fan of - ultimately, it is 100% toxic positivity and privilege. It's annoying at best lol

(Admire is a little too strong of a word here, but it's the most applicable in this instance.)

And then it's another community, all in the name of protecting the children. And pretty soon, you have thousands of users deleted and purged from the system.

So, you can see something abhorrent, dislike that it exists, and move on without falling into a trap of authoritarianism.

People were starting the process of trying to export YEARS of entries to things like Dreamwidth/JournalFen/Wordpress, etc because blogs got deleted without warning.

Because when you "think of the children", suddenly these things grow. Suddenly a whole LiveJournal community was gone.

Also, as a note: strikethrough on LiveJournal did not start as a mass effort.

It started with blogs on the outskirts of fandom getting deleted. And you weren't sure if it was the user or not.

And then you'd hear something about "protecting children". Which is now a pretty well-known dog whistle.

Do I agree with the fic in question?

FUCK NO.

Will i defend that person's right to write it and post it with the correct tags? Absolutely.

To quote the sages of old: Don't Like, Don't Read.

I think to, like. Criticize what an author is writing, and to essentially encourage a dog piling mentality (such as linking the fic and going THIS IS AWFUL) is essentially a step towards authoritarianism.

And I'm sure that sounds alarming, but censorship RARELY starts big. It starts small.

....just because people refuse to read existing tags.

Fandom has a long history of censorship - both in avoiding it and trying to keep works away from it. That's why we HAVE an archive.

Ultimately, you are responsible for your own fandom experience.

There was a huge kerfuffle in the Marvel/Winter Soldier fandom because people would disregard tags, go into something APPROPRIATELY TAGGED, and get mad about the content.

That's how the tag "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat" got started. And that, in itself, is wild to me. To create a whole new tag...

But the function of an archive is to ARCHIVE these things without judgement. Even if I, the reader, finds them gross.

You and I are shaking hands, Mel.

My feeling on it is: If it’s tagged properly, then keep scrolling past and move on.

I was in the Pacific Rim fandom that happily, and fervently, shipped a father/son inc*st pairing. So, I get hating it and find it abhorrent.

For me, I think it's about the control - either the embracing of not having it/letting go of it, or having it taken away/giving it away.

SORRY, I apparently have more thoughts on this than expected. 😅

The perceived helplessness for Henry. Not because I think a Tree God is monstrous, but because our response to monsters stems from our own fears.

It's why you can tell what concepts terrify pop culture by the horror movies that come out!

So, where's the horror of a succubus/incubus?

OKAY, I have thought about this and I THINK the key is how much do you emphasize the "monster", in monsterfucking. Like, sure, feeding on pleasure, and it's sexy, but what happens when it's just a bit more monstrous??

Like. When writing TreeGod Alex, I was very intent on communicating the fear.