dumpster fire core

Good morning! I’m salty.

I think we, as a general community, need to start taking this little moment more seriously.

This, right here? This is asking for consent. It’s a legal necessity, yes, but it is also you, the reader, actively consenting to see adult content; and in doing so, saying that you are of an age to see it, and that you’re emotionally capable of handling it.

You find the content you find behind this warning disgusting, horrifying, upsetting, triggering? You consented. You said you could handle it, and you were able to back out at any time. You take responsibility for yourself when you click through this, and so long as the creator used warnings and tags correctly, you bear full responsibility for its impact on you.

“Children are going to lie about their age” is probably true, but that’s the problem of them and the people who are responsible for them, not the people that they lie to.

1) chosen to go onto AO3 in the first place

2) chosen the fandom you wish to read about

3) had the chance to filter for the things you do want to see like a specific pairing or a specific AU

4) had the chance to specifically filter out any tags you don’t want to see like, oh I don’t know, incest and non-con and dub-con and paedophilia

5) had the chance to set the rating level if you wish to remove any explicit content at all

6) have read the summary of the story, which aren’t always great but are the only indicator of what the story will be like writing wise so something about it was good enough for you to click on it.

7) have read the tags of the story which will tell you what is actually in the story. If you have used filters to remove stories with things you don’t want then there shouldn’t be anything in here that’s a shock to you but maybe there is. That’s why the tags are there for you to check for yourself.

8) Then you have to actually click on the story. You cannot see anything other than the summary or the tags without personally deciding that you are going to open and read this story.

9) Only here, at step number nine, do you get to the adult content warning pictured above. You have been through eight different steps, the last six of which have also been opportunities for you to see that this has adult content. And AO3 has *STILL* stopped you to ask one last time “are you sure you want to read this because it has things that only adults should see in it”.

If after this point you are reading incest and paedophilia then it’s probably because you specifically went looking for it.

the majority of these braindead internet users are calling for some kind of censorship of Ao3, with the justification that it would “get rid of incest and pedophilia on the site” and I have just a few things to say: 1. Ao3 operates within the legal boundaries and 2. who the fuck do you think will be the victims of censorship?

1. When I say Ao3 operates within the legal boundaries it means that Ao3 doesn’t host anything on the site that’s a danger to internet security or prohibited by law. Which means that said “written incest and pedophilia” that you say Ao3 is full of is looked at as purely fictional, not considered illegal nor exploitation material under the law. So if you want to change that shit up, the proper way to go about it is not being stupid on the internet, nor is it calling out Ao3 users specifically. The proper way to go about it is go to your government and demand a change of law, see how that goes. The proper way to go about it is not to look out for such content and then play smart on social media. See how none of the users disagreeing with you have a problem with Ao3 content? That’s because they don’t look up such content on purpose.

2. Even if there is most disgusting fiction imaginable on Ao3, the site gives you a number of steps you can do to censor it out YOURSELF based on what things make you uncomfortable. Calling for censorship of Ao3 means giving the power to a third party to censor the content. If you give someone the power to decide what’s acceptable, they have the power to exclude you from it. That happened already, actually! There’s a reason fanfiction.net is a dead site. Who do you think was the ultimate, end-road target of any attempt on censorship? It’s queer people. It’s queer people and queer content, and Ao3 is a safe place for a whole HISTORY of queer content in fandoms. Calling for censorship of Ao3 will inevitably result in all things queer being censored on there just like on every attempt of censorship ever.

Some trans men/trans mascs can do, and will:

-Treat their packers like prosthetics

-treat their packers as an extension of their own body

-Buy packers in crazy colors because who doesn't want a blue dick I MEAN C'MON

-See their packers as a sometimes thing for special occasions

-wear them every day

-Buy a packer that is as realistic as possible

-buy a massive packer because why the hell not

Basically what I'm getting at with this is: