Get ready for an epic rant
Honestly, I’m pretty tired of this shit. This assumption that nonCSers are super enlightened hyper-intelligent all-knowing pure and perfect warriors of social justice, and that CSers are inherently racist/homophobic/misogynists. Guess what? ALL OF US have internalized biases ALL OF US. We are all part of a broader society, and we are from all corners of the globe. Each corner of the world has its own special brand of bigotry, and no corner of fandom is exempt.
The CS fandom isn’t inherently bigoted, I reject that notion. It is a reflection of broader society. But we are assumed to be bigots until proven otherwise.
Occasionally, a CSer who happens to be LGBTQ+, a POC, and/or a sexual assault survivor is on the receiving end of these accusations, and only then do some people take a step back, because that specific CSer is exempt from these assumptions. We shouldn’t generalize, they say, because you never know, individual CSers might be oppressed too. So don’t assume.
Which sort of begs the question…what if you’re none of the above? Does that make it ok to assume that a person who happens to ship CS is a bigot of some kind?
These assumptions are widespread. You know how I know this? CONFESSION TIME FOLKS.
When I started out in fandom I was primarily in nonCS circles. Most of my friends were not in CS. I followed mostly nonCSers. My dash was full of these posts, telling me the CS fandom is a hornet’s nest of bigots.
I know that *I* am not a bigot, and the CSers I followed seemed really nice, but I didn’t know them. The stuff being said about CSers seemed pretty outlandish, I figured it must be exaggerated. But I figured there was likely some truth.
Slowly, I am ashamed to admit I developed a sort of low level baseline assumption that a significant chunk of the CS fandom was low level homophobic. Thankfully it didn’t take long for me to realize how wrong I was, but it took me too long, and I never should have thought any of that in the first place. WHAT THE FLYING FUCK WAS I THINKING?! I am not proud to admit this.
But this shows just how powerful the message is, and helps me understand why it is that so many nonCSers seem to believe some version of the message. Because they are immersed in it constantly. Sure, not all CSers are like that, there are exceptions, they think. But the assumption is there. The message is overwhelming. Hear it often enough, you start to believe it. It’s basic human psychology.
Look, the CS fandom is huge. There are bigots among us (I can think of a few). But I’m sorry, the CS fandom is not bigoted. It’s just not. It is representative of much of society as a whole, including all the messiness and contradictions and shades of gray found in society.
The SQ fandom is mostly composed of LGBTQ+ individuals, and may have a higher relative percent of POC. When you deal with systemic oppression in real life, you are more sensitive to these issues, and I buy the argument that the SQ fandom is more progressive and aware of SJ issues than other corners of the fandom.
I think to a certain extent some nonCSers are taking their anger at a lot of the shit they see and/or experience in their lives, and/or the worst of society as presented to them by Fox News, and projecting that onto the CS fandom. They think CS fandom = the most cartoonish straw man of Trump voters imaginable
THIS INFURIATES ME TO NO END
And so what we have is people who feel the constant need to EDUCATE CSers. It is fucking INFURIATING.
I don’t need your condescending and patronizing lectures. I am perfectly aware of the vast systemic problems of inequality and oppression that exist in North American society. I am also aware of some serious fucking injustices that exist on a global scale.
I volunteer, I advocate, I lobby, I open doors, I donate money, I do my best to make the world a more just place in many ways in my actual life, and in my RL social media presence. I’m sure I could do better, but I am certainly aware of the issues, and I do my best.
I am on Tumblr because I love a show about fairytales, and because I want to enjoy my show about fairytales with others. This does not make me your intellectual inferior.
To those who want to “educate” CSers about social justice issues – you are not convincing anyone of anything. Sorry. If your actual goal is to make a real difference, and to hopefully open up some minds on the CS side, you are going about it wrong. You are never going to convince any person who ships CS to seriously discuss very difficult issues by insulting them, their friends, or the fictional couple that they love. Like, think about that for a minute.
If I wanted to convince *you* of anything, but my opening line was to tell you that the thing that you love is TOXIC, would you think, “hum, this person is making a really interesting point, let me completely reject this thing I love and begin reflecting on deeply troubling issues that are currently at the root of very serious societal disputes across the world?” I DON’T THINK SO.
This approach goes against everything that is known about why people believe what they believe, and about how people change long held beliefs.
What’s actually happening, is that those CSers who aren’t particularly aware of social justice issues are being poisoned against them. The reality is that, if anything, damage is being done. Any discussion of social justice in this fandom is tainted by the loud Anti assholes.
I said earlier that the CS fandom is a reflection of broader society, and it is. Many of my shippers share my progressive values, and many have different values. None of us are here primarily to talk politics. We are here to talk about OUAT. If you want to convince people to talk about systemic oppression, you are setting yourselves up for failure.
The reality is that I don’t think anyone actually wants to convince us of squat. They are angry and want a space to be angry, and they would like everyone else to be angry too.
I’m angry about a lot of things. A short list of topics I am angry about, and that I just so happen to address in various ways in my actual life:
The barriers facing women and POC in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), with a particular emphasis on youth and First Nations
The hundreds of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada, not to mention the legacy of the horrific residential school system
Our warped North American judicial system that is set up to exonerate and/or diminish the crimes against women, illustrated most recently by the Ghomeshi verdict in Canada, and the Stanford rapist in the US.
Systemic racism and anti Semitism in media and society, which takes on a very peculiar flavour in my part of the world, where major Black celebrities excuse the use of blackface in op-eds in the most respected daily newspaper (I am not even joking on this folks)
A healthcare system that, while good overall, still manages to drop the ball on many vulnerable populations in ways that make me want to bash my head on a wall.
Neglected tropical diseases that are at the bottom of the barrel of research priorities because a) their potential for profit is low, and b) people who aren’t rich or white don’t seem to matter as much.
The massive impending global catastrophes about to be unleashed due to climate change, in which the most dire impacts will be felt by the most vulnerable of the worlds population, while those who actually caused the problems deny it and continue living lavish lifestyles.
I am on Tumblr to enjoy my show about fairytales and to escape the shittyness that exits in the world, not to debate whether Killian grabbing Emma’s arm is Exhibit A of rape culture, or whether Merlin’s death is Exhibit B of racism in media, or whether the CS fandom is Exhibit C of privilege. For the record, I think that these arguments do a disservice to issues I care very deeply about by trivializing them and diluting their meaning.
*You* may make your fandom experience about social justice, you may feel like you have no choice because you walk through life with that lens. You may have very good reason to use that lens. You may feel like it’s not fair that I don’t have to use that lens for everything in life, and that I don’t use that lens in viewing OUAT or engaging in fandom, and that might make you angry. That sucks. I don’t think making everyone else miserable is going to accomplish anything except making more people miserable. Is that the goal here? To what end?
When you are trying to lecture at me about issues of social justice, you are preaching to the converted, and you are pissing me the fuck off. I’ve read the books, the opeds, the studies. I constantly examine my own privilege, and I engage on these issues daily. I know there is systemic bias in every corner of society, and I am disgusted by issues of global inequity.
If you’ve decided to focus on OUAT as your SJ battleground, that’s your choice, but you can’t force it on me or on any other member of the CS fandom. You do fandom your way, I’ll do fandom my way.
I often wonder what they want from me, from the CS fandom, and from the show itself. Like, what is their vision of a realistic best-case scenario for all of the above? Because a lot of the time I don’t think there is any specific goal other than to express anger, and hopefully bring down as many people as possible in the process.
PS Do not hijack this post to lecture at me further. PPS sometimes questions are used as what is called a “rhetorical device.” PPPS As stated in my first post on this blog, I reserve the right to not answer asks or replies.
areudirty
andulkaphoto
origamiaround
2087
theartofmadeline
