AuDHD enby lesbian nerd

i struggle to have any sympathy for people who use ai for fanwork. i also think these witch hunts are giving people an “ethical” excuse to be mean. i think we’ve let consumerism and capitalism infect fandom, and this is the inevitable result. i think the erosion of fandom as a community opened the door for this, but these people made the deliberate choice to step through it. i think the why matters and should be the focus of the conversation, but i also think it's equally important that we don't let the reasons excuse or normalize the actions.

i think the relentless call outs and the immediate memeification of everything, the fics and authors who use ai becoming running mean girl jokes, is only furthering the degradation of fandom, and creates a space that feels unsafe for someone new to create without the crutch of ai. i can empathize with people not being sure how to form connections other than through producing content people will talk about. the root problem is that everyone is hungry for community, but we've lost sight of what that means and how to build it.

i don't think i can find any sympathy for the people who loudly professed to be against AI and used it anyway, or those who doubled down after being called out months ago and wrote treatises about being victimized. that's deliberate deception and manipulation and cannot be excused or enabled.

But the only existing female character in HR I could see potentially volunteering as a surrogate would be Jackie Pike. And altruistic (I.e. unpaid) surrogacy is legal here in Canada. Svetlana would not fuck with nine months of pregnancy. Egg donation is a much smaller commitment.

As for Rose, she’s a fucking movie star. Moreover, she’s a movie star who gets paid a lot of money to be spray painted blue all over while wearing practically no clothes. There’s no way she’s going through nine months of pregnancy (during which she can’t work).

Followed by the hell of having to get her body back into pre-pregnancy shape so she can go back to making the Marvel movies she’s contracted for, and where every stretch mark would be noticeable in her spray-painted costume. All that wouldn’t be worth it to her unless she’s keeping the kid she’s squishing out. It just wouldn’t make economic sense for her to risk her livelihood, not even to make a close friend’s dream come true.

Besides, at least here in Canada, neither Svetlana nor Rose would even be a suitable candidate for altruistic surrogacy. Since you’re supposed to have a child of your own who lives with you. And a track record of at least one previous pregnancy with no major complications.

Jackie has four kids who live with her already, and she doesn’t have a job where her needing to take time off during and after pregnancy would risk her employment. Because in canon she’s a stay at home parent. She’s really the only candidate, if Shane and Ilya decide they want kids and want to go the surrogacy route. And because Shane and Ilya have babysat her kids many times, Jackie knows they’re good with kids. It’s not abstract for her.

And realistically, altruistic surrogacy might be their only option. With Ilya’s mental health issues and past as a child of an abusive home, it might be very tough for Hollanov to adopt. If a social worker has to choose between a potential adoptive family where one parent is on SSRIs, versus a potential adoptive family where neither parent has significant mental health challenges….

Well, you couldn’t really blame a social worker in that situation for choosing the less risky option. Especially if it’s an adoption from foster care and the child or children in question already have their own psychological baggage.

But anyway, there’s no way they could have kids until at least one of them has retired. During the season they’re both on the road half the time. You might be able to bring an infant on road trips (with a very well-paid nanny and an adjoining hotel room). But pretty soon that kid will be old enough that it needs structure and routine and preschool.

Honestly, it’s kind of iffy that they even have a dog, given Anya has to spend so much time at the dog hotel when they’re on the road. You can’t park a child at a dog hotel. Nor would there be much point.

ALSO being on SSRIs does not disqualify you from adopting, fostering, or taking care of a child in anyway. Please do fucking research before spreading misinformation about that. Saying that a social worker would not have a hard choice or that you couldn’t blame them for choosing someone who’s not on SSRIs is gross and stigmatizes medication and mental health. Not to mention you bringing up Ilya’s abusive childhood to justify why they wouldn’t get picked as if someone with an abusive childhood automatically wouldn’t be a good candidate for parenthood. People with mental illnesses and other mental health conditions can be great parents.

“You couldn’t blame a social worker for choosing the less risky option” uh YES you absolutely fucking could blame a social worker if they decided you couldn’t have a child because you’re on antidepressants to cope with a horrifically traumatic childhood. I’ve been on SSRI’s since I was 14, a large number of social workers are on antidepressants. Also, BOTH my parents have depression and they were, and continue to be, fantastic parents.

This person does not appear to understand the adoption process at all. A social worker does not choose which prospective family “gets” the child. That’s not remotely how it works. There are millions of kids in the foster system, a child isn’t a hot commodity that we give to the winning family. A social worker, after home visits and interviews with family, friends, and coworkers(which would involve anyone that’s ever seen Ilya interact with a kid saying he would be the best dad ever) decides if this would be a good environment for a child. Ilya and Shane’s constant travel and demanding schedule would raise an issue, but Ilya’s very manageable depression absolutely would not. Hell, it would probably be more of an issue if he WASN’T taking SSRIs for his depression- treatment is a sign that he takes mental health seriously and would thus be a very good parent to a child with mental health issues. Shane and Ilya are MORE equipped to parent a child that has depression or other mental health issues. They run a frickin mental health charity!

there's concern there. it's obvious. and it's SO common when it comes to bisexuality bc there's this huge and annoying misconception that bisexual people are unfaithful unloyal cheaters. and you can see it in her face as she processes the information that this is an immediate concern for her and for her son.

and now let's look at ilya's face

now he's concerned, because he knows he has to explain himself (which he does. he shouldn't have to but he does) and he's basically throwing out a hail mary to shane's parents that says hey, wait, no, i'm not gonna cheat on your son. i love your son. just because i'm bisexual doesn't mean i would hurt shane.

Rest in peace to the incredible Anthony Stewart Head (20th February 1954 - 1st June 2026)