Cease 🖤

Stupid Weebs:

Weebs who’s Asian knowledge comes from just anime:

I see a lot of bad and weird definitions floating around, especially from antis. I figured I‘d make a post with my personal definition, and the one many people in my pro-ship friend circles use as well. Also I can‘t format this well because I‘m on mobile, lol.

So, first things first, pro-ship does not automatically mean someone ships things that are considered “problematic”. Pro-ship does NOT mean “problematic shipping” as I‘ve seen a fair few people define it (lol). Pro-shipping means being against the idea of harassing or being rude to others on the basis of them having a ship you don‘t like. That‘s it! Nothing to do with abusive dynamics or anything like that, it just means “cool, you ship that. I don‘t, but I‘ll respect your ship.”

A lot of pro-shippers I‘ve met are actually highly uncomfortable with “problematic” ships. Many have ships they dislike, or even hate. We all have dynamics and tropes we don’t like, either. And that‘s okay! The point is, and never was, shipping things for the sake of being problematic, or shipping everything. It‘s a pushback against fandom harassment culture, which leads into the next point.

The anti-anti movement (also known as pro-shipping. The terms are interchangeable) started as a pushback against the trend of fandom “antis”; people who would dedicate entire blogs to harassing people over their ships and shaming, accusing, and otherwise being awful to others on the basis of ships. First and foremost, pro-shipping is an anti-harassment movement. Yes, it has evolved further, but that was the original purpose of it.

Now, here‘s a few misconceptions about pro-shipping cleared up, based on my own experiences as well as many others I‘ve talked to:

- Pro-shippers don‘t believe fiction affects reality!!!

False. Most pro-shippers do understand that fiction affects reality. HOWEVER, we also understand that the effect isn‘t a 1:1 ratio, and the ways fiction affects reality is very complex and nuanced topic. Yes, fiction has an effect on reality, but reading something in fiction will not automatically make someone agree with what is presented, especially if what‘s presented is already seen negatively in one‘s experiences.

- Pro-ship/anti-anti is a pedophile dogwhistle!!!

Also not true. Enjoying something in fiction is not an automatic reflection of one‘s real life morals. This is just a generally stupid take.

- Pro-shippers support pedophilia/incest/abuse in real life!!!

Many pro-shippers are actually survivors, and are very adamantly against such things! We understand that problematic fiction is problematic for a reason, but again, enjoying something in fiction is not an automatic reflection of one‘s real life morals.

And a bit of an FAQ:

- Why would you support problematic fiction if you don‘t consume it?

This is a big topic right here that I can‘t really explain in a few sentences. I‘d suggest doing some research on why censorship is bad and who it has affected the worst historically. It also might be worth looking into library codes of conduct and how even libraries are actively against any censorship.

- Why would people consume problematic content anyways, especially if you don‘t support it?

A lot of reasons! The human mind is really interesting, honestly. Sometimes people simply want to see a different point of view or dynamic. Fiction is a wonderful place to explore these things that can‘t be explored in real life, and can be a wonderful creative outlet. For problematic content, many people use it as an outlet for their own personal trauma. A big part of the appeal is that when you‘re creating, you control the outcome, and many survivors find that extremely comforting! Aside from all that, it really isn‘t anyone‘s business why someone is consuming a certain kind of fiction. People don‘t owe you an explanation for you to decide whether they are allowed to consume certain content. Anyone can consume any fictional content! It‘s that simple.

- Ew, why are you getting off on my trauma?

It‘s not yours! It‘s fictional. The trauma is happening to fictional characters and even if you find similarities, it probably isn‘t yours because I can almost guarantee the content creator doesn‘t know you.

- But your content is gross! I can‘t support that!

And you don‘t have to! A large part of being a pro-shipper is encouraging the curation of your own online experience. You can block people, tags, words, etc. so you don‘t have to see it. There‘s no shame in not wanting to see certain content. The problem arises when you harass others over it.

-What about [insert problematic group irl]?

Pro-shipping is entirely about fiction and fandom. Once you step outside of the fandom space and into the real world, pro-shipping doesn‘t matter, and has no affect on other opinions. Sure, many of us share other opinions, but being a pro-shipper is solely about fictional discourse.

There’s stuff I don’t like. Lolisho weirds me out. Certain pairing dynamics are too unsettling for me.

If someone ships something I don’t like, I’ll just ask them to tag it and let them ship it to their heart’s content over where I won’t see it. I don’t care how gross or immoral someone’s fiction is, I pay attention to how they treat real people.

Maybe it’s because I’m a fandom old fart and have been around for various purges. All I know is censorship hurts marginalized people, and it can be turned onto the people calling for it just as easily. It never curtails the fake problem of removing the bad things fandom antis think are ‘enabling’ predators.

If fiction actually normalized all those things, society wouldn’t be livable right now. All fandom antis are doing is feeding into a moral panic. Replace their buzzwords with different buzzwords and you’ll see how obvious it is. Change “pedo” to “satanic” or “incest” to “homosexuality”. Use find and replace on any fandom anti argument and it’s so clear. They’re not enlightened or saying anything new.

Take away fiction and predators will use something else to groom. But fandom antis would remove oxygen and end us all to stop one perceived predator.

They have no logic or morals, and any who see my post will jump immediately to calling me a pedo apologist because they won’t separate fiction from reality. I’ll read a SessKag fanfic and enjoy it, but would try to beat the snot out of any real adult who puts their hands on a real child in any way that harms the child. I have seen and reported CSEM, and seeing it twisted my stomach in ways lolisho artwork never will.

Fandom antis have spread CSEM because they thought it was just more gross art, which proves they are the ones who can’t tell reality apart from fiction, so they think everyone has their narrow worldview and tries to shove it on everyone else. Meanwhile creeps like Nafedude (a person who raped their sister!) slide right past them, uncontested.

Every predator warning I’ve seen from pro shippers has been legit with proof, and every “pedo warning” I’ve seen from fandom antis has been “ew they ship SessRin, BakuDeku, Kaeluc, etc” and the screencaps show no real people being creeped on or harmed. It’s exhausting.

Fandom antis make spaces safer for predators and I ain’t okay with that.

I'm better than them 100%

I'm better than them 100%

I'm better than them 100%

I'm better than them 100%

I'm better than them 100%

I know he is back

Im waiting for an apology

For all the pain and all his slack

sal'mander comes to rescue thee

for on dry land doth 'mander rest:

Life without you is simply hell

So back to land this bird shall fly

'tis true: to self-rhyme twice makes scars

in this, then, 'mander will accede:

I love you

I fail you every day my king

I'm better than them 100%

I know he is back

Im waiting for an apology

For all the pain and all his slack

sal'mander comes to rescue thee

for on dry land doth 'mander rest:

Life without you is simply hell

So back to land this bird shall fly

'tis true: to self-rhyme twice makes scars

in this, then, 'mander will accede:

I love you

I fail you every day my king

I'm better than them 100%

should any offical wish, they may have salamander perform one action, provide one item or set of items, cast one spell, or give one piece of honest advice. details are of course up for negotiation, and other forms of assistance may well be amenable: that is up to salamander's discretion.

in short, salamander is establishing salamander's services as a 'patron-for-hire', of sorts.

negotiable as the details of the request are, however, the payment remains fixed. salamander insists that as compensation for any patronage, salamander be offered a secret.

one secret, freely given. that is the cost of salamander's assistance. take it, leave it; salamander cares not. but know that salamander is impartial: you may opt to ignore this offer, yet your adversaries may take salamander up on it. and are you sure you want to give them that advantage?

[Salamander produces a ring, a green gemstone inlaid in it. It is reminiscent of emerald, yet simultaneously resembles an eye staring out of the setting.]

one secret of your choosing, and this ring is yours. it contains a number of passive protective wards, as well as a failsafe: if the ring spies a dangerous foe, salamander will be summoned to your side.

[Salamander hands you the ring.]