Do I make you horny, baby?

If you’ve watched TV on any network or heard of any Oscar-nominated movies ever in your life, then you’ve seen RPF. It’s just not called RPF. It’s often called a “biopic” or “historical fiction” or “based on real life events.”

The Crown? RPF.

Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket Man? RPF.

The Social Network? RPF.

A fairly large number of Doctor Who episodes? RPF.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter? RPF.

Just look at the actors who have won Oscars. In the last two decades, 22 out of 40 leads won for playing biographical roles (55%). And this isn’t a recent trend, either. We’ve been writing books and movies and TV shows about real people for as long as humans have been able to write. 

So why do people hate RPF so much in fanfiction form? I think an argument can be made that it’s not the RPF that’s the problem. It’s the sex. Somehow, writing a story about a real person and including a sex scene in it is worse than just writing a story about them that doesn’t include sex. 

So is the problem RPF? Mainstream awards shows would have me believe that it’s not. Entire genres of literature and film make me think that writing fictional stories about real people isn’t an issue at all. It’s writing stories about those real people having sex with other people that causes the problem. Which means that the problem isn’t RPF at all, it’s sex. 

The F in RPF stands for Fiction. People who post it on AO3 are posting it on a website that is specifically dedicated to fiction. Anyone reading a story on AO3 and thinking that it’s an accurate portrayal of reality probably doesn’t even know what AO3 is. Which makes me wonder how they found the story to begin with. 

Pick your genre of fanfiction and someone out there has a problem with it, and a lot of the time that problem comes down to the wrong people having the wrong kind of sex.  Or the right people having sex, but the wrong people are writing it. 

RPF exists in the world. It’s written about the famous and the nameless. It’s written about the dead and the living. It’s written about adults and about children. 

the deed is done.

Ryan: sometimes i just buy a carton of egg whites from trader joes…

Shane: you just chug it?

Ryan: no actually i get an iv and just main line it

Shane: actually itd be cool to just pour it all over your face feel like you got slimed by a xenomorph

Ryan: oh thats a completely different thing

Shane:…or yknow like neo when he wakes up(…?)what it would feel like to be born again just sort of come out wet with like warm fluid on your face

Ryan: warm from the uterus as you like to say

Shane: warm n wet n sorta gooey no hair sorta looks like a mole rat a big shiny shiny mole rat

Ryan: like a very moist Tilda Swinton from avengers endgame

Shane: Walking fast

Shane:

RPF fandoms function differently from other fandoms. It’s a lot harder to find your footing. Where does everyone hang out? Which blogs are Shyan friendly, or actively Shyan shippers? Which fics should I read?

This post will hopefully help you out in your fist fandom steps. Welcome to the SHYAN STARTER PACK.

The first step is FINDING YOUR PEOPLE. 

A lot of shippers tend to be quiet on tumblr or twitter. We don’t post on the main tags (and neither should you). Instead, we congregate in spaces MADE for shipping, like the SHYAN SHIPPING SOCIETY, a 130+ member discord server for fans 16+. 

If you’re under 16, you can grab an RPS role on the BUZZFEED UNSOLVED server, and talk Shyan in the appropriate channels!

If you’re looking for Shyan blogs to follow or reblog from, start off with some Shyan friendly blogs: @wetookanoath, @queerunsolved, @itsashyanshame, @hailwatcher, @spooky-chapscher, @helloitsvehere, @bottomryanrights, @ghoulfriends, @pinksweatshirtbergara, @lesbianbergara, @thethirteenthcrow, @cdaemons.

Then we FIND THE CONTENT.

Actually, it can be really annoying/tiring to be from somewhere else than the US and/or not having English for first language (like French, for example), because Tumblr is so US-English centred that other things are dismiss often because it’s not their reality. End of my parentheses, this is not entirely the subject of that post.

So, let start with the US and no, the age of consent to sexual act isn’t the same for the whole country, there are different age of consent depending on which state you live in:

■63% where you need to be minimum 16 y.o ■16% where you need to be minimum 17 y.o ■21% where you need to be minimum 18 y.o

So yeah, probably for a lot of folks, their argument of “Under 18 is illegal” is false, since more than half of the US as for age of consent 16 years old.

[source1] [source2] [source3] [source4]

Of course, probably like most of the non-American on Tumblr, I don’t go by their law since it’s not my country. I go more specifically by Canada law (since it’s where I live), in which the age of consent is 16 years old in all his provinces and territories. There is no exception in the Canada, it is 16 everywhere.

AND, I’m not finished, under 16, some group of age are able to consent if their partner enter the age-gap permit by the law, which are called “close in age exception”, let see:

■12-13; less than 2 years [so maximum is 12-14 & 13-15] ■14-15; less than 5 years [so maximum is 14-19 & 15-20]

BUT, before someone comes at me all “but 16 are too young to date a 26 year old uwu”, no! By the law, it is legal in Canada, whatever you believe. There are very specific exception that could make that would cancel that law, both for the 16-17 y.o and the close age category:

■The older partner can’t by in a situation of authority or trust (ex: teacher or coach) ■The younger partner can’t by dependant of there partner, for care or support ■If the older partner is exploiting there younger partner

*To note that once you are older than 18, you are legally able to consent in every situation, like those listed above.

[source1] [source2] [source3] [source4]^

So yeah, this was me being annoyed by American trying to push on me the whole “it’s illegal if under 18”, because 1) learn law about your own country*, 2) the whole planet isn’t American and 3) this is too often us to harass folks over fictional characters and ship.

Feel free to add laws of others country or precise some from the US, I’m not a lawyer, I still tried my best.