love to see that even in the wake of something this unadulteratedly warm and good, so many dnp stans still gotta flaunt the moral righteousness and self flagellate in extremes!!!!!1 yāall talking about shippers this and fetishization that and trying to make Rules for how ppl should act towards dan and phil now and whatnot are obvi coming from a place of good intention but are kind of missing the over arching point ?? which is that dan is an autonomous individual who chose of his own volition to share this part of himself that he is extremely proud of to the whole of the internet, including the exact community some of yāall are demeaning. he goes out of his way to mention how this community has slowly turned into a place where he now feels safe being himself. he makes sure to indicate that the retraumatization that he experienced was years ago and that it was due to the sudden shift in the dynamics of youtube and youtube fandom, the sudden rise in his own celebrity, and the actions of a select group of people who conscientiously, intentionally invaded his privacy to seek information about his friends, family and personal life.
talking about dan and phil and the life they live together is not that. drawing joy from their story and the beautiful example of queer love that they represent, based in the information THEY give us about their lives, is not an invasion. it doesnāt involve breaching privacy to find info on their lives they donāt publicly share. it doesnāt necessitate reducing them as people. it doesnāt belittle them or assume anything about them that they havenāt themselves confirmed and, in dans own words, itās even a compliment to them, likely bc itās clear so many young queer kids around the world take inspiration and comfort from their example and their story. itās okay to just be happy for them, itās okay to appreciate and admire the strength theyāve shown while also just appreciating and admiring the life they have made for themselves, individually and together.
phandom is a place where so many of us found the ability to be ourselves authentically for the first time. it is for so many a singular safe space literally spawned by dan and phil and the queerness that has always been intrinsic to their story. for better, not for worse. trying to represent it as something burdensome, dark, and damaging to dnp is not only a hurtful take, but a disingenuous one that contradicts dnpās own words.
