Not gonna lie I don't understand people that act like rpf smut is weirder than fanfic smut. Am I just missing something? I could've sworn a lot of society considers it way more normal to fantasize about real people than fictional characters. I don't even like rpf myself, I just figured I was the freak for caring more about animated characters banging instead lol. But now I keep seeing posts with loads of comments saying it's weird to think sexually about a real person and idk if they've been online too long or if I'm just not getting it cause I'm too aroace and have never been attracted to a real person anyway, so I'm just not understanding how it works or something?
RPF (real person fiction) and RPS (real person shipping) have a long history of being looked down on by fandom. There are a few reasons for that that I've seen:
Personalizing the experience. By that I mean, "if I imagine myself as one of the people being written about, how would I feel?"
Feeling protective of the real people being written about. "Those are my faves! Don't make them feel uncomfortable!"
Misunderstanding the fictional aspect of RPF/RPS. It's not just the stories that are fiction. The people are too. They are based on real human beings, but the ones acting in the story just have their name and face and some of the same biographical details. Beyond that, fic authors are making it all up.
I think part of the reason why we're hearing more and more people very loudly proclaiming that RPF is bad and wrong and weird (more so than in the past) is just because there are more people in fandom now and fandom itself is more accessible to new folks. A lot of people are experiencing their first fandom based on kpop bands or youtube and twitch stars - all of whom are real people - and so they are jumping into a new culture without knowing the rules and expectations. Add in the fact that fandom itself has a sometimes-fraught relationship with RPF, as well as the fact that new fans probably outnumber existing ones 2:1 or more in some of these fandoms and it's no wonder that new fans aren't learning the ropes.
I used to be uncomfortable with RPF myself because it felt like gossip or baseless conclusions instead of what it is: messing around with canon just like the rest of fandom does.
I hope this helps! And of course, if I've gotten anything wrong or you have thoughts of your own, feel free to add on in the notes.