Phantom Pain

So obviously, there is nothing wrong with these books, but the thing is, children aren't always encouraged to critically engage with them.

How many of us who were read The Giving Tree or Rainbow Fish were ever encouraged to explore why we found these stories distressing when they were clearly supposed to be wholesome? We are supposed to just assume that the lesson the story teaches is a universal truth and there is no point in questioning it because it can't be wrong.

And that's not to say that the morals in children's books are often wrong, just that,

Is the child being encouraged to evaluate the arguments the books presents and decide whether or not they agree, or are they being told what to think?

I can easily see how the "you shouldn't write problematic fiction" argument could make sense to someone who was read stories as a child and expected to unquestioningly take away moral lessons from them. Especially younger people who are encountering other forms of media for the first time, or adults who don't consume a lot of media and where the majority of their experience with books was reading as a child. Even adults who grew up without adults to discuss books and other story-based media (like movies, t.v. shows, lyrical music) with or to set an example for how that content should be approached.

Even I see the appeal.

Every time I see a Tumblr post arguing about problematic fiction this little voice in the back of my head goes, "but what about children's books?"

Because at first glance, children's books seem to be the antithesis of a major pro-problematic fiction argument. Children's books do affect reality. Children take away lessons from these books on how to behave, lessons that many adults are still living by. How many of us learned to "do unto others" or share or "don't saying anything if you don't have anything nice to say" from children's books?

So the argument that fiction does not affect reality doesn't hold up. right?

Well, it's not that simple. Yes, there are adults going around still taking these lessons to heart, and, yes, children are learning about the world from these books; but teaching children to just take what these books say at face value is dangerous -- take the example of The Giving Tree and how a child that saw themselves as a tree might interpret that message -- and obviously, adults are responsible for their own behaviour. "A book made me do it," is not a valid excuse in a court of law.

Does that mean we should ban The Giving Tree outright? No. Because there will always be books that are interpreted different ways by different people.

If you wish to take part in any fandom, you need to accept and respect these three laws.

If you aren’t able to do that, then you need to realise that your actions are making fandom unsafe for creators. That you are stifling creativity.

Like vaccination, fandom only works if everyone respects these rules. Creators need to be free to make their fanart, fanfics and all other content without fear of being harassed or concern-trolled for their creative choices, no matter whether you happen to like that content or not.

The First Law of Fandom

Don’t Like; Don’t Read (DL;DR)

It is up to you what you see online. It is not anyone else’s place to tell you what you should or should not consume in terms of content; it is not up to anyone else to police the internet so that you do not see things you do not like. At the same time, it is not up to YOU to police fandom to protect yourself or anyone else, real or hypothetical.

There are tools out there to help protect you if you have triggers or squicks. Learn to use them, and to take care of your own mental health. If you are consuming fan-made content and you find that you are disliking it - STOP.

The Second Law of Fandom

Your Kink Is Not My Kink (YKINMK)

Simply put, this means that everyone likes different things. It’s not up to you to determine what creators are allowed to create. It’s not up to you to police fandom. 

If you don’t like something, you can post meta about it or create contrarian content yourself, seek to convert other fans to your way of thinking.  

But you have no right to say to any creator “I do not like this, therefore you should not create it. Nobody should like this. It should not exist.”

It’s not up to you to decide what other people are allowed to like or not like, to create or not to create. That’s censorship. Don’t do it.

The Third Law of Fandom

Ship And Let Ship (SALS)

Much (though not all) fandom is about shipping. There are as many possible ships as there are fans, maybe more. You may have an OTP (One True Pairing), you may have a NOTP, that pairing that makes you want to barf at the very thought of its existence.

It’s not up to you to police ships or to determine what other people are allowed to ship. Just because you find that one particular ship problematic or disgusting, does not mean that other people are not allowed to explore its possibilities in their fanworks.

You are free to create contrarian content, to write meta about why a particular ship is repulsive, to discuss it endlessly on your private blog with like-minded persons.

It is not appropriate to harass creators about their ships, it is not appropriate to demand they do not create any more fanworks about those ships, or that they create fanwork only in a manner that you deem appropriate.

These three laws add up to the following:

You are not paying for fanworks content, and you have no rights to it other than to choose to consume it, or not consume it. If you do choose to consume it, do not then attack the creator if it wasn’t to your taste. That’s the height of bad manners.

Tagged by: @trishelle - thank you! :D Tagging: @theimperialnuisance, @nzahditia, @placesyoucallhome, @forestyboy-rp, @yshai-tia (Sorry if you've already been tagged!)

EDIT: Realized this came out kinda long, so I put in a Keep Reading thingy! Below the cut are many of my personal thoughts regarding important things though, like NSFW/ERP things, character development, and whatnot.

I like to be called: Gem is my short nickname online so that works for me!

One thing (or several) you should know about me:

I'm 30+ with a life that's about to change drastically come October (hello first born child of mine), so sometimes that means I simply won't have the time to reply to you instantly. Or for days. Family and IRL things come before online roleplaying.

You don't need to write an essay with every single reply you send to me - and please don't expect me to do so, either. I try not to overthink what I reply too much, so there's very little need for you to do so!

Please keep OOC stuff separated from IC stuff - I am not my characters and anything they do have nothing to do with me as a person.

One thing (Or several) you should know about my muses:

I know others have found N'xihmi to be bothersome since he's heavily focused on his personal issues, as well as a very sexual person overall. It's all related to his backstory, so there's a good reason why he is the way he is, so if your character spends some time getting to know him, he'll start making more sense, and become a much less shallow character!

I mean this in the kindest, most loving way possible, but babes you'll be so much happy when you stop focusing on what other people are doing and instead focus on what you like.

Basically the same face as Sireh'ya got in the benchmark character creator, but I think it's the one face that fits these boys the best out of the available ones, so... yeah.

Ah hello! ＾ω＾

I do have a few that I’d love to share! (Though I’m sure some of these may sound familiar as I’m sure I am not alone in thinking about these headcanons and I’d love to hear what other people’s headcanons are too! :D

General miqo’te headcanons 

-While the huntspeak is remnant of the miqo’te’s old language, I’d like to think that each clan/tribe has its own unique huntspeak so that no other tribe nearby could understand that they found pray or whatnot. In that same light, I’d think there would be universal clicks and whistles that all clans/tribes had so that way they could also alert other nearby tribes that a quarry has been claimed or that there is bigger danger lurking about

-To bounce off the first one, they’d also use huntspeak to get each other’s attention whether it be because they need to alert them of danger or get them to focus or just to annoy each other when they’re bored (because we all have those moments of random bouts of chaotic energy) and of course, anyone else who isn’t aware or used to hearing huntspeak will be very confused at first by their miqo’te friend.

Since I've been gone for a while, I figured it might be time to update them boyos' introduction pages here on Tumblr so... that's been done.

Oh, uh, hello!

I disappeared for… a couple of years. How’ve you been? :’D

Cedu’li is still around (as is Sireh’ya and Nix, btw), currently trying out a different hair color and less color on his lips, not sure I like it..