“it's a human moment, morty.”

I wish people would understand that this issue is more complex than just „it‘s only fiction, so it doesn‘t matter.“ It DOES matter, to a lot of people, and I find that the biggest issue I have with the ship isn‘t even necessarily the fact that it exists, but that shippers like to say it is harmless, brush everyone who say it isn‘t off as „antis“, and carry on with it, seemingly without questioning or criticizing the implications of their ship. But I feel that as soon as even one person says it is harmful to them, it objectively stops being harmless, and you are actively ignoring abuse survivors and their concerns.

I am not saying that everyone who ships it is a pedophile. But I am saying that contributing to it, even if you are in no way doing it consciously, is helping to normalize and glorify it. One of the prime examples of that is what I already mentioned: abuse survivors not being listened to. We are told all our lives to be quiet, that our trauma isn‘t valid, that we‘re not believed. By telling us to „just ignore and block the rickmorty tag“ you‘re basically doing that, you‘re telling us to just be acquiescent and live with the knowledge that such a huge group of people are currently finding pleasure in our horrific trauma. For me, it feels like I am drowning, like I am forever alone with my pain with people not wanting to understand how awful the effects of CSA are. We are not „antis“, we are real people with real pain and concerns, and calling us that is quite frankly disrespectful and dehumanizing.

When discussing topics like this, you cannot always expect trauma survivors to be rational and not get emotional in their arguments. None of us should have to be, because the truth is I simply can‘t always be rational about it, because I am severely mentally ill due to the trauma that I feel is being glorified. While I don‘t condone death threats or anything of that sort, I do feel like people being criticized for a problematic ship simply aren‘t the victims in this situation. You know your ship is questionable, the least you could do it accept that some people will tell you that. And yes, I know there are survivors who use it as a way to cope. You are valid, but it is not a justification to call it objectively harmless, and my thoughts mainly concern people who haven‘t been through sexual trauma and still ship it without critical thought.

Rick is a character who canonically kills and hates pedophiles and rapists, so a lot of abuse survivors find comfort in him and the show. I ask you to understand how painful it is to see a comfort character who you feel connected to because you feel he would protect you be turned into your abuser by such a huge part of the fandom.

Telling abuse survivors to just suck it up and not care about something that hurts them is an awful thing to do. I know I‘m not the only one and we deserve to be heard and listened to after many of us have had a lifetime of being invalidated. Our views matter and we have every right to speak out about something we find directly hurtful and problematic.

WhytManga, creator of Apple Black, Instagram + YouTube.

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1. It helps people who have a low sense of self-worth and makes them see themselves through the eyes of someone who would stick by them no matter what.

2. It’s a valid form of self-love.

3. People can use it as a coping method (example: someone still living in an abusive household and are unable to escape so they take solace in their favorite fictional world), or as a simple comfort method.

4. It can literally save lives.

5. There is no risk of infidelity, heartbreak, or even abuse and venereal diseases.

6. People can be legitimately attracted to fictional characters.

7. There’s no obligation to disregard your own feelings just to keep them happy or sacrifice important ambitions to stay with them.

8. Some people use the idea that their fave will be proud of them if they reach a certain goal as motivation.

9. For some people, self-shipping can help them find themselves.

10. It’s 100% harmless.