long post regarding this post by @prokrastinartiya because i felt deeply upset on their behalf.
i dont typically engage directly with stupid takes like aubrey kern's, but i ended up commenting on the post (probably not as eloquently as i'd have liked, but i don't know what instagram's character limit is).
this entire post felt so out of touch. it was like they saw the ferrari video and ran with an idea. so many of us who create fandom content create it for our small corner of the internet. we go through extra hoops to make sure that we aren't disrespecting any boundaries or opening our work to be found by the people associated with it. we lock accounts, we lock fics, we make extensive disclaimers to keep our work in our bubbles. and yes, of course we can argue the ethics of fanfiction, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to do not shove it in people's faces. which is a rule that at least 90% of people who create rpf try to adhere to.
it's the same bullshit but a different day where we beg those with public platforms to please not take the art, the fanfiction, the work we create for our people to be taken outside and waved around for people to rip apart and bully both it and us. this creator thinks they're bringing attention to something horrible and awful when in reality, we, the ones doing the creating, have been screaming about how fandom content should stay in fandom circles. you have intentionally brought this content somewhere that the people depicted can see it. you are preaching about how this is weird and disturbs you, and yet you intentionally sought it out. if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to consume the content. you don't have to go on ao3. you don't have to follow people who write fanfiction or make fanart. yet, you, aubrey kern, have intentionally consumed content that you know upsets you and may upset others for the purpose of what? getting clicks? it's not okay to disrespect a millionaire, tax evading, white men, but it's okay to disrespect a random person on the internet's? sure.
fanfiction, also, has existed for years. fandom has existed for years. anyone who has been famous or has had a very public platform for any amount of time knows that content probably exists somewhere about them. however, they don't seek it out. does that make it okay? im not an ethics guide so i can't answer that. but again, we make a conscious effort to not blast our rpf in their faces. if oscar piastri is on the internet searching for fics about his teammate blasting him in the ass, that is his decision and he is responsible for his choices on the internet. especially when the fics i write are under lock and key and clearly not meant for the consumption of people who don't want to consume them.
it is only now becoming as big of an issue as it is because social media admins, media outlets, and content creators such as yourself are making it an issue. you're, again, ripping shit off the internet that was never ever intended to leave its bubble.
and yes, i am fully aware that the internet is not a private space, but people in fandom spaces do their best to keep it as private as possible. we don't condone posting about it on instagram or twitter. threads. taking it to the person it's about. we keep it to our dms and our tumblr accounts. and yet, here you are, throwing it in people's faces.
lumping rpf and fanfiction in with parasocialism is also an odd take. sure, maybe you can make an argument about self-insert fiction, but even then, i think that's dumb. i used to write self-insert. that's what my entire blog was originally. there is nothing wrong with fantasizing about celebrities or athletes. yes, you should be calling out the people who take it too far, like the people who send insane amounts of hate to the partners of the drivers, or people who are unwell and think they have a weird claim over them. but people who write silly little fanfics on the internet are not the problem. not the majority of them, at least.
i took my time to go through this creator's account, too. i wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, seeing as she said she was newer to F1 (no shame, we all gotta start somewhere. i'm also still relatively new to the sport), however, i find it difficult to. she's made not one, but two posts about the toxic fan culture in F1, with which, i can agree. there definitely is one and it wholly needs to be addressed, but both posts only address women and women-centered issues and not the fact that men are the biggest reason why non-cis men find it difficult to find community here.
you want to find community with other women who are new to motorsports and formula and yet you seem to have some sort of superiority complex about gran turismo being what really got you into the sport. that it bothers you when men say, "you must like F1 because you think the drivers are hot", that drive to survive "shattered the barrier between drivers and fans". and yet you are still upholding a lot of the ideas that you claim to disagree with. lando norris is what caught your attention first. you wanted to know more about the sport because you liked lando, and that is okay. don't make yourself miserable because you want to placate men and cater to misogyny.
i commented on her post, calling her out for being out of touch, and all she had to say was "i can still be pro-women in motorsport and still call out strange behaviors". but you're not pro women in motorsport if you only call out women.
yes, there's an issue of abhorrent, rampant misogyny within F1 from both sides, but you are not making it better by only calling out women for being weird and strange. if you only take issue with women, and only make an effort to call out women, then you are a part of the problem. call out parasocialism, call out bullying wags and the "my driver can do no wrong" delusions. yes, absolutely! but you cannot also make it entirely the fault of women.
whether she realizes it or not, she's pandering to men by only calling out the "weird" behaviors of other women. women are allowed to enjoy so little. fanfiction, romance novels, and smut are some of the only things we (and other non cis-men) have to enjoy in fandom before pick-mes and men take it and drag it through the mud. you don't build community with other girls and women by making them feel unwelcome for like mundane things like F1 romance novels, being attracted to the drivers, and fanfiction. that's how you create division. that's how you make people feel unwelcome.
unchecked misogyny will kill you.
