Being in bad fandoms has kind of ruined the way I view many of my own ocs. Now instead of only viewing them as my own creations that conform to only my standards, I'm constantly analyzing for anything "problematic". I have caught myself asking the following about many ocs and projects of mine:
- Is this queer couple stereotypical in any way, shape, or form?
- Could this depiction of a woman be considered misogynistic in any way?
- I don't have that many dark skinned characters in this particular project, will people call that racist?
- I've stated this character to have a sexuality, but based on the rest of the character, will people assume I'm going to write it stereotypically?
- This character suffered trauma I haven't experienced myself but plan to research in depth to try and show as accurately as possible as well as asking other people about the accuracy of the depiction, but should I write this in at all if I haven't had it happen to me even if it's a major issue I want to spread awareness about?
- Is this villain painting the sexuality I've given them badly due to being a villain? Will people call me homophobic for this??
- Did I not add in enough straight people?
- I've made a lot of intentionally queer characters but not as many intentionally trans ones because I don't yet know how to properly write that and usually don't state wether someone is cis or trans, will people call me a transphobe?
- I've only shown one person with this particular job and it's built a lot of their character, will people come at me for it being inaccurate or a stereotype? (The job in question was acting in theater, btw).
- Does this aspect of a character feel thrown in? Does it seem like representation for the sake of having representation?
There's probably many more I'm missing but I regret having joined so many fandoms that harass creators for no reason because it's made me change things about my own ocs and simply not state things because I'm scared they'll cause me backlash. I mainly post my ocs on Artfight, but plan to make actual medias of all of them. My own stories are the main thing I live for and unnecessary drama like this in fandoms I'm in has really been detrimental to my mental health which already is far from great.
