#shipandletship

Honestly… because I just don't ship them. That's really all there is to it. 😅

I don't think there's some deep explanation behind it. If someone told me, "I don't support Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf together," I wouldn't immediately ask them, "Why?" Sometimes a ship simply doesn't resonate with you, and that's okay.

The reason I wanted to answer this is because I've noticed I've been getting quite a few anonymous questions lately, and I have a feeling they're all circling around the same assumption. I think some people have started to believe that because I don't ship Buddie, or because I don't want Buck and Eddie together romantically, that somehow means I'm against gay people. No one has said it quite that directly… but I honestly feel like that's the question behind many of these anonymous messages. And that's simply not true.

The way I approach fandom has nothing to do with judging real people. I approach it as a storyteller and as a fan. To me, this is about narrative, characterization, and the kinds of stories I personally enjoy.

For example, I genuinely don't see Eddie as gay. I personally read him as a straight character, and I see what he has with Buck as an incredibly profound friendship—one that goes beyond ordinary friendship, but not because it's romantic. I think there's a kind of love that exists between friends that's every bit as meaningful without becoming a romance. Personally, I want something different for both of them. I'd love to see Eddie experience a truly great love story with a female character, because that's simply the story I imagine for him.

Just like I have every right to imagine that, someone else has every right to imagine the exact opposite.

The same thing happened to me with Bridgerton. I don't support Francesca and Michaela as a romantic pairing—not because they're two women, but because I read the books and became deeply attached to Michael Stirling. That's the version of the story that emotionally connected with me. It's about the story. Not about the people.

This isn't even unique to these ships. I've disagreed just as strongly with plenty of heterosexual pairings over the years. I never supported Dan and Blair in Gossip Girl, and I still think that storyline was a mistake. I wasn't a fan of Oliver and Felicity in Arrow, either. I don't ship Cassian and Bix in Andor. And right now, with Wednesday, I'm honestly disappointed that Wednesday and Tyler don't seem to be heading back toward each other, because I really enjoyed that pairing. As you can see, this isn't about sexuality at all. It's simply about which stories and relationships speak to me—and which ones don't.

So I really hope people don't assume that because I don't ship Buddie, there must be some kind of prejudice behind it. There isn't. It's simply a ship that doesn't resonate with me. Nothing more and I think that's okay.

Just because nine people love something and I'm the tenth person who doesn't doesn't mean anyone is wrong. It simply means we have different tastes. When I say, "I don't ship Buddie," or "I'd like to build a space for fans who enjoy different pairings," I'm not trying to take anything away from people who do ship them.

You already have an amazing community. You get excited together, write fanfiction, make edits, attend conventions, ask questions, celebrate your favorite pairing—and I genuinely think that's wonderful. If it makes you happy, then I'm happy that you've found something you love. ❤️

All I'm asking for is the same freedom in return. The freedom to say, "That's not the story I personally want." The freedom to imagine something different. The freedom to gather with people who happen to share that perspective.

You have every right to hope Buck and Eddie become a couple someday and I have every right to hope the writers take a different direction. Neither of us is objectively right or wrong. We're simply imagining different futures for characters we all care about. That's what fandom has always been about: different interpretations, different headcanon, different stories.

Hey fandom side of tumblr draw your favorite ship as the no bitches meme.

So… What am I up to here? 

I have a challenge for you all. 

After the latest events in the OuaT fandom, Swens once more were tagged as the ones making noise. And every time we rise to defend ourselves we end up looking even worse than we started. Now even Shatner is speaking against us… So I came up with this silly idea… 

THIS NEEDS TO STOP. 

We need to back off. Mainly because we’re giving those people free publicity. Every time Shatner says something, 2.1M people who follow him reads about it. Every time we step up against Chris Lewis and Sean Maguire, we make them get a lot of attention… And do you think Adam or ABC cares? Há!  No, they don’t. 

So… I know it’s messed up being called delusional and such…. but I think we should take a break from engaging in those wars. I mean… go bite the table or punch a door but DON’T REPLY TO HATE AND PROVOCATIONS! 

Here are some premises I thought we could build this Campaign on:

* Ship and let ship. Don’t focus on anti-otherships tags. Let them ship what they want. * Don’t engage in shippwars. We’re a bit more refined than that. Just ignore OR send love in return. * We’re more than a ship, we’re Swan Queen Nation! So let’s feed our ship with amazing fanarts, fanfics, fanvids and maybe some cool art for our campaign! Banners, headers, icons, stuff like that. What do you say?  * Keep mentioning Lana, Jennifer, Adam and the screenwriters… But only to send them gratitude. It hurts, i know, cause They just seem to ignore our feelings but keep positive!

Plus: * it’s our legitimate right to be delusional. * it’s our legitimate right to ship whatever we want, even if it’s not canon. * it’s not our fault the other ships (canon ones, per se!) get so annoyed by our presence. * WE’RE HERE, WE’RE (MOSTLY) QUEER, GET USED TO US!!!

******************** 

On another note, there’s no need to be silence and take the crap they throw at us, but let’s do so politely! Feel free to trend #StopHomophobiaOUaTFandom next sunday, feel free to show Adam, Lana and Jen we’re here and we are Grateful for SwanQueen… but please… just don’t add fire to gossip, lies and dirt like that which will only mess with our own name…

Who’s with me?