This is a bit of a subjective outlook on this situation purely because I've only really had experience in the eproctophilia community, so I'll be using incidents from it, but I'm sure other fetish communities have gone through similar incidents.
Cringe Culture may be pretty much dead, and the 2016 edgelord era is over, but the aftershocks and ramifications of it are still present.
I don't know if people realize how fucking isolating it is to have a fetish like this. I never asked for any of this. Why are we such a target? Is it because we're into something that's seen as taboo? Is it because it's funny that people would be into something like this?
There's an artist on Twitter I've been following for a while.
By the time I went ahead and followed them, they had their account set to private.
Earlier today, I checked my followed accounts on Twitter, so I could port them over to Bluesky, and found that I could finally see their content again.
Empty, 0 posts, everything wiped without a trace.
I know the actions of someone I barely know shouldn't affect me so much, but I can't stop thinking about it.
Why? Were they exposed to a hate mob? Was it fear of that outcome?
This isn't the first time this community has had a creator get attacked and ridiculed.
Back in 2015ish, AnimatedJames got exposed for being into eproctophilia.
Now, don't get me wrong, AnimatedJames wasn't exactly a saint. But people weren't attacking him for being a pedo or a rapist. They attacked him for something that was both harmless and out of his control.
2019 comes along, and a similar incident happened to JelloApocalypse but with little long-lasting effects, aside from the odd video here or there.
But for something like that to happen now, in 2024, made me realize that cringe culture isn't dead, we've just developed coping mechanisms.
Some examples of cringe culture still being around include Reddit, harbouring many cringe culture Subreddits and echo chambers. Cringe compilations appearing on YouTube. And the generally aggressive, hateful mobs that still roam through social media.
I'm sure you've noticed how targeted these hate mobs have become, going from TV shows and media they didn't like, to subcultures and sexualities.
I don't know what I hope to gain from writing all of this.
A more pleasant future for everyone, perhaps?
Or maybe I just want someone to listen for a second.
A few months back, someone on this account had told me that expressing kink is a form of liberation, activism, self-expression, and normalization.
And that by posting, I was making the world more beautiful, queer, and happy by expressing my interests.
I guess what I'm hoping to accomplish here is to make the world a little more tolerant, a little nicer, a little bit more empathetic.
Maybe some day I can link this account with my main without fear of ridicule.
But that feels like wishful thinking right now.
Maybe some day, though.