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However, I implore you to consider the precedent this sets for fanwork (and art overall). By normalizing these disclaimers, we are legitimizing a police presence at the gate of every fic. No one should ever feel the need to show an ID to an armed guard just to be "allowed" access to a certain kind of character or subject matter. There is no "you must be this disabled/queer/traumatized to ride" sign, and anyone who tries to card you for the art you create and consume should be treated like a fucking weirdo. Please do not let these trolls goad you into answering their riddles three or fulfilling their identity fetch quests. You don't owe them any personal information, least of all the bits that could be used against you in the future (like your triggers, your marginalized status, etc).

A couple nights back I read a fic where a disabled character did something that made me go, "A disabled person would never write that." The actions of the character were so nails-on-a-chalkboard incompatible with my own experience of disability and chronic pain that it seemed unfathomable to me that the author could share my background. But my experiences are not universal!

If I may beat a dead horse, what art and representation uplifts one marginalized person will surely offend another. If I use the #author is disabled tag on my Ao3 fic to signal safe harbor to other disabled people, I've set myself up for failure, because the kinky sex scene that reads like empowerment to me will read like fetishization to someone else; the heroic rescue that reads like validation will read like infantilization; the tragic ending that reads like catharsis will read like punishment. You being from X group does not guarantee the comfort of the fellow X who reads your work.

And fuck, even if you disagree with me and believe there IS an objectively "correct" way to portray X marginalized character or Y subject matter...where does this ticket system leave people in the closet?? Where does it leave survivors who don't feel comfortable broadcasting their trauma to complete strangers?? Even if you believe certain types of fiction should only be created and consumed by certain types of people, you have to admit that a lot of X people writing about themselves and their experiences will be caught in the ID crossfire.

Normalizing these kinds of disclaimers just empowers bullies to gatekeep more and more art. Plus, I can tell you from experience that once you're in a troll's crosshairs, the gateposts shift. Your clearance level is never high enough to justify your work.

"You're a gay author with gay characters? I bet you're not really a man. No gay man would write something this blatantly fetishistic."

"You're a survivor writing about abuse? That's actually worse because you should know better than to harm other survivors with such a romanticized depiction of abuse."

The conclusion is always the same regardless of your credentials: you're the wrong kind of X. You're a danger to other X people. If you want to be the right kind of X and help other X people, you need to delete Y.

"As an [x]" feels very... defensive. It's a pre-emptive defense from a perceived attack, and that has its place. But how we make imagined barbie dolls behave and act isn't one of those places?

The way I write trans characters is extremely empowering to me, but is probably extremely dysphoria inducing for others and definitely fetishistic. And that sucks for the folks it makes dysphoric, but I'm not going to stop writing what makes me feel good. And I understand why someone would want to basically check my trans card for it, but it's. Not their business. Magical sex changes make ME feel empowered and I write for Me, for example.

For me, a setting where everyone is just inherently fine with queer stuff is. Idyllic and sweet, but usually unbelievable without worldbuilding behind it! I don't usually like those stories on their own! I prefer writing and reading stories where queer characters being queer means something and affects their place in society, unless I am specifically looking for the warm fuzzy sweetness of the former category. But if I'm looking for Empowerment? I want the struggle because I want to see them overcome something.