#fandom and racism

[soup-mother]

"Tumblr is the gay communist website" tumblr is the transmisogyny and racism from people who think fanfic is political theory website

#my post #and obviously regular racism too #but the fandom brain is nuts

[razumdars]

Anyways while racism in the writer's room is definitely a thing and does affect how black characters are written and portrayed, to say "well this character wasn't written well (because of racism) so THAT'S why I find them boring!" is just disingenuous and trying to shove blame elsewhere.

Wyll may have been shafted in terms of writing, but he still clearly had more effort and time put into him than Halsin. And yet out of those two characters, which one is more popular in the fandom?

Dragon Age: Inquisition may bend over backwards to make Vivienne seem like a villain at times, and her opinion on the Circles is a bit complex, but that game also has Cullen in it - who was an antagonist for two previous games, and also has even stricter views on mages and the Circles. And out of the two of them, who's the one people are more forgiving to?

Preston Garvey might have a bugged radiant quest that means he says the same thing over and over and over again, but why is it annoying when he does it and endearing when it's characters in other games? (Brynjolf's "Sorry lass, I've got important things to do" comes to mind)

While yes, we should hold writers and developers accountable for the racism they bake into their games, this does not change that fandom is a transformative space. Fandoms will regularly take characters who were underwritten, who were treated poorly by their source material, or who were overlooked, and create beautiful works of art and fiction surrounding them.

So it's quite telling when they refuse to do this with the black characters.

#sophie.txt #fandom racism #baldur's gate #bg3 #wyll ravengard #preston garvey #vivienne de fer #dragon age #dai #fallout #fo4

[hneycmb]

Why is it that brainrotted fandom idiots will go "fandom is a space for FREAKS and WEIRDOS it's not your safe space 😡😡😡 if you don't like it you can LEAVE 😤😤😤" but then when someone asks them to stop treating black people in fandom spaces like shit they're all suddenly like "but ummmmm it's my safe space 🥺 the real world is mean and scary this is the only place I can go 🥺 racist harassment is my coping mechanism why won't you let people enjoy things 🥺"

#talking #fandom critical #racism #antiblackness

[end-otw-racism]

End OTW Racism: A Call To Action

A fan protest against the lack of action from the OTW on addressing issues of harassment and racism on AO3 and within the organization

This is a Call To Action for Fans of Color and Allies

AO3 has acknowledged that they have a harassment & racism problem that its parent organization, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), needs to address. Currently, people can use AO3 to harass others through fanworks, comments, and tags. Just a few examples include: racist Untamed “spitefic” that used anti-Indigenous slurs and was written specifically to lash out at fans of color; a Transformer fic that used its Black-coded character to reenact George Floyd’s murder in July 2020; someone naming a fandom scholar who criticized their Nazi omegaverse fic in the tags of the fic specifically to incite harassment to the scholar; writers using racial slurs against commenters who pointed out racism in their hockey fic; and so much more.

In June 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, the OTW committed to addressing these issues. It has been nearly three years and they have not yet implemented any of the changes they promised, other than a blocking/muting tool that was already in development before 2020. We need to hold the OTW accountable to their own promises. (See the section further down on “Why Are We Doing This” for even more detail.)

As fans, together, we are powerful. We are organizing to protest the lack of action on promises made by the Organization for Transformative works to deal with issues of racism and harassment on their platform, Archive of Our Own.

We call on fans to do any or all of the following actions any time between May 17 to 31, 2023 to send a message to AO3 and OTW that we will hold them to their promises.

On AO3

Change the title of ten (or more!) of your most recent or most popular fanworks to include ‘End Racism in the OTW’ in the beginning, and provide a link to this post in your summary or first/top creator’s note

Post a new fanwork any time between May 17th to 31st with “End Racism in the OTW” either as the title or at the beginning of the title. The fanwork does not have to be long - it can be a 100-word fic, a quick sketch, a podfic of a ficlet, a 20-second vid/edit, a short piece of meta, etc. In the summary or first/top creator’s note, provide a link to this post

If updating any WIPs with a new chapter, add ‘End Racism in the OTW’ to the title and provide a link back to this post in your summary or first/top author’s note

Update your AO3 icon using the profile pic graphic in our Social Media Toolkit

Plan to maintain these changes until May 31, 2023, or longer if you wish

Send a message to the OTW asking for an update on their 2020 commitments!

For Readers: leave encouraging comments on fanworks with the "End Racism in the OTW" title to show your support of this initiative.

On tumblr

Reblog this Call to Action with the tag #End OTW Racism

Update your profile pics and banners using the graphics in our Social Media Toolkit

Follow this account for updates and signal boost our posts

On Twitter

Follow @/EndOTWRacism (remove the backslash) and signal boost our pinned tweet

Update your profile pics and banners using our graphics, and change your display name to include #EndOTWRacism

Use sample tweets and graphics from our Social Media Toolkit to tweet about your fanworks, and use the hashtag #EndOTWRacism

Help us make this a long-term campaign - sign up to help with other anti-racism projects and future actions!

What Do We Want?

Since their June 2020 statement, OTW has been working on updating their Terms of Service (TOS) to address racist and bigoted harassment, but with little transparency and only the vaguest of updates. It has been three years since their commitment to this update - we want to see the results of their work implemented in the next 6-12 months. Their TOS updates and complementary policies should include:

Harassment policies that can be regularly updated to address both on-site harassment and off-site coordinated harassment of AO3 users, with updated protocols for the Policy & Abuse Team to ensure consistent and informed resolutions of abuse claims

A content policy on abusive (extremely racist and extremely bigoted) content; by abusive, we are talking about fanworks that are intentionally used to spread hate and harassment, not those that accidentally invoke racist or other bigoted stereotypes

These points are not particularly new and are not our own innovation; please refer to Stitch's article written over two years ago, asking for several of these very things.

OTW has also already committed to various process-based actions for longer-term works towards centering antiracism, including hiring a Diversity Consultant. The last update that OTW published said that the consultant would be hired within the next five years (after already having had three years to work on it since their original commitment). That is not soon enough. We want to see the following process-based actions implemented:

Hiring a Diversity Consultant within the next 3-6 months

Committing to a policy of transparency on this topic, with quarterly updates on the progress of these projects including challenges and their plan for overcoming those challenges. These quarterly updates should be published on OTW News page and newsletters, not solely discussed in Board meetings

Why Are We Doing This?

16 years ago, Astolat famously published her manifesto calling for a fandom Archive of One’s Own. In that time, AO3 has grown to be a central pillar of fandom, likely far outstripping its founders’ original vision. It is more than just an archive now; it is a central hub of the modern fannish experience. AO3 and the OTW must continue to grow and evolve with fandom over time to remain a healthy and functioning pillar of fandom. To that end, there are several areas in which the organization, as it admits itself, is lacking.

In June 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the uprising of the Black Lives Matter Movement, The OTW published a “This Week in Fandom” referencing the works of Dr. Rukmini Pande and Stitch, among others in which they discussed ‘making change for a better society’ through ‘conversations about race and racism’. In response, Dr. Pande and Stitch submitted a letter to the OTW calling for a more formal public statement than an offhand reference in a News Roundup that only served to call for thoughts and discussion without any indication the organization intended to do anything, policy wise, to address the issues being raised.

Eventually, the organization did remove the references to the works of Dr. Pande and Stitch and then made an official statement on the issue of racism within the organization and AO3. In it, they identified several things they would be prioritizing to combat harassment and benefit users. Some of those have been implemented (notably those that were already under development). However as of this writing, little else has been done especially in regards to:

Improving admin tools for the Policy & Abuse team

Reassessing the current mandatory archive warnings with the possibility of implementing others

And, most importantly, reviewing the Terms of Service (TOS) to allow the Policy & Abuse team to address harassment that is currently not covered by the existing TOS

By their own admission, the current tools and policies of the OTW are not sufficient to deal with issues of harassment and racism.

Several people who were involved in the founding of the OTW, including previous OTW Board members and staff on the original OTW Content Policy Committee, acknowledge that the founding of the OTW in 2008 and early board iterations failed us as a fandom by not doing enough, and by not even considering the way racism is perpetuated in fannish spaces, despite a long history of racism in fandom.

It has been nearly three years since the original commitment by the organization with little visible, measurable progress on these three crucial issues and a complete lack of transparency on where they are in regards to even beginning to deal with these issues. In fact, in Q&As, it was heavily implied by a member of the board that those calling for OTW to deal with issues of racism (which OTW had already acknowledged as a problem!) were not really fans but outside agitators.

This has cast significant doubt on the organization's sincerity and commitment to their stated goals, and on their position as leaders of a central fan tent-pole. Fans of color are not outsiders. They are right here, members of our community, and they are being harassed and targeted and driven out while space and platforms are being given to racists.

We, as fans of color and our allies, find the current state of fandom and current actions (and lack thereof) unacceptable. Fandom is our space, all of ours. We, as a fandom, have a right to a racism-free space and have a duty to our fellow fans to create that space. Unlike so much of the world, this is a space we can control and make better. It is a space we must make better. To read even more about this movement, visit our FAQs.

#fandom #ao3 #otw #EndOTWRacism #End OTW Racism #racism in fandom #organization for transformative works #archive of our own #antiracism #otw board

[gemsandjunk]

people love ignoring canon to a brainrotting degree until you ask them why they don’t give any attention to female/poc characters then they start crying and sobbing about how canon doesn’t give them anything to work with

#nifty’s junk #fandom racism #fandom misogyny

[spacebeyonce]

'acab includes fandom police'

#fandom racism

[bg3-npc]

AND ANOTHER THING

Favoritism for Astarion aside, I think no one sees the tragedy in Wyll because he never really strays from "being good". We're never really given a moment where his actions had costs larger than himself. If he'd refused Mizora's pact, he'd obviously have the guilt of any lives lost on his shoulders. He accepted it though. If you're unshakable in your goodness there's no way you can be unhappy, clearly you're content with all your choices. WHICH IS THE POINT OF WYLL! HE DOESN'T REGRET HIS CHOICES BUT HE ISN'T HAPPY EITHER!

Astarion's whole thing is how fucking hard it is to be good, how easy it is to be a bad person. That's where Wyll comes into play! He showcases how often doing the right thing comes at a personal cost! That's the actual struggle with Wyll. In his efforts for justice he's losing himself. People aren't infinite resources, yet Wyll gives and sacrifices and takes the hits like he'll never run dry.

*rattling the bars of my cage* Don't you see it? The parallel themes of identity loss, the balance one most walk between altruism and selfishness, when does doing good at the detriment of yourself become detrimental to others as well, how can someone justify their selfishness, their sacrifices, when does someone need to tell you to stop giving, to stop taking? Hello? Do you hear me?? Is anyone there??? Look at it, LOOK AT ALL OF IT *starts gnawing at the bars*

edit: *BUSTS THROUGH THE BARS OF MY CAGE* ASTARION'S FIRST MAJOR SACRIFICE INVOLVES LOSING THE SUN. HE CHOOSES TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND LITERALLY LOSES THE LIGHT. WYLL SAYS YOU CAN ALWAYS LOOK TO ME WHEN YOU'RE IN SEARCH OF LIGHT. THE MARTYR HELPS THE SELFISH AND THE SELFISH KEEPS THE MARTYR FROM DESTROYING HIMSELF. *self-implodes*

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #wyll ravengard #astarion #wyllstarion #<- this doesn't have to be a ship post but the dynamic involves all of this #bg3 wyll #please I can't be the only one going crazy #mine #edited this to hyperlink my post about fandom tag metrics #cause someone said in the tags part of this is racism #and I just wanted to acknowledge that I'm aware that

[timothylawrence]

I just find it really frustrating and exhausting how openly racist fandoms can be with little to no repercussions. Nonwhite characters are straight up ignored and have their stories/character arcs replanted onto white characters and no one bats an eye. Nonwhite characters (especially black ones) are held to incredibly high standards that white characters don't have to meet, and if they fail they're villified, if they pass they're labeled as boring.

white fans will reblog one post calling out fandom racism and then do 0 inward reflection about their own behavior and how they perpetuate racism in fandom.

#ewbie.txt #fandom racism spreads beyond just one fandom its a symptom of one's real life prejudice and racism !

[sweetmage]

Did not expect those posts about Theo's snubbing at MCM London (this has sense been clarified and is no longer entirely relevant but the rest still is) and BG3 fandom racism to breach containment so hard and I'm kind of regretting not including something more actionable in the posts, so I'll do that here. You are encouraged to reblog this, repost these links on your own, or add your own suggestions.

If you are bothered by Wyll's lack of content in the game compared to other characters you can submit feedback to Larian. While this carries no guarantee, our odds of them revisiting him and doing him justice are a lot better if we show them that there's interest.

This is the link to their feedback page. Select "feedback" in the drop down menu that says "report type". For your convenience, this is the current version number of the game as of October 30th (patch #3):

v4.1.1.3767641

---

There is also a Wyllvember event taking place on twitter and tumblr during November 1 - November 7th to show some love for him via fanworks. You can find the prompt lists here:

Twitter

Tumblr

---

Here is Theo's Cameo if you'd like a personal message from him, would like him to read or respond to something as Wyll, etc.

---

For writers and/or people wanting to examine their biases in general in relation to black characters, I would also recommend perusing some of the black focused tags on this blog (Writing With Color) as they have a lot of great resources when it comes to tropes, stereotypes, and biases in media.

This is also a great resource in general and I recommend all writers bookmark it!

#wyll ravengard #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 fandom racism #lemme know if i made a typo or mislinked something. i am sleepy lol #bg3 #antiblackness #jun rambles

[sassydefendorflower]

I want to talk about something. I want to talk about ableism in fandom. And sexism in fandom. Oh, and racism in fandom.

Mostly though, I wanna talk about how the discussion about these things often gets derailed because people don't understand what trends and typical behaviors actually are.

Whenever a Person of Color, a woman, someone disabled, someone queer (or an intersection of any of these groups) points out that certain fandom trends are bigoted in some shape or form, half the replies seem to be "but they are my comfort character! Maybe people just like them better because they are more interesting!" or even "people are allowed to have headcanons!" - the very daft even go for a "don't bring politics into fandom" which is a personal favorite because nothing exists in a vacuum and nothing is truly apolitical. But alas~

What most of these replies seemingly fail to understand is something very, very simple: it's not about you.

You, as an individual, are just one datapoint in a fandom. You are not the trend. You do not necessarily depict the typical behavior.

When someone points out that there is racism in fandom, that doesn't mean every fan is racist or perpetuating racist ideas*. By constantly mentioning your own lack of racism, quite often, you are actively derailing the conversation away from the problems at hand.

When someone names and describes a trend, they don't mean your headcanon specifically - they mean the accumulated number of headcanons perpetuating a harmful or outdated idea.

I am not saying this to forbid anyone from writing fics about their favorite characters or to keep anyone from having fun headcanons and sharing their theories and thoughts - quite the opposite actually. A critique of a general trend is not a critique of you as an individual - and you're going to have a much better, and more productive, time online if you can internalize that. If you stop growing defensive and instead allow yourself to actually digest the message of what was pointed out.

I am saying this to encourage some critical thinking.

Allow me to offer up some examples:

Case 1: A DC blogger made the daring statement that maybe Tim and Jason were such a popular fanfic focus because they are the only two undeniably white batboys. Immediately someone replied saying "no, it's all the fun traumatic situations we can put them in!". Which is an insane statement to make, considering the same can be said for literally ANY OTHER DC Batman and Batfam character.

The original post wasn't anything groundbreaking, they didn't accuse anyone, didn't name any names... but immediately there was a justification, immediately there was a reason why people might like these characters more. No one stopped to take a second and reflect on the current trends in fanfiction, no one considered that maybe this wasn't a declaration against people who like these characters but a thesis depicting the OVERALL trend of fandom once again focusing on undeniably white (and male) characters.

(don't get me started on the racebending of white characters in media that has a big Cast of Color and the implications of that)

Case 2: A meta posted on Ao3 about ableism in the Criminal Minds fandom caught my attention. A wonderful piece, very thoughtful, analyzing certain characterization choices within the fandom through the lens of an actually autistic person. The conclusion they reached: the writing of Spencer Reid as an autistic character, while often charming and comforting, tended to be incredibly infantilizing and at worst downright ableist. They came to that conclusion while CLEARLY stating that the individual fanfic wasn't the problem, but the general fandom trend in depicting this character.

Once again, looking at the replies seemed to be a mistake: while many comments furthered the discussion, there were quite a few which completely missed the point. Some were downright hostile. Because how dare this author imply that THEY are ableist when they write their favorite character using that specific characterization.

It didn't matter that the author allowed room for personal interpretation. It didn't matter that they noted something concerning about the entire fandom - people still thought they were attacking singular people.

Case 3: I wrote a fic about abortion in the FMA(b) fandom (actually I've written a weird amount of fics about abortion in a lot of fandoms, but alas) and I got hate comments for it. Because of that I addressed the bias in fandom against pro-choice depictions of pregnancies. I pointed out that the utter lack of abortion in many omegaverse stories or even mpreg or het romances, painted the picture of an unconscious bias that hurt people for whom abortion was the only option, the best possible ending. The response on the post itself was mostly positive, but I got anon hate.

(which I can unfortunately not show you since I deleted it in the months since)

And I'm not overly broken up about it, but it also underlines my point: by pointing at a general problem, a typical behavior, a larger trend... people feel personally attacked.

This inability to discuss sexism, ableism, racism, transphobia, etc in fandom without people turning defensive and hurt... well, it damages our ability to have these conversations at all.

Earlier I said YOU are not the problem - well, i think part of this discussion is acknowledging that: sometimes YOU are in fact part of the problem. And that's not the end of the world. But you can only recognize yourself as a cog in the machine, if you can examine your own actions, your own biases, your own preferences critically and without becoming defensive.

And, again, this is not to keep you from finding comfort in your favorite characters and headcanons. This is also not to say that I am free of biases and internalized bigotries - I am also very much a part of the system. A part of the problem.

This is so you can comfortably ask yourself "but why is there no abortion in this universe?" or "why are my favorite black characters always the top in my slash ships?" or "why do I write this disabled character as childish and in need of help?" - and sometimes the answer is "because I am disabled and I want comfort", and that's fine too.

There is no one shoe fits all in fiction. There is not a single trope that captures all members of a group. There is no single stereotype that isn't also someone's comfort. No group is a monolith, no experienced all-encompasing (or entirely unique).

There is never a simple answer.

But that doesn't mean you should stop questioning your own biases, your own ideals.

Especially, if you grow defensive if someone points out that a certain trend you engage in might be racist. Or sexist. Or queerphobic. Or fucking ableist.

*this does not mean negate the general anti-blackness perpetuated by most cultures as a result of colonialism and slavery

#criminal minds #dc #batman #racism #fandom racism #fandom #fandom discourse #sexism #fandom sexism #ableism #fandom ableism #discourse #fma #fmab #abortion #abortion rights #pro choice #opening up a discussion about having discussions

[icedsodapop]

With this hellsite praising Hugh Grant for being vocal about his experience making Wonka, I feel like fandom needs to sit down and actually have a long, serious discussion about the double standard of praising White men like Hugh Grant and RPatz for dissing the projects they were in, while we crucify actors of color like John Boyega, Constance Wu and Rachel Zegler for even being vaguely negative. I'm not saying that Hugh Grant shouldnt even criticize his projects, he has every right to do so. But, this is a grace not applied to everyone.

#racism #fandom racism #white privilege

[sunsis]

Fandoms will ship two het men who simply breathe next to each other but god forbid a Black woman has a relationship with or even just chemistry with the popular male lead. And this happens in EVERY fandom (see tags for examples) with a prominent Black female character. They were even vehemently against Miles Morales and the Black spider girl (Margo).

It’s just very telling that certain people are suddenly “platonic love/besties/sibling energy only otherwise the show is ruined!!” when the fem character is Black.

It’s ok to not ship characters, but the overwhelming backlash to these specific ones has been so ridiculous and very obviously racially motivated. There are articles now discussing whether harmless shipping of two fictional adult characters is acceptable, and on the cover of them is typically an interracial pairing involving a Black woman…

#sydney adamu #sydcarmy #the bear #fandom discourse #fandom racism #twitter #shipping discourse #interracial #my ramblings #abbie mills #michonne #bonnie bennett #iris west

[eeldritchblast]

Imagine thinking Wyll, son of the most important duke in the eponymous Baldur's Gate, who literally sold his soul to protect it but can't tell anyone due to his pact, so his father, who he idolizes, just thinks he's a monster and exiled him, now on a quest to save his father despite that extremely complicated relationship... is "bland". He literally has one of the most high potential stories in the game! All he needs is a little more love and care from the writers to expand on his content, to the same degree that literally all the other characters have gotten thus far!

Y'all really need to check yourself and ask why you feel that way. Because the answer is you have clear bias against him because he is Black, conscious or not.

#wyll ravengard #wyll #fandom racism #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ngl the "im white so i dont talk abt any characters' race ever bc im afraid of accidentally saying something racist" approach to fandom is like. very weak. imo.

like first of all: i get that "i dont incorporate race into my media analysis because i'm afraid of messing up" comes from a different place than "i don't incorporate race into my media analysis because I Don't See Race 😊 there is only The Human Race." but it has the same functional effect, right? that effect being that your analysis of [INSERT MEDIA HERE] ignores the very real way that race impacts people.

second of all: it feels kinda lazy! like ur saying "i dont know enough abt race to feel comfortable commenting on how race affects this show and i dont care enough to learn." the only way to become more comfortable discussing race is to actually practice discussing race. but when i see people saying this it feels like they're saying "i'm white, which means i don't know how to talk about race, and i don't have to know how to talk about race, and i don't ever have to know how to talk about race, so i'm choosing to never learn how to talk about race."

third of all: just because you don't openly talk about race doesn't mean you're any less likely to accidentally say or do something racist. implicit biases run deep, y'all. it's probably already there in your interpretation of the show. but the "i don't want to accidentally say something racist" implies that you are positive that your interpretation of the show isn't racist. and i'm not saying you're wrong. but i'm saying that if a person of color tells you that something you said about [INSERT MEDIA HERE] was racist, you better be prepared to actually listen and not just brush them off because "i can't be racist! i purposefully never talk about race just to make sure i'm not racist!"

which brings me to my final point: if you do accidentally say something racist... literally just apologize. if someone says you've been doing something racist, apologize and stop doing that thing. it's literally not that hard. i've done it. i've seen other people do it. "i'm scared of being called racist!" is such a weak excuse im tired of it. getting called racist is not the end of the fucking world. calm the fuck down and grow a spine. jesus.

#mine #ofmd fandom crit #txt #og #it feels like ppl who say this are the kind of ppl who think being accused of racism is worse than actually being racist yknow? #idk i was scared of being called racist when i was like. 13. #now i’m like “if i get called racist it’s probably bc i’m doing something racist” #with the exception being ofc when an anon tells me i’m racist for shipping blackhands (a thing i dont even do) #anyway i am SURE someone has made a post or even a wholeass Article abt this before that’s better than what i wrote

[naranjapetrificada]

if you plan to talk about Ed and Stede's bodies in fic look at this image first

so that I never have to read someone describe Ed as "several inches taller than [Stede] and at least a stone heavier" or anything like it again.

now where is that post about how with interracial couples fan artists twinkify white characters and depict their nonwhite partners as taller and larger than they are

#fandom racism #fandom fuckery #another fic ruined #just be normal about bodies #ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #blackbonnet #ofmd meta #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #i'm so tired

[spacebeyonce]

forgot to do this on here but rukmini pande, author of fire ass fan studies examination squee from the margins: fandom and race, has posted a new article!

the abstract:

I've got a pdf and made it available to read in my drive if anyone wants to read it! it's 24 pages if you count the sources and it's VERY good. I've been waiting for it my whole life. every bit of fan/fandom studies from people of color are as good as gold. better than!

#fandom racism