#or engage in damaging behaviours because I'm a Morally Good Person' and it's like

[battylite]

I had initially hoped the AM discourse would help make the writing community on Twitter safer for everyone by disincentivizing the kind of white American grifter crybully culture that rewards outrage at art being morally impure, but now I think there is an effort underway to minimize AM's betrayal and protect exactly the kind of bullly grifter who was exposed. The pivoting started almost right away, before there was any proof the info was leaked by that N*zi site (there still isn't, though obviously they benefit and all doxxing is bad). Anyone disgusted by AM's privilege and hypocrisy was deemed transphobic and ableist, spreading info that came from KF and was thus radioactive, or cynically weaponizing the Global South even if they were in fact POC and/or from the Global South. I honestly think the crybullying is just getting worse from here. And I'm betting that the story will eventually pivot away from imperialism and hypocrisy entirely to this whole thing being a hitjob by Lauren Hough and Sandra Newman (who I am not defending in the least as I really do think that one book as transphobic af, plus Hough started many messes herself). Or maybe I'm seeing that angle on "book tea" accounts because no one takes AM seriously as a writer unless he comes up tangentially in reporting on the bad behaviour of "real" writers.

Twitter is a cannibalistic echo chamber because of the very nature of the form. It’s a symptom of the medium. You simply cannot engage in productive disagreement in 280 characters at a time. Threads don’t help. We’re just breeding radical reactionism and boiler pot politics, and by tying all of this into discussion about gender/sexuality, race, and mental/physical health, we’re worsening the identity attachment that comes with it—so of course there’s going to be some pendulum swing in the other direction regarding whether Ana Mardoll was wronged or not, but the speed at which his groupies Jesus-martyred the guy is insane. I agree that there is going to be some good PR and damage control following this. I don’t see these people having the self-respect to own up to the fact that their idol turned out to be a fraud. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen anyone screaming “cancel culture,” either.

The exposé is a consequence of their own code of ethics, too. They’ve been preaching that authors can’t explore topics like race and gender identity and sexuality in their work if they don’t identify with it personally for years. We’ve already seen the negative repercussions of this with Isabel Fall. It was only going to be so long before that turned into a dick-measuring contest between them and the Others. It just so happened that the person who got ousted was someone they idealized. I can’t stand the argument along the lines of, “Ana never pretended to be someone he isn’t,” referring to fact that he never brought up his work and had mentioned being married and then divorced online thereby implying he was not a teenager. It reflects the guilt back on the person Against Ana, instead of addressing the fact that creating a meticulous online brand in which you are such a victim that you cannot be put down any further is weird. There’s no shortage of adults acting like children online but to sell yourself like he did to interact with the people he did feels unsafe.

I’m not comfortable with the extent to which we’ve weaponized identity, where someone cannot be criticized because of their affiliation with a particular group, by choice or not. I am not pawing through your profile in search of your list of disabilities, your life story, and your pronouns before I reply to your Twitter comment. That information, arguably, shouldn’t be public. A very public accusation and subsequent chastising of someone for deliberately misgendering you is not conducive to an enlightening discussion (I have not interacted with him on Twitter, but this seems to be a pattern). AM’s persistent crybullying and victim complex is not synonymous with being part of the trans and disabled community, and we should not be encouraging the Oppression Olympics and reducing it to queer infighting and ignorant people arguing over imperialism and race relations. We also do not need to be enabling the protection of a forty year old white grifter working for the military industrial complex. How can you exhort moral purity and promote classic Twitter wokeism and then scam people into paying for your cat bikkies and your mortage, all while working for LM? The disparity is not innocent.

We already had the drama of John Scalza accepting a Hugo Award sponsored by Raytheon this year. Both the JS and AM situations are revealing a sort of false purity, fatalistic neo-liberalism underbelly of “YA Twitter” where you can cash in your late capitalism pity points for indulgences. The consensus of the following of both was that they did what they had to do to support themselves, thereby absolving them of any sins they committed—not to mention that I saw very few people questioning why Raytheon was sponsoring a SFF Hugo Award anyway. At least I believe JS makes his living, however meager or extravagant, off selling his books as a self-proclaimed cash grab. On the other hand, I am certain AM is not supporting himself via his self-published fantasy novels, so maybe his employment at LM bleeds authenticity.

And on AM discourse with other “real” authors: The AM vs. Brandon Taylor thing bothered me in a way I was struggling to articulate when it first happened, and I couldn’t understand why. The uncomfortable part of it was obviously how quickly AM was able to portray a black gay cis man as violent. I think it’s just the Oppression Olympics, again. In what world is a black gay man intrinsically a threat to the trans and disabled community? And, on that note, the divide surrounding the “Is it ableist to say good writers read?” debate is real. I understand my Twitter feed is my own curation, but the only people I saw pointing fingers and shouting ableism were fanfic authors and writers of kitschy, formulaic YA romance—maybe the only consensus those two groups ever reached, probably because they’re sitting on opposite ends of a circle.

As far as Lauren Hough and Sandra Newman: Lauren Hough is rightfully gaining her own negative attention. Do I think mass blocking trans writers via third party software is transphobic? Yes. Do I think that trans writers should implicitly be able to dogpile her on Twitter? No. No one is required to let you flagellate them for the sake of a dog and pony show. Full disclaimer, I haven’t read the book, but because Sandra Newman is nonbinary I do think whatever exploration of gender and the surrounding social psychology she chooses to include in her book has some validity, nor do I think she is “required” to portray anyone positively. I can’t believe I sound like a Republican when I say that most of YA author Twitter needs to learn to police their own media consumption. Obviously an author’s beliefs and values inform their work. I am confident in saying the JKR’s portrayal of the employees of Gringotts was born of anti-Semitism. Reading Hanya Yanigihara’s first book shattered the glowing review I gave her second book. Her portrayal of gay men in all three of her books is probably informed by her own homophobia. Whether she is conscious of this (I believe JKR is), I don’t know. I also think it’s a stretch to say a book is meritless or actively harmful because it represents a certain group in one way or another. We can’t even decide how we want to be represented within our own social groups. My best friend would rather call himself queer or the big f-word than gay because that’s not the language he grew up with and it sounds formal and impersonal. He doesn’t get to make that decision for other people. Does AM get to speak for the entire trans community when he cries wolf?

Admittedly, I am curious to see how this unfolds, and how long it lasts before it’s resigned to the Zeitgeist of Summer 2022. I was not anticipating the LM/imperialism twist or the Tylenol-to-dogpiling-Brandon-Taylor saga to be somebody’s last straw before they took it to K!w! and LinkedIn. I haven’t really been participating on Twitter, but I’m open to discussion on here as long as we’re through arguing about engineering as a career in my inbox.  

#honestly if any of this makes sense it's a miracle #but those are my thoughts #adult fiction twitter #on writing

[traumacatholic]

The more you reflect on how easy it can be for you personally to fall into a cycle of self-destructive sinful behaviours or to pick up bad habits, the easier it becomes to judge others less for their behaviours. Because really, to someone else we are the warning to not engage in particular sinful behaviours. 

#So much of addiction discourse is based around 'Well *I* wouldn't get addicted #or engage in damaging behaviours because I'm a Morally Good Person' and it's like #Okay but that person wasn't an addict at some point #it was something they fell into #just like we can fall into different bad habits that are seemingly impossible to break out of #The only difference is it's a lot easier to judge others than to quit making excuses for ourselves #and chances are we are addicted to something that we just haven't admitted to ourselves yet #How easily could you quit your favourite drink or your gaming or your time on social media? #How easily could you quit biting at your nails or your lip? #These were habits you just fell into #and with people with addictive personalities or bad circumstances it really can be as easy as that #the difference is they have a stigmatised addiction and you don't #but the behavioural pattern is still there #and that's not to say alcoholism and nail biting is the same thing #but that ending up addicted to something is a lot easier than you think #and this is coming from someone who struggled with alcoholism for a year without realising lol #not to mention that sometimes you really can just try something once and end up addicted #or have bad upbringing and be raised as an addict #but idk this post isn't just about addiction #but a reminder that someone somewhere has made a vow to not end up like us lol

[goosegoblin]

I'm genuinely really confused. What is an anti and an anti-anti??????

can, open, worms, everywhere-

I will try my best but I’m struggling to not strawman, so I do recommend doing your own research etc to make sure I’m not misrepresenting. Tucked under a read more because it’s long and may cause brain rot. if any of y’all fuckin @ me with your personal opinions on why this post means i’m going directly to super predator hell or something, you just get winnie the pooh with teeth. don’t say i didn’t warn you

(click here to view full post if you’re on my theme and the post seems to end here)

Anti, short for ‘anti-shipper’, refers to people who believe that what a person ships, writes, creates art of or consumes content about directly relates to their moral opinions and attitude, and should be judged accordingly. The main three topics I see them bring up and challenge are incest, paedophillia and abuse. They believe that fiction featuring these is problematic as it can lead to the normalisation of damaging and abusive behaviour. They are often concerned about the potential for minors to access this content.

I went digging to try and find some examples to avoid putting words in people’s mouths etc. Here’s a couple:

If you’re writing abuse/rape/racism/pedophilia AND ROMANTICIZING it INSTEAD OF CONDEMNING it, then maybe try to re-evaluate why you feel like other people’s source of pain and trauma excites and titillates you enough to be enthusiastically dismissive about the issues people are raising, and why other people’s bad experience should simply be relegated to wank material status for you.

another:

I think aging up to suit underage ships isn't okay (for example, MCU Peter Parker/Tony Stark), because that's you seeing chemistry between an adult and a child and thinking they'd be Hot Couple even though their dynamic is strongly suggestive of a familial bond.

(the next is on the topic of Call Me By Your Name)

As to the grown ass adults getting off to a 24 year old man going after a 17 year old boy AKA a teen that's high school aged, if you REALLY don't see anything wrong with enjoying a 24 year old preying on a 17 year old- fictional or real- then that just shows how desensitized you've become to it, and as much as you might want to claim it's a normal fandom thing, it's simply not psychologically healthy or normal to get off to a boy being sexualized by an adult.

So that’s their side of things!

Pro-shippers- or anti antis- by comparison, believe that if something is correctly tagged, warned and labelled, it has a right to exist, and a person should not be harassed for creating it/ engaging with it etc. There are lots of other points made here- about censorship, coping mechanisms for trauma, personal responsibility and autonomy, the nature of fiction as a safe place to explore etc- but honestly, it does kind of boil down to.... ‘none of this is real, and you are fully able to choose not to look at it’.

One main issue that comes up is that that, quite often, ‘antis’ feel rather intensely about their stance. I’ve seen a huge amount of hate mail, death threats, hate messages etc aimed at people creating ‘problematic’ material. Additionally, there’s like... a definition creep? Over time? So ‘paedophillic content’ can easily refer to like... high school AUs that include sex, or relationships where an age gap is present. And there’s a lot of guilt by association, so if you follow someone who follows someone who reblogs Thorki, You Are Also Problematic.

There’s also a tendency to focus on individuals rather than bigger or more mainstream stuff. Game of Thrones is infamously full of rape, incest, paedophillia, torture etc, but it doesn’t get anywhere near the level of attention and grief that Reylo shippers seem to. I can’t believe I just wrote a sentence about Reylo shippers in the year 2021. Good fucking God.

Anecdote: I actually left the Pathologic fandom on Twitter after seeing somebody attacked and isolated for saying “I don’t like or write incest or age gap stuff, but if people want to write it I won’t attack them for it”. This got quickly translated into ‘[username] is a paedophile’, and then it was all ‘if you follow [username] block me now, you pedo apologist’. Like... see how earlier today I got called a paedophile for reblogging this post? That was some SPEED OF LIGHT stuff, folks. That’s seemingly a person who has followed me for years and instantly decided I’m One Of The Bad People now. 

so like, I guess I fall into the category of ‘anti anti’, because my take remains ‘you have the right to enjoy whatever content you want, and I have the right to judge you for it’ lmao

but if I ever wade deep enough into the mess of teenagers vs thirty-something year old ‘fandom moms’ that these debates tend to become to self-identify, I will launch myself immediately into the sun, so-

#wank for ts #i'll take 'posts that will get me cancelled' for $500 #Anonymous #honk response