#racism in fandoms

[colombinna]

the people who think james and hbomberguy's whiteness do not matter in this context are just telling how little they know of the workings of race and white privilege in the world. If it didn't matter, that man wouldn't have gotten away with his plagiarism for so long, and creators of color wouldn't have been afraid to speak up against him. Claiming that "race has nothing to do with it" is at best ignorant and at worst malicious, if you go to any environment of cultural production you will find piles of cases of white creators/scholars/whatever failing to give credit to their racialized peers, and a lot of those times these plagiarism cases go hand in hand with other instances of racism. Sorry you get uncomfortable by being made to acknowledge your own privilege, but we're GONNA talk about race in EVERY conversation. SPECIALLY when it involves creation and cultural production.

#hbomberguy #james somerton #plagiarims #racism #race relations #racism in online spaces #racism in fandoms

[thatspookyagent]

Gotta have a bigger talk about how within fandom spaces when Black creators create Black edits of fictional (mainly anime) characters, there's much bigger backlash against us versus with whitewashing or lightwashing. Also there's always an assumption that Black creators are erasing parts (specifically non white parts) of a characters identity, as if Black folks aren't a whole ass diaspora in our own right, and are very much located everywhere despite how white supremacy wants to get rid of us.

Like I have to side eye how non-Black folks will let Black characters get whitewashed or lightwashed, but Lord forbid Blackness be seen anywhere, let alone on a fictional fucking character. Like what about forced whiteness is permissible but simply adding on any level of proximity to Blackness to a character is Not Okay™. Like is there something about being Black that should be avoided at all costs, even within fictional media? Something that just "doesn't fit/look right?"

This extends to darker skin as well like don't y'all dare pull that Tim Burton shit saying that darker skin simply doesn't "Fit the aesthetic or vibe." Or whenever a piece of media is particularly dark or violent, then darker skin is allowed cause a lot of y'all perceive darker skin to be inherently more violent or are so used to seeing dark skinned folks being brutalized, that dark skin tones have become synonymous with brutality, in and outside of fictional media.

Black creators notice this shit. It reflects similar sentiments of how we're treated outside of online spaces and even outside of fandom spaces in general. So stating that the stuff that I've said above "Doesn't matter cause it's all online or doesn't have any effect on reality." is just a straight up lie. As if Black people aren't real people and as if harassment online doesn't have potentially severe consequences onto someone's mental health and overall wellbeing.

#antiblackness #colorism #anti blackness #anti black racism #racism #fandom #fandoms #fandom racism #racism in fandoms #Had to really come back to this point and articulate my feelings #Especially on popular blackwashing talking points- #whitewashing #lightwashing #prejudice #bias #bigotry #discrimination #microaggressions

[spnblrracism]

hello! this blog was created by @snoopydiaz to chronicle individuals who are people of color in the spnblr experiences of racism. i’m hoping to collect these asks by november 6th for a project.  guidlines there are some guidelines for sending asks

1. as it is the whole blog’s premise, please don’t send an ask if you are a white person.  2. anon is on for individuals who are fearful of spnblr’s repercussions against bloggers of color who are speaking up about racism 3. if you do not want your ask to be published, please add an asterisk (*) at the end.  4. i am a blogger of color myself and would like to protect my mental health a bit. so please tag your ask if it includes experiences with threats of sa.  5. troll asks are deleted.  i just want to highlight this is about experiences with racism and i know that might make some white people in fandom upset or uncomfortable. if you want to say something to me venmo me 10$ and send an ask to my main. don’t bring your anger here, it will be deleted.  anyways, the ask box is open. and if any people of color need to decompress after send an ask because talking about racism can be traumatizing please don’t hesitate to dm on my main. 

#it's 1 am sorry for the typos #if there are any #spn #supernatural #racism in spn fandom #racism in fandoms

[black-is-beautiful18]

Rick and Becky seriously need to address the racism that Leah has been receiving. She’s 12 and should not have to see, hear, or respond to bigots hiding behind a screen. There is no simply ignoring this. It needs to be talked about. Immediately.

#rick riordan #percy jackson & the olympians #percy jackson disney+ #percy jackson #leah is our annabeth #leah sava jeffries #annabeth chase #annabeth chase is black #racism #racism in fandoms #unique writes

[tubingdrama]

Racism in Fantasy Fandoms

Personal observations from my bystander POV, I'm glad that certain authors like Neil Gaiman and Rick Riordan shut down the racists very quickly when their shows cast black actresses/actors for white characters.

Let's be frank about the racism in fandoms in general, especially when fantasy books turned tv shows are racebending their white characters. You see that starting with The Wheel of Time, Rings of Power, Sandman, Vampire Academy, Interview With The Vampire, and recently Percy Jackson.

Actors and actresses of color (minorities) tend to receive high # of racial vitriolic comments. You see that with Star Wars fandom.

It's necessary for Hollywood production companies and authors to stand up and provide support for their POC cast. The racists (even the ones who are non-white) think that POCs are stealing their white fantasies. And that type of prejudice roots in racism, xenophobia and jingoism. Kinda like the negative stereotype of "immigrants stealing white people's jobs."

It's harder for the fandoms, especially predominantly white fandoms, to accept the fact that POC actors/actresses are chosen for the roles because their acting are better than white actors/actresses.

Which is why I'm glad that Neil Gaiman and Rick Riordan immediately stepped in and shut the racists up. They defended their cast on social media and told the racists to stfu.

That type of support is immensely needed for POC actors/actresses. Hollywood production companies need to do better to protect POC cast, especially from predominantly white fandoms.

To @milarvela Pointing out racists' idiocy and stupidity by using facts, that's how. If you want me to point out your logical fallacies publicly, I can do that too. Embarrassing dumbass KKKaren/Ken publicly is what I love to do. 😏

#racism in fandoms #the wheel of time #rings of power #lotr #sandman #vampire academy #interview with the vampire #neil gaiman #rick riordan #star wars #not kdrama related #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus

[theeblackmedusa]

I not sure how I ran across your blog, you were probably 'on my orbit' but I was just floored at some of the things people say to you.

Full disclosure- I am white, and from an area where people of color simply don't reside, so when I first started writing, I did write for white people. In some cases, I was trying to describe an OC in a reader insert (cringe, I'm 🙄). But I would use phrases like 'pale skin' or 'long straight hair'. At some point I realize, and I either deleted or reworked all those fics and vowed to me more inclusive with the vaguest description of y/n possible.

Then I found you and a the nasty things people have been saying to you and I just want to say I'm sorry. It's deplorable of someone to ask you to stop using a tag because you write for poc!readers. And it's aweful to claim pale skinned characters (that probably aren't actually even white) and say that people of color can't enjoy them- to call you jealous. I can't imagine going through that, and I know I'll never have to, which makes it worse.

Sorry to be so long, but my question is, how can I help improve your experience with the fanfic community? Is it okay for me to boost your posts if they're not for me? How can I improve my writing to make you more comfortable to read it?

Please don't think I'm trying to be some white savior, I don't care about all that. I just hate seeing amazing people get treated so poorly.

Anyways, feel free to ignore, I know this is super long for an ask 😅. But I really do hope your day gets better and that the new year treats you wonderfully! ❤️❤️

hi anon. most bipoc writers want support and reblogs! it's perfectly fine to reblog a work and uplift it even if it isn't targeted toward you specifically. it's okay to read works that don't feature white people and comment on how good it was, how much you liked it, etc without acknowledging that you weren't featured in it. treat it like a normal book or a tv show you'd watch. say what you liked about it and don't be disrespectful or bitter, you know? usually, as long as you're respectful when coming on to a bipoc writer's page, you'll be welcomed (at least on my blog. show respect, get respect back). as for being a white savior, just don't speak over bipoc when it comes to issues and our opinions on something we see that we've interpreted as racist (regardless of intention. good intentions can still be racist).

#x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #x black reader #black reader #black!reader #racism in fandoms #fandoms #x black!reader

[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

[casual-space-plant]

If I see one more fic where Santana is poor and her mom is a housekeeper I'm going to lose it.

Her dad is literally a doctor

It's just racism

#santana lopez #glee #racism in fandoms

[thatspookyagent]

Odd how non-Black folks in fandoms will push heavily against Black edits of characters that aren't Black in canon but when it comes to calling out artists and or content creators for they're blatant anti-Blackness and erasure of canon Black characters, those same exact folks are no where to be seen. Also by odd, I mean how anti-Black of non-Black folks. 🙃

#antiblackness #anti blackness #racism #fandoms #fandom racism #racism in fandoms #fandom #Just saw a Blasian edit of Josuke Higashikata from Jojo's Bizzare Adventure #And the amount of push back in the comments- #Like y'all sure as hell stay on the necks of Black creators but where's this energy for non-Black anti-Black content creators...? 😗

[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

[black-is-beautiful18]

If you are tagging Leah in white Annabeth art, on Twitter, Instagram, etc, this is your notice to stop. That is not ok. It is weird and disrespectful. That is not her. You are also encouraging ppl to be racist whether you know it or not. I’ve seen too many “My Annabeth” and “This will always be my Annabeth” comments under white Annabeth fanart. If you see those comments and say nothing, you’re just as much to blame at this point. It’s as I said earlier: there is no book Annabeth or show Annabeth. There is only Annabeth and that is Leah. Period.

#leah is our annabeth #annabeth chase is black #pjo #annabeth pjo #annabeth chase #percy jackson & the olympians #percy jackson #i said what i said #i meant what i said #racism in fandoms #unique writes

[tubingdrama]

Bigotry in Fantasy Media (Part 2)

In follow up to my past post about racism in fantasy fandoms like Rings of Power, Sandman and IWTV, it is important to recognize the underlying culture war that is happening across the board.

There are cases, numerous cases, of my personal observations that a dedicated group of right wingers (including white supremacists) are very vocal across the social media, despite the fact they are not part of fandom culture.

What I've seen is right wingers use anti-diversity, anti-globalization "woke" narrative to brigade the social media like Youtube etc. So while there are some bigots in the fandom, there are cases in which the bigots (in this case, right wingers) are not part of the fandoms.

I've seen that these narratives attempt to bandwagon and brainwash the fans against the global change and migration. It's no longer about the actual books or fandom. It's about winning the culture war that right wingers are so worried of.

To me, these behaviors and actions seem obsessive and extreme, but these right wing "fans" are essentially very vocal bots inside the fandom to drive a negative narrative, regardless of the adaptation's quality.

Now, whether fans can take these vocal right wing minority seriously or not, that's really up to the fans to create positive environment and narrative.

#racism in fandoms #rings of power #interview with the vampire #sandman #lotr #not kdrama related #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #vampire academy #bigotry in fandoms #the sandman netflix

[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