#squicks

[ashspecter]

One of the things that bothers me a lot in the canon is how Valerie's physique changes when she wears her ghost-hunting suit. To a few, it may not seem like a huge change, but to me, it is.

I mean look:

The girl is shown to have curves, but very much looks like a young teenager when she isn't wearing her ghosting-hunting suit. But as soon as she puts on her suit, she looks as though she is Jazz's age or even a bit older.

In a few shots showing her older suit, it isn't as bad, but her waist is still very much slimmed down.

Additionally, her head shape also changes when she's wearing her suit. Yes, might just be the suit, but the most recent(ish) version of her suit shows her to have a pointed chin rather than a round one.

I might just be overthinking this, but I don't like inconsistencies--- especially character inconsistencies.

#danny phantom #dp #dp character study #phandom #squicks #valerie gray #red huntress #ghost hunting #ash whispers #queue

[writing-for-life]

Right, okay, I’ve thought long and hard whether to write this:

A squick (even a strong one) is not the same as a trigger.

Emotional discomfort, even emotional discomfort that leads to low-level physical symptoms like e.g. mild nausea, is not trauma. Unfortunately, TikTok pop psych has done nothing to help people understand the difference, because the trend to perceive (even strong) emotional discomfort as equivalent to a trauma response is worrying and neither helps people with nor without PTSD. I don’t wish it on anyone to actually find out the difference if they haven’t yet (disclaimer, since this is unfortunately necessary these days because everything gets misconstrued: I am not talking about individual experiences, because only you can know about those. I’m talking about wider trends in an often young audience with not enough background info to be able to tell apart sound medical/psychological info and viral BS created by “influencers” for some kind of personal gain).

What people in the current fandom spat want to have tagged as “triggers” are overwhelmingly squicks. And we’re probably all guilty of quickly saying “that triggered me”, myself included (and I’m a licensed psychotherapist, shame on me). It has become somewhat of a shorthand for “extremely annoyed or grossed out”. But when it gets used in the context of tagging, it’s good to remember that no one owes us a tag list the length of our arm just because we don’t like certain things. Even if we strongly dislike them.

And even on the occasion someone else’s yuck or yum is an actual trigger for us, it is impossible to cover for every possible trigger, because in theory, EVERYTHING has the possibility to trigger someone somewhere.

E.g., a certain smell in a supermarket holds the rare possibility of triggering someone, but do you see disclaimers at the supermarket door that say, “May smell of 484 different things, which are in detail [list of 484 things] and might be different tomorrow. Plus, we might have a customer today who smells of that perfume that brings up your triggering childhood memories. Or maybe we won’t, but just on the odd chance we do, we thought we’d rather cover it”.

There might be one person with a very specific trigger that does literally nothing to the vast majority of people. Do we expect everyone on Tumblr to tag for “eyebrows” or “white T-Shirt” because of that? How about that person just puts “eyebrows” or “white T-Shirt” in their content filter instead?

Do we really suggest to put that type of responsibility on creators? More importantly: Who are we protecting that way? All we do is put people into bubble wrap and shift responsibility for our mental wellbeing away from ourselves to others.

We are trying to tell other people what to do for our own comfort. That’s controlling.

If we’re squicked out by something, there is a simple solution: we can stop looking or reading. We can use content (not tag) filters. In the worst case, we can block. We don’t have to put that type of responsibility for our personal sensitivities on creators (or people who reblog, for that matter).

We can tag for certain things as a courtesy, I’m all for it. I love being able to filter out stuff I’m not into, and I sometimes wish people would tag better or not tag a certain way (getting ship tags for a ship you’re not into slapped on your character-metas is annoying 🤣). But I don’t die, neither does it cause me unbearable distress, if I see cows where I don’t expect them. Scroll past or block. And if I’m worried about mature topics like nudity or violence: Tumblr has a community label for mature themes you can (and in my view should) use if in doubt. Funnily enough, many people don’t do that though—maybe because they worry about reach?

Of course we should include content warnings where they are due, no one says we shouldn’t. It’s also fair if a creator doesn’t wish to do that beyond general warnings (no specifics) though because they might give away, say, major plot points that way. In that case, general disclaimers like “contains depictions of violence”, or whatever it might be individually, are a good idea. And if that’s not specific enough for us despite knowing that “violence” in general might also contain our personal trigger, we might need to make the decision not to read it to stay safe, but we shouldn’t have a go at the writer for not tagging very specific things that might be considered spoilers.

Long story short: If we assume people are “triggered” by werewolves with vulvas or non-human characters, it might be worth thinking about whether we’re just talking about squicks that very much fall into the category of “personal responsibility”. And there are plenty solutions to that at our end—we don’t need to put that on creators…

#fandom problems #fandom entitlement #fandom stuff #squicks #vs #triggers #tagging #being grossed out or strongly disliking is uncomfortable #but it’s not the same as being triggered

[catgirl-catboy]

Okay, just imagine triggers and squicks like allergies.

There should always be a peanut free table (a place where you can avoid content that squicks you.) but if you expect a large group of people to make everything peanut free people will get annoyed with you quite fast.

If you have an allergy, its on you to be proactive about it. (assuming you are above the age of 5, which you should be to be involved in fandom.) Its on you to check food products for your allergy, and to carry an epi pen (good coping mechanisms) around with you if needed.

If you're hosting a party with friends (making a small discord server or group project) it is reasonable to request nothing with your allergy is brought. It is not reasonable to show up to a cooking competition (larger fandom space) with an expectation that nothing with your allergy will be there. It is reasonable to expect disclosure about what a food is before you try it, but on you to avoid stuff that might harm you.

#proship #anti anti #trigger tagging #triggers #squicks #pro ship

[tathrin]

My little Tolkien-fic pet-peeve of the day? Writers calling elves, dwarves, or hobbits men or women in their* narration.

"Pippin shaded his eyes, squinting until the sight of the man walking up the road resolved itself into the familiar form of his cousin Merry..."

Hobbit. Just say Hobbit. You don't need to gender everything. Or if you must, then "Hobbit-lad" or "Hobbit-lass" how's that? Or person! Being! Individual! Literally any word that isn't an inaccurate use of the word "man" for someone who is not a man!

"Gimli looked up at the taller man and scoffed at the sight of Legolas's pointed ears, now drooping with dismay..."

See this one just sounds silly, doesn't it? Silly and also confusing! Because you've just called Legolas a man, but clearly you're talking about an elf or he wouldn't have pointed ears, now would he? And Gimli's a dwarf! So why did you say "man" at all? There are no men here! (Unless Aragorn is playing Third Wheel in the background I suppose, but that's neither here-nor-there right now.)

"Glorfindel turned upon the edge of the fountain and greeted the other man with a smile like a sunrise..."

No no no stop, they are not men. Neither of them are men. They're elves. That's kind of a big important plot element in fact, that the Firstborn and the Secondborn are distinct and sundered from one another, please don't call elves men it's weird and awkward and often confusing because then I'll think you're talking about "A Man" but no, you mean an elf but you said man and it's just so off-putting...

They're different species, guys! (This drives me nuts in scifi too. Stop with the humanocentricism! You're not the Galactic Empire!) Replace the word "man" with something else and see how silly it sounds. "Elephant," perhaps; or any other species that isn't the one you're actually talking about.

"Gimli looked up at the taller raccoon and scoffed..."

"Glorfindel greeted the other ant-eater with a smile like a sunrise..."

"The sight of the giraffe walking up the road resolved itself into his cousin Merry..."

See? Yeah, that's how inaccurate it feels to me every time I read the word "man" or "woman" when you're talking about somebody who is not a human. It's not something on the level of squick where I'll reverse out of a fic if I see it, no, but it absolutely is jarring enough to throw-off the rhythm and mood of the story, for me.

(And if I see it in the first line or so before I've gotten invested in the story...yeah. That'll get me out of a fic almost as fast as lack of paragraph-breaking.)

Because I'm such a sucker for world building, I suspect, and the fact that these are all different peoples with different cultures and capabilities and outlooks and understanding and history and everything is such an interesting and important aspect of Middle-earth to me...and lumping all these different folks into one thing like that as though gender is the most important and indeed only notable aspect of their identity, and overrides everything else about them is just weird. It doesn't make sense. And I do not like it.

(Exceptions obviously made for when the character's identity is being deliberately obscured or confused, and they are erroneously thought to be a human and then revealed as something else; that sort of thing is on purpose and thus is fine.)

(Also exceptions for folk like Arwen or Elwing or Elladan etc who straddle the line between species.)

Anyway thank you for coming to this session of Tathrin Whines About Little Things To Avoid Doing Productive Writing Today.

*none of these lines are actual examples taken from real fics; I made them up for this post. Please do not attach call-outs to actual fics or authors in the notes. No need to be mean!

But absolutely fell free to gripe along with me if this silly little world building detail bothers you too. Or laugh at me for being a ridiculous spec-fic nerd. I'm fine with that too!

#squicks #pet peeves #my squicks #lotr fanfiction #writing #fanfiction #fandom #lotr #world building #fantasy world building #elves #dwarves #hobbits

[aceofwhump]

Do you have a least favorite form of whump? Or rather, what kind do you care the least for or just don't like?

Oh yeah for sure! There's tons of stuff that squick me out or just do nothing for me.

I'm not a fan of the bbu/pet whump stuff at all. I actively avoid it honestly.

I don't like intimate whumpers, creepy whumpers (honestly if it's got a whumper at all it gets knocked down a few levels on my enjoyment scale. i prefer whumperless whump).

I don't like heavy torture and gore.

I hate torture things involving the mouth or eyes or fingernails or feet.

I usually don't enjoy master/slave type of stuff but there have been exceptions where a fanfic was so well written I did enjoy the trope.

I don't like when the whumpee is so broken down they become simpering and eager to please their captor. Like conditioning. Don't like it. I like my whumpees defiant and tough.

Dehumanization is a no go

Don't like lots of blood. Like excessive amounts of it.

I don't like major character death UNLESS the character comes back to life. No permanent death please

Not a huge fan of medical whump but it can be okay

Long term captivity is in the same. Not my favorite but it can be done well.

I'm very specific which kind of stress positions I like and which I hate. There's really only like...two that I like

Not a fan of muzzle like whump. Gagged with like a cloth is fine but other than that I get squicked.

#squicks #my least favorite tropes #mod replies #ask #anon

[iconsumethesoulsofthedamned]

Top ten reasons I’m never getting into supernatural:

1: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

2: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

3: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

4: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

5: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

6: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

7: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

8: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

9: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

10: top two ships are incest and queer bait.

#I’m sorry I just can’t do it #I will not watch 14 seasons for that #supernatural #wincest #dean winchester #sam winchester #destiel #wincestiel #balls #it keeps showing up on my dash and no hate to the people who enjoy it but it makes me want to die #squicks #got a squick #tw inc*st

[the-bar-sinister]

Any Ace Attorney Squick ships?

🤔 Let's see.

Any ships involving Dahlia. Any ships involving Manfred Von Karma. Any ships involving Damon Gant. Any ships involving Blaise Debeste. Don't want to see shipping material of any of them.

Special mention to huge trigger ship Blaise/Sebastian aka debestecest. No, please, keep it far away from me. Equal shout-out to hawthorncest if that's a thing that exists-- not for me, thank you. Likewise, Damon/Lana is something I'll scroll past very fast.

Dhurke/Datz is a mild squick but not a serious one, I can deal with it.

I can't think of any other serious ones that I've actually seen shipped, but if you want to throw specifics at me to check I'll be happy to answer.

#🌐 #ask answers #friend mail #ace attorney ships #blog updates #squicks #ship hate

[mintflavouredwhump]

My Squicks

(While I do not feel comfortable with writing about any of these, you might see me reblog posts containing some of these tropes as long as it's not too explicit)

bad caretaker

broken ribs

degloving

emeto

extreme gore

force feeding

nsfwhump

nudity

pregnancy whump

recapture

romanticised cannibalism

stockholm syndrome

vivisection

#squicks #my squicks #squick list #whump squicks #whump #tw whump #whump community #whump blog #whump tropes

[a-crumb-of-whump]

Me first starting my whump blog: *has like, thirty things on my list of squicks*

Me now: *Sheepishly takes another one of the list* uh, so we're down to about five

#this is /j btw. i don't think it's a bad thing. i just find it funny #whump #whump stuff #whump thoughts #whump things #whump community #whump memes #squicks #whump tag #whumpblr #whumblr

[muchymozzarella]

I had this super chill interaction earlier today with someone whose NOTP is my OTP and I wanna stress how much better all of fandom is when we respect each other's boundaries and learn to avoid the stuff we dislike instead of.

Yknow.

Being a dipwad about it 🤌🏾

#I'm not sure about muting words on Tumblr i think there's an extension for it #but yea #fandom #boundaries #notps #squicks

[anachronismstellar]

I am not smudging anyone's jam, but-

Have you ever seen a post recommended by tumblr that it's so out of pocket from a very VERY squicky ship that you've never even considered to be a ship and you wonder:

"What do you mean based on my likes you think I'm going to enjoy this??? What have I liked that gave you this impression???"

#random stuff #fandom #fanfic #ships #shipping #squicks #wtf tumblr #no #I blocked the tags so fast like #damn

[hufflepuffwritingstuff2]

Hey fellas! I've updated my request notes. You can find them on my pinned post of masterlists! All that's really changed is I've updated what my squicks are. To summarize: I hate amputation and I don't care for mcd, but I'll tolerate torture and I can vibe with pet whump as long as it's not like, bbu or bbu-adjacent pet whump. Also, NSFW is still off the table. So really the only things that I will not write are NSFW and amputation.

#squicks #author note #writer note

[fandom-hoarder]

Some people avoid tags for types of graphic content.

What I avoid:

#lol #i appreciate the tag so i can avoid it👍 #squicks

[aceofwhump]

Is there any whump that makes you uncomfortable? For me it's women or people of color getting hurt. Basically, groups of people who were/are more vulnerable to getting hurt in real life. I actually have to turn away or fast forward through the scene. I don't know if it's just me though.

Oh there's definitely whump that I'm uncomfortable with. There's nothing triggering for me but I do have tropes that I don't enjoy or squick me out. And this is all just my personal preferences. No dis to anyone who enjoys these things I just get icked out by it.

Box Boy/BBU/Pet whump

Anything with the mouth freaks me out. I dont mind when the character is punched and has a bit of bloody lip but like mouth torture? Big nope.

Eye gore. I don't mind a bit of temporary blindness as long as it is indeed temporary and isn't gorey but anything else is a no go.

Lots of blood. Lile excessive amounts of blood. One of the quickest ways to shit off any whumperflies I may have

Amputations. Lile purposeful someone cut it off kind of amputations.

Tenderness by the antagonist to the whumpee. Like when they comfort them and stuff. Don’t like that. Weirds me out.

I tend to enjoy softer whump things more than the really violent stuff and I like whumperless whump more purely because a lot of the popular whumper tropes make me uncomfortable.

#mod replies #ask #anon #my least favorite tropes #squicks

[porcelaintoybox23]

Oh, I hate it when fic authors villainize one half of the ship. I don't mean an au where things are flipped or evil or something but stories that are close to canon with some differences. It's so icky to me. It's obvious you like one half of the pair more and wrote the fic to make them look better.

Someone being meaner, sure, but having them be that ooc, might as well make em a new character.

Even worse when they villainze a woman the fandom already shits on.

#i aint naming people #it was a spirk fic #why is spock acting like a grape ist? #aos jim isn't a saint #I've run out of good characterization spirks and i keep finding the kirk stans and spock haters #uhura haters too like ew #fanfic #fic icks #squicks #wonder how long it will take for someone to bitch about me having an opinion #i dont comment hate on people's work #that's mean

[theelvishcowgirl]

I have a squick now...

I didn't think I did... I have read almost all kinds of things whump... In fact, I think I would go so far as to say I think I have been to the darker sides of Whumbler and liked what I read.

Some people are incredible at what they write, and some people are decent...

I just read a whump post of a guy getting vivisected for running away. Normally, that's fine. Like I said, I've read a LOT of shit... Nothing prepared me for the level of gore I fucking read...

Props to the writer, I feel sick and disgusted. I applaud you.

#I did not need to read that before going to bed #Squicks #TW #Trigger warnings #if you find this #I did not expect it to get that intese #Holy shit #Are they still being called squicks actually? #Whump #whump writing #whump community #Vivisections