#the tldr always seems to come back to 'stop yucking other peoples' yums'

[queerregulusablack]

hi i like your takes so i wanted to ask what your opinion is on people using the word fetishisation to describe marauder’s ships

if you have an opinion that is

Not gonna lie to you Nonnie this feels like a trap, but you've caught me in a discourse-y kind of mood, so I'm going to take it at face value and actually give you an answer.

Fetishization is another word that belongs on the shelf.

There is a massive difference between queerness being actually fetishized and someone writing m/m or f/f fiction. There's a difference between queerness being reduced to a fetish and someone writing queer smut for a marauders ship.

The thing that really boggles the mind is when the people being accused of fetishizing queer people by writing these ships are queer themselves. It's nuts.

But see, at the same time, here's the thing; fetishes aren't bad. Having a fetish is not a bad thing. Case in point; most of the time when I write Regulus, he has a massive neck fetish. He's not ashamed or embarrassed of having a neck fetish - unless called on it by the person he's making out with, and then it's a cute flustered 'stop perceiving me!!!' kind of embarrassed - because why would he be? People have fetishes. They have sexual preferences. Are you saying having sexual preferences is bad or wrong?

I understand the struggle a lot of younger queer people have with things like, for example, the prevalence of BL media, and the perception that the people consuming it are widely straight teenage girls who are reducing the characters to mere sex objects. But I encourage them to chill out on this for two reasons.

One) We don't actually know who's consuming that media. Maybe some of them are straight girls doing the thing perceived to be bad. Maybe, in four years, they won't be girls at all, because they're in the infant stages of re-examining their gender identity and figuring it out through enjoyable works of fiction. Maybe they're coming to terms with their own sexuality by reading about queer experiences of love - because even if something is primarily smut, more often than not there's some feelings that sneak on in there. I know, it happens even when I try to stop it - and maybe they're just reading a compelling if spicy romance story and don't give a fuck about the fact everyone involved has a penis. You don't know.

As someone who partially came to terms with their own queerness by doing the above, and reading BL manga, and explicit queer fanfiction, and basically devouring queer media until I found my people and realised who I was; lay off, guys. All you're doing is making a community that may one day be exactly where they belong actively hostile toward them. And that sucks.

Second, and so, so importantly) They're. Fucking. Fictional.

The fetishization of fictional characters is a non-issue. There are real world problems! The earth is on fire! The woman who came up with these characters is openly and actively harming trans people, especially trans youth, and sees every penny she makes from royalties as implicit support of her transphobia! There are so many worthy causes to which you could be lending your energy!

And instead you're on the internet, making tweets and clock app videos about how writing m/m ships when you don't identify as a guy is ~fetishization~.

So that's my two cents. Not only is it, like so many other buzzwords we see tossed around in fandom, most often being used incorrectly, but it's also not even an issue if it is fetishization. No real world people are being harmed.

Have a nice day.

#old man yells at cloud #owl post #is this coherant? IDK if this is coherant #the tldr always seems to come back to 'stop yucking other peoples' yums' #if no one is being hurt why do you CARE #go outside look at three birds breathe out and unclench for the love of god I am Begging