Purity & Fandom: A Slippery Slope (Patreon)

The Internet is full of dangerous and unpleasant places and ideals. I mean, for all their attempts at removing NSFW content and trying to limit what their users post, sites like Tumblr and Twitter still have rather extreme little corners promoting and pushing quite literally Nazi ideals. If not outright overt and blunt in their ideals, dogwhistling and imagery or symbols they have appropriated mark them as such, creeping up on other people's feeds, seeming like common trolls or assholes at first glance but with more insidious ideas.

So, of course, when people within a Fandom begin to show problematic tastes or appear to promote less than savory stuff, it's only fair to call them out on it, right? The idea behind it being to protect the younger people in the Fandom from being exposed to toxic ideas, to not let these bad things become widespread and taint the fans...

Think of the children as they say, huh?

...

Yeah, good intentions don't always mean good methods, and there's some severe distinctions to be made, and things to point out, about what I feel has become one of the biggest problems regarding Fandom, and the Internet in general: Purity Culture.

Bigotry vs Problematic

Let me preface the rest of this essay by saying you should, absolutely, at any time, call out and report Nazis saying that X people should be killed or obviously harming and harassing other communities. By 'Purity Culture', I am not talking about some absurd idea of 'Freedom of Speech' making everyone deserve a platform to spread their ideals, even when these ideals spread the idea of genocide. Ohoho, no my sweet Summer Child, fuck Nazis, fuck Pedophiles, and fuck Bigotry in any shape or form.

With that out of the way, however, I also feel there is an important distinction to be made between people flaunting and spreading harmful ideals, and people exploring harmful content in fiction.

Take Incest for example. One of the hot buttons of the Internet, and I mean, it's not for no reason. Often associated with power dynamics at play within the family, and most certainly associated with abuse of underage people who either don't know better, or are unable to escape said situation due to the aforementioned power dynamics. It's... Bad. It's undeniably taboo for a reason, and to this day it still does happen. Anyone saying that they're trying to get it on with a family member, that they've done something with someone, trying to actually normalize something like this, like it's not a big deal, is... I'm pretty sure anyone imagining a real scenario like this feels queasy enough that I don't need to showcase why it's bad.

However, notice I used a very specific word up there. Normalize. As in, try to make something that's uncommon or, in this case, Taboo, become a commonplace occurrence that's not thought of as too bad. Now imagine that a small section of a Fandom you are in begins to ship two characters together- Mabel and Dipper from Gravity Falls, Dean and Sam from Supernatural, Rose and Dave from Homestuck, whatever it may be. People start to draw and write them together in a less sibling-like manner, and more romantically, and things start to get uncomfortable. What many people do is lash out at these pairings, at these shippers, since obviously, by real standards, these are bad relationships.

And that's not even saying anything about other less savory topics that exist within Fandom. Underage characters, creepy age gaps, less than consensual things going around, this discomfort is more than justified, and it ties back into the idea of normalization, right? It's easy to see these things going around, and worry about the thought that these people are willingly promoting that it's fine for these things to happen in real life, worry about young and less experienced members of the Fandom growing with these ideas and believing them to be a normal part of everyday life. The basis upon which this mentality is set upon is solid, it's an attempt at making Fandom Space better, at protecting people, at not letting bad stuff happen in real life.

That's why it's so difficult to showcase its dangers and effects without being blasted.

Because while I empathise with the idea of wanting people to not go through awful shit, Purity Culture has only ever managed to hurt people in my experience.

Reality vs Fiction

Of course Reality and Fiction are connected. Fiction is made to showcase aspects of Reality in different ways. It's also made to be a place of Escapism from the issues of Reality. Both a mirror that reflects it, and a safe space isolated from it, that paints the ideas and scenarios created by the author. So I am not going to say that 'Fiction doesn't influence reality, and therefor anyone should be allowed to do whatever they want in a fictional setting'. I will, however, always defend the exploration of unsavory topics in the Safe Space that is Fiction.

Like I mentioned before, Normalization in Society is the issue at hand here. And one of the major problems with Purity Culture and its push against fiction that showcases problematic material... Regardless of said material or author's stance on it. There's worlds of difference between a work where something taboo happens, and it's showcased as good, and one where it happens, and the consequences that come alongside it are explored. There's also a difference between writing a character as an awful bastard that does something bad, and relating to said character or agreeing with them. Sometimes people make dark fiction where messed up things happen, and it's obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but it doesn't have to reflect the idea that the author wants any of it to happen for real. The same way an author writing about the struggle of a trans person facing transphobia isn't transphobic themselves just because they're making their trans character go through tough stuff.

Another major issue with it is its insular scope. Take South Park for example, I know a lot of people that dislike it, and for good reason it seems. It kind of mocks everything and promotes this rude, nihilistic point of view, disengaging from politics and just throwing stuff together for shock value. This is a show that was extremely popular when I was younger, and as far as I know, it's still going well. South Park has more than its fair share of problematic content within it even ignoring the shock-value nihilistic centrism, and people do complain about it and push back against it. But when people talk about Purity Culture, about this pushback to try and not expose people to dangerous things in Fiction, the first thought that comes to mind isn't people trying to push back against a popular show, or movie, or game, it's... People sending death threats to the author of a fanfiction, of some small team that wouldn't reach nearly as many others, sometimes even things they made years ago.

You see where this is going, right?

One notable example that I recall is the issue with V from Homestuck, one of the writers for Friendsim and the Epilogues.

Remaining anonymous, V has a pretty unsavory style. One route they wrote had several uncomfortable mentions towards some fetishes and general toilet humor. The other route revolved around a pushy gigolo of a man getting it on together with the main character. They're, as I mentioned, also part of the team that made the controversial Epilogues. So by the time these dropped, people were lashing out against them pretty badly. As Fandom usually does, these days, they were sending threats to this author, for things that weren't even really... Bad? They were just unpleasant and had upset people, who were now lashing directly at them.

As things got worse, rumors started to surface that V was an old member of the Homestuck community, and associations began to be made. This person, who was associated with V without actually solid proof, had people angrily go through their content until they found a Fanfiction that shipped Bro and Dave together. Lo and behold, suddenly this person was an incest shipper, pedophile and awful person who should die! Death threats were getting flung their way, and to all of this I want to remind, they didn't even know if they really were V.

And then they had to put out a statement. Wouldn't you know? This person that was getting death threats sent to them was a survivor of familiar abuse. The Fanfiction they'd written, about Dave and Bro, in fact, didn't even showcase it as a good thing! The work was a parody critique of how widespread incest shipping was in the Fandom at the time, and a callout for shippers to be a bit more critical of the way they present this kind of thing in their work. They were, literally, on the side of the people suddenly calling them out and wanting them dead. This did not, however, make the threats stop. Because they didn't want the nuance, they didn't want for this person to show they actually had good intentions. They wanted to be right and hold the 'moral highground'.

This is what I want to bring attention to. Purity Culture has its roots in the genuine concern for people, and not wanting bad things to happen... However, by judging small authors on content they post trying to get clout for their 'unproblematic ideals', what they're doing is isolating people who don't know any better, or who are survivors of the things they're writing about as a way to cope, or simply are sharing something in a completely fantastical scenario where the consequences of the real world can't touch them and don't actually intend to promote any of this as a good thing in the first place.

It's extremely hard to push against Purity Culture, because once you begin talking about how people should write what they want, and no one should have to disclose their entire history of abuse to random strangers to 'justify' being 'able' to write something or not, then they start to mark you as a defensor of 'Pedophilia' and 'Rape'. What started as good intentions, suddenly becomes as a weapon to silence people that want to help others just the same. Instead of protecting, they begin to censore anything they don't like, and suddenly that slippery slope leads to things like... An artist drawing aged up characters kissing being called a Pedophilie? Like... What?

So what CAN we do?

Ironically, the thing is that we know what we can do. We have been doing it for ages already. Tag your shit. It is literally that easy. By providing a set of content warnings regarding the content of a piece of artwork or a Fanfiction, people are aware of what they're getting into. People with triggers regarding to certain kinds of material can avoid them entirely, and others who find comfort in some of the darker things these works have to offer, can just the same find what they're looking for, in a tagged corner where they don't have to worry about it spreading around and harming those who don't want to see it.

Fiction affects Reality, yes. But it doesn't affect it in a direct correlation kind of way. And the impact someone writing Fandom Fanfiction can have upon reality is negligible in comparison to the ways a big blockbuster movie or Netflix series could have. The argument is exactly the same as that of the Videogame Industry causing Violence, instead of holding responsible, say, a Society that no longer takes empathy as seriously as it should, or even the education system and family for a specific upbringing.

Attempts at censorship like these have always been around. The push for the idea of Pokemon being Satanic when it first came out, for example. An attempt at pushing values people thought were 'bad' in order to ban something they disliked, but that was, ultimately, completely harmless. The way organizations like PETA or Autism Speaks shield themselves in the idea that they're actually doing good for animals and autistic people, when in reality they're pushing out their own agenda and harming them.

Of course I will never tell anyone they should be comfortable with, say, artwork depicting incest. That is not what I am promoting here, and it is not something I will ever say. I do truly believe, however, that just because someone thinks two characters in a problematic ship are cute together, they shouldn't be held at gunpoint and sent death threats until they leave their blog, or worse. That is not fighting for a just cause. That is intimidation, and forcing one's ideals upon others in a fictional setting that was harming no one, and at worst, it's making survivors relive painful memories and be unable to use a coping tool to isolate themselves from whatever happened to them.

Fiction exists to explore avenues Real Life doesn't allow to. Some people use it to come to terms with things that happened to them. Some people use them to explore messed up scenarios that they would never wish to anyone in real life. And so long as this expression is properly tagged, or posted in a place where this kind of content is intended- So long as the reader knows what they're getting into before going through it, the responsibility should befall on those reading the content, and not on the author for putting it out.

Not every single piece of work should be flawless and unproblematic, and honestly, to think the only way something darker or bad couldn't exist unless the author themselves were bad and wanted those things to happen, and thinking that people going through this content don't have the critical thinking capacity to tell the difference between right and wrong, between reality and fiction, is exactly the same thing religious conservatives have been pulling off for years in their attempts to shove their values down the world's throat, and throw away everything they consider Immoral and Evil. Ironically, it showcases their own inability to critically think and consider the content they consume, demonizing what gives them bad vibes and making up buzzwords to throw around and seem like they have a point.

When you hold the idea that all which is immoral and wrong shouldn't exist, regardless of the form it takes, it's only a matter of time until you also begin to decide what is defined as 'immoral and wrong'.

And historically, look where that bullshit has always led.

Thanks for reading, and hoo boy was this an essay that gave me issues with the wording and how I wanted to convey things. Topics like these are really... Not easy. Of course if you think, despite all of this, that people should be limited in what they express in fiction, feel free to send me a message on Tumblr. But...

If you've read this far, you know exactly where I stand, and what I'll tell you in return.