the worst thing has gotta be when someone whos also aspec feels the need to jump on a post complaining about shipping and be like "idk guys its not that deep :/ we're all just playing with dolls you should just ship and let ship :// maybe you should learn about fandom etiquette ://///" like somehow it hurts more. like im glad you personally are not bothered by the overwhelming focus on romance and sexuality in fandom spaces but some of us are!!!
This is something I never see people talking about and I've wanted to bring it up for a while.
There is a huge problem with aspec erasure and fandom as whole being so centered on shipping that it quite literally drives us out, but because some apsecs are okay with it, the rest of us are expected to shut our mouths and get over it â because of course, we're just being dramatic and policing everyone's fun!
No, a percentage of the aspec community that doesn't care if you ignore and erase bold stripes, repulsed, and non-partnering (hell, even favorable and gray sometimes!) aspecs doesn't mean that continuing to do so isn't aphobia, and I'm not about to sugar coat this.
Fandom as a whole is incredibly aphobic.
From the amatonormativity to aspecs being called prudes and fun-police for the crime of wanted to be respected the same way any other orientation is, fandom is so aphobic we are quite literally driven out.
Shipping culture is heavily upheld by allonormativity and amatonormativity and I'm sick if pretending it's not. Does that mean it should be abolished? No! Because there's a difference between shipping two (or more) characters because you want to explore how they'd navigate a romantic or sexual dynamic and shipping them because you can't comprehend a relationship that isn't romance; and 90% of shipping I see is the latter!
I've seen fandoms literally create petitions to change an aspecs orientation, I've seen fandoms insist a character that was directly confirmed to be aro actually isn't because it wasn't said on screen, I've seen fandoms say that if a character was confirmed to be aspec it'd be had representation and they'd drop the fandom entire.
Consider if any of these things happened to a gay character! Could imagine the backlash?? If someone took a lesbian and said "let's have a petition to make them straight!" If someone took a gay man and said "listen, I know it's hevaily implied, indirectly confirmed, and outright stated by the person who acts them, but it doesn't count! They didn't say it on screen so I'm gonna ship them with a woman!" If someone said "I will leave this fandom if this character is confirmed to be bi!"???
Suddenly it sounds much worse, doesn't it?
And I'm genuinely glad that some aspecs are umbothered by this because it fucking sucks. And if it doesn't affect them, I'm glad they don't have to deal with the frustration and isolation. There are plenty of aspecs who very clearly only side with shipping culture and fandom to make themselves more appealing to allos, and that's a whole problem in and of itself.
But that does not mean the rest of us are okay with it, and it does not erase the blatant aphobia that is tied into the roots of fandom. It does not make it okay to step over and ignore us when we tell you you're treating us like shit.
And what's this whole rant gonna do? Nothing! Because allos don't listen to us! Fandom doesn't like us! Shipping culture fucking hates us! Because it's all built on amatonormstivity and people really don't like hearing that!
But maybe it'll help someone feel less alone in their anger.
origamiaround
titsay
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
gracieabrams
blakekathryn
amandla
