Being Antiship is Usually a Categorical Misunderstanding
There's an important ideology in pro/anti ship discourse that I don't see spoken about often. I wish it came up more, so here I am, bringing it up.
Proshippers aren't a homogeneous group, so we don't all have the same likes/dislikes. Even within our own group, we don't all share the same interests. What we do have in common, however, is the belief that it's okay for someone to like something that you don't.
Proshipping, at the root, is acceptance that not everyone is the same, and that we all like different things. Along with that, is accepting that not everyone will like what we like, and that it may even trigger other people.
I can be triggered by the exchange of bodily fluids and degradation, but that doesn't mean that someone else is bad for liking it.
I know proshippers who don't like age gaps, or who don't like writing younger characters, or writing opposite younger characters, and I also know proshippers who don't like incest. I know proshippers who are triggered by abuse (myself included), and who really hate abuse or non-con. But what those people have in common is that they understand that being triggered by it/not liking it, doesn't mean that other people are bad for liking it.
It’s uncomfortable (and extremely problematic/arrogant) that antis feel like they can tell someone else what to like, or that you're bad for liking it. You’re not morally superior for disliking something that someone else enjoys.
The important thing to note here is that antis are antis because they've made a categorical error. Antis have decided that proship = being a MAP, or that proship = perpetuating abuse, and so on. Being proship JUST MEANS that you don’t judge someone for what they like, and DOESN’T MEAN that you’re into incest or abuse or age gaps, etc. (which I don’t think you should judge someone for anyway, even if they are, but that’s because I’m proship).
I want to make this clear--being proship doesn’t mean that you support violence against real people. There’s also no empirical evidence to support that writing or drawing or engaging with fictional taboo impacts real people in any way. If causational damages cannot be produced, then the evidence is purely anecdotal.
Lastly, and I feel like I write about this a lot--not judging someone for what they like in fiction is not the same as supporting MAPs or supporting violence against real people. If you believe that, you are wrong, and you are choosing to be ignorant. This is something that I see antis doing a lot, so they can strawman proshippers into being villains.
Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
Anti-Shippers & Minors, DNI.
