sometimes Iβm reminded that there are still people who donβt know ao3 was literally created by incest shippers β and the siteβs sole purpose is to 1. be completely against censorship and 2. host all kinds of dark, taboo fics that are banned on other platforms β and the first ever fic that was posted on ao3 was a fic about an incest ship from supernatural.
you are in the house that was created by freaks. for freaks (affectionate). every disgusting thing you can think of is rightfully allowed and welcomed on ao3, because they are exactly the reasons why ao3 was created in the first place.
ao3 was created because its creators got tired of censorship, they got tired of dark and taboo fics getting banned on pro-censorship platforms, and they wanted a place that was safe for ALL FICS THAT WERE DARK AND TABOO.
ao3βs main principle is being against censorship and being proship / profic.
there are some things in fiction that make me uncomfortable, but instead of shaming people who are just minding their own business and not harming anyone in real life, I choose to curate my own internet experience by blocking/muting what I donβt want to see. ao3 has excellent tagging system, so instead of being a bitch, use their tagging system properly and you wonβt see the things you donβt want to see.
itβs your job to curate what you see. itβs not other peopleβs jobs or responsibilities to censor themselves for your personal comfort. the world does not revolve around you.
also you cannot censor βonly the things you personally hateβ without expecting everything else, that isnβt of conservative beliefs, to be censored too. because censorship is a slippery slope and a fascist tool. I promise you there are people who think βwhy do tags for queer love even exist on ao3? theyβre grooming childrenβ.
if you allow the things that you hate to be censored β because someone with enough power gets to control what other people can and cannot create/consume, it will not stop at the things that you hate.
*illustration by sillyalexnorris
