#is an issue.

[gillybeanns]

testing out new brushes for funs

[dearly]

Hi! So since Dan’s coming out video, i’ve seen a lot of discussion on real people shipping/fan fiction, or believing/saying that a celebrity who never confirmed being queer, is queer. The main consensus i’ve seen is that it’s disgusting and harmful whether or not it’s true, and has got me to think about Larry or how we view Louis and his life. If what we’re doing really is very harmful. Kinda wanted to get your thoughts on real people shipping/fanfiction. Thank you😅

hi anon! i think those are two separate topics so i’ll tackle them separately.

i don’t have any issues with RPF/RPS. i’ve been in fandom a really long time and the first RPS i read was gale/randy from queer as folk, over a decade ago lol. and then i got into bandom (FOB, MCR, PATD etc) and which is a fandom entirely devoted to RPF, so it’s not some new thing to me really. i recommend reading the RPF entry on fanlore if you want to learn more about the history of RPF because it’s definitely not anything new and has been part of fandom since the late 1960s.

there’s always been discussions about appropriateness and people getting outraged at the existence of RPF, used to be tons of it on metafandom back in the day (i wish their archives were still available but alas...) i think a lot of it has to do with how people behave and approach RPF. i think the number one rule has always been never to break the 4th wall. does everyone follow that rule? unfortunately not. but it’s the behaviour that’s the issue, not the existence of RPF, i don’t think.

here’s what alex kapranos said about RPS about him and his band:

"I think it’s brilliant. It’s really, really funny. And I like that sort of thing cause it means that there’s people who have imagination who are inspired by your personality and the things that you’ve done, so it’s a good thing," he says. "There’s absolutely nothing wrong with fictionalizing a genuine character as long as you make it clear that you are fictionalizing, which I think all that slash stuff does." [Chart Attack, 2004]

just don’t push it on the people you’re writing or reading about (and a lot of the times it’s interviewers pushing fic on people these days to get some ‘funny’ reactions.

as for speculating on people’s sexuality: this also is always going to happen. speculation in general will always happen. cebrities are aware of this, they get media trained for a reason and have publicists for a reason to drop hints about things and so on. i think the situation with dan (and phil) is a bit different in that they became well known youtubers and developped a fanbase before the youtube craze started. they were not trained or prepared for scrutiny and i don’t think they even expected it.

so, no, i don’t think speculating on someone’s sexuality is harmful. what becomes harmful is being invasive or attempting to out someone whether that involves pestering them/people they know or trying to dig up ‘dirt’ (like hacking into things....and stuff....) i don’t think it’s fair either to disregard that throughout history LGBT people have used signalling to find and communicate with each other and make themselves visible to the community. i mean we learned about polari because of louis, a language that was created so gay men could communicate without fear. it’s not farfetched to think closeted people in the public eye would also ‘signal’ to fans who can pick up on those clues. 

[brainbumbler]

doom: I think work gave me CTS

bloom: ...in my RIGHT WRIST BITCH haha fuck you I can still draw stupid shit