Is Sheith [ShiroxKeith] a problematic ship ?
Due to the misinformations and lies some Antis seem to be spreading around.
I wrote this fact-check article about sheith.
Is Sheith [ShiroxKeith] a Problematic Ship ?
[ Tw mention : Pedophilia, incest, child abuse ]
Many people [antis] went ahead and painted the ship between Shiro former leader of voltron currently captain of the Atlas and Keith the former red paladin and current black paladins and leader of voltron
A problematic [pedophilic/incestuous] ship.
And that leads us to the question, is it really a pedophilic/incestuous ship ?
• " Sheith is a pedophilic ship "
“ Pedophilia, or paedophilia, is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children or generally children under the age of 13.”
Considering the fact Keith's age was [18] on season 1, [19] on season 5 and currently [21] on season 6/7 while Shiro is [25] that leaves them with only a 4 years age gap.
So No, it's not and was never a pedophilic ship by any interpretation of the word as it's a ship between two legal consenting adults.
• “ Sheith normalize pedophilia cause Shiro met Keith when he was 12! while he was an adult! ”
This is a very common headcanon going around and it's both timeline inaccurate and wrong.
Shiro and Keith originally had a 6 years age gap.
And JDS described Shiro then as a young adult in his late teens/early twenties pre-kerberos mission.
Shiro met Keith when Keith was around [15/16] not [12].
Keith was as old as pidge when he enrolled into the Galaxy Garrison, a military related space academy that can be considered a military high school and it uses military cadet education it's most likely does not recruit elementary or middle school children. ( or generally children below the age of 14 ) .
While Shiro was around the age [21/22]
Their relationship pre-kreb was a purely platonic relationship and Shiro was in a full committed relationship on his way to marriage with his s/o then Adam.
• “ Sheith is harmful and homophobic cause it paints Shiro a canonically gay man as a predator
Again, Shiro was in a fully committed relationship on his way to marriage with his significant other Adam pre-kerberos mission so he is not by any means a predator.
“Child grooming is befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse.”
Shiro's relationship with Keith pre-kreb was a purely platonic relationship with no harmful intents as Shiro simply saw a great potential in a very talented disciplinary case “Keith” who simply needed a bit of guidance.
It is by no means “grooming”.
• “ sheith is incest! They are literally brothers ”
“ Incest /ˈɪnsɛst/ is sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in a consanguineous relationship (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity, stepfamily, those related by adoption or marriage ”
It was confirmed by the creators that Keith and Shiro are not related by blood or even adoption or in anyway.
Since they are not related in anyway way.
No, it's not an incestuous ship.
• “ Shiro adopted Keith !”
• “ Shiro raised Keith ! ”
Is yet another very common headcanon going around. That was not confirmed, mentioned or even hinted on. And was dismissed by the staff.
Aside from the fact you can not adopt a brother, and need to be at least 25 and and healthy since life terminal illness could disqualify you from being an adoptive parent.
Pre-kreb Shiro an unmarried young adult [21/22] with a chronicle muscle disorder and only 3 active years left in his life that he was going to spend them on the Kerberos mission could not have adopt a 15 years old.
Befriending someone younger than you is not equivalent to raising them, Shiro did not raise Keith and they only known each other for only 2 years or so before Shiro took off for the Kerberos mission.
Approximately 2 years are by no means enough time to “raise” someone.
• “ Keith called Shiro his brother several times! It's incest”
“Shiro you are like a brother to me”
Calling someone that is not related to you “your brother” does not make them automatically your sibling.
Many people refer to their best friends as their brother/sister, and that does not mean any future relationship is labeled incest since they are not related and feelings and emotions indeed evolve and are subjected to change.
That aside, the creators never referred to them as brothers but rather as “best friends” and on the other hand that staff said “the brother line is not literal, and not as important as the way it is being said.”
Josh Hamilton went on to state the “you’re my brother” line was equivalent to Keith saying “you’re everything to me”.
• “Sheith is problematic and unhealthy cause it's power imbalance”
“A power imbalance is the attempt by the perpetrator(s) to use observed or perceived personal or situational characteristics to exert control over the targeted youth's behavior or limit the victim's ability to respond or stop their aggression.”
Shiro has not ever harmed or pressured Keith, but rather always vouched for him and his abilities, even believed in him and wanted him to be his successor to lead voltron as the black paladin.
Shiro is currently the capital of the Atlas while Keith is the leader of voltron and the black paladin, and he displayed obvious confident leading actions and qualities during season 7. So we can safely say they are on an equal footing.
Processing all the facts mentioned above, we can safely say Sheith is NOT a problematic ship. And it's not and was never pedophilic or incestuous.
