I have an opinion I need to share about the She-Ra fandom, but I fear nobody's ready to hear it
It's like 2:32am when I'm typing this (4:36am on another day when editing) so this might not be super coherent, but here goes-
IMO
I think the concept of including Double Trouble in one's fic PURELY for the purpose of having them shapeshift into Person B of a ship... it a request from Person A, or DT for some reason trolling/messing with them...
...for the purpose of smut?
is not only extremely out of character for DT and everyone else, but one of the most disrespectful things I can fathom of doing with a shapeshifter character
And this isn't about what makes me squeemish or uncomfortable, or even dissing/pressing headcanons.
I don't go here (I'm not lgbtq), so I don't know if them being enby is necessarily relevant to what I'm complaining about, but it feels like it makes it worse on another level, where there's more than likely the added layer of identity insecurity ON TOP OF the one that usually comes with being a shapeshifter in the first place.
(Which, I'm not saying they necessarily have, but in my eyes it's very likely)
I feel like that's even bigger of a slight to them, both from a character's perspective AND as a fan/fanfic writer, to go
"I don't want you for who you are, but for your gimmick"
It comes across (and, granted, I could be wrong) using them for fetish content. Like at this point I'm looking at all this and asking if the people writing it even LIKE Double Trouble as a character at all, or if they just like their gimmick?
it's like eighteen levels of messed up to me and that is precisely what a A MAJORITY of the DT-as-main-character tag on Ao3 IS and I'm GRUMPY about it >:[
Like if you HAVE to make smut, at least make it a scenario where said second party actually wants to sleep with DT and not DT-cosplaying-as-the-other-member-of-a-popular-ship???
Using them. that's what it feels like to me. It feels like DT is being... prostituted out for fetish content, for lack of a better term. It doesn't feel like love for a character, it feels like at least three different levels of disrespect for them as a person.
(This is not directed any anyone specifically, but is moreso addressing a vocal-minority fandom issue I keep running into.
I will turn off reblogs/replies if nobody has anything constructive to add and are only here to argue/stir up drama for a reaction out of me
I'm not ordering you to stop writing smut- just because I don't like it doesn't mean I'm going to break into your house and physically stop you or oust you from society.
What I AM saying is that DT is very special to me, and while I normally wouldn't make a fuss about this sort of thing, and just ignore it-
I... haven't seen them treated as anything BUT an oversexualized caricature by most, if not 90% of the fanfics that include them as a main character...
Which, I've still managed to find some good DT centric fics, but it's a good chunk of the "Double Trouble - She Ra" tag on Ao3, and fanart is just "DT dressed seductive" on tumblr- where every other character has trashposts, angst, fluff, whump- the other staples of fandom art culture.)
