May 10, 2025
As much as purity culture IS penetrating fandom spaces and sanitising them beyond their core intent, I feel like some of you are overusing the phrase "don't like, don't read" (and others like it). Rather in response to people being nitpicky about certain themes merely existing in content (fan-made or otherwise), you guys keep using it as a way to shut down critical discussions of your favourite medias in a way that feels oddly anti-intellectual and ironically puritanical in and of itself.
#my post#this isn't the only phrase this is being used for btw this is just the one I used as an example#“let people enjoy things” is also another big one#like I get why you'd be so hostile after so many people who are uneducated on fandom etiquette invaded our spaces and flipped them#upside down with the vitriolic cringe culture they cling to#but I feel like we're losing sight of our goal here#purity culture is a problem but someone isn't a “tiktok puriteen” for criticising your favourite media#freedom of speech means freedom to criticise#you can't advocate for a free and chaotic fandom space and then get mad when a fandom space is exactly that#you don't care about purity culture invading fandom spaces you just want to believe in and do whatever you want#without anyone challenging you for it#bit of a ramble I don't really want to tag this because I don't want to kick the hornet's nest too hard but hghhh#like I so get where these people are coming from#like this isn't really a finger wagging “don't do this” post more is it a “let's not do this” post#I actually saw someone make this point a while back on instagram reels and I completely agreed with them#this thought kind of just clicked with me right now tonight as I actually went through the logical journey to reach that conclusion myself#so now it's more believable to me than just someone telling me their perspective and me not having enough knowledge or wisdom#at the time to 100% validate their perspective even though logically I may agree with it at the time#fuck I was gonna say something else but I kind of forgot#OH YEAH#because I was definitely in the mindset of “omg purity culture in fandom is ruining everything this is ass”#which I still agree with btw it's just important not to swing too far because there's still valid criticisms to be brought up in fandom-#and media and it feels reductive to boil it all down to “purity culture”#even though sometimes people's criticisms can be ill-informed and slightly ridiculous in the way in which you can tell that this is a#insecure younger teenager who clings to insanely high moral standards so they can soothe their secret insecurities about how they're#somehow secretly a bad person for not living up to said standards#trust me I've been there before. Both the former and latter. But this is my take for now as I feel it's more informed and nuanced#than before#oh by the way when I say I've been the former before I DON'T mean I was ever a proshipper ew lol#may take down later
