#tmbd fandom ableism

[rjalker]

The Murderbot Diaries: And then Murderbot slowly learns over the course of the series to set its boundaries and make its boundaries in regards to touch known. Its friends respect its boundaries once they learn what they are and never shame it or force it to change or adapt to suit them. The one time anyone ever asks it to compromise its boundaries, she immediately regrets doing so, it is portrayed as a bad thing, and both characters move forward with deeper understanding and respect for eachother. The message here is that respecting people's boundaries is always important even if they're not boundaries you understand or agree with. The message here is that setting boundaries is healthy and normal and you should do it for your own mental well-being.

Ableists in the fandom: actually it should get rid of its boundaries. The only way for it to heal is for it to remove all of the boundaries that make it inconveneint for shipping or unpalatable for people like me, someone who's normal and likes being touched just like normal people all do. Only people who have something wrong with them that needs fixed don't want to be touched and set boundaries about touch. Murderbot should be normal like me!!!

[rjalker]

Murderbot in book 4: *lets a traumatized person (Mensah) hug it so she doesn't literally have a mental breakdown in the middle of being rescued, holds said traumatized person's hand as part of a disguise to make sure they both don't immediately get recaptured and killed*

Mensah in her short story, book 4.5: *states explicitly that she knows Murderbot does not want to be touched, and knows it's wrong of her to literally and metaphorically lean on someone who doesn't want to be touched, refuses to hug Murderbot again because she knows it doesn't like it, even though it's offering to let her anyways to help her, makes it clear that she needs to respect Murderbot even when it's willing to compromise on its boundaries because it should not be forced to compromise on its boundaries*

Murderbot in book 5: *literally makes it part of its work contracts that no one is allowed to hug it. Literally makes sure to tell humans who are traumatized and in distress that if they need someone to hug it will go find someone for them to hug.*

Athiktomisics who think everyone has to enjoy and crave touch and touch averse people just need to learn to heal and get over themselves: actually it secretly enjoys being touched. You need to re-read these books.

you want literal quotes from the book you gotta pay me $20 so I can buy a cane. I'm done wasting my time finding passages from the books for proof only for everyone to go "I don't know, I suddenly can't read".