(link to all posts tagged "as+the+devil+fights")
In most conversations on tumblr, context is lost. I make a post about how eating more fruits and vegetables is a good thing and the next thing I am hearing back from people with fruit and vegetable allergies, the meat industry and people who genuinely don’t like fruit or vegetable all saying that I am telling them that they are Bad People if they don’t convert to veganism. Each of them thinking my post was directed at them and that I was posting in order to harass them or hurt them or mock them.
When all I wanted to do was to talk about “Fruits and Vegetables, Yummy!” Because I just ate some wonderful strawberries and think everyone should try home grown tomatoes. Because, really folks, home grown fruits and veggies are the best.
But I digress. Recently we’ve been looking at problematic fanfiction - should it be written? Should it be read? Should it be criticized? Should those criticizing it be criticized? Should we tag? What should we tag? Is tagging harmful? Is talking about tagging censorship? The list is endless and recursive.
So here is some context from 1 year ago. A fan writes a story about rape. She tags it with the pairing name and also warns for rape. Canonically, the pairing has a twisted and unhealthy relationship on screen. But many fans find it romantic. The writer does not. In fact, the writer sees her fic as way of exploring some dark things in her own life. And the fic also expresses her own vision of the onscreen relationship.
What follows may be the basis for some of the fandom policing meta posts you may have seen on tumblr over the past year. And warning: it is disturbing and awful and yes, there is talk of rape and there is victimizing victims of rape.
But I think you should start here.
And then when you are done go here and then wander over here.
But first: Warning. People Behaving Badly.