thinking about ppl really don’t understand the point of unconscious bias is that you are unaware of it and need to learn about it to recognise it in you. And it happens to everyone.
Like here, on tumblr, the majority of relatable blorbo posts are biased to he/him the blorbo. “I want to see my blorbo crying, I want him to be chained to the radiator”.
Written without a thought. No big deal right, how is this a bias? How does such a small thing impact fandom?
Ppl are primed to think of male characters first when thinking of who is their blorbo - increasing bias to male characters / reinforced to not think about female and non-male blorbos
Ppl reblog and comment with their male blorbos - promotion and connection about male blorbos only / reinforced not to think about female non-male blorbos
Ppl see the post is only male blorbos - perception that only male blorbos are talked about or cared about / female and non-male blorbos are not talked about because of an inherent issue with them
increases the perception that female and non-male blorbos can’t have the blorbo treatment = discouraged from exploring them as blorbos
Ppl are discouraged to think about non- male blorbos - continued erasure from fandom
Ppl with female, non-binary or non-male blorbos arent likely to reblog the post - excluded from fandom activities
No-one is posting in a vacuum. When you post with bias you reinforce and encourage the bias no matter how small.
Then all those tiny little biases pile up and influence what a blorbo even is, what is considered to be a blorbo. It contributes to a fandom atmosphere of male as assumed default, of female and non-male characters not even a thought, of female or non-male characters talked about as undesirable to be blorbos because if ppl don’t talk about them it must be something wrong with their gender and not a social bias environment set up to exclude and erase them. It makes fandom unwelcoming to explore female or non-blorbo in.
and the whole point of unconscious bias is that you don’t know you’re reinforcing and normalising it.
Defeating bias is as simple as making fandom more inclusive “I want to see my blorbo crying. I want to see them chained to the radiator”
Make your relatable blorbo post relatable to even more people
Encourage ppl to consider if male blorbo even is their blorbo or someone they chose to fit the post
there will be a greater variety of blorbo genders being tagged and talked about
more ppl will learn about blorbos that might interest them
ppl will see the post and see that female and non -male characters are talked about and valued
ppl will see that they can give the blorbo treatment to female and non-male blorbos
ppl are encouraged to think about other blorbo genders in general
you are not in a vacuum, one small change and you help normalise a more equal and inclusive world
