What is a PROSHIPPER? A "PROSHIPPER" is someone who believes in freedom of the arts, including morally incorrect or taboo topics, even if they do not personally support it. Again, these people may not condone these practices in real life, but they support their use only when they are used in fiction. They also support the ideal of "anti-harassment.
What is an ANTISHIPPER? An "antishipper" (also known simply as an anti) believes that morally incorrect (or taboo) topics have no place online. They believe in excluding people who portray things they don't like. These people often insult artists.
I think I would call myself a "pro-shipper". I believe that people should be allowed to draw what they want. I don't understand the fascination with incest, I resent anything that sexualizes children, I block out people who think it's okay, age difference is not my business, and abusive relationships brings back trigger memories.
But the key phrase here is "blocking people who make it okay". Not that I agree with these themes, but if it offends me, I don't interact with it, I don't label it as "freaks," I just block it out and go about my day.
Art is an expression of your creativity. It doesn't have to reflect who you are as a person. You are not a pedophile if you are attracted to fictional children or express yourself sexually (at best you are a lolisho, and even then I will still dislike you). If you draw or write fictional incest, you wouldn't actually want to do it with your relatives. You don't encourage abuse by writing or drawing bakudeku. If there is something you genuinely don't like, that's what the block function + tag block is for.
The excuse is that it is something that children should not see. And I agree. They shouldn't be exposed to problematic content. I also agree that they should not be shown pornographic or grotesque content (or GTA, Conker's Bad Fur Day, shooters, etc.), but here's the thing. It is the parents' job to monitor their children.
It is the viewer's job to take advantage of tagging. It is the artist's job to tag the work properly to respect those who do not want to see it. As long as the tagging is done, what does it matter?
Why is it wrong to make a work of fiction about incest, but okay to make a work of fiction about gore and murder? Both are illegal and should not happen under any circumstances, and both are disgusting.
This is especially bad if the pair in question is a consenting, legal adult. At that point, why? The "because it causes complications for newborn children" reasoning doesn't hold water. Because some of these pairs likely wouldnt want children.
Gore is worse than incest. If I were forced to watch real incest or gore, I would 100% watch the fucking. It's super gross and I don't understand the appeal of it, but it's 100 times better than watching that.
But we have a double standard because we're insensitive to all media that uses violence for entertainment.
How about the furries? The ones who draw the super sexy anthro stuff. It's technically "bestiality", so why are they okay with it? They are as intelligent as humans, yet they look animalistic. They lack human traits, yet these people are attracted to them. Most of them are not attracted to real animals, only to humans. And yet, no one harasses them.
You are not normalizing, promoting, or romanticizing fictional content. You are expressing your own creativity.
I agree to a certain extent that fiction influences reality. Children (and stupid people) are impressionable. But if it's tagged properly, I genuinely don't understand why susceptible people don't take responsibility for it. Kids do what they want, and I don't want to blame them for anything, but an adult, a functioning adult...? I genuinely think that they need to get some fresh air.
However, I also don't agree with the "dislike > inability to separate fiction from reality". As mentioned before, I am deeply resentful of lolita and lolicon. Yet, I never go to talk to them. I block them and move on because I don't want to see that. Real children should be given 100% priority. Real victims should be prioritized. But as long as I am not hurting anyone, just as they are not hurting anyone, I am allowed to feel how I want to feel.
Incest and abuse can be used to groom children. That's a fact. Regular pornography, and to some extent gross depictions, can be used to get at children. Predators are to blame, not innocent people.
I saw a comment on a Buzzly discord that said "fat fetishes and gore are OK because they don't interfere with people's lives and lifestyles". And I'm sitting here thinking... Do you support obese people slowly killing themselves? Do you support people killing others (or tearing themselves apart inside)? I could not understand how incest (incest was the main topic used) could affect people's lives. I can agree that it only affects you if you plan to have children. But beyond that, I genuinely don't understand it.
The reason I support giving people a platform is because it gives them the opportunity to block it. De-platforming an artist's platform allows the artist to hide these things about themselves, and people become less aware of the people who follow them. In this case, it can be distinctly uncanny.
We lack an art platform, Buzzly.art was originally positive about creativity as long as it didn't have anything to do with children, but it now supports censorship, and I think the staff at Buzzly is being cowardly by seeming to cater to people who vouch for their business. In a way, that makes sense for a website. But it's pathetic to look at. Originally they didn't allow NSFW for payment processors, but now they do because some people aren't interested. NSFW is fine, but that's just an example.
Originally, we allowed creative content as long as it was properly tagged, but now we have to push for censorship because some nasty people weren't interested. Yet they don't seem to do anything about the people who target pro-shippers, which seems to encourage bullying as well. It's depressing that people who insult people just for expressing an opinion, either on the server or on the site, remain unpunished.
If one thing is wrong (especially if it's "think of the children"), then they should all be wrong.
We need an art platform that promotes artistic freedom (but... (except for loli shota, but for non-bias reasons). Anti-artists act like they can go to other platforms to express their "malice", but ... I don't have that. I can't even make it myself... I don't want these ignorant people to think that I condone these actions.
But Buzzly art is not only a platform for furries, it's also Tumblr/Twitter 2.0 for people who can't understand the concept of blocking others.
I'm an artist. I don't intend to draw problematic content (except for gore and abusive relationships, the latter of which is actually plot-relevant and based on my own experiences), but I want to be able to publicly say "pro-shippers are valid". I can't do that because I want to make art work for me. One wrong move and my artistic image is ruined.
I shouldn't have to feel this way. But it's the year 2022. Everyone is toxic and must be careful what they say.
Thank you for reading to the end. I'm sorry it took so long. But it's been bothering me for the past few days and I just want to get this out. As long as you don't agree with topics like this in real life, keep making things that make you happy.