im gonna speak my truth and say y’all’s definition of freaky and lawless has js been an avg day in any other fandom. the overly puritan culture of this subfandom is alarming, sets us back in how we interact with fandom and media and is frankly “im 14 and new to fandom culture” behaviour lmfao. idk if its bc so many are attached to will and mike as kids and. absolutely 5 year olds should not be sexualised but 15 year olds in the real world can and do engage in sexual activities. it is the time they explore their sexualities and in turn their identities, esp in this show where we see so many intimate bonds between characters. nancy and steve were going at it in s1 and they were the same ages as s4/s5 byler but no one batted an eye. we tend to see queer men as hypersexual and idk if its to subconsciously subvert that notion ppl have of them that so many tried to make it seem like writing smut abt queer male characters would taint them entirely. writing smut about real life children is abhorrent. writing smut about 15 yr old mike wheeler and will byers who exist in the same fictional universe of children with telekentic abilities, alternate dimensions, wormholes and large shadow creature that attacks its victims by becoming a giant meat monster affects no one. if ppl choose to attach the same importance to engaging in smut abt fictional minors with sexualising real life kids that is a horrid personal failure, not of the entire subfandom engaging in the media respectfully. artists, authors, etc. have been bullied and harassed for simply engaging in NORMAL fandom behaviour. it was baffling and sad and pathetic how so many “spicy” byler fans were seen as gratituous pedophilic creeps for simply… engaging in creating fan media? this whole place now becoming “lawless” bc the characters are finally adults made me laugh out loud. like seriously lmfao. what a bunch of losers.
