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AO3 was created deliberately as the place for taboo fanfiction that no one else wanted to host.
It was created in significant part in response to the spontaneous deletion of adult and queer content fanfic on other archives; specifically fanfiction.net and livejoural.com.
I cannot stress this enough. Fanfiction.net and livejoural.com straight up deleted users adult and queer content without warning, backup or recourse.
AO3 was created so that authors could host queer fic, porn, and transgressive adult material without the threat of deletion.
AO3 was created as the place for shipcest and underage fic.
If you want a clean archive with no taboo material, those archives exist. AO3 was created to be their alternative.
I’m not sure how exactly to phrase this, but it’s been on my mind for awhile.
People often frame the debate around either being for or against certain types of fan content. Arguing that being pro ao3 = being pro (insert “evil” thing here).
Whereas to me the divide looks more like. “I do not enjoy x content or consider it immoral, so I will not create or consume x content” vs. “I do not enjoy x or consider it immoral, other people should be prevented from creating and consuming it”.
Ao3 provides excellent tools to avoid content you don’t want to see, for whatever reason. No one is making you look at fanfic that goes against your beliefs.
People against Ao3 are absolutely coming from the second perspective. And beyond being anti censorship, I just don’t understand having the time or energy to make other people’s fandom your moral obligation to control. It sounds utterly exhausting. You are not going to stop x content from existing. It’s not your job to. You make choices about what you read or write, and ao3 tags are a great tool for that. You don’t get to dictate other people’s media/fandom consumption.
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