Freedom of Expression does not mean it’s suddenly OKAY to ships kids and siblings with one another. You clearly don’t understand the responsibility of such serious topics in writing outside of fetishes and kinks.
Actually, friend, freedom of expression does mean that it’s okay to ship anything you want.
It’s imaginary. It’s not real.
☝️ You’re not obligated as a writer to exclusively write about healthy, normal relationships and sane, moral actions.
☝️ Fictional stories and inside your imagination are the only places where you explicitly do not have to be responsible, careful or thoughtful of others.
☝️ Do whatever you want in fiction and your imagination forever. No one is harmed. You are not harmed. No others are harmed.
☝️ The rules and laws of real life do not and never will apply in fiction or your imagination.
☝️ Fiction does not need to feature exclusively morally pure characters.
☝️ Someone else’s fiction cannot cause you physical harm.
☝️ Fiction writers are not responsible for other people’s mental health.
☝️ The content of a piece of fiction does not reflect on the morality of its author.
☝️ Just because someone writes about bad things happening, doesn’t mean they want those things to happen.
☝️ Romanticizing the darkness, turmoil and taboo in relationships in fiction has been done for eons and it hasn’t destroyed civilization or humanity’s moral fiber yet.
☝️ If you tell people that dark romantic fiction will erode their morals or is indicative or personal moral weakness it makes you sound like a Victorian era misogynist worrying over girls reading novels.
and most importantly:
☝️ “I don’t want to read this because it is disgusting to me” is totally valid.
☝️ “I don’t think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me” is authoritarian.
I agree with every single point here. Authors are not responsible for the mental health of their readers. Only the readers can determine if they can read something or not. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. Simple.
Writing, for many, including me, is a coping mechanism for the real world. It’s an escape from the harsh reality we live in and the darker thoughts that some of us struggle with. And the beauty of sharing it with others gives us a feelings of validation and accomplishment.
It’s so easy to just ignore something you don’t want to read. Don’t try to dictate what others do to express themselves.
And as a side note, most people who use the argument “if you don’t understand that then you’re clearly this this and this” or some variation of that are utilizing a very immature conclusion, and they are either struggling to find something better, or are that closed minded that their reasoning is black and white.
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