( No Title )
Telling people (especially young people or minors) that shipping wholesome fake characters together only will prevent them from being abused, and insisting that they can tell who is a safe person based on something as inconsequential as fictional ships is dangerous
It’s like telling people to avoid people with “obvious” villain traits: What they read, listen to and dress like. In the past those were punks, metalheads, D&D players & Queer people who “Give in to sin”
Not those Safe Christian church-goers who are Auto-Good because of the Bible
Antis sound like they tell people/minors “Now you stay away from people who look scary and weird alright? But if you see a nice smiling person who has candy and puppies you go right along with them because candy and puppies are the markers of a Safe Adult”
That, and I don’t think I’m the only one who noticed, is grooming
It’s such an empty, superficial system that doesn’t do anything to actually help anyone in the real world.
Key part here: Real World.
Many abusers are so successful because they hold traditionally “safe,” “respectable” positions to those around them!
Many times positions in which people tell others to blindly follow them in (i.e. Abuse in the church, abusive coaches, etc.). Which also drives people to not believe victims because “my word they never gave any indication of being anything but Moral & Good”
For the love of anything, push for teaching people red flags that actually apply to real life, and help people who are in the middle of abuse, and who are many times also being actively manipulated. Even the most vigilant people can be victims of abuse. It’s not Black & White
Just saying “Avoid obvious people who look like/do/read/watch/wear these things” can still open a person up to abuse from people in their circles who simply just change their outward appearances and behavior to blend in with the “Moral Good Crowd”
And it encourages climates of “Don’t question this uncomfortable situation, it’s okay because they’re a Good Person.”
Or it perpetuates victim-blaming with the idea that anything bad that happened to the victim was deserved because they’re a “sinner” who MUST have deserved it
And this last bit is way too common in anti-ship discourse; people telling a person they deserved their abuse or should have DIED?! because they “write & ship gross things!”
They’re telling REAL human beings they deserved the harm that befell them & are BAD victims for ships!
People who wake up intending to take advantage of people every day aren’t going to be dissuaded by Wholesome Media & Ships. They’ll harm people regardless. Treating what people like in fiction as a foolproof test is horribly naive at best and extremely destructive at worst
All it does is tell people to go by surface alone: “Go by what you can outwardly see to determine this person’s morality and safety level”
Even more absurd when we’re all going by online profiles alone & can’t even see them in person. It’s not hard for people to hide shit online.
(Note: I don’t think all adults who are antis are predators. Many are probably overzealous and act in ways they think is in their best interest, even if it leads to serious situations)
Discussion ¬