as someone who used to be in the antiship community, i don’t think i wanna be a part of it anymore, and here’s why.
(tw harassment mentions)
let me preface that this is just me stating my personal opinions and as of right now i don’t really stand with either side. what i DON’T stand for is telling people to kill themselves over being on either side.
it’s insane how many antishippers i’ve seen under proshippers’ posts describe violently and in gruesome, sickening detail how they should kill themselves – it just doesn’t make sense to me. isn’t the point of antishipping to avoid normalising problematic behaviour, and yet here some of these people are, sending death threats and telling proshippers to kill themselves?
i just don’t see what violence is going to achieve in a situation and community that’s supposed to be anti-violence – it’s not going to change anyone’s views, all it does is spread hate, which the world definitely doesn’t need any more of. i don’t care how bad the ship or content is, those are fictional characters, while you just told a REAL person to violently kill themselves. you don’t get moral high ground for telling ANYONE to kill themselves or by describing how you would kill them/how they don’t deserve to live for writing a fanfiction.
n my experience, as a (previous) antishipper who was open to hearing opposing points of view, i would have actual civilized discussions with proshippers to talk about why we stood where we stood on the issue. most if not all of the people i talked to were shipping what they did because of past trauma, and while it might not be an ideal coping mechanism, most of our coping mechanisms as humans, especially with trauma, are somewhat maladaptive. it doesn’t make it right, but telling people to end their own lives, especially knowing that they’re already struggling with mental illness, is worse than any fictional ships ive ever seen.
these proshippers also took measures to ensure that people who may be triggered by the content of their posts as well as impressionable children were warned and had ways to block their content. their intent was not to trigger anyone, but to create a community of consenting adults with similar coping mechanisms to enjoy their fictional ships without bothering anyone else, and while making it clear that they did not support real-life problematic relationships. these people engaged peacefully or did not engage at all with antis, a stark contrast to the community i was accustomed to, which was full of toxicity, violence, threats and accusations 24/7; funny that the side that preaches non-toxicity in fiction does not adhere to the same morality in real life by any stretch of the imagination.
im not saying that i agree with or support shipping incest or pedophilia, but im not going to harass non-toxic proshippers for coping with other consenting adults and engaging with fictional ships they enjoy. im sorry to all proshippers who have to deal with toxic antis day in and day out, who feel the need to send threats and hate your way instead of just blocking you and moving on.
if you’re non-toxic and on either side, just know that i love and respect you – keep doing what you’re doing and keep enjoying what you’re enjoying.
moral of the story, im neutral on the issue and definitely no longer part of the antiship community after what ive seen, however i wouldn’t define myself as proship either. im neutral on shipping, and anti telling people to kill themselves.
i have no doubt i’ll be harrassed for this post, and i know for certain that my PTSD is not ready for it, but it needs to be said.
antishippers who fight fictional violence with REAL violence have no moral high ground, and if you are one of these people please do not interact with me.
