You are absolutely right in terms of not enforcing that responsibility from the outside- it can't be done, and I don't think I would want it to be done. But we do self police about certain issues- why not others? Why is the incest/chan/pedophilia story different than a story about racism? Or one that insinuates women are less than men?
I think I'm seeing the issue differently than a lot of people- and I understand that. As a community, fandom is very quick to jump on stories that appear to have gender, racial, or homophobic bias. There was a huge kerfuffle in SGA fandom over non-intentional racial bias in a particular story. I'm pretty sure that if I wrote a story where Sam and Dean (to use SPN) called Gordon the n word, or insinuated that he wasn't as good as them because of his race, I'm pretty sure I'd be shunned and defriended- and what's more- because this is the root of the issue for me- I'm sure that if I got TOSsed for a story that was overtly racist or sexist, there'd be few people wanting to leave Livejournal because of it, or go to the media to protest the injustice.
I sort of see it as 2 sides of the same coin. People I respect, like yourself, are saying that we can't impose a moral standard on the community- but I think in some ways we kind of already do.
Please don't get me wrong- I know it probably sounds that way, but I'm not trying to hold others to a moral standard. And I realize that it's a very slippery slope, to a degree. I'm sure that there are others who would use my argument against any slash fic, or or RPS, or fic that deals with adult incest stories, or anything they don't like. And I am perfectly content (and have been) to live and let live- I can't claim that I don't silently judge people, because that would be a big lie- but I have never ever said to someone's face "your kink is not okay". I leave them alone, I hit the back button and go somewhere else.
What really bothered me about fandom's response to strikethrough was the way it was expected that since I was also a member of fandom that I should be outraged and be prepared to take action- that not only was I expected to condone stuff that I was personally really squicked by- but I should also defend it. And that really bothered me, because I do feel that some of the stuff that was being so vigorously defended is right up against the line.
I'm sorry- I've gotten really verbose here, and I'm probably still not explaining myself well. I just want people to understand where I (and maybe a few others) are coming from. I don't think we're trying to be censors, or tell people what they can and cannot do. (Although maybe I'm being naive about that, and we are.) Thank you for the space.
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I think I'm seeing the issue differently than a lot of people- and I understand that. As a community, fandom is very quick to jump on stories that appear to have gender, racial, or homophobic bias. There was a huge kerfuffle in SGA fandom over non-intentional racial bias in a particular story. I'm pretty sure that if I wrote a story where Sam and Dean (to use SPN) called Gordon the n word, or insinuated that he wasn't as good as them because of his race, I'm pretty sure I'd be shunned and defriended- and what's more- because this is the root of the issue for me- I'm sure that if I got TOSsed for a story that was overtly racist or sexist, there'd be few people wanting to leave Livejournal because of it, or go to the media to protest the injustice.
I sort of see it as 2 sides of the same coin. People I respect, like yourself, are saying that we can't impose a moral standard on the community- but I think in some ways we kind of already do.
Please don't get me wrong- I know it probably sounds that way, but I'm not trying to hold others to a moral standard. And I realize that it's a very slippery slope, to a degree. I'm sure that there are others who would use my argument against any slash fic, or or RPS, or fic that deals with adult incest stories, or anything they don't like. And I am perfectly content (and have been) to live and let live- I can't claim that I don't silently judge people, because that would be a big lie- but I have never ever said to someone's face "your kink is not okay". I leave them alone, I hit the back button and go somewhere else.
What really bothered me about fandom's response to strikethrough was the way it was expected that since I was also a member of fandom that I should be outraged and be prepared to take action- that not only was I expected to condone stuff that I was personally really squicked by- but I should also defend it. And that really bothered me, because I do feel that some of the stuff that was being so vigorously defended is right up against the line.
I'm sorry- I've gotten really verbose here, and I'm probably still not explaining myself well. I just want people to understand where I (and maybe a few others) are coming from. I don't think we're trying to be censors, or tell people what they can and cannot do. (Although maybe I'm being naive about that, and we are.) Thank you for the space.