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Welp, I read the TWC/ AO3 statement after @RukminiPande posted about it and my eyes have rolled nearly out of my head. It's almost arrived at the level of particularly bad comedy. https://www.transformativeworks.org/this-week-in-fandom-volume-149/
For those that don't know, fandom's been reckoning with a racism problem for almost as long as fandom has been around. Aca/fans of colour have been documenting or talking about incidents of racism from at least the 90s in my knowledge, probably before that too.
Racefail 2009 was a HUGE deal for fandom. That's 11 years ago. I love this whole 'let's talk about protests now' like fandom never had its own internal protests. Where is the discussion of fan exchanges like 'Seeing Colour' or 'Chromatic Exchange' specifically to address racism?
Let's talk about how fans of colour, especially @stichomancery and @RukminiPande, who are both cited in that post, have FOR YEARS been not only talking about racism in fandom, but talking about the AO3/ TWC's longstanding unwillingness to address this under 'censorship.'
Let's talk about how many members associated with the AO3/TWC stood behind and tacitly supported openly racist Franzeska when she wrote that trash piece 'My Vagina is a Bigot, Your Vagina is a Saint' in 2016 that she never publicly apologised for.
Let's talk about the fact that because that went unchallenged, as soon as Franzeska would enter a fandom where fans of colour were present, the latter would leave or avoid gift exchanges in those spaces because they KNEW the TWC/AO3 would do nothing.
She wrote some AMAZINGLY racist fetishizing shit, and people of colour literally fled fandoms to avoid white people patting her on the back on being ~inclusive. This happened in at least 2 fandoms I was around for, and probably even more.
I'm still just staring at the idea of Avengers Endgame as something to be centred at this moment. Massive neocolonial military industrial complex funded media company that has some of the WORST race politics in years is how you want to talk about protest? REALLY????
OTW/TWC/AO3 talking about John Boyega without talking about how Star Wars fandom has been a MASSIVE site of racism. That Fan Scholars now shamelessly touting BLM headers have claimed that racism aimed at John Boyega somehow isn't ~really racism bc canon.
Let's talk about how Teen Wolf fandom claimed for YEARS together that Sterek not happening was queerbaiting while literally ignoring the character of Danny. Let's talk about the fact that Clexa fan drives completely ignored how racist The 100 was before it.
Let's talk about how much of comics fandom is not only amazingly racist, but also filled with misogynoir! (Shout out to Moya Bailey and Trudy at Gradient Lair). Let's talk about how fucking racist cosplay is, how fucking racist cons are. @TaLynnKel has been doing this FOR YEARS.
You want to talk about fandom? Let's talk Merlin fandom and the racism there. Let's talk Star Trek fandom and the way people dismiss Uhura. Let's talk about how Teen Wolf fandom ignored Scott. Let's talk about how Supergirl fans treated James Olsen. Tell me this isn't systemic???
If even anyone who wrote that trash statement read @RukminiPande's actual book, they'd have read interviews where fans of colour talk about entire decades where they were made to feel unwelcome over and over in the very spaces they helped build.
And this is from fandom to fandom, from con to con, from meta to meta, from gift exchanges to fan activism (fucking J2 Haiti fic anyone?), from LJ to DW to tumblr to FFN to AO3 and beyond. Don't you DARE come to me claiming that people haven't been fighting this for decades.
The rot is so far down that if you analysed how many people of colour there are in fan studies, I bet you it would be a fraction. Go to a conference and sit in while someone explains to you about how fandom can ~transform but, you know, only for white characters. I have.
Go listen to people waxing on and on about Supernatural without ever mentioning how amazingly racist that show is. Go listen to the same people claim Hulk is POC because he's green and filled with rage. You think I'm joking? This is all shit I know because I WAS THERE.
You want to talk fan art? Let's talk about how someone drew Korra from Legend of Korra as a monkey with Asami as Jane. (Yes, that's racist). Let's talk about fan-castings that are all white (or have one character of colour).
Let's talk about how often Black characters are made mammy figures. (Staring straight at the MCU fandom and their interpretation of T'Challa/Sam/Rhodey while Steve/ Bucky or Steve/Tony happens). Let's talk about Aja and her article that equates racebending with catpreg.
Let's talk about how often the Hamilton soundtrack that everyone claims is so subversive is used for fanvids centring white characters. Let's talk about how theatre fandom is overwhelmingly white. No, actually, let's not, because fans of colour already have been for AGES.
Let's talk about how fandom treats fans of colour every damn day. Let's talk about that time a fan exchange used the word 'miscegenation' and refused to admit that was wrong. Or wait, let's talk about fandom's refusal to even consider Gus on Psych as a romantic interest.
Let's talk about the Once Upon A Time fandom and it's refusal to admit that Regina was Latina even after the actress openly stated she was playing her as such. Let's talk about how cool people are writing slave fic for Hamilton while claiming 'it's not really hurtful.'
Let's talk about how a white fan just the other week decided to write a meta in her feelings about the protests and post it. Let's talk about the fact that people had to explain that this was wrong 'because it was not about her' because why should she already know that, right?
You think maybe THIS is why fans of colour have been asking for some sort of way to report racist fanworks? Because everyfuckingwhere and every damn fandom is a racist hellscape where you always have at least one person wandering around equating fighting racism to censorship.
Every time a fan of colour speaks up, they get told they're an 'anti' as if naming racism and asking for better is somehow more hurtful than, you know, all the merry racists. Please, I beg of you, fuck right off.
OTW/TWC/AO3 have long refused to take a good hard look at themselves and I don't blame them. I'd be scared to look in that mirror too. It would involve not only admitting that they've fucked up over and over and goddamn over, but doing more than writing a blog post. INCONCEIVABLE
And yes, I speak from experience there too. There's enough overlap between fandom and fan studies that this isn't separate chambers: https://stitchmediamix.com/2019/05/13/fsn2019-and-making-a-statement/
Every goddamn time we do the work, they show up like "omg, really????"
Bitch, just stop. Now go.
Bitch, just stop. Now go.
And also, the AO3 has long claimed that they're an archive so cannot moderate content. Please know, this is an insult to everyone who knows literally anything about archiving and how political it is. You cannot claim fandom is persecuted and then claim that the AO3 is apolitical.
Yup, I remember. There was the implication that "enough" people had to call it out for it to be seen as racist, and even then there was the claim that the writer's intentions and feelings should be valued. Notice how insidious the focus on whiteness is? https://twitter.com/lunchee_pods/status/1271367546298486784
I remember when someone told me there was no racism in the Earper fandom and I laughed so hard, my sides actually hurt. Aside from how racist the show is, the fan works are super white. SOOOOOO http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/wynonna-earp-season-three/
I'm just laughing at the idea that AO3/OTW/TWC tried to use @RukminiPande & @stichomancery's work to discuss fandom without ever owning their own bullshit when both have openly called for policies addressing systemic racism in fan spaces. Did they think we would let that slide?
I want them to sit down and think about how many people aren't in fan spaces/ fan studies because they came in, saw how racist the space was, how nobody was willing to do shit, and left. @Ebonyteach notes this. Multiple Black scholars note that fan studies is racist.
This isn't even a fraction of what I could cite personally, let alone the collective group knowledges many of us have because we asked other FOC and warned each other. This is a sample. And if they claim they didn't know, they had no damn business writing that post.
Thread with links to some of the events: https://twitter.com/RukminiPande/status/1270257198216572929
Hours later, I'm here like... Avengers: Endgame killed a Black woman to "humanise" a genocidal monster & ended with a white man returning to the 1940s because it was somehow... nostalgic? (Because he wouldn't be penalised by the racism of the period.) This is protest???
Never doubt the power of a Becky with an official blog. https://twitter.com/RukminiPande/status/1271418936030932993
Woke up to a bunch of people being like "oh, but what can AO3/OTW/TWC do about racism, they have no power" which is such utter shit. The org fundraises regularly but somehow could never fundraise to hire someone professional to create antiracist policy? REALLY NOW?
These same people will valorise AO3/OTW/TWC when it comes to the Hugos and be like "oh, we are so powerful!"
I can't even begin to explain how this sort of shit bystanding is 95% of not just fandoms problems, but actually the problem we're seeing across the world.
I can't even begin to explain how this sort of shit bystanding is 95% of not just fandoms problems, but actually the problem we're seeing across the world.
Either stop being a bystander or just accept that you're willingly complicit and don't give a shit. And we'll react accordingly because we'll know exactly who and what you are. Becky.
Thread because apparently people were cool prompting "miscegenation" again in 2020 in a fan exchange and the mods were okay with this: https://twitter.com/Arioch6/status/1271554404819312640
I'm fucking tired of this but here's Rukmini's embedded thread as well as my own. https://twitter.com/SamiraNadkarni/status/1272415499897503744
