I want to hear from mlm only, non-mlm can retweet this for visibility:

what exactly constitutes as fetishizing mlm?

My personal input on this is that I think all those little things like "pretty boy/buff tough guy" pairings or non-mlm enjoying mlm content alone are fine and aren't necessarily fetishizing. If they respect mlm, are willing to learn, and support our work and our voices? -

- then they're not fetishizing.

I think fetishizing is when non-mlm do that but at the same time refuse to acknowledge that we exist IRL and constantly drown out our voices when we try to speak up about our discomfort with how they portray mlm relationships.

I have read good mlm fanfics by non-mlm, I haven't really read published fiction of the sort (mostly because books with positive mlm rep are at risk of getting banned here anyway), also BL comics these days are like, a far call from the old ones --

-- I suspect it's because our perception and understanding of LGBTQ communities and experiences have changed since then, and continue to change, so whatever stories that may come out will inadvertently have mlm and their experiences in mind.

Still, that's not to say the fetishization doesn't exist. I'm from Malaysia, and non-mlm (usually straight Muslim women, I'm pointing out Muslim specifically because Muslims are the majority and I usually encounter these people frequently) that fetishize mlm relationships --

-- in fiction do exist. They would heavily sell merchandise and artwork featuring their favorite mlm ships at conventions and such and will happily talk to you about them, but when you start talking about LGBTQ rights in Malaysia, suddenly they'd say "oh, I can't support that".

And it's such a slap to the face because you really thought they would be someone who would at least understand your struggles and such.

Like sure, maybe those mlm ships are going to be how you start learning more about LGBTQ+ issues. But there are some people --

-- who just don't get past that, due to strict religious views and refusal to learn more about LGBTQ+ issues, and it's disheartening especially when they freely profit off of it.

Anyway I hope this thread gets more input, so that the voices of us mlm can be heard, while non-mlm can look upon this thread as like...a reference of sort?

There's quite a number of responses to this and I guess I can summarize them as follows; it's fetishization if you:

- consume mlm content but can't respect or support mlm people in real life
- allow your fascination with mlm content to invade the personal lives/spaces of mlm

Which I think is pretty accurate imo, I hope people will read through this thread and understand it.

I personally started this thread because I got tired of seeing non-mlm starting & taking over discussions about mlm content and whether or not something is fetishization --

-- of mlm without considering our voices, so thank you for all of your responses and thank you to non-mlm for boosting this thread so more people can read/offer input where applicable!

This is getting a lot of attention but I just want to say I agree with everyone who has responded so far, I just get a little overwhelmed with all the replies & I don't really want to repeat myself over and over saying "I agree with this". But thank you everyone for responding! -

- I truly and sincerely value everyone's input on the subject and I'm happy that many people are coming forward to offer their views about this matter!

Thank you, sincerely!

By the way the quote RTs have good insight too so don't forget to check them!

I have to mute this as getting so many responses is overwhelming me, but I want you to know that I truly appreciate everyone's responses! Thank you for sharing your thoughts

Some comments are criticizing my usage of "fetishization" in place of better terms like. "objectification", and I think they're right about that. I'll just say:

-"Fetishization" is a word often thrown around in discourse about mlm/mlm content, so I thought using that word

would get people's attention to respond/retweet.
- I'm also an ESL speaker, so while I'm very confident about my English skills sometimes I forget words. "Fetishization" was an available word to me at the time of writing, so I used that instead.

ONE LAST THING

If you have any questions they're likely already answered in the replies, but feel free to DM me with your qs anyway if you want!

here's a simple but good thread by a trans mlm wrt this topic https://twitter.com/cobwebteeth/status/1314115519264555009