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Fanfiction is a legitimate form of writing. It can help improve a writer’s skills & connect them to a community for feedback. It’s fun & people should be allowed to enjoy it.
ALSO
Fandom has a racism problem which means not all fans can enjoy fanfic.
Both can be true. 1/?
ALSO
Fandom has a racism problem which means not all fans can enjoy fanfic.
Both can be true. 1/?
There’s literally a #StarTrekDiscovery fic on AO3 that casts the Black woman protag as a slave to the “Make the Empire Great Again” villain. She falls in love with him because he’s so “kind” to her. It’s a romance. The comments are full of people gushing abt how it’s so hot 2/?
I’ll admit, I haven’t read it. The concept literally turns my stomach. But I checked the comments to see if anyone else thought it was a bad idea, & I found Black women trying to reach this author, who basically just told them they were overreacting, because it’s just fanfic! 3/?
So essentially that author is saying, my right to write & post whatever I want because it gets me & my fandom friends off outweighs the right of Black fans to enjoy browsing AO3 without being slapped in the face with racism. And that’s pretty fucking gross. 4/?
I love AO3. I’ve made connections through there that changed my life. Because I love it, I want it to do better. & those in charge of the archive seem to have decided it’s just too hard to even start talking about features that could help BIPOC fans enjoy the same fun I can? 5/?
There are already mandatory trigger warnings for things like major character death or rape. Why isn’t there one for racism? Why can’t users block those who harass them? Why can’t I block that Disco slavefic author so that shit doesn’t show up in the tag every time it updates? 6/?
I know the tension between “who decides what content is allowed & what isn’t? Doesn’t that lead to censorship, particularly of queer content” & “fandom spaces should be safe for all fans” exists. It’s a complicated situation. Way above my totally non-academic expertise. 7/?
But the solution isn’t for AO3 to just do nothing because doing the right thing is too hard.
And the solution isn’t to paint fanfic as a perfect utopia when some utter asshat decides to be edgy by dissing it. 8/?
And the solution isn’t to paint fanfic as a perfect utopia when some utter asshat decides to be edgy by dissing it. 8/?
If we as a community of fic writers & readers put a fraction of the energy we spend defending our hobby toward making our community anti-racist, we could really get somewhere. AO3 has shown they won’t prioritize anti-racism until we make them. 9/?
I don’t know how we make them. I stopped my monthly donation last year & told them it was because of their inadequate response to racist content on their archive. That’s not enough. Much like the larger world, I sometimes wonder if we can make any progress w/o holding power. 10/?
I love fandom. That’s exactly why I want it to be more inclusive, more diverse, & more welcoming to everyone who needs or wants that refuge. It’s not there yet. I think it can be, but it’s going to take a lot of work. 11/?
On a related note, this fic exchange focusing on Black characters is open for nominations for 2 more days, then sign-ups start. Let’s make AO3 less white one fic at a time! 12/?
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/BlackIsBeautiful2021/profile
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/BlackIsBeautiful2021/profile
I know a lot of white fandom folks are anxious about writing Characters of Color. You don’t want to get it wrong. You might get it wrong! I’ve gotten it wrong, which has made me even more focused on getting it right. WritingWithColor on Tumblr is a good resource. 13/?
& if you can’t think of a Black character on a show you would write a fic about, I’d like you to think hard about the media you’re consuming. Are Black people missing entirely? Or are you overlooking them because you’re just inexplicably more interested in the sad white boy? 14/?
Anyway. Stan Viola Davis, watch #StarTrekDiscovery for a kickass Black woman who saves the universe repeatedly (& would punch a fucking slave owner in the mouth, not marry him), & listen to Black fans when they say there is a problem here. 15/15
Here’s a treat for everybody who made it through this very long thread.
