rainystudios

[rainystudios]

BTW

I've been working on a 200 page comic update (an entire story arc) which is why you haven't seen any art updates from me in a while.

But I'm drawing every day tho! (For work also but that's on an NDA! LOL)

#journal

[rainystudios]

This looks like a fascinating angle to cover this from! I hope you continue studying this, and if you publish anything please share!

Moral purity and imaginative resistance as influencing factors in fandom 'anti' attitudes

Jessica Black et al.'s 2019 experiment on the correlation between enjoying dark/villainous characters, personal morality and purity beliefs, and imaginative resistance is so interesting when applying it to anti culture and fandom.

They created a Dark Character Scale where participants self-selected how strongly in agreement or disagreement they were with a series of statements about dark or villainous fictional characters. Some of these questions were the following:

"I enjoy films and books that feature main characters that choose morally questionable actions."

"I can often understand where the bad guys in fiction are coming from."

"My favourite fictional characters are morally ambiguous and often do horrible things."

They then utilised the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Graham et al. 2011) to see what participants considered important when deciding on whether something is morally right or wrong, for example:

Whether or not someone suffers emotionally

Whether or not someone did something disgusting*

Whether or not someone was cruel

Whether or not someone was denied [their] rights

Whether or not someone acted in a way God would approve of*

as well as how strongly participants agreed or disagreed with statements such as:

Compassion for those who are suffering is the most crucial virtue

People should not do things that are disgusting, even if no one is harmed*

It can never be right to kill a human being

I would call some acts wrong on the grounds that they are unnatural*

Respect for authority is something all children need to learn.

One of the final scales participants used was the Black & Barnes (2017) Imaginative Resistance Scale. This is basically used to gauge how resistant the reader is to enjoying or consuming fictional content that contains characters, situations, or worldbuilding that they personally find morally disagreeable. They had to select how strongly they agreed/disagreed with questions like:

Reading books where bad things are depicted as morally acceptable makes me feel dirty

I just can't go along with a story when it violates my beliefs about morality

At times it feels like the author of a book is asking me to endorse actions that I know are wrong

Some things just shouldn't be done, even within a book

I sometimes cannot go along with a story when the "good" characters do morally reprehensible things

Sympathising with immoral characters makes me feel immoral myself.

Unsurprisingly, analysis of the data revealed that there was a strong correlation between disliking or not enjoying dark fictional characters or villains and having a higher purity morality score and more imaginative resistance.

They performed this test in three studies done on three completely different demographics - the first being mostly liberal women from social media sites, the second being mostly younger conservative college undergrads, and the third being adults split 50/50 in gender recruited from MTurk. All three studies showed that having stronger imaginative resistance and higher purity morality scores is directly linked to a lower score on the DCS - meaning that they would like or enjoy dark fictional characters and their actions less.

This tracks pretty well with what can be seen in the emerging anti culture within fandom:

Self-identified 'antis' are likely to agree strongly with the statements from the Imaginative Resistance Scale, and are more likely to score highly on the questions in Moral Foundations Questionnaire that are specifically demarcated as being concerned with purity (marked above with an asterisk *). This means that they are also, according to these studies, much more likely to disagree with dark fictional characters and their actions.

There is also a very interesting point in one of the discussions areas where Black et al. state "It is worth reiterating that the participants in Study 2 tended to be more conservative, and therefore potentially more likely to have greater concerns about moral purity" which tracks with what people in fandom have been saying about antis parroting conservative/puritan talking points and arguments.

What I find the most interesting is the following statement:

"However, moral purity and imaginative resistance are consistently positively correlated, both in the current studies and in prior research ... and are both likely to reflect a fear of moral contagion that would discourage people from identifying with and liking [dark fictional characters]."

This, when applied to antis, suggests that antis may harbor the subconscious belief that enjoying dark fictional content, and therefore being a 'proshipper', is literally psychically contagious. They may view this as some kind of moral disease which is spreading and infecting fandom, which could explain why they are so vehemently against it - fear. This is the puritan Moral Panic all over again.

Black et al. also discuss theories of fictional engagement and parasocial relationships/identification, and whether these studies is relevant to "when and for whom fictional engagement could have the potential to negatively affect real world attitudes or behaviour".

Jessica Black and Jennifer Barnes often publish articles together and have some incredibly interesting reading of morality and fiction that I'd be interested to see applied to fandom and anti culture in an academic setting. Perhaps some people in the field like Samantha Aburime (@rainystudios) are already looking into it - and I'm hoping I can do the same in my studies.

#very cool #journal

[rainystudios]

"Fiction affects reality, except!-"

Has anyone noticed every example Antis use to claim fiction can cause sex crimes IRL (fiction affects reality) are all media they think caused real-world murder and violence (Jaws/Slenderman/Birth of a Nation) but yet they say "Violence & murder in media is okay because people know it's bad!"

For YEARS, antis have based their entire "movement"s argument on examples of media supposedly causing real-world (non-sexual) violence only to argue that "no that type of violence is okay" without realizing it. The core examples they swear by and parrot day in and day out while defending violence don't even have sexual violence, or incest, or pedophilia, and those things if ever mentioned in any way are especially not "~*~*GLORIFIED*~*~" in the examples.

Just thought that was Interesting!

Grey star for effort but missing the mark!

[rainystudios]

"Fiction affects reality, except!-"

Has anyone noticed every example Antis use to claim fiction can cause sex crimes IRL (fiction affects reality) are all media they think caused real-world murder and violence (Jaws/Slenderman/Birth of a Nation) but yet they say "Violence & murder in media is okay because people know it's bad!"

For YEARS, antis have based their entire "movement"s argument on examples of media supposedly causing real-world (non-sexual) violence only to argue that "no that type of violence is okay" without realizing it. The core examples they swear by and parrot day in and day out while defending violence don't even have sexual violence, or incest, or pedophilia, and those things if ever mentioned in any way are especially not "~*~*GLORIFIED*~*~" in the examples.

Just thought that was Interesting!

Grey star for effort but missing the mark!

#journal #antis

[rainystudios]

I spent the past 4 years putting this together!

Abstract:

"In recent years, hostility towards Asian boys love (BL) media and fans in western English-speaking fandoms has been growing. This has manifested in anti-BL and anti-fujoshi anti-fans, many of whom express the general notion that queer western media is morally good and queer Asian media is morally bad. This division has encouraged a dehumanizing environment and some of these anti-fans consider their prejudiced behaviour morally justified and necessary. Their proposed aim is to maintain the moral sanctity of LGBTQ+ representation in their western English-speaking fan spaces. This article explores what drives this division and how BL and fujoshi specifically came to be so vilified in parts of LGBTQ+ western English-speaking fandom. The origins of this growing desire for LGBTQ+ moral sanctity in western English-speaking fandom are critiqued and how anti-trans gender critical beliefs in online communities came to affect western English-speaking fans’ perceptions of BL and fujoshi is revealed."

[rainystudios]

If you would like to request a copy to read you may do so here!👇

I spent the past 4 years putting this together!

Abstract:

"In recent years, hostility towards Asian boys love (BL) media and fans in western English-speaking fandoms has been growing. This has manifested in anti-BL and anti-fujoshi anti-fans, many of whom express the general notion that queer western media is morally good and queer Asian media is morally bad. This division has encouraged a dehumanizing environment and some of these anti-fans consider their prejudiced behaviour morally justified and necessary. Their proposed aim is to maintain the moral sanctity of LGBTQ+ representation in their western English-speaking fan spaces. This article explores what drives this division and how BL and fujoshi specifically came to be so vilified in parts of LGBTQ+ western English-speaking fandom. The origins of this growing desire for LGBTQ+ moral sanctity in western English-speaking fandom are critiqued and how anti-trans gender critical beliefs in online communities came to affect western English-speaking fans’ perceptions of BL and fujoshi is revealed."

[rainystudios]

This is ///extremely/// important! Please watch this segment on How to Spot AI-generated videos. Also please send this to your parents, family and friends! Especially those less tech-savvy! This is the future of propaganda and EVERYONE needs to know what signs to look for.

#Youtube

[rainystudios]

I spent the past 4 years putting this together!

Abstract:

"In recent years, hostility towards Asian boys love (BL) media and fans in western English-speaking fandoms has been growing. This has manifested in anti-BL and anti-fujoshi anti-fans, many of whom express the general notion that queer western media is morally good and queer Asian media is morally bad. This division has encouraged a dehumanizing environment and some of these anti-fans consider their prejudiced behaviour morally justified and necessary. Their proposed aim is to maintain the moral sanctity of LGBTQ+ representation in their western English-speaking fan spaces. This article explores what drives this division and how BL and fujoshi specifically came to be so vilified in parts of LGBTQ+ western English-speaking fandom. The origins of this growing desire for LGBTQ+ moral sanctity in western English-speaking fandom are critiqued and how anti-trans gender critical beliefs in online communities came to affect western English-speaking fans’ perceptions of BL and fujoshi is revealed."

[rainystudios]

I spent the past 4 years putting this together!

Abstract:

"In recent years, hostility towards Asian boys love (BL) media and fans in western English-speaking fandoms has been growing. This has manifested in anti-BL and anti-fujoshi anti-fans, many of whom express the general notion that queer western media is morally good and queer Asian media is morally bad. This division has encouraged a dehumanizing environment and some of these anti-fans consider their prejudiced behaviour morally justified and necessary. Their proposed aim is to maintain the moral sanctity of LGBTQ+ representation in their western English-speaking fan spaces. This article explores what drives this division and how BL and fujoshi specifically came to be so vilified in parts of LGBTQ+ western English-speaking fandom. The origins of this growing desire for LGBTQ+ moral sanctity in western English-speaking fandom are critiqued and how anti-trans gender critical beliefs in online communities came to affect western English-speaking fans’ perceptions of BL and fujoshi is revealed."

#yaoi #boys love #BL #fujoshi #anti-fandom

[rainystudios]

Join me as I discuss:

BL,

Purity Culture's origins & how to combat it,

Anti-Asian racism in fandom and

Media Literacy with

The Yaoi Shelf!

Also, follow up on February 18th for a live show where we'll hang out and answer questions!

I was on a podcast with 'The Yaoi Shelf' and had a great time! We spoke about BL & Fandom purity culture; had a lot of laughs and I think touched on a lot of important and interesting topics! 💖🌈

[rainystudios]

Join me as I discuss:

BL,

Purity Culture's origins & how to combat it,

Anti-Asian racism in fandom and

Media Literacy with

The Yaoi Shelf!

Also, follow up on February 18th for a live show where we'll hang out and answer questions!

I was on a podcast with 'The Yaoi Shelf' and had a great time! We spoke about BL & Fandom purity culture; had a lot of laughs and I think touched on a lot of important and interesting topics! 💖🌈

#BL #fandom #yaoi #purity culture #media literacy #anti-asian racism

[rainystudios]

NOO NOT MY CURSED BRAIN THINKING ABOUT HOW #ASTARION HUNTS ANIMALS FOR BLOOD THEN WONDERING IF IT WOULD SMELL BAD TO HIM AFTER IT WAS COOKED BACK AT CAMP AND THEN HAVING FLASHBACKS TO GOLLUM LOSING HIS SHIT OVER THOSE COOKED RABBITS

"YOU RUINSED IT!!!" -WAILS-

GALE JUST TAKING IT AND NOT KNOWING THAT WAS ASTARION'S SNACK FOR LATER. Communal it was not.

*Me swearing I love Astarion with all my heart and then my first full-body drawing of him being this*

'HE LIKES IT RAW, AND WRIGGLING'

[rainystudios]

NOO NOT MY CURSED BRAIN THINKING ABOUT HOW #ASTARION HUNTS ANIMALS FOR BLOOD THEN WONDERING IF IT WOULD SMELL BAD TO HIM AFTER IT WAS COOKED BACK AT CAMP AND THEN HAVING FLASHBACKS TO GOLLUM LOSING HIS SHIT OVER THOSE COOKED RABBITS

"YOU RUINSED IT!!!" -WAILS-

GALE JUST TAKING IT AND NOT KNOWING THAT WAS ASTARION'S SNACK FOR LATER. Communal it was not.

*Me swearing I love Astarion with all my heart and then my first full-body drawing of him being this*

'HE LIKES IT RAW, AND WRIGGLING'

#astarion #bg3 #gale dekarios #wyll ravengard #lae'zel

[rainystudios]

I posted this to Twitter but it needs to be seen here too.

(Those out of the loop, popular gay YouTube "video essayist" James Somerton was found to plagiarize the large majority (90%+) of this videos word for word. (source))

"I want the James Somerton scandal to remind people that any researcher should be MORE THAN HAPPY to share their references & resources with their audience.

Be wary of people who have a lot of heavy things to say while having seemingly no other sources than themselves saying it because that can be a sign of 3 things:

1) they like to pass off other people's ideas as their own, or

2) they don't actually have reliable or consistent sources supporting what they're saying & want to appear like an authority, or

3) purposefully spreading disinformation

People who genuinely care about research, awareness, and education will gladly share sources and research articles they find with other people, no strings attached. Obviously, the next step is confirming the validity of those sources, but having sources is the bare minimum.

In this age of Do-It-Yourself video essayist "experts" and Influencers, staying diligent and combating misinformation and bias is more important than ever. Get. Those. Citations. Sources, sources sources."

#james somerton #research #sources #journal

[rainystudios]

Boyfriends is basically a silly slice-of-life comedy BL/mlm webcomic made by an Asian trans man.

The hate Boyfriends gets absolutely started out as a direct homophobic and transphobic attack on Ray. Over the years, as you can see, it's so bad that people will literally just make things up as seen above. They either make things up deliberately or spread these made-up or out-of-context rumors, doing no due diligence of their own and automatically believing them. All of the things people cancel him for were things he did as a 13/14-year-old in middle school and things which he ALREADY APOLOGIZED FOR and NEVER DID AGAIN.

The only thing that would make people who hate Boyfriends happy would be if Ray somehow lost everything or was destroyed. I'll attach some images of this stuff for reference. The vitriol is horrible. And I want people to realize that other LGBTQ+ people who THINK they're good people were happy to side with transphobes and even spit up their rhetoric.

CW for extreme transphobia, homophobia

(link to post: https://twitter.com/SamAburime/status/1527133894574850049)

a literal 'Advisor' for a gender critical group

these were in response to Boyfriends getting a poster advertisement in New York by the subways!

Nothing is ever enough. People will even bash it for being EXACTLY WHAT IT ADVERTISES ITSELF AS. It's a slice-of-life comedy, it's not that deep.

The video these people are commenting on BTW was made by an anti-trans gay guy who was probably about 18 or 19 at the time. He frequently makes comments on posts about BL to rip into fujoshi and BL labeling them harmful to the LGBTQ community.

Several people even argue that South Park is better representation for LGBTQ people than this comic made by a poly gay Asian trans man.

This one was wild so I'll leave my original thoughts about it:

(Minority) "Creators nowadays aren't taking representation for minorities seriously and it's badly affecting all minorities"

It's not every gay artist's job to be palatable for a homophobic audience, esp when their media isn't made for or being marketed to infants????💀

They're college students

Other instances included many cases of people fantasizing about murdering the characters from the comic in violent ways.

I feel a little stupid for asking this but what the hell is up with the Boyfriends Webcomic someone PLEASE explain because I keep seeing a bunch of slander and it seems... Yikes. Someone please explain the series I don't want to read it I'm too scared help

#Boyfriends #journal #BL #fujoshi #transphobia

[rainystudios]

it goes against so much of what i stand for to share "palestinians are humans, they have hobbies, they have pets, they laugh and cry" kind of posts because i've spent so much of my life and career completely rejecting the notion that we should humanize ourselves, that we should ever be defensive, that we should entertain this racism at all

but it breaks my heart when i have to share them from people in gaza, who are using their five minutes of internet connection, their 25% of battery charge collected from a macguyvered car battery, emotionally exhausted, thirsty and hungry, sleeping in schools that have turned into refugee shelters and still making the time to say "please, i am human too, i am still alive, please fight for me" in english to appeal to the only people who have the power to help

i shared a tweet from a jjk artist in gaza i follow about a bts photocard being found in the middle of the rubble. even the love of anime and kpop and sports is no longer just a hobby, but an appeal to humanity. what was once a source of joy is now proof of life.

the worst part is that you won't find this content in arabic. palestinians don't post like this in arabic. but when they translate themselves, they recognize that they must humanize themselves first. it's an unspoken understanding of dehumanization, one that has dictated a whole region's understanding of the value of human life. in arabic they speak with dignity, with anger, with sorrow. in english, they appeal for their existence.

i share these posts not just because we have to reach everyone we can, because im being asked to and i will not refuse. but i also share them because they're evidence of how deep the racism has run. at what dehumanization leads to. of war crime after war crime. this too i will not forget.

[rainystudios]

Every single time I see a take that amounts to "if you write about X happening, or like fiction where X happens, you like X" I'm reminded of this one time I was at a casual friends house as a young kid. We were in her room, pretending to "be orphans" escaping from an evil orphanage and having to take care of each other and fend for ourselves. It was all very Little Orphan Annie/All Dogs Go to Heaven and based on the 80s pop media.

And this girl's mom comes in, hears what we're playing and gets all MAD and UPSET. She says that if we play act something, it's because we want it to happen. So her daughter must WANT HER TO DIE.

First off lady, we were 6 year year olds, so take it down several notches. We barely had a concept of mortality for fucks sake. She made us feel so guilty and ashamed, because she was taking our game personally.

Now I have a 5 year old. And sometimes she looks at me and says "pretend you're dead, and I have to -" Whatever it is. Some adult task she's assigned herself.

And it's just so transparently obvious that she's practicing the idea of having to do things on her own. Which is exactly what 5 year olds are supposed to do. I actually find it very flattering that the only way she can envision me not being available to help her is to be literally deceased. Otherwise, obviously, she wouldn't have to do scary hard things alone.

It's a natural coping mechanism. She's self-soothing about what would happen if I wasn't there by play-acting independence in a perfectly safe environment. She's also practicing skills she needs, and making up excuses for practicing them on her own, without taking on the responsibility of being able to do them by herself all the time yet.

Humans mentally rehearse bad this in their brains all the time. We can do that by ruminating- going over worries over and over again, which tends to lead to anxiety and helplessness and depression. Or we can do it with a sense of play- by recognizing that the fiction is fiction and we can dip our toe into these experiences and expose ourselves to bad things without actually being injured.

My daughter does not want me dead. And I don't want bad things to happen in real life. But fiction and pretend help me face the horrors of the world and think about them without collapsing or messing myself up mentally.

#journal