#Purity Cult

[takaraphoenix]

I came across a post that, paraphrased, went roughly "Every time you see someone speak up against censorship, it turns out to be about incest or something problematic".

And. Yes, that's kind of the point, because nobody is trying to censor the 100% wholesome, morally upstanding vanilla ships?? That's not where the conversation about censorship starts, and for a reason?

The way the point just COMPLETELY goes over these people's heads.

Censorship starts out with the "problematic" content. That's how they get their foot in the door with EXACTLY these people like that OP. Show them that no, no, we are just concerned, just want to take out this Clearly Morally Wrong stuff. That's fine, right?

No. Even if you yourself find the content horrible and would never want to touch it, it has a right to EXIST because the moment you open the door to censorship, you lose control of what gets censored and why.

And the really pathetic part about this is that most antis operate from a place of utter hypocracy, to begin with.

In every single fandom I've been in where there were antis, judging and harassing others for the "problematic" content they consumed, the antis themselves were hiding behind ships just as bad, if not WORSE.

It doesn't even take much efford to list things about antis' supposedly morally superior ships that makes them problematic. Heck. Most ships have something about them that constitutes unhealthy or toxic if it were a real relationship. Throw a ship at me, I'll tell you why it's problematic.

But these people's false assumption is that their personal interpretation of morals is the one that will be applied in this purge and only the content they dislike would then be censored while the thing they love would NEVER fall victim to censorship, so a bit of censorship would be fine, to clean up fandom.

That's not how it's going to be. Your own problematic fave gets censored too, because no blind eye and bending over backward to explain why this particular thing is somehow ~different~, despite being the exact same.

And once we're through with the biggest offenders? The search for problematic content will be widened, more things will be targeted and deemed problematic, based on a definition of the term even they may no longer agree on - but it's too late, because the door's wide open now.

It's less about protecting one specific fetish to get your rocks off to, it's about acknowledging that these are the conversation starters used to convince others to open the door and let censorship in and we need to stop it before it gets in, even if that means defending other people's right to create fictional things that we, personally and individually, may dislike or even find disgusting.

Because once you start limiting something like art, free speech and fiction in general, how those lines will be drawn becomes blurry and that power WILL be abused by the wrong people.

So let's not give them that power.

#Censorship #Purity Cult #Discourse

[kimbureh]

maybe the greek gods were as flawed as they are to remind us nobody is beyond fault

#purity cult

[craycraybluejay]

I one hundred percent agree with you about the problematic music poll. No artist is perfect, they're all human and flawed. If they've commited serious crimes you can just pirate their music or listen to re-uploads/subtitled versions. There's no reason to judge someone for liking music an asshole made in the age of "the death of the author"

Actually. You shouldn't have to pirate it either, you shouldn't have to be held to a moral standard for what music you listen to straight up. Unless you contributing a few cents to that person's wallet directly promotes a hateful ideology they're spreading. You are not fucking responsible for a celebrity's individual actions real or made up.

There is a massive difference between supporting j.k. rowling who is a terf and actively uses her platform to both spout shit AND actually fund dangerous groups, and some dude who may or may not have done a bad thing because someone accused someone rich and famous of misconduct. Even if they did do the bad thing-- how is you contributing a few cents to their food or bills or making more art or whatever hurting anyone.

People think they're the moral police and it's fucking annoying. Even you. As above.

There is a massive difference between funding a hate campaign and Not Doing That. You can't "boycott" a person into changing or publicly humiliating themselves the same way you may be able to do to a company. And no one's ever satisfied even with public outrage, even with punishment. Yall wanna punish anyone who likes their music/art too. You want to punish anyone they're friends with. Anyone who works for them and who's paycheck and ability to seek out more prestigious jobs in the future depends on that person's ability to continue in their career.

It's all American bs. Yall see blood and want the whole body and more. Grow up. No one is obligated to overthink every single fucking artist they listen to. Unless you're into like 3 whole artists you'd drive yourself crazy doing that. And even 3 is a lot to morally obsess over. Even 1 is.

Depressing ask to receive of all times today

#anon response #purity culture #purity cult #actually i dont have to take the time out of my day to pirate half of all music ever because some guy or some gal did some thing #i like all my things convenient and neat #if i want to pirate it won't be because I'm clutching my pearls because of moral purity #how to miss my point spectacularly #YOU SHOULD NOT BE MORALLY JUDGING PEOPLE FOR HOW THEY LISTEN TO THEIR MUSIC EITHER #YOU SHOULD NOT BE SETTING AN EXPECTATION FOR SOMEONE TO DO A FUCKING BACKGROUND CHECK ON EVERYONE WHOS EVER MADE SOMETHING THEY EVEN #SOMEWHAT ENJOY JESUS H CHRIST #the spirit of my response is that of a very much justified rage at the whole idea that you need to morally police everything you enjoy #as if there is not little enough joy in the world today as is

[dykedvonte]

In the trailer for the update the lamb seems so out of their depth with all the sins and debachuary going on. It’s funny at first glance but actually makes sense when you think about it.

Lambs were being hunted and killed in mass. They either didn’t have time or the conditions to copulate or just saw it as a waste of time seeing as they’d be killed shortly. Drinking, drumming and especially dressing in loud flashy manners just draws more attention to yourself and that’s the opposite of what any species trying to avoid being wiped out would want.

Actually indulging in traditional sins is probably a foreign concept to the lamb or has weird associations in their mind making them adverse or hesitant even as a god. They mostly partake in adjacent ways to keep their followers happy.

#not to mention how lambs have an association with purity #the lamb is not pure by a long shot but perhaps the association is still upheld in universe #cotl #cult of the lamb #cotl lamb #cotl theory

[goldkirk]

TW for modesty/purity culture rhetoric

From my memories: Losing your virginity or messing around before marriage is the same as presenting your future husband with…

an already-chewed piece of gum

a birthday present that’s had the wrapping paper torn off

a rose with the petals all pulled off

a used-up piece of scotch tape that has too much dirt and fuzz on it to be sticky anymore, thus no longer being usable or filling its purpose

a candy bar that someone already licked and took a bite out of

a delicate flower that’s been passed around a group of people and had its petals fondled, bruised, and torn

a cookie that’s had pieces broken off

These are all comparisons I genuinely heard in conversations and youth talks or personally read in books as a teenager.

#yikes yikes yikes yikes yikes #purity culture #cult escapee

[wisteria-grows-here]

#ex jehovah's witness #ex jw #ex jehovahs witness #cult survivor #pimo #exmormon #exmo #exmo stuff #exjw #cults #purity culture #mysogyny #ex christian

[sunlit-haruka]

I don't know if this still happens cause I'm not too involved with the Fuuta side of the community, but when I was first getting into Milgram I remember being somewhat annoyed at how much I saw Fuuta's murder being watered down to just "Haha twitter user was twittering". And I still feel that way, not because I think Fuuta should be specially punished for his murder, but because in a series full of murders that anyone could commit when placed into their shoes, Fuuta is the character that I think exemplifies the fact that any of these prisoners could be you if you were placed into different circumstances.

#tw cult mention #tw suicide mention #haru chats about milgram #I would talk more in detail about what I mean but it's 1 AM and I need to be up for school so like #Just pretend I talked your ear off about internet cults of punitive justice and purity culture and how often teenagers get harassed into- #-offing themselves on these damn sites because of people'e desire to be the 'good guy' and 'the hero' #I've both observed and met so many Fuutas in my life and doubley so people who have been in his circumstances #Out of all the prisoners he by far feels the most real to me #And considering how much I've praised Yamanaka's character writing for how real he makes the characters feel despite their actions #that's saying a lot #milgram #milgram project #fuuta kajiyama #kajiyama fuuta #milgram fuuta

[deranged-fandom-quotes-archive]

This just in! Local MHA psycho thinks calling people out over objects is acceptable! Further dehumanizing children, claiming that they are nothing more than objects by making such a comparison! Oh wow, are we ever surprised! Shock! Horror! Antis think children are objects!

#anti censorship #censorship #fandom discourse #anime #anti purity culture #antis #disgusting #fandom #fucking disgusting #twitter #mha bkdk #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #antis are stupid #antis are weird #antis are predators #antis are hypocrites #antis are a cult #fandom problems #fandom police #ship and let ship #proship #proshipping #Fandom Predators

[folatefangirl]

I found this article by Carlee Gomes on current American Puritanism in our media interesting, especially since while the article mostly focuses on heterosexuality, it's not hard to read it and make the jump to understand why censorship of this is associated with censorship of queer depictions as well in media and online.

Important quotes:

The current state of cultural and material decline plays an important role in the shift toward Puritanism in media and art, in consumer appetite, and in the political posture of the State. That is to say, with the compounding crises we are bombarded with (everything from climate disaster to rampant racialized police violence to genocide) as a part of our daily lives under late capitalism, the need for escape, and indeed, the need for that escape to be completely unchallenging and non-confrontational, has become imperative. Moreover, as control over our own material realities becomes less and less feasible, the last lone place we believe we can exercise agency is within the landscape of that which we consume. This has resulted in the consuming public approaching all media and art with a moral imperative — that which we consume must be perfectly virtuous, sanitized of all problematic or complicated ideas and depictions, because it has become the stand-in for our very realities, our very political action as citizens; consuming has become our praxis. [...] The desire to exclusively engage with media and art made by “unproblematic” artists is a direct result of Americans viewing media consumption as an inherently political act because that is the supreme promise of Western prosperity and the religion of consumerism, and because it’s seemingly all that’s left. We’ve been stripped and socialized out of any real political energy and agency. Our ability to consume is the only thing remaining that’s “ours” in late capitalism, and as a result it’s become a stand-in for (or perhaps the sole defining quality of) every aspect of being alive today — consuming is activism, it’s love, it’s thinking, it’s sex, it’s fill in the blank. When the act of consuming is all you have left and indeed the only thing society tells you is valuable and meaningful, the act must necessarily be a moral one, which is why people send themselves down manic spirals deciding what, who is “problematic” or not, because for us the stakes are that high now.

#carlee gomes #links #purity culture #media criticism #moralizing fiction #us politics #late stage capitalism #social commentary #censorship #not sure i 100% agree with all points by the author but i thought it was well researched and interesting #and i know my own sexuality was very screwed up by being in a cult upbringing lmao #so like. i am no expert on this particular subject #cinnia says stuff

[winterdragon101]

I made this because I needed one lmao

Shop launch June 12th on Etsy! Our name is DenHaven Queerities!

#cult #exvangelical #sticker #art #exchristian #cult survivor #purity culture #toxic religion #exevangelical #lgbt

[takaraphoenix]

One of the (many) problems born from today’s Fandom Purity Cult thinking is the... complete loss of understanding porn?

Yes, sometimes, the smut is part of a lengthy, relationship-building story where there is mutual love, understanding and very explicit consent.

But sometimes, it’s really just porn and it’s about getting railed in the kinkiest ways possible. Which, doesn’t always include consent, or sometimes even explicitly includes a lack of consent, because it’s kinky porn and not a depiction of a healthy, realistic relationship.

The whacky thing that brings me here right now is that I got a comment, on a fic where it is very enthusiastically consensual, that included the line “this wouldn’t be okay without consent”, I mean they really went “Since [chara] actually likes it I guess it's fine“ and I’m just baffled that the kinky porn fic got such reluctant approval on the hinges of it being consensual.

There is so much judgment toward kink and it is so weird to me. This sex act wouldn’t be okay without consent because it’s super kinky is a warped logic. No sex act would be okay without consent.

But here’s a fun little piece of trivia: This is actually all just fiction! So, quite frankly, consent isn’t required. As long as such a fic would be labeled properly for non-con or dub-con, it would also be very okay to have no consent at all, because these are fictional characters who, by default of not being real, can’t actually give consent anyway, like they are just a bunch of letters put into a document, published into the public for people’s enjoyment.

Everything has its place. That includes porn. Even kinky porn. Even porn about things you don’t approve of. But there is this twisted thinking nowadays that sex has to be something “pure” (if it’s allowed at all) and that’s so bewildering.

Sex isn’t pure. Sex doesn’t have to be pure. Fictional sex between fictional characters? Even less so!

You shouldn’t go into any fanfic with a real world moral compass, but even less so into a pure smut fic, because porn is pretty much the last place where you gotta hold your moral compass up to judge.

It’s okay if you judge your own porn consumption that way. But don’t pretend that every piece of porn in existence ought to meet your standard and earn your personal seal of approval. It’s okay if certain kinks and sex acts aren’t for you, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exist because they’re just for someone else.

(Honestly, the whole Purity Cult movement boils down to “many not-you people exist! and have a different taste than you!” and it’s ridiculous.)

#Fanfiction #Purity Cult #Dear Anonymous Shitheads #bit different framework but same line of post I suppose #cw: dub-con #cw: non-con #just to be sure

[kimbureh]

another thing just clicked for me about purity cults and their need to incorporate suffering into their identity as part of their peer-reviewed validation. [I’ll link the post here if I can find it] and also [here]

you remember those posts not long ago that went along the lines of “If I saw injustice, I would want to feel affected”, as in advocating for being emotionally invested in the world instead of being seen as indifferent. There’s a difference though between *being* indifferent and *seeming* indifferent. People writing posts like I mentioned assume that feelings only exist when they are expressed in a certain way, that is, when feelings are *performed*.

This performance is what connects members of the purity cult: public suffering is the only way to prove you’re “safe” enough to belong to the ingroup. Purity cults need suffering, because suffering and purity are one and the same in this worldview: who suffers is pure. But let me expand this: only who *publically* suffers in *adequate* ways is *seen* as pure enough to belong to the ingroup. Anybody who doesn’t perform as demanded is seen as a monster indifferent to the suffering in the world. Which is ironic since it’s the purity cult that hangs on to suffering, not everyone else.

But is it even true, that you only care if you suffer? Does empathy mean that you have to suffer along in order to understand the other? Here comes the Christian, western-centric origin of purity cults into play.

Many non-western philosophies say to abstain from attachment, which is an adage that is *so* misunderstood in the west. One way to understand it, is: “Abstain from getting attached to your thoughts that cause you suffering.” It does not mean: “Build a distance between you and others, and don’t let anything ever affect you.”, but that’s how it is understood in circles of purity. They demand that their suffering make you suffer.

“You shall suffer as I have suffered (and still do).”

Which is so stereotypical villainous, it would be comical if it wasn’t so deeply tragic.

#purity cult

[craycraybluejay]

*sees post*

you are so annoying

*sees bio*

oh. there it is

#puritan nonsense #anti purity culture #anti puritan #wtf is this #christianity is a cult #purity culture #purity wank #wtf

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

what are your thoughts on samruby?

thank you for sending this! and OH BOY i wrote a lot. i'm so sorry. i'm putting it under a cut for everyone's sanity.

see, the thing about samruby to me is the religiosity of it all. it's about a victim unknowingly initiated into a cult. it's about a holy lamb being raised for slaughter.

firstly i can't discuss it without spilling my guts over ruby as a character!! i saw a meta the other day (and i wish i'd reblogged it bc i can't find it again) calling ruby the most devout character in supernatural. and they're right! she is! her arc is about devotion and keeping faith. she's a direct narrative foil to cas, who falls down the path of doubt and experiences a crisis of faith. For ruby, her god is lucifer, and she'll accept all persecution and undergo every trial she has to in order to fulfil her mission as his servant. and she does! she succeeds up to her death! (whereas cas fails, and lives)

she doesn't see grooming and manipulating sam as an act of corruption. it's about purification. (and we all know how sam feels about purity, aha) for ruby, the demon blood drinking is a matter of cleansing sam of human imperfection, for the purposes of presenting lucifer his ideal vessel. because the thing about sam is that he's a liminal figure. he's as human as he is monstrous - and from a demonic perspective, wouldn't his humanness be considered the infection?

the way ruby preys on sam also has a definite maternal tilt to it. from as early as s3 (like the way she says 'that's my boy!' to him in 3x04? like dean does in 1x11?). she calls him 'sammy' in a way that mirrors dean, but also evokes maternal warmth. just as dean in season 1 functions as a protector and guide for sam when he brings him back into the hunting fold, ruby does so for sam in dean's absence. sam's grief and vulnerability presents her an opportunity to take on the role of carer and mentor. she'll teach him how to use his powers! she'll guide him in what he needs to do, while he's so lost in his own suffering. sure she provides warmth and affection - but more importantly, she directs sam towards a mission, a cause for good.

she's an incredible character to pair off with sam, a character full of hope and belief that his faith might amount to something (i'm thinking of the start of s11 here - sam desperate to believe his prayers are being answered by god. only to discover it was lucifer all along) he wants to be like joan of arc - he wants the voice of heaven commanding and guiding him along a path of heroism. it's his hope and faith that make him vulnerable.

ruby takes on sam like she's a cult recruiter preying on a victim! like if you go through the stages of cult indoctrination: deception (check! she tricks him into breaking the final seal by killing lilith!), isolation (check! sam having to keep his activities w ruby a secret, driving a wedge between him and dean, eventuating in their separation), induced dependency (check! a blood addiction!). by the end of it, he's left abandoned by his loved ones, alone and entirely reliant on her and the purpose she's given him.

but luckily - sam is a character who hates being controlled above all else, so he does not have his Midsommar (2019) May Queen moment. even when he does let lucifer in, he does so as a sleeper agent. he holds onto his independent spirit to the end :")

tldr; ruby loves sam as a devotee loves their holy mission. sam begrudgingly accepts ruby, not as the divine guidance he wants, but the only one that'll speak to him.

#samruby #the other day i was thinking. oh sam is the kinda character who WOULD accidentally get drawn into a cult #but then writing this post. you fool!! that's literally what happened in canon w. samruby and the demon blood arc! #i could write a giant essay on sam + purity + demon blood drinking + martyrdom...but that's a different post... #(also big sidebar: can we also talk about how sam and cas are mirrors of one another. their parallel struggles w faith and goodness) #dean is excluded from this convo bc he is in fact. a hard and fast atheist. god bless #a man so full of doubt he causes an angel to fall lmaooo #meta #asks #j.txt

[wisteria-grows-here]

She is yours and only yours

#ex jehovah's witness #ex jw #ex jehovahs witness #cult survivor #pimo #exmormon #exmo #exmo stuff #exjw #cults #purity culture #misogny #ex christian

[nyctodromist]

i think the n corp inquisition from limbus company and the church of the broken god from scp should fight. they would hate each other SO much and it would be amazing to watch. who would win

#bernie talks #limbus company #scp #if you don't get it or don't go here for either of these #n corp inquisition believes in the purity of flesh and thinks everyone with cybernetic augmentations should die #church of the broken god believes in the superiority of machines and thinks that flesh is inherently evil and broken #and they're both religious cults