#ableism in queer spaces

[wild-neko]

disabled people: we are still dying, can you please just wear a mask to the grocery store and doctor’s offices so we can live

conservatives: no, die or stay inside all day, no one cares

leftists: no 🏳️‍🌈✨💖

#wear a mask #covid #sars cov 2 #disability rights #eugenics #disability pride month #lgbt #it really is like this :') #queer #pandemic #ableism #disabled queer #auspol #me not ever being able to share the same air with anyone ever really does something to your mental health #trying not to die in the ongoing pandemic #wear a fucking mask #we would actually like to access third spaces too #we just lost 100 years of disease prevention bc govt propaganda worked a little too well and gave every single medical person brain rot #they went from 'do no harm' to 'actually i think you should quit complaining and allow me to kill you with airborn aids' #which is happening EVERYWHERE BTW and it made it to the media that an aust hospital COVERED IT UP like this is what we're dealing with #this is what modern day eugenics looks like and no one gives a shit #Ableism #HAPPY NEW YEAR #pride #LGBTQIA #activism #acab

[pocketsizedquasar]

it would be really nice if ppl harping on transmascs for talking abt anti-transmasculinity (or even, gasp, giving a name to it!) actually listened to the experiences of transmascs of color (particularly Black transmascs), disabled transmascs, fat transmascs, etc. etc. instead of centering the hypothetical thin, white, cis-passing able-bodied trans man they have in their head who they use as the benchmark for all transmasc experience. any of the beliefs about how transmascs aren’t targeted as much, aren’t hated by terfs, face less violence, aren’t treated as predators, are simply “invisible” by default (rather than being deliberately erased and buried), etc wouldn’t be happening if people just listened to transmascs saying over and over again that yes, we do experience these things, yes, these harms do happen to us. you wouldn’t believe we don’t face those things if you listened to us.

anti-transmasculinity is a whole and unique experience, multifaceted and intersectional, and it involves the continued and deliberate erasure of transmasc folks and our struggles and the violence we face, and the lumping in of violence against us as “violence against women.” anti-transmasculinity is not a counter or an “opposite” to transmisogyny; they are interconnected struggles — transfem & transmasc are not opposites! the existence of anti-transmasculinity does not mean that transmascs have it “worse” or “better” — honestly, judging oppression by such metrics is unproductive and unhelpful. we have more to gain from engaging with each other and understanding how our experiences mutually connect with one another.

#quasartalks #lgbtq #queer #trans #transphobia #anti transmasculinity #transandrophobia #there are So Many trans folks of all kinds — transfem transmasc neither etc — who are doing wonderful work theorizing about & writing abt- #-anti transmasculinity and transmisogyny and their relations w each other. and w other systems like racism and ableism #going from those spaces to see people uncritically repeating things like ‘trans men / mascs have male privilege’ or ‘aren’t oppressed for- #-being masc just for being trans’ is just. so tiring. #half a dozen trans men have been violently targeted in the last month — some of them killed #stop saying this doesn’t happen to us. stop helping them bury is. #us* #if u clown on this post i will block u <3

[greenteaandtattoos]

I think the aro community should gatekeep aro headcanons from the allos (I'll do it by myself if I have to).

Headcanoning a character as aro just because you don't like a certain ship isn't an aro headcanon. Headcanoning a character as aro but only if they don't end up in a certain ship isn't an aro headcanon.

Headcanoning a character as aro because "they're too pure" isn't an aro headcanon. Headcanoning a character as aro because "they're too young for romance" isn't an aro headcanon.

Headcanoning a character as aro because "they have so much trauma, they need to get better first" isn't an aro headcanon. Headcanoning a character as aro because "they need friends, not a lover" isn't an aro headcanon.

It's just aphobic and ableist.

#lgbtqia #queer #aromantic #aro #fandom spaces #fandoms #shipping #ships #aphobia #ableism

[hussyknee]

Sincerely wondering whether the people on this site understand that the majority of trans people live outside the Western hemisphere (People of The Global Majority includes trans folk), that even most in the West have not transitioned and may never be able to other than socially, and that most are closeted. And the majority with consistent internet access aren't on any social media other than maybe Facebook. I know this is the white USAmerican performative politics hellplace but Idk how y'all can call this the neurodivergent trans site without centering y'know...the majority of living trans people in the world.

Like maybe ask yourself "is this issue any fucking use to a closeted trans person of colour without healthcare who probably doesn't speak English or am I just trying to harrass anybody within reach" before dropping your internet takes or losing your entire shit over one.

#90% of the hot button issues on here have literally zero use irl #other than to bully a disabled PoC off the site #because that's who takes the brunt of your discourse– QPoC and the most mentally ill and isolated people #not even slightly kidding when I say most western leftist spaces are exactly as toxic as the right #y'all are just looking for a tribe and a target #instead of joining a paintball team you're out here suicide baiting the most vulnerable users #jesus wept #transphobia #queerphobia #classism #racism #anti-blackness #ableism #queer discourse #western leftists #white privilege #knee of huss #lgbtqia

[uncanny-tranny]

Being a leftist does not mean you are immune to the things you criticize rightists for. All too often, I see fellow lefties who act as though being a leftist by itself is enough to make them "better than" political opponents. In truth, it makes you unapproachable if somebody is a minority.

#politics #making this post after seeing some hella infuriating ableism in lefty spaces #as a disabled/trans/queer person i don't feel welcome in many left spaces because people refuse to change #and hearing from BIPoC this has been a common criticism wrt race. it's something i've been hearing since i first joined lefty spaces #i know i don't post politically in this way but it's really important to me regardless #(tbh i strayed away from politics in order to read and watch more content from more diverse lefty sources.) #(the good news is that i learned enough that i can now cringe at some of the old political posts i have made) #(i really hope the people who inspired this post change enough to one day cringe at themselves.) #(i am of the opinion that it is neutral to cringe at yourself - cringing at your behaviour can be okay even) #(cringing at yourself is bad when it inhibits you from living your life normally though)

[trekessayist]

Quark, Ferengi Culture, and the role of queer men in the oppression of women

Quark is a well-loved character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and a common subject for episodes surrounding Ferengi Culture. A well-dressed, sleazy businessman with a well-hidden heart of gold, he lives to uphold the moral standard that Ferengi culture presents him with.

That moral standard is manifold, but most importantly relies on the oppression of female Ferengi, who aren't allowed to wear clothes, go outside, and, most damningly, do business.

This excludes them from what is the other moral pillar of Ferengi culture: Profit Is Everything. Your entire life as a (male) Ferengi should be spent working as hard as you can to make as much money as you can, so that at the end of your life you may buy yourself and your family a place in heaven.

Quark is a prime example of this. He owns a bar, several gambling tables, and holosuites, which he rents out at exorbitant prices. He is the only Ferengi in his family who is able to make money, as his mother legally and morally cannot (though she does), and his brother Rom is a failed Ferengi, having been cheated out of all of his money by his ex wife and father-in-law. Quark is the only person in his family who can and does follow Ferengi law. And he is, by all standards, a very decent businessman, although occasionally a bit of a goody-two-shoes and far more customer-oriented than most of his kind.

Yet this makes him close-minded. Rom, a failed Ferengi who hasn't got the lobes for business, greatly respects his mother, even after finding out she is earning money and therefore going against everything they believed in and everything they were taught. Quark, while loving his mother deeply, cannot bring himself to allow his mother to continue to do business, despite how good she is at it.

And herein lies the issue. Because for all intents and purposes, Quark is a queer Ferengi. His entire episode with Pel is romantically charged, even before she reveals to him that she is a woman. His relationship with Odo is not universally understood as being queer, although opinions are less divided among actually queer audiences. He even dresses well, is sassy and a general source of good (and bad) advice, and represents a similar niche in the series that is commonly attributed to "the queer friend" in media. (This niche he shares with Garak, the Cardassian tailor, though that is a different story. Garak fulfills this as one of his many roles, whereas Quark more fully embodies the archetype.)

And even if you wish to understand all of this as not inherently queer, he is queer from a social standpoint. He does not fit the societal mold and is a social outcast - through no fault of his own, but rather things he has no control over - and is not capable of changing, and is continuously persecuted for it. It only aligns with oppression the way queer people face it; there is nothing in general interactions between him and other Ferengi that suggests they hate him, but once they are "in the know", his social difference becomes an excuse to persecute, mock, bully, publicly expose, and financially ruin him.

(By contrast, Rom's oppression becomes that of an intellectually disabled person; perhaps not immediately visible when you look at him, but he is constantly demeaned and underestimated because of it, leading people to assume something must be off about him, and, when speaking about him to any other Ferengi, they will quickly let you know what exactly is wrong with him. The exact reason why their poor treatment of him is warranted and justified.)

So Quark is a queer man in an inherently sexist society, and his lowered social standing doesn't once open him up to considering the plight of people whose social standard is also lowered. He is preoccupied with getting his own social standard back up to what it is "supposed to be" as a Ferengi man, that he never stops to think about Ferengi women, even when directly inspired to by his own mother.

In fact, he uses the oppression of women to further prop his own standing up. When his mother is revealed to be an activist, wearing clothes, doing business, earning money, he tries forcing her to stop so that he may go back to fitting social norms and in fact tries to get her to accept her oppression so that he may get into the good graces of the male demographic that oppresses them both.

Liberation for Quark, and very frequently liberation for queer men, hinges on the patriarchy accepting them as soon as possible, which is something they feel they can achieve by participating in the oppression of others so that they may in that way relate to their oppressors. Most commonly, most accessibly, women are their victims. They are everywhere and therefore an easy target for signalling to other men, Ferengi or not, that they are one of the guys. That they belong with the group.

It doesn't work. It didn't work for Quark, who became happier when he realised that he had a safety net on Deep Space Nine in the form of his friends on Bajor and in Starfleet, especially once he'd been financially ruined and cleaned out entirely by Brunt, after which the entire station banded together to save him from his fate. It doesn't work for queer men either, as the patriarchy will hate them for their queerness, despite the fact that they are men.

#quark #ds9 #star trek deep space nine #deep space 9 #ds9 quark #ferengi #misogyny #queer #queerness #queer oppression #patriarchy #essay #trekessayist #this started as a joke #not anymore #mentions of intellectual disabilities and ableism

[gay-jewish-bucky]

love when ableds say that "inability to live alone" is a societal and moral failing, blaming it on everything under the sun and implying that people who can't are somehow deficient/broken and are incapable of being 'real' adults and are lesser compared to people who are entirely independent 🙃

#actually disabled #some convos in certain queer spaces are so fucking ableist #also the idea that you have to be entirely self sufficient and independent is entirely cultural #and you aren't fighting x normativity by throwing disabled/chronically ill people under the bus #some people cannot live alone even if they want to and stigmatizing that is harmful #ik that internalized ableism i had over it contributed to my total mental breakdown when i was 19 #personcole

[bonelessenthusiast]

the queer space at my college was up a long, winding flight of stairs, with no railing, and no elevator

and that’s symbolic of every other queer space I’ve encountered

#like. the symbolism of the queer space this way sign pointing up the stairs was not lost on me lmao #disability #ableism #queer #queer spaces

[fandomsandfeminism]

I honestly think that the lack of non-sexual nudity in public spaces has done horrific damage to American society.

We deeply struggle to understand the natural diversity of bodies because we only see naked bodies in a sexual context. We are taught that seeing nudity is somehow inherently harmful, especially to children. We struggle to differentiate between sexually suggestive and sexually explicit material.

It fucks up the way people think about and talk about sex ed. It fucks up the way people think about and talk about breast feeding. It fucks up the way people think about and talk about queer folks. It feeds into fatphobia and ableism and is all rooted in this deeply harmful puritanism.

Like, I need people to understand that seeing a bare titty in public is not going to hurt a child. Seeing a man in a banana hammock isn't inherently traumatizing. I would argue, in fact, that adults treating those things as dangerous and gross and scary is going to do way more damage to a kid's psychology than seeing the nudity in the first place.

[girlneuter]

well i've never felt belonging to the othereds just more alienation so rip

You Belong To Me Now. Call Me The Parental Unit, Protector Of The Wandering Queers

#there’s big queer community as a whole which we all belong to and then there’s local communities that we aren’t always accepted in to #for ex there’s a lot of racism and ableism in the queer community so if someone is disabled or a poc there’s a huge intersection of #communities and cultures and most of us belong to several #it’s not limited to just disability and race #sex and gender presentation are also huge factors like a trans fem will have a different experience than a cis gay but they might have some #overlap if they’re both fem #we’re all unlearning these things and I’m sorry you haven’t found a space yet that can accept all of your humanity #just keep in mind until you find them that those things are part of your humanity and just because you don’t have what you deserve doesn’t #mean you don’t deserve it #maybe you don’t belong in your local groups because they don’t have the love and support that you need #but you still belong to the community as a whole and i hope that’s a nuance that can soften the harshness of feeling isolated or othered #distant family that loves and wishes you well but isn’t familiar enough with your circumstances to offer more than a few words of kindness

[genderkoolaid]

y'know the thing a lot of people who worry about "well if we just let ANYBODY be queer what will happen!!" don't talk about is like. what will probably happen if some cisgender heterosexual calls themself queer for X reason is that they will go to an inclusive queer space and listen to other people and discuss their own unique perspectives on issues. like a cishet ace might hear a gay man talk about feeling broken and ashamed and go "oh I've had a similar experience being ace!" and everyone else will get a chance to learn about how being ace changes your experiences with sexuality. if someone comes in and says "i'm queer because i'm autistic" and then talks about how their autism & experiences with ableism has impacted their interactions with gender in society, everyone will get a chance to learn how neurodivergence can change how you internalize gender and how ableism is often directly tied to gender.

the thing is, people will use shocking phrases like "oh so a cishet autistic person is queer now?? so a cishet incel is queer now???" because they have a very bitter and small-minded view of sexuality and gender. they are (not in a societal power sense, but in a moral/rhetoric sense) no better than conservative cisgender heterosexuals who lose their mind at butch lesbians and cis men wearing nail polish.

because what happens when a person says they are queer and get let in to queer spaces just on that is... they learn about other people and other people learn about them. if they act like an asshole they get educated and if they keep doing it they get kicked out. people who understand the radical nature of queerness should also understand that if someone says they are "queer", they probably have put thought into that and have a reason for feeling that way, and by letting them into queer spaces you have an opportunity to learn more about experiences outside of your own. and you get to help a person! it's a win-win scenario for everyone!

if someone says "i'm queer because of [wild crazy thing]," my reaction is going to be, "cool, i'd love to know more about how you came to identify as queer, i'm sure you have some really interesting things to say about queerness based on your experiences!" it's that simple. queerness is vague and unique and constantly shifting, and we all have more to learn about aspects of it. if someone finds comfort and solidarity in calling themself queer, then i'm sure we have some interesting things to talk about and learn from each other! nobody knows everything and humans can't be put in perfect boxes.

#m.

[qweerhet]

i am very, very much not a fan of how the conversation around “transmascs experiencing body image issues after going on testosterone” has been dominated by “what do you expect, that’s what hormones do, you’re not going to look like your anime twink waifu, don’t transition if that makes you upset”

primarily bc it’s shifting the focus away from the violent policing of men’s bodies under systems of oppression that are causing transmascs to have these sudden onslaughts of body image issues to begin with

like, cis men experience these exact same body image issues

cis queer men are socially punished for not being skinny, pale, hairless, and for balding. like, bears are a counterculture within queer spaces for a reason. fat, balding, hairy, nonwhite, and visibly varsex men are heavily policed in the queer community and the subject of a vast amount of intracommunity violence. they’re excluded from community-building and mutual aid, seen as sexually undesirable, mocked, viewed as predatory and dangerous, and discriminated against systemically.

fuck, straight cis men experience this form of body policing as well. straight cis men are also expected to be skinny, albeit a different kind of skinny, and to only have the “correct” kind of body hair (often mocked for having neckbeards, having body associated with being varsex or a person of color, etc). they experience discrimination and violence for balding, being fat, etc etc etc.

suddenly having a body type that’s subject to violence is dysphoria-inducing. if you were viewed all your life as a skinny white girl, and now all of a sudden you’re viewed as a fat balding dude and read as predatory because of your body/facial hair, you’re going to experience a massive influx of fear, betrayal, and disordered thinking about your body. you are suddenly experiencing a wave of cisnormative body policing, ableism, and often a very different kind of targeted racism than you grew up being subject to--this is a massively fucking destabilizing experience.

pushing the onus of that experience onto individual people reacting badly to it is covering up, and even to some extent doing apologia for, the systemic racism, ableism, and cisnormativity that are shaping the responses to transmascs bodies. like, yes, that’s “just what testosterone does.” but how are you shaping the spaces you are in to react to bodies that are balding, that are fat, that are hairy, that have visibly conflicting sex characteristics, that have signs of disability like “weirdly-kept body hair” and “moving aggressively” and “talking loudly,” how are you making the people around you feel about these traits?

look at the spaces you move through--are they ones that uplift testosterone-dominant and otherwise varsex bodies? do they celebrate deep loud voices and neckbeards and chest hair and big noses and big shoulders and fat bellies and balding in their body positivity? do they view them as socially appropriate, as positive aspects of the space, as sexually desirable, as lovable? if not, then why are you expecting transmascs to view themselves that way?

#fuck it. i might as well tag this as #transmisandry #because damn if that word applies to anything. it's this.

[notabled-noodle]

more examples of the intersection of ableism and queerphobia

JK Rowling’s essay about trans men specifically talked about how autistic girls are being lead astray by the trans movement

in some jurisdictions, people with cognitive and/or intellectual disabilities are not allowed to medically transition at all

again, psychotic people constantly being questioned about whether their identity is a delusion/hallucination or not

queer spaces not being accessible for those who use mobility aids (particularly wheelchairs)

disabled people not having access to sex education that specifically educates them on having sex whilst disabled — and abled people not bothering to learn the same

the concept that having someone who is both disabled and queer is “bad representation” somehow. constant messaging that you’re either one or the other and can’t be both

ideas in the queer community about what the queer lifestyle looks like often does not consider that the lifestyle is impossible for people who use mobility aids and/or have a carer

I could go on and on. disabled people are constantly excluded from queer movements and queer people are often excluded from disability movements. we’re ignored. we’re pushed aside. our needs are put in the “too hard” basket, and we’re not given necessary supports to live a happy life as a queer disabled person

do not tag this “q slur” or similar

#I swear if someone tags this q slur #or tries to tell me these things don’t happen #I am going to scream #ableism #queerphobia #queer #pride #disabled #actually disabled #tw jk rowling #trans #gay #psychotic #autism #quableism

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

You’re pissed that no one took any accountability for their supposed “aphobia/arophobia” but where is the accountability for the constant inhumane and disgusting homophobia, biphobia and transphobia STILL spewing out of ace spaces like puss? When will you all realize you feel that way because you are directly adjacent to the oppressor class and have next to nothing in common with the LGBT community as a whole but nearly everything in common with the average cishet? Y’all aren’t queer for not wanting to fuck, only fucking sometimes “if you emotionally connect”, or being emotionally unavailable to romantic partnership. And if you aren’t also gay, trans, or bisexual, you never will be.

I got my laptop out for this, goddamn. Where would i even start?

"You’re pissed that no one took any accountability for their supposed “aphobia/arophobia”" This tells me everything about you, you possibly don't believe in aro/ace identities. You don't believe people can hate on, or be hateful to, aro/ace spec people. And yes I am pissed. Because it was fucked up.

I would try to justify it with "if this was transphobic/homophobia you wouldn't be acting this way" but im guess you don't care about that as you obviously don't see it the same way.

you were also probably someone who sent asks like this (but more hateful) in 2016 and before, you were probably also someone who posted and reblogged aphobic content and said it was "just a joke" later while still sending asks like this to people. Take of that anon and show your face coward.

"where is the accountability for the constant inhumane and disgusting homophobia, biphobia and transphobia STILL spewing out of ace spaces like puss?"

where is the accountability for the homophobia, biphobia and transphobia still spewing out of ALL lgbtqia+ spaces? Where is the accountability in the REAL world? Where is it anon? Where is the accountability for the acephobia, the arophobia and so many other "not real sexualities/gender identities" -phobias?

You saw a post about aphobia, and instead of being like "yeah that was f-ed up" or "i dont care" you went "but what about meeeeee" which is very all lives matter of you. (I am not comparing racism to homophobia, however the "what about me" bs can be summed up very easily using all lives matter as an example) For the fucking record, all spaces have assholes, all of them. On behalf of the "normal" aro/ace spec folks, i apologise for any homophobia, biphobia and/or transphobia you have experienced from us. "When will you all realize you feel that way because you are directly adjacent to the oppressor class and have next to nothing in common with the LGBT community as a whole but nearly everything in common with the average cishet?" This is a main aphobe talking point so thank you for doing this by the text book so i can break it down easier!

Three pages about asexual hate crimes which im sure every average cishet has to deal with (assuming their white and male) 1 2 (a booklet for asexual people to be actually fucking included) 3

An incredible interview is here but im going to quote a few things from it as theres a 99.9% chance aphobes wont click a link

"We know aromantics and asexuals have existed for as long as humans have. However, it’s only through the terminology recently going mainstream"

"Because of Freud’s influence, many of us grew up learning that our sex drive is the primary motivator of human behavior, but that isn’t the case."

"That mindset replicates itself within the community so that when a new identity emerges, or when people try to explain themselves, there is resistance and pushback from within the community with the mindset that “if we let these kinds of people in, then that will dilute the access to power and resources we have.” And it forces the community to maintain adjacency to white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, ableism and classism, all while leaving behind entire groups of people."

" Do you think there will be more identities joining the LGBTQIA+ acronym? JP: Yes. The more words we have to describe ourselves, the better we are understood."

"The biggest comparisons are the lack of visibility and exclusion from communities on the basis that they’re weird, different, othered or “don’t belong in this space.” Every queer person has experienced this narrative and as more join under the umbrella, the newbie will experience the same challenges, discrimination and misunderstandings as those who came before." and here is another article that has a quote i just live by

"When did trauma become the mark of queerness?"

but back to the aphobe ->

"Y’all aren’t queer for not wanting to fuck, only fucking sometimes “if you emotionally connect”, or being emotionally unavailable to romantic partnership. "

if you think queer = sex then so help me. queer does not equal sex, queer is sexuality. and guess what that is NOT always sexual. sexuality is who your attracted to, whether it be romantically OR sexually.

and Asexuality is a spectrum, some asexuals never have sex, some don't want to have sex but have had it due to trauma or peer pressure, some don't care for it, some did it for a partner but just dont care about it.

same with aromantic. Its a spectrum. By your process here, so so so so so many people are removed from the lgbtqia+ community but you couldn't possibly mean that-

"And if you aren’t also gay, trans, or bisexual, you never will be."

-oh you did.

So none of these are part of the community either then? Agender, Bigender, Intersex, genderfluid, pansexual, omnisexual, Omnigender, Questioning, transgender and queer?

interesting anon.

Anyways i hope my followers enjoyed that! Let me know what you think if you finished reading all this!

Love;

An aegosexual, pansexual, aromantic, trans guy with to much fucking time on his hands.

#tw apobia #ask #asks #aromantic #asexual #aroace #aro #ace #aro pride #pride #lgbtqia #ace pride #ace problems #aro problems #cw aphobia #aphobia

[mlmxreader]

I'm not gonna be in the Call Of Duty fandom anymore, well, the MW fandom. at least not fully, and I will explain, but first and foremost I want to clarify: I'm NOT leaving tumblr entirely & I'm NOT gonna back down either from my previous statements. So, allow me to begin as to why I'm making this decision.

The rape, incest, pedo and animal abuse pornography

Quite frankly, as someone who has been through rape and child sexual abuse, I find it ABHORRENT that anyone would ever look at such abuses and decide to fetishise, romanticise and glorify these things. I do not care nor want to know your "justifications" because frankly there aren't any. As a survivor, I am aware that the fandom is malicious and nasty towards people like me; I am aware that you people willingly and HAPPILY engage with such harmful, disgusting material. Quite honestly, I could not name a space more dedicated to the harassment, malicious treatment and utterly disgusting behaviour towards these topics and the people who openly disagree with them.

The racism

Before you tell me "Call Of Duty fans have always been racist", I am aware of that. But I'm talking specifically about the niche fandom (because it is niche). The fandom treats Black and Brown characters utterly abhorrently; from turning Gaz into a stereotype through to fetishising Farah and everything in between, the fandom's racism is progressively getting WORSE - and then x reader writers (who are predominantly white) only add to that by purposefully and willfully excluding Black and Brown people from fandom altogether. The racism within this space makes it clear that anybody who is NOT white is NOT welcome, and frankly, I do not wish to be associated with such disgusting people. To treat Black people as tokens, to purposefully KICK people of colour out of fandom - it's disgraceful and I hope that everybody is ashamed of themselves.

The ableism and saneism

The Call Of Duty fandom is NOT a safe place for anyone who has a psychotic, schizospec, dissociative or personality disorder. Plain and simple. From the colloquial usage of mental health terms such as "delusional", through to the "jokes" which are made to trigger people with such disorders (e.g. "in your walls"), and to the casual usage of anti-psychotic slurs like "psycho" and "schizo", it's obvious to anyone with just one quick look that this fandom sees people with such disorders as either their punching bags, their "memes" or worse: not human at all. And this also translates to fanworks, as quite honestly, I'm tired of seeing the same treatment directed towards characters like Nikto, because it shows that you people do not care about us at all. We aren't human to you, and we never will be. We are not even worth CONSIDERING when it comes to offensive language - it's degrading, it's dehumanising and it's exhausting to have to constantly walk away from fanworks that are so obviously made with malicious intent.

The homophobia

I am a bisexual/pansexual/omnisexual/queer/whatever you wanna call it man, and the amount of homophobia in the Call Of Duty fandom is disgusting. No, bisexual men AREN'T your "uwu bby boy so soft such a bottom bitch!!". You perpetuating homophobic stereotypes for the sake of a ship is utterly and completely and truly vile. How dare you claim to support LGBTQIA+/queer people when you KNOWINGLY perpetuate these stereotypes? When you KNOWINGLY engage in homophobic behaviour. You are scum.

The antisemitism and islamophobia

This is a touchy subject for non-religious folk, but I really wish you lot would all leave religious people alone. It takes you two seconds to look up what Muslims and Jews believe in and act accordingly. It takes you two seconds to NOT open your mouth when Muslims and Jews talk about their headcanons of characters being religious - because what gives you the right? Why do you feel so comfortable to shut down religious people's headcanons of characters? "Oh, he can't be Jewish because he's English", English Jews exist. "Oh, he can't be Muslim because he's Scottish", Scottish Muslims exist. These people exist in real life, and you saying that a character CANNOT be a Muslim or a Jew because of where they come from is little more than antisemitism and Islamophobia. Do better.

The apathy

When I say "the apathy", I mean exactly that. It is exhausting having to call out these horrid things time and time again and then see people WILLINGLY ignoring blatant bigotry by brushing it off and saying "I don't want to get involved in drama", as if somebody being a bigot is akin to a quarrel between two friends, or a disagreement between two people. If you aren't willing to address genuine harm ONLINE, then I'm sorry, but I doubt you would do anything OFFLINE either. If you're boiling things that actually harm people down to "drama", then I'm sorry, but you can't expect to be considered a safe person for people to be open with and to be honest with when it comes to their mental health or to their triggers. It's that simple. Your apathy towards your fellow man is blatant, and I cannot in good conscience continue to rub shoulders with such people.

Going forward

I'm not going to be engaging with MOST of the content within the Call Of Duty fandom - whether that's edits, fanfic, fanart, etc. I'm not. I've got a few mutuals who I've decided I WILL continue reading from or looking at their art or whatever, but for the most part, I'm not going to be active within the Call Of Duty fandom. I will continue writing for SOME of the characters, but my list of who I write for will be drastically reduced to just a few select characters. If somebody asks me "hey, is X thing saneist?" then of course I'll answer. If somebody points out to me that I took a request from someone who follows a rape pornographer, then I will delete that request and that fanfic entirely. I will still be happy to talk about the characters & games, but it will only be WHEN ASKED, and I will continue to use my DNI (although I'm going to change it a little so that the rape porn viewers/readers know I don't want them near me).

Of course, if anyone requires further clarification on anything I said, I'll be happy to answer and explain as best as I can! And if anyone feels emboldened by this post to come forward and share their own experiences with such things, then I will happily read through that, too! This post is 100% okay to reblog, and if anyone wishes to reblog it and go "This is also why I left the fandom", then I will happily hear you out. What I will NOT hear out, however, is any justification or defence of any of the harmful behaviours I have mentioned - I do not wish to hear it. Pack it in, and take it to 4Chan where you belong.

#ok to reblog #ok to rb #call of duty #cod #call of duty mw2 #call of duty modern warfare 2