Oh this book is so underrated
Feminism!
Lesbianism!
Killing racists!
Amazing friendships between women!
Butchfemme!
1920s/1930s lesbians!
A 1980s depressed housewife being inspired by said lesbians!
Body positivity!
An old woman in an asylum who becomes the only reason why said housewife has a will to live!
Bees!
An incredibly small town!
Trains!
Everyone knows the lesbians are together but literally no one gives a shit, they also raise a kid! And own the Whistle Stop Café!
Cannibalism!
Time skips!
A side character who has casual sex in the 1920s/1930s and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks! (I love you Eva)
A Georgia really religious femme lesbian and an Alabama butch who will fight you!
Disabled rep!
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hey, just. friendly reminder that fanfiction is morally neutral.
yes, that includes smutty fics. yes, that includes self-insert fics. yes, that includes the fics you consider Problematic TM and the fics you don’t think are Smart or New. in fact that’s kind of why I’m writing this post.
I know we all love to talk about Themes And Narratives, but—and please listen to me very carefully here—you are not earning Good Place Points for only reading the kinds of fan fiction you feel are Smart or Only Focuses On The Important Things Like Themes.
fan fiction is morally neutral.
what I mean is this: no one is harming you, themselves, or anyone, by writing a fic about two characters having sex. (are you uncomfortable with the fact that I typed the word “sex”? hi, this post is about you. people have sex. and they write and talk about it. it’s seriously fine.)
no one is being harmed by self insert fics, by smutty fics, by anything not exclusively Smart TM about the fandom or analytically adding to it.
(and that’s not to say these two types of fics, that any type of fic, can’t have those elements— some of my favorite fic authors, my mutuals, my tumblr friends, write fic in these genres, and they also explore Themes and Emotions and analyze character traits and histories and write brilliant plots and incredible character arcs and yknow what, it’s amazing! it’s fantastic to examine what makes two characters react a certain way to x situation while also having them fuck nasty about it!) (and yes, I did just type ‘fuck nasty about it’ and I promise, that’s fine, too.)
what I’m saying, though, is that it doesn’t NEED that to, I dunno, somehow validate it into existing. it just Is. it just Exists. it doesn’t need an aspect you Approve Of TM in order to earn the right to be shared, to be written, to be published and commended and interacted with and read. it just. Is.
and I think a lot of especially younger, or newer, tumblr users especially get uncomfortable with that, and they unintentionally veer right (..ha) into self-censoring, puritanical behavior which is exactly what every person trying to ban books and generally kill art, wants. (and we’re not even going to examine in depth here, beyond mentioning it, the fact that policing, censuring, and banning art has historically and still today is being used to silence marginalized voices, so, I ask you to keep that in mind as you think on this, too, please.)
what I’m trying to say is this—if you personally don’t enjoy smut, don’t enjoy self insert fics, don’t enjoy a certain genre, that’s great, you do you! but, you must, must understand that this is not a moral stance. You are not objecting to a problematic practice, exploited workers, consent issues, labor crises… none of that applies, because no one in these stories is a real person. a story written about two Star Trek characters kissing on the bridge of the Enterprise is just that, a story. there is no actor for whose rights to fight, no wages to dispute fairness of, no ethical ramifications of scenes to discuss. these are Fictional People in Fictional Situations.
fan fiction is morally neutral.
and the moment you try to make yourself feel Better TM, More Correct TM, or—one of the ones I encounter the most—Smarter TM, by saying oh, I don’t read that kind of fic, I read the good kind, with thought in it—
you’re not only causing harm, you’re actively employing art censoring behavior. is that something that you want to do? I hope not. I certainly don’t.
next time you see a fic or a genre you don’t Approve Of TM, please remember the easiest way of exhibiting that— simply scrolling by or blocking a tag! If you’re on ao3, their system is incredible for niche content searches, and blocking a tag even here on tumblr will (most of the time) work.
I just., there’s so many better options out there for you than to… act like this. I believe you, we, all of us, can be better than this.
fanfiction. is. morally. neutral.
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BSD high school AU or College AU without abilities but Sigma and Nikolai know each other since a long time and are besties and Nikolai fell extremely hard for Fyodor so now Sigma has to deal with Nikolai sobbing about Fedya for literal hours.
He listens to all of his gushing about the russian, comforts him when he is crying again because he hates Fyodor so much for making him fall in love, calms him down when he's having a whole rant about Dazai being so super close with Fyodor or just about Fyodor in general and sometimes even starts to make fun about Dazai to cheer Nikolai up. Sigma hates Dazai anyways.
Sigma also gives him great advice and always has an open ear for him. He may find his taste in men questionable but he wants Nikolai to be happy. He also helps him to bake cookies for Fyodor and is generally calm and, comforting and logical the whole time. A bit confused maybe but that's okay.
Nikolai on the other hand isn't just taking all this support and help from Sigma without giving him anything back. He also always has am open ear for Sigma, comforts him when he's feeling horribly anxious again and is overthinking everything, let's him rant about anything that bothers him and is there to comfort him during his worst panic attacks. He even bakes him a lot cookies with the help of Fyodor after he and Fyodor became a couple to thank him for all his help and advice.
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