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talkingbl · 1 year
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ZeeNunew = MewGulf
Now that I've gotten your attention, let's talk about shipping and people who talk about shipping. This is a long post so, if you don't want to read the whole thing, skip down to the TLDR instead of reading it anyway then complaining about the length.
The problem with BL pairing shippers
Many critiques about shippers are extremely valid. Shippers can get out of hand and do things like bring Gulf porn of him and Mew to his solo event or follow Joong around calling him "baby~~~" b/c that's what he allegedly calls Dunk despite that he clearly doesn't want them to. I've seen shippers beg actors to physically touch, to kiss, to perform unwanted sexual acts on each other, etc. Straight up gross behavior.
Like, when did it become okay to essentially bribe people into fulfilling your fantasies, unprovoked? I could see if they were okay with this (see below), but most of the time stans are doing these things out of nowhere while the actors either refuse or look clearly uncomfortable. At best, it's cringey when shippers cross the line like this, at worst it's criminal.
That said, I personally believe that not all shippers are inherently bad. There are lots of normal shippers who simply like the moments, eat it up, and play along with the actors when it's clear that the actors are okay with it. So, I'm sorry to the non-shippers out there but I just don't care about the normal shippers, I don't think it's wrong, and I'm not gonna call the these types of shippers delulu (but I will bully tf out of the group mentioned above). It's not really my cup of tea to get invested in ships to that level but to each their own.
With that, I think it's a good time to turn to the problem that no one EVER addresses. And that is the problem with non-shippers.
The problem with non-shippers
We all know the non-shipper greatest hits. BL shippers are harmful because:
no ships are real/it's all fanservice and I won't believe otherwise until I see a marriage certificate (unless both actors are conveniently feminine-coded)
all BL actors are straight until proven otherwise, so shipping = bad
all BL actors have girlfriends until proven otherwise!!
shippers are delulu straight women who don't care about gay rights
also, it's none of our business
Also, we need to protect actors from the ~harm to their image!!!
Did I cover everything? Probably not but there's a point here. Not only are every single one of these critiques not necessarily true or coming from a genuine place, but some of them are incredibly harmful??
Like...all BL actors are straight when over 10% of the population under 30 identifies as something other than non-het? And being straight always means you're in a long-term committed relationship with a member of the opposite sex? Are y'all out here seriously saying that only straight women consume BLs and ship actors? In 2022, the year of our lord? Come on now...
The funny point about the het allegations and the whole 'y'all don't care about gay rights' sentiment is that a lot of the time it's coming from actual straight women who don't wanna believe their favorite BL guy might actually like boys. Actually, I have a theory about this...have y'all ever noticed that the more feminine-coded or not conventionally attractive the actor is, the more folx are willing to concede he may be queer? But the more masculine-coded or conventionally attractive the actor is, the more staunch non-shippers are that he's straight? Yeah, I'ma need y'all to unpack that...
And let's talk about the reality of ships. I personally don't believe that any actors are currently dating IRL outside of the confirmed ones. But I'd be lying if I said I don't think some of them have dated in the past, are messing around/have messed around, or are about to be dating lmao. I mean believe what you want to believe (that's what I do) but like...don't be weird about it. What kills me is the lengths the girls* go to to prove their faves are straight/can't be dating. It's just strange to me.
For the 'it's none of our business crew', I agree a bit but like speculating about a celebrity's dating life in a fandom space is something inherent in fan culture. This is a tough topic for me that deserves its own post, but suffice it to say, I think that to some extent, gossip about who is dating who is relatively normal. But it can get out of hand and I don't condone that.
Finally, the biggest problem I see with non-shippers is the absolute cock-gobbling that goes on amongst them. When it comes to these BL actors, all of a sudden the girlies* are ready for war and will "do anything to protect [their faves'] image." Like...this is not only homophobic on so many levels but also he's a grown ass man??? If the shippers are not crossing the line, why do you care?
*girls/girlies is gender neutral here.
Off, Tay, Mew, Zee, Tul, Mile, Max K., are all 30+. New, Gun, Seoham, Singto, Earth P., Earth K., Boun, Fluke N., Apo, etc. are all 25+. Most of the industry is 21+. Gentlemen*, these are GROWN men. They DO NOT need your protection. You don't, on these men's behalf, need to bully people for liking their fanservice or for the mere thought that one of them could be dating a costar. Stop trying to "protect their image" in other ways too. If he's 27 and made rape jokes, that man is GUILTY!!! Get him and your dumb ass justification of his behavior off my timeline!!!
*Gentlemen is gender neutral here.
The only actors y'all need to worry about ~protecting are like... *checks big ass Tumblr post w/all the actors ages* the The Tuxedo boys. That's it. The rest of these hoes* are grown and can take care of themselves.
*hoes is a term of endearment here.
Let's be clear here. I totally get it if shippers are crossing the line (pushing their fantasy in the actor's faces). I don't, however, get it when shippers are just acting in line with what the actors encourage. But this gets into another problem around shipping and that is...
The problem with BL pairings and their agencies
BL pairings go to extreme lengths to promote their ships and encourage delulu behavior. Why? Idk, money bouquets maybe? Luxury clothes? Expensive electronics? Food support? These actors fully understand that part of their job is to sell their ship. They go into these situations knowing what makes money, and most of them don't complain nor do they seem uncomfortable with all the adoration for their ship.
In fact, more often than not, I feel like they weirdly egg it on when they do things like concerts/tours/photoshoots where they sing love songs to each other, pretend to get married, pretend to be trying for a baby (??? wtf mew lmao), and use suggestive language that would lead a logical person to conclude they're dating.
And some don't stop there. Some actors will even do these things outside of clear fanservice contexts, which makes it seem even more plausible. You cannot possibly tell me that if 2 straight people did these sorts of things, people wouldn't rationally conclude that the two are dating... It's just not realistic.
There's also the very real fact that actors who are confirmed to be dating do sometimes use their relationship for financial gain. And I'm not even saying this in a nefarious way. Like Both and Newyear had an entire YouTube channel then turned around and acted in a BL opposite each other. You can't tell me they didn't want to commodify their relationship. Of course, that's not saying that shippers should be able to cross the line. That shit is never acceptable, warranted, or excused. But merely thinking they look cute together or discussing their moments online does not make a person an evil fujo (notice it's never a fudan accusation though 😉, but y'all not ready for that convo).
TLDR
My entire point with this post is that shipping can be bad and should not be tolerated when it is. When it's not bad, non-shippers can stfu w/the annoying ass holier-than-thou bs that often comes from a place of wanting to fuck the actors in question. Plus, of-age actors themselves need to tone it down if they don't want people thinking they're dating. But they also don't deserve to put up with the bullshit from obsessed shippers who probably should be criminally prosecuted for non-consensually bribing them into uncomfortable situations. Everyone just be normal lmao.
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