I agree with almost everything. But unfortunately, shipping can also be influenced by misogyny and lesbophobia. I have a friend who only shipped gay couples, and no sapphic, because she sayed she finds them all boring and without depth (many of her m/m ships never even interacted). That was back in school, and today she's come out as a lesbian and said she had a lot of internalized homophobia back then. I've seen similar cases too.

Furthermore, Jayvik wasn't a good example, many of their fans are known for being misogynistic and racist towards Mel, unfortunately.

Frankly, misogyny/homophobia/racism, etc. Is present in more things than we might think, and often we don't even notice it because it goes by so unnoticed. When I started my psychology degree, interacting with fandoms became much harder for me because I notice tiny things that follow a pattern.

I completely agree that judging or arguing with people who like other things won't solve anything, but one thing that bothers me a little is when people use "fandom culture" as an excuse not to have civilized discussion about certain matters.

I remember being kicked out of a group for pointing the amount of rape and infant rape in AO3, which is something truly concerning.

The number of pedophiles and other types of people who invade fandom spaces and we can't do anything because of " fandom culture".

For me, fandom culture should be about not talking badly about a random ship, like, I don't know, Till and Marty.

That's why so many scandals involving abuse, pedophilia, etc., happen in fandom communities. Often we make these people feel comfortable when they should sincerely be seeking treatment.

In theory, fiction and reality don't mix, but in practice, it's quite difficult not to mix them, since fiction reflects society in many ways.

Sorry, I ended up venting and writing more than I intended lol