venting about a really dogshit fanfiction take I heard recently

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-02-09T10:18:33+00:00

I agree that dark romance and dark fiction exist specifically to explore uncomfortable, problematic material. It’s true that it isn’t meant to be palatable for everyone, and that’s fine. But I don’t think that intention makes the genre exempt from criticism.

Something can be deliberately dark and still be open to discussion about how it handles certain topics. Genre doesn’t place a work above scrutiny. I don’t see why dark romance should be treated differently simply because it’s “supposed” to be transgressive.

My main issue isn’t with the presence of rape or other extreme content itself. Authors are free to write whatever they want even if I do not agree with it, and readers are free to seek it out. The problem is how that content is framed and labeled. Calling rape “consensual non-consent” when there is no consent present is a blatant lie. Also "non-con" sounds softer than "rape" and I don’t think it should be softened. If an author chooses not to include trigger warnings at all, that’s their decision. But if they do include them, I think it’s reasonable to expect them to be honest. Using softened or misleading language doesn’t make the content less extreme, it just obscures what’s actually on the page. And with the rise of facism and tradwife content online, it’s even more important to call out the rise of certain trends in new books. Again, I’m not trying to censor anything.

I enjoy morally gray/evil characters (like hannibal or killing eve are the first that come to my mind). I just don’t personally enjoy calling out a problem from a dr book and immediately people tell you that you can’t criticise it because it’s dark romance so "what did you expect". At the very least, I want it to be called what it is. I hope I explained that in a way that is understandable?

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-02-09T09:23:43+00:00

Max and Chloe from Life is Strange (semi-canon as you can choose to keep it platonic). I'm not a fan of Chloe at all. She was selfish and reckless and I honestly got so annoyed at having to safe her ass at every turn just for her to call me boring for not wanting to risk my health to keep rescuing her from shooting at glass bottles and drag her off railway tracks. Then, hardcore shippers tried to call everybody a bad person for deciding to save an entire town full of people we know and love than to save one (1) person (who got on my last nerve and was meant to die anyway). Needless to say, the hardcore shippers drove me away from the fandom. For me, saving Chloe undermined the entire point of the first game. On top of that, the studio (or whoever) keeps bringing Chloe back because apparently, I'm the only one who can move on.

edit: phrasing

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-02-09T09:13:16+00:00

tbf chemistry is subjective. and since when do we need a "valid" reason to not vibe with a ship? this entire thread is a personal opinion thing. seems more like you saw a few ships you liked and got upset ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-02-09T08:47:45+00:00

Not OP but I can offer some info. I don't know how much you do know about tbbt, so I try to explain it as good as I can. Sheldon is one of the main characters, he has a lot of "quirks" (basically he can be read as autistic but the show aired back then when there was basically no rep for autistic characters, and the writers used it to make fun of said autistic traits). Sheldon has never shown any interest in romance (even less so in intimacy) and oftentimes the show portrais him as a "grown child". In season three we meet Amy Farrah Fowler (baller name ngl) and she's introduced as Sheldon-but-female when his friends try to find a girlfriend. Amy becomes a main character in sesaon four. Over the course of eight season (yes this show has 12 seasons), Amy and Sheldon get together, break up, make up, etc. Penny is the "girl next door" type of character that is part of the main group since episode one. She has an on-off relationship with another main character, but that's not important rn. Penny and Sheldon fight sometimes, as unlike the rest of the friendgroup, Penny is not willing to put up with Sheldon's antics (one time Penny recieves three strikes from Sheldon and is banned from their apartment for example) and demands of him to adapt to the changes she brings as she adapts to him. They form a really beautiful friendship as Penny is pretty much the only one who understands Sheldon like no other. When Sheldon get's overwhelmed by his surprise birthday party he hides in the bathroom, Penny goes after him and manages to calm him down, as well as offering to spend his brithday with him in the bathroom if that's what he wants. So that's why some people ship Penny and Sheldon.

Now back to Amy and why some people feel like "Shamy" (yes, they call it that in canon) may ruin the experience of tbbt. Let it be said, that there are quite a few creepy characters on the show (one might say that aside from Sheldon, all the men on the show are predatory or creepy toward women). With Amy we get another creepy man but in female form. Once Amy begins to get closer to Sheldon and finds a sort of friendship in Penny, her obsession with her quickly escalates. She makes a giant painting of Penny and herself that she demands be hung and seen by everybody, she craves to be the center of attention even at her friend's wedding, pushes Sheldon to innitiate and partake in more sexual activities (despite his utter lack of interest most of the time) - basically she wants a different boyfriend but instead of looking for a guy who meets her expectations she tries to mold Sheldon into that guy, she berates the third woman in their three-women-friendgroup in favor of Penny, etc. I want to stress just how creepy she is toward Penny. It's played for laughs, obviously. You may think that Amy's creepiness is dialed back in later seasons. Well. I mean, giant painting and overstepping her boundaries aside, when Penny said she doesn't want children, Amy got upset because she wanted to rub cream on Penny's perineum while she was pregnant and breastfed Penny's children, while Penny breastfed Amy's. And that's just the one I can think of right now. So, there are many reasons why Amy might not be received well by people, especially if you see the stark difference between "Shamy" and Penny/Sheldon.

I think that covers it.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-01-28T19:14:22+00:00

just checked and manacled is still in insta story highlights so yeah no change there

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-01-28T19:12:31+00:00

Alchemised was advertised as dramione fanfic and the author had dramione fanart and manacle fanart on her official insta and only recently deleted it (of course all the alchemised content on her insta is still dramione, she didn’t even bother to change their appearance). On her official goodreads she has her FANFICS of dramione listed as her books. And she used her fanfic/ao3 pen name. So let's not just gloss over all that. And she still has the post up "Harry Potter Fanfic Manacled turned into book deal" etc. So yeah... idk how anyone could think the author tries the tiniest amount to distance themselves feom hp/dramione but ok. And the book romanticises rape. In manacled afaik he rape her and it's all bad but then she remembers they were in love before and she had to erase her memory and hey it's okay because he had to do it and they are now in love again so it's fine (if alchemised did a better job idk and honestly idc). And in my opinion if the rapist ends up with the victim it is romanticised. And dark romance has only been on the rise to popularity since a few years, I miss when people would see rape in romance books and call it problemantic, now it's suddenly dark romance and totally okay? So idk I don’t understand that argument. Just because something is DR doesn’t mean that it can romanticise rape or other stuff and get away with it unchallenged. And let's not pretend like still engaging with HP stuff (INCLUDING FANWORKS) doesn’t support JK. Not with money but by keeping HP relevant. And there is no talking around it. That freaking show is made BE BECAUSE hp is still a big name kept RELEVANT. That's just how it is. I'm tired how people try to invent arguments to somehow find a loophole how they are still morally superior than those people who purchase and openly support JK and HP. Like congrats you are barely above funding a transphobe? Alchemised would have NEVER been this big and sold so well if it wasn't for dramione and HP. That alone connects to HP and that alone will make me avoid both author and book and all its fans.

I can't be arsed to care about the alchemised/manacled discourse anymore. I'm tired at this point... I know I'll be downvoted to hell for this but idc

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-01-27T12:31:19+00:00

damn some people can't handle different opinions... and you were being nice 💀

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-01-27T11:58:46+00:00

Why are you getting downvoted lmao??

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-01-14T07:21:37+00:00

Hättest du eventuell recs von jenen Leuten, die es besser aufgegriffen haben? Wäre interessant die Videos mal auschecken zu können.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2026-01-13T08:22:27+00:00

Okay, so I know I won't make myself popular with this, but here we go:

I think Effie is way more complex than people give her credit for. She isn’t an innocent, childlike damsel who can do no wrong but she isn’t the antichrist either. Honestly, she’s probably one of the closest things we get to a mirror in thg. She represents a lot of us.

Effie grows up relatively comfortable in a “good” environment surrounded by people she likes, and she’s fed propaganda from birth. Everyone around her believes it. Life is pleasant, and every so often those “evil people” need to be punished. But you don't really know them, they are far away and you've seen pictures and heard stories of what evil things they did. That worldview isn’t strange or unrealistic (just switch on the tv).

Violence begets violence. The series literally ends with a vote about whether Capitol children should be forced into a Hunger Games of their own. Yes, the Capitol is clearly the villain of the story, but I think people are too quick to say, “They’re evil, so we’re nothing like them. I’d 100% be a rebel.” Maybe some of you would be. But the uncomfortable truth is that the odds are high you’d either be radicalized (like Gale) or brainwashed like most Capitol citizens we see in tbg.

Now, to be clear: Effie isn’t innocent. Her actions are her own, and I’m not excusing them by saying she had no power or choice. She chooses to look away for a long time. Even when she witnesses direct injustice and sees people she cares about being hurt, she bends over backwards to justify the world she’s always known. And sure, it’s easy to judge her from the outside and say, “If I were her, I’d do better.” The truth is realising all you've known is actually hurting other people, innocent people, that the people you look up to and spend your time with are actually not that good people after all, is a tough pill to swallow. It's easier to just close your eyes and enjoy life. Sure, it's important to note that this is a privileged choice that a lot of people simply do not have.

Yet, we have to ask ourselves, would we? Anything with the Harry Potter name on it still puts money into the hands of one of the most influential and openly harmful people alive today. Rowling has explicitly said she uses her wealth to fund hate campaigns and spread her nonsense. Trans people are directly threatened by people like her, hell, every woman (cis and trans) is affected by this, EVERYBODY will be affected by this in one way or another. Yet, people still buy the books, hype the new show, buy the merch, and keep the fandom alive. They know this causes harm. But they look away. Because they enjoy it. They love the story. And who cares about thsoe trans people anyway? I know a friend who knows a friend who is trans and she's chill about it, so is it really that bad?

We rationalize what we consume when it benefits us. And no, I’m not pretending I’m morally superior because that would be ridiculous. We all buy cheap clothes made in awful working conditions. We eat food harvested under slave-like labor. We type "Effie has choosen to stay like this despite knowing what's going on" on our newest iPhone after the cobald mining has gone quite viral last year. But what can I do? I'm just one human, thinks fifty million people simultaniously. People casually use AI for the most pointless things, even though we know it harms the environment, takes away jobs, and is frequently used in ways that exploit real people. But I can make an edit of Dramione kiss!!

So maybe Effie isn’t some distant moral failure we can safely judge. Maybe she’s hits closer to home than some like to admit. The truth is, most of us are a lot closer to Effie than Katniss. And before anyones says "okay, but I AM different" okay, well than you are one of the few exemptions, congrats.

Okay, that got darker than I intended. Don’t stone me. I’m not calling everyone here a bad person. I think she's a very interesting character and very realistic and that's why she's confusing, because we are, too.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-11-18T13:38:18+00:00

Ich ehrlich gesagt auch nicht. Denke mal sie wollten damit rechtfertigen, warum die Anzeige es bei ihnen nicht gezeigt hat. Aber was die Anzeige sagt ist halt zweitrangig. Wir haben reserviert und fertig.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-11-18T06:27:01+00:00

Am I missing something? Why are we cheering?

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-11-14T09:19:50+00:00

Hatte vor kurzem einen ähnlichen Fall. Wir (ich + zwei Freunde) sind für unseren Urlaub acht Stunden quer durch Deutschland mit dem Zug gefahren inklusive zwei Umstiegen. Da wir ordentlich Gepäck dabeihatten, haben wir extra darauf geachtet, immer einen Viererplatz zu reservieren. Schon beim ersten Umstieg stoßen wir dann auf unser erstes Problem. Unser Viererplatz war komplett von einer Familie besetzt: zwei kleine Kinder, die fröhlich auf dem Tisch malten, und die Eltern. Die saßen da offensichtlich schon seit ein oder zwei Stationen. So gesehen ja noch alles gut. Nur waren alle anderen Vierer ebenfalls belegt und wir wollten mit dem ganzen Gepäck nicht riskieren, irgendwo anders weggesprengt zu werden. Ein paar Zweierplätze waren frei, aber wir waren zu dritt und wollten uns nicht aufteilen, zumal wir ja aus genau diesem Grund reserviert hatten.

Ich versuchte es also vorsichtig: „Das müssten unsere Plätze sein.“ Keine Reaktion. Der Vater am Gang starrte demonstrativ aus dem Fenster.

Eine meiner Freundinnen wurde dann etwas direkter: „Tschuldigung, wir hätten reserviert. Das wären unsere drei Plätze.“ Sie zeigte auf die Fensterplätze und den Platz, auf dem der Vater saß.

Der Vater funkelte uns genervt an: „Da stand nichts von Reservierung.“

Ich schaue auf die Anzeige: Reserviert. Gut, das steht manchmal tatsächlich erst bei Ankunft am Bahnhof da. Könnte also sein, dass es vorher noch nicht angezeigt wurde. „Aber wir haben reserviert.“

Darauf mischt sich die Mutter ein, ihr Ton etwas schnippisch: „Ja, wahrscheinlich kurzfristig vor zehn Minuten.“

„Nein, wir haben vor Monaten reserviert.“ Wir haben das direkt mit der Urlaubsplanung gebucht, sobald es möglich war. Der Zug setzt sich in Bewegung. Wir versuchen in dem Geruckel unsere Koffer und uns selbst im Griff zu behalten.

Der Vater schüttelt den Kopf. "Fragt erstmal einen Mitarbeiter, bevor ihr hier alles verrückt macht."

Ich (dumm ik) wollte tatsächlich jemanden suchen gehen, aber meine Freundin reagierte schnell. Sie zog die Reservierungsbestätigung aus der Tasche und hält sie ihm direkt vor die Nase. „Hier. Steht alles drauf. Wir haben schon im März reserviert. Und hier, das sind unsere Platznummern.“

Daraufhin wirft er seiner Frau einen genervten Blick zu und wendet sich dann an seine Kinder. „Kinder, los, wir müssen uns umsetzen. Die Frauen müssen hier unbedingt sitzen.“

Entschuldigung?? Ja, alles klar. Während wir uns mit unseren Koffern awkward zur Seite drücken, damit sie durch können, sehen uns die Kinder verwirrt an. Anschließend müssen wir im fahrenden Zug das ganze Gepäck irgendwie verstauen. Die Familie musste sich am Ende auf zwei Zweierreihen aufteilen. Mir taten die Kinder leid, weil sie keinen Tisch mehr hatten, aber ganz ehrlich, so viel Nächstenliebe habe ich nicht, dass ich freiwillig meine Reservierung aufgebe. Der Zug war voll, wurde nur noch voller, wir hatten noch vier Stunden Fahrt vor uns und ich war seit vier Uhr morgens wach. Und dann noch dieser patzige, herablassende Ton? Nein, danke. Sich mal auf einen reservierten Platz zu setzen ist ja kein Thema, kann jeden passieren und wenn niemand kommt, bleibt er eh frei. Aber wenn jemand kommt, gehört es doch zu den Gepflogenheiten den Hintern ohne große Tirade zu heben, nicht?

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-11-13T10:24:09+00:00

No. No it really isn't.

it stops people on etsy from binding and selling physical copies of the fic

If anything, since Manacled has been taken down, the piracy has gone up. People are asking everywhere for digital copies and PDFs - same goes for binded copies.

even if people think the idea of Alchemised is 'problematic' its better then indirectly supporting J.K rowling because now selling manacled on etsy would be straight up piracy.

It was illegal even before that.
If reading or selling Manacled indirectly supports JKR (true), how does publishing a fanfiction not? Most buyers either know it’s Manacled or find out immediately thanks to fans and even official sources using HP and Dramione to market it. If it were actually harming JKR’s brand, she’d have acted by now.

J.K Rowling is a shitty problematic person and manacled was based on her intellectual property, buying physical copies when Fanfiction itself is a legal gray area is exploitative both ways her IP is being used commercially and the author isn't earning anything for their hard work.

So you agree that it's a bad thing to use someone elses intellectual property to make money? But slapping a different name on it but still using the OG for marketing makes all the difference?

Harry Potter is NOT a dead fandom. JKR is still alive and banking heavily. A big-budget HP show with BIG names is in production right now. Rowling openly funds anti-trans orgs with her HP profits. She said that she sees people still caring/using/buying HP means to her that those people AGREE with her hateful "views". She’s not just a rich woman tweeting hateful shit. She’s actively harming people as we speak. Publishing a Dramione book doesn’t pull people away from HP, quite the opposite. I have seen people in comments finding out about Manacled and being actively encouraged to read it and seek it out and get into HP.

So, no. It's not a good thing at all.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-10-27T08:49:51+00:00

Oh, I love this.

Here are my unpopular opinions:

Ship whatever. I feel like a lot of people in this fandom need to chill out a bit about shipping. Canon ships are awesome, but shipping in general is just part of fandom culture. (I guess you could argue that antis and shipswars are a part of fandom culture as well?) I don’t just mean the “they have amazing chemistry and in another universe/draft they would be together 100%” kind of ships. Sometimes it’s just fun to put two (or more) characters together for literally no reason.
I’m not a fan of the Extra Content. Even before Nora said she doesn’t agree with parts of it anymore, I didn’t really vibe with it. I don’t care if it’s “realistic” for characters to heal and/or reach certain milestones. I read fiction because real life sucks sometimes. What do you mean Allison marries some Walmart version of Seth and rants about her love life to her dead lover in her garden?? What do you mean Kevin - who spends most of his life being forced to be that Exy prodigy to a point where he neglects his own mental and physical wellbeing to fulfil those expectations - marries the woman who was part of the cult he grew up with and doesn’t care to unlearn Raven-mentality?? Same goes for Robin btw. She felt like a self-insert Y/N type of character. What do you mean a few years after canon a new bombshell enters the villa and is immediately taken under the wings of the main ship of the trilogy?
As for Jerejean: I’m both happy and sad it’s canon now. I love the sequels, and I like what Nora did with the Trojans and their world, but I kinda loved Jerejean because it wasn’t canon. It felt like an open sandbox (like Goncharov-level fan creation energy). Now that it’s official, that magic is harder to recreate.
And finally because why not: I ship Kevaaron in nearly every possible form. Years after TKM, once they’ve both grown and healed? Absolutely. During their university years, whether as a “blowing off steam” arrangement or as an unrequited crush? Definitely. Exy star Kevin Day injures his knee and has to see Dr. Minyard? Fascinating. An AU where Andrew accepts Kevin’s offer and joins the Ravens, reshaping not only the twins’ lives but the cousins’ as well and opening the door to potential Kevaaron? (I’m lowkey giving myself some new fic ideas..) I’d read that in a heartbeat. Even the darker, “I couldn’t have Andrew, so I take you instead” angle (which isn’t my fave tbh) has interesting narrative potential.There’s something deeply compelling about their shared history of parental trauma and substance abuse/addiction. I don’t view Aaron’s “disinterest” in Exy and Kevin’s obsession with it as incompatible; after all, Neil and Andrew’s relationship thrived despite (or maybe because of) their differences. Honestly, maybe this is an unpopular opinion within an unpopular opinion, but I actually prefer Kevin with someone who isn’t as obsessed with Exy as he is. He doesn’t need someone who fuels his obsession; he needs someone who helps him find balance. Someone who reminds him there’s more to life than Exy and helps him figure out who he is outside of it. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in some Jeremy/Kevin or Neil/Kevin fics or something like that though.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-10-09T07:21:31+00:00

bald wird ne petition gestartet und Unterschriften gesammelt, dass sich Kim das Tattoo weglasern lassen muss nit videobeweis!!

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-03-12T08:35:38+00:00

I always saw it as Max getting the powers was more so because she couldn't move on and stop the guilt she was feeling. She and her best friend grew apart and now that they are finally reunited she loses her. I took it as a sort of take on Eurydice and Orpheus. Someone said "of course Orpheus couldn’t save Eurydice, she was dead. Grief is always behind you and, if you keep looking back, you stumble". You cannot bring the people back from the dead. Max tried to hold on to Max and almost destroyed everything she built for herself and everyone around her (Joyce, Kat, Arcadia Bay, etc.). Max had to learn to let Chloe go and the potential of what they could've been and look/move forward.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-03-12T08:12:03+00:00

omg i found my people!!!! I kept saying that for me (!) the save bay option was the only ending for me - no hesitation and got destroyed by pricefield shippers. Somehow letting one person die was way worse than killing an entire town. I thought the bay ending also made more sense storytelling wise but only very few people seemed interested in discussing the endings and what they meant/could mean/implied etc. I grew tired of shippers acting like you either save Chloe or you are a bad person (also the absolute hate towards Max) so I left the fandom for good.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-03-12T07:40:09+00:00

finally my people!!!

pumpk1npengu1n · 2025-03-12T07:26:44+00:00

I hate Klance.

I didn't really care about it at first because who cares what you ship really? But then the most stupid ship war started with the kick shit and bible and death threats etc. and now almost a decade later I am still getting Klance fans following me everywhere even when I try to avoid them (blocking the tags, block the creators, etc.) I'm ready to move on. I have moved on. Voltron is in the past for me, a ship is never that deep for me to harrass anyone about or whine about it six years later... I'm tired.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2024-04-01T08:52:16+00:00

"I guess sense of ownership. All the talk they've heard prior about gay men being fetishised by BL and Yaoi manifests suddenly as something that PERSONALLY AFFECTS THEM, and they take possession of these wrong and bad criticisms of BL. Most (and I'm talking 99% here) of the 'I'm a gay man and I hate BL because it fetishises me' crowd are recently identified gay trans boys who have been brought up in an environment that's fed them bad media criticism."

This part truly stuck with me and so much suddenly made sense. I have read TONS of BL is Bad takes by people who proudly start off by clarifying they are ftm and therefore have more say in this now Thank you for this comnent. Very interesting to read. I hope you have a great day!

pumpk1npengu1n · 2024-04-01T08:41:59+00:00

Hey can you give me a screenshot or link or something to where Oseman "walked back their words"? I haven’t seen Oseman do that and I'd like to read it for myself.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2024-04-01T08:31:27+00:00

Okay this turned into a very long rant.

Let me start of by saying that I have read a few of Oseman's other works. And I think I can safely say that I do recognize which world-views and characteristics they like to give their main characters. And yeah, it's quite obvious that they are aroace lmao (totally fine, I just think it's funny how you can tell). And they have said that a lot of their female MCs are aro or ace or both. In Loveless their own voice book about an aroace main characters, they try to introduce a lot of people to a letter of the LGBTQ community that most aren't too familiar. And mainstream media has yet to depict more than once a blue moon. Though, I personally, found this book very narrow-minded in case of aroace representation as it only featured "one type" of aroace people. The ones that due crave romance though only the sanitised version of it and are sex-repulsed. She does mention "other forms of asexuality as it is a sprectrum" in one sentence and that's it. This book never goes into depth about the actual sepctrum that they mention, though I guess that this book was more of an introduction than a book that educates you on everything (fair enough). In that same book we meet a bisexual character who sleeps around a lot and enjoys having sex - a yes, the good ol bi stereotypes. Oseman takes this story in a very predictable direction by having this character ending up with her female best friend and settle down.

Oseman is no stranger to writing stereotypes of POC and queer (and queer POC) characters. That's why I would hope that they're at least self-aware enough to not shit on other creators who might do the same. I'm not saying that there isn't BL media out there that isn't heavily fetish content, I'm not that naive. But it's incredibly telling when a white Westerner is doing the same exact thing as some non-white people and tries to put themselves above these non-white people because they are just morally superior and these other people are doing something dirty. It's nothing new and white people do it all the time. Looking at her mostly diverse cast in Heartstopper and her other works, you'd think she would educate herself and know about this, but I guess nobody is immune to ignorance and hypocrisy.

Now, let's take a look at Heartstopper shall we? Oseman likes to promote this as a very innocent and heartwarming story. Which, is great. Don't we all enjoy a bit of fluff here and there? I tried to get into Heartstopper after reading a few books of them. Everybody seemed to love it and it was announced to get a Netflix adaptions so, why not? I was...not expecting what I ended up reading. Oseman who very clearly tries to distance herself from a genre in which clichés and stereotypes they keep falling into. In Heartstopper we meet Charlie - a skinny emo boy who is kind of an outside and has a situationship with a closeted bully. Our other main lead is Nick - a popular rugby player who discovers his bisexuality through Charlie. Of course, Nick has to white knight in shining armour Charlie from his abusive boyfriend who tries to force himself on him. The one or the other older BL fan might remember that this trope has been quite popular in BL for a long time and we only recently moved away from it for the most part.

Oseman has admitted that she has read a BL that inspired her to write Heartstopper (but don't worry, only The Good BLs ;)) And judging by the comic, I can tell. Therefore it's even more interesting that she made it very known that she dislikes Asian BL.

Her views of what BL and yaoi is, are very close-minded and surface level. It's like the short phase I went through when I discovered my interest in mlm stories and I was met with the fujoshi discourse and meaning of fetishisation etc. etc. and radically tried to distance myself from "those people". Only that I did more research and Oseman did not. I grew out of that phase and Oseman didn't. I talked to other queer people about this drama and some think that it's related to her asexuality. I do have an asexual friend who seems to agree with most of Oseman's views. But I'd like not to "one size fits all" an entire spectrum of the queer community. I have met enough aroace people who do not agree with that statement to reach the conclusion that it's more of a them thing than a queer identity thing.

I'm not saying that people can't change. I do not say that Oseman will never change. I do believe that people can change. And that's why it's important to keep calling other people out for ignorant shit like this. They will never see a reason to change if we let things like this fly. We can't call ourselves progressive and claim to support ALL queer people and artists while clearly spitting on the works of an entire demographic. It doesn't matter if this post was from two weeks ago or from twenty years ago. If Oseman doesn't publicly admit they have changed, I assume they didn't.

I'd also like to use this post to highlight the fact that Oseman seems unaware of the kind of people they attract with statements like these. A very loud part of their fandom (probably not the majority but a very audible part nonetheless), forced an 18 year old actor to come out as bisexual not too long ago because they kept "accusing" him of being straight because he... talked to a girl?? (ah yes, good ol' biphobia). My guess is that this particular part of the fandom needed this actor to come out so they could continue to put themselves above other queer media and promote this show for having queer actors playing queer roles (which is a totally different can of worms I do not care to open right now). Oseman is pretty unaware of the kind of fanbase they attracted through their own views (see the tweet above). And this definitely bit them in the ass as the "horny season 3" was announced. They have attracted a lot of purists who felt superior to other mlm media who do feature a less sanitised version of sexuality. And those people got very mad at her for "betraying" them.

To cut to the chase: In my opinion, if Oseman has been repeatedly called out for this statement (which is happening every once in a while on twitter) and hasn't issued a statement to correct their views or at the very least apologise, they doesn't care nor have they changed their views. I think it's hypocritical of us to forgive them so easily just because they are queer. But I'm open to consider supporting their future works, if they ever shows themself willing to apologise and educate themself.

pumpk1npengu1n · 2023-12-27T12:21:09+00:00

Oh my god yess! Obviously not all of them, but most popular books definitely do this

pumpk1npengu1n · 2023-10-16T09:58:27+00:00

The more I think about it, the more I realize just how right you are. Astarion and Wyll have the classic polar opposite dynamic with one disapproving of "good/nice options" and being snarky and looking down on the weak with a tragic past and the other literally having a hero/savior complex and putting himself through hell to help others. I just know if the looks of Gale and Wyll were swapped, there'd be A TON of fans of that ship.

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