01 July 2009 @ 11:36 pm
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
xtricks: This Week in Bigotry: Good and Bad - I've gotten tired of just sitting there going ... well, it's their contest, they can have whatever rules they want. Why, yes they can, but I don't have to sit there in silence and let them imagine there are no consequences. -
- mresundance: Blacklisted. - Because homophobia in fandom is fun, kids. -
- squi_nunc: Warnings and labels - People who object to labels IN THEIR OWN JOURNALS might have a variety of equally valid reasons. No, we are not obligated to share those with you. My journal is my space. -
- ranalore: Labels, Directories, and Communities - Suppose there was a community co-moderated by at least three, but preferrably six or seven, people who held different views in the current warnings debate. Suppose the purpose of this community was to create a directory of the individual labeling policies of fanworks creators, . . .. As proposed, would such a community be useful to you? As proposed, would such a community be hurtful or offensive to you? -
- gracecourage: On Strength. And Warnings. - I'm posting because I am furious at the number of (people I thought were) decent, caring folks who are referring to survivors of abuse and assault as "fragile, delicate, mentally ill." -
- gabriellebelle: Your LJ is not your living room. Really. - If I choose not to label and/or warn in my own space because of some notion that my space exists in an impenetrable bubble, this stranger will likely be missing important meta-info to frame my fic. -
- puella_nerdii: On Warnings; or, Getting Readers Who Actually Like Your Stuff - Warning is a damned good precaution against getting readers who will suffer actual harm from what I've written. I don't want to harm my readers. I want to challenge them sometimes, I want to get them to think about things -- and, well, sometimes I just want to get 'em horny. But I don't write fic to prove how edgy I am, or to push people out of their comfort zones. -
- ranalore: You can't actually have it both ways. - Either you are concerned about making fandom a safer space for people with triggers, or you are interested in making fandom a more comfortable and navigable space for you. Now if you take that second approach, that's fine, that's the way a lot of fandom works now. But if that's the way you roll, stop kidding yourself, and stop trying to kid other people, that you're taking the first approach. If you want to take the first approach, then you need to not dismiss other people when they tell you something you're doing is a trigger for them, no matter how inconvenient it may be to stop or reconfigure what you're doing. -
- veradee: On Labelling Fanfics; or On What and How I Read and Write - I don't mean to prohibit labels, but I also don't find them particularly helpful. For example, I have seen enough posts on the internet where some readers complained that a fic was labelled romance but didn't contain enough of the relevant elements to actually be called a romance. But if the labels are so narrowly defined there's always the danger that fics that closely stick to these labels end up being cookie-cutter fics. -
- sparky77: ... - From my perspective, it doesn't matter what started the discussion, it was the fact that the discussion was causing pain for trauma survivors that mattered. So many of the things that have been said are pretty much the exact reasons that survivors are often reluctant to open up to people about their experience -
30 June 2009 @ 01:17 pm
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
- deird1: Why Challenge Communities Rock - Challenges stretch us. They make us look for stories we’d never thought of. And they make us keep on going, even when it gets horribly difficult. -
- cruiscin_lan: My rantiness, let me show you it. - PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO BE SCARED OF THINGS, OKAY?//Warning for these things is not catering to someone else’s whims or wishes, it’s just motherfucking courteous. -
- ranalore: Okay, step back - I have had it about up to here with the assumption that anybody who chooses not to warn in their own space, or who puts up a caveat lector, is an irresponsible, lazy, malicious person, and certainly not a survivor of abuse or assault. No, I don’t think artistic integrity should trump mental health, and yes, there’s a lot of fail coming out of the anti-warning side, but in fact I know and have known people whose reasons for not warning and not joining communities that explicitly require warnings (which fandom at large IS NOT) are tied up in their own mental health. -
- hederahelix: Sizeism in Fandom--My Thoughts - Whether we see ourselves as fat, skinny, or somewhere in between, we should strive to write stories, make art, analyze things from a meta perspective, and comment on each others work in ways that do not perpetuate that, or any other prejudice. -
29 June 2009 @ 06:03 pm
Monday, June 29, 2009
28 June 2009 @ 02:51 pm
Sunday, June 28, 2009
- sarka: Right. More, on warnings.Do not assume malice. As with all debates, people are quick to slap the "omg you so evil" label on anyone who doesn't agree with them. This is a natural human reflex
Warning: Ongoing discussion of potentially triggery themes, especially for people who find the discussion itself triggery.
- adina_atl: Fandom safe space--or not - One of the things that is often assumed and sometimes explicitly said is that "Fandom is a safe space," with the implication that we should be more careful than the rest of the world to protect the feelings and psychological scars of our fellow members of fandom. It's...an interesting idea. Might be nice if it were true, but in reality fandom is the least safe space I voluntarily enter. -
- ataniell93: Seriously about to lose my shit here. - I have to admit my reaction to finding out that someone considers it reasonable to warn for racism in historical fiction and large age differences between consensual adult partners was a whole lot of "holy fuck, I hope you don't start a trend, because I am so not following that one." -
- morgan32: On warnings and triggers - I strongly dislike warning on fic. I think much of the time warnings act as spoilers. But you know what? I still put warnings on my fic. Because that's just what you do when you write stuff as dark as I do. You take account of the fact that some of what you're putting out there can hurt people. -
- glitterandlube: Sorry, but I have to decline - The problem is, yes, this is one simple thing. Until it turns into one more thing, and something else, and oh, you can't do this, that, and the other thing because someone, somewhere, might be offended or hurt. Then I might as well never talk. -
- suaine: does writing equal responsibility? - Warnings like "non-con", "rape" and "deathfic" (more on that later) are the least I can do. They tell you, the reader, that I intend to go down into the dark cave, they tell you that I'm about to hurt you, and they let you decide if you think you can trust me enough to make it worth it. This trust is something I have to earn. -
- bowlerhat_girl: can someone answer this for me? - Please explain to me how emotional scars, flashbacks, nightmares, and diverse issues can be a privilege? Or perceived as a privilege? -
- tiffanytwisted: This is not the squee you're looking for - The reason I didn't want to post had more to do with the general feeling that, in order for anything I might post to be taken seriously, I would have to lay my own experience with sexual violence on the table, which I am unwilling to do to satisfy someone else's criteria of whether I am "qualified" to have an opinion. -
27 June 2009 @ 09:47 pm
Saturday, June 27, 2009
- stultiloquentia: I Warn for Sestinas - So. Warn for trauma in your fic headers, or make your general policy on warnings easy to find. Snarking about slippery slopes is distractionary; you're being asked to perform a simple social courtesy, not become somebody's parent. Avoid all semantic arguments and/or paragraphs that begin with the words, "Well, technically," use your noggin and try not to be an ass. -
- twistedchick: Re fiction, et alia. [Wind in the trees] - The author's job is to write the story, not to cater to the reader's desires, whims, allergies, nightmares, phobias and difficulties. -
- luminosity: An alternative to Imeem. - I'd like to offer up BAM Video Vault. . . . Comments are welcome! I'll do my best to answer questions. If I don't know the answer, I'll point you to someone who does. -
- ivorygates: WARNING: I WILL NOT WARN - If you're that mentally and emotionally fragile, you probably shouldn't be reading fic at all. Or watching television. Or reading regular novels. And for god's sake, you'd better get off the internet right now. -
- emrinalexander: I've had clinical depression my whole life - I love any writer who is kind enough to put a summary, a warning, a pairing on their fics. It's wonderful and I thank each one of you who does this. I am so grateful because it makes my life just a little easier, it makes my ability to police my own fannish experience just a little easier to accomplish. Because, yes, I do try to police my own experience -
- wistfuljane: Open Letter to Authors - Dear authors who are [confused/angry/frustrated/tired] of the pro-warning camp trying to force their case on fandom yet again in this round of Warnings Whatever '09 debate, -
- sarka: Here, have a deconstruction of my problems for the benefit of fandom.Warning: This post contains a discussion of mental health issues. May be triggery to some.
Fandom was one of my escapes, in a situation where I was already having a hard time coping. I had just entered a fandom which was relatively new to me, so I was reading at a pretty voracious rate, especially because I had, frankly, very few things to do with my free time.//And then I read a story.
- quillori: Warnings - * We condemn racist comments because we believe racism itself is wrong, not because we are worried some POC might stumble across it and feel hurt. No one is arguing (I certainly hope no one is arguing) that writing about traumatic subjects is in any way wrong, and surely no one thinks racism would be fine if only it were warned for so you could avoid reading it. -
- hermitsoul: Following it through - A little 'advice' I've found in anti-warning posts. -
- cesperanza: Further updates on Blip and BAM - I wrote to some fair use/remix folks this morning who've been using Blip to host remix videos, and got really positive responses re: vidding and fair use and their experiences there. -
- vchrusch: [in vidding] Looks like Imeem is probably no longer vidder friendly - Well, is there any other sites that some of us can migrate to now? -
26 June 2009 @ 06:02 pm
Friday, June 26, 2009
25 June 2009 @ 08:15 pm
Thursday, June 25, 2009
- green: on triggers and warnings - I am mad as hell over some people saying that impertinence is a "professional victim" or an attention whore. What she did and continues to do is incredibly brave and powerful. That goes for everyone else who has spoken up and said 'hey, I'm a survivor, and here is how you are hurting me'. -
- wistfuljane: Stating the obvious, or, what is Warnings Debate '09 about? - It's about providing many PTSD survivors, but most importantly sexual abuse survivors, a tool (i.e. warnings for common, known triggers such as rape) to navigate fandom safely without depending upon a third party -
- impertinence: Oh my god, okay. Here's the thing. - Disagree with me all you like. That is okay! I'm not so much of a n00b that I think this discussion's never happened before and will never happen again. But please do not just dismiss entire arguments wholesale because you want to be able to feel cynical and blase and anything but earnest like those overly sensitive rape victims. -
- ciderpress: - Where we go from there and how lables/tags/warnings/metadata might be applied to squicks and dislikes? That's something else, that's to do with another group of people (like me! I don't like deathfic! I appreciate it when headers let me in advance! Although, no, I'm not triggered and no, it doesn't stop me from functioning and no, I don't demand it from you, the writer.) and I strongly do not agree that this is a question, a hoop that survivors who are raising awareness and petitioning fandom for consideration and understanding should have to jump through before they are heard. -
- vito_excalibur: warnings - "But I don't wanna put warnings on my stories! Why don't you just get your friends to read all the fic you're interested in first and vet it for you?";//Sure, you can totally see that, right? Every time you feel like reading some fic - which is how often? Be honest, now - you don't have to tell me, but just between you - you, you'd be posting this how many times a week? -
- misscam: To warn or not to warn, that creates the wanky comments - I expect you to warn if your fic contains rape or consent issues. If you were unaware your fic came across that way and enough people tell you why it did, I expect you to add warnings. -
- jetamors: Warnings!wank, and the post I didn't make about Racefail - If someone says "I'm triggered by non-con, please warn in some way so that I can protect myself," the correct response to that is not "Nah, I'm not convinced that I should warn, you'll have to persuade me." -
- natsuko1978: The Warnings Debate (NB includes non-graphic discussion of things that should be warned for) - What gets me is that if a writer is putting a character through a rape, or PTSD, or a disabilty, or the death of their SO, and is working with that character's feelings and reactions to and about the situation, how can the writer fail to see that some readers may be adversely affected? -
- blindingsight: untitled - If you are an author you have the responsibility to tell your audience what your fic is about. This includes adding Warnings for potentially triggering material. I don't care if you think it's going to spoil your story. -
- ignaz: I can't think of one - One of the best things fandom has taught me is when to speak up and when to sit down and listen (or get up and walk away, as the case may be). -
- oliviacirce: On Being A Village Elder: An Essay On Community Responsibility - Any community is as chaotic as the people who make it up, and fandom is certainly no exception. The fact that a larger fandom community does exist, however, is evidenced by the term itself: that we say we are "in fandom" -
- carmarthen: Warnings and labels, oh my! - Probably not going to have time to redo website until next year, but how do you choose to label and warn? What kinds of warnings or lack of warnings bug you as a reader? -
- robling_t: *tap, tap* is this thing on...? - Is it just me, or has it been ten years since anything new has managed to break out to the level of becoming part of the collective consciousness? -
- librarianstales: Triggers and Warnings and Community Standards - Not being a good host may give you a reputation that you don't want, much like the recent drama. Either change your own personal policies of warnings on your lj, select your flist carefully or just make peace with the fact that a lot of people won't be coming around anymore -
- lcsbanana: This is not okay. - I've only ever once before made a post intended to publicly call someone out for their behaviour, several years ago. I certainly never thought I would be doing it about other fans, but apparently I have to. -
- azurejay: i'm a loose bolt of a complete machine. - If that means you, as a writer, have to give up a little control over your reader(s)--or you, as a reader, have to give up a little of the element of surprise--so be it. -
- secondsilk: On warnings part I - Labelling give us an optimistic outlook on fandom, not labelling gives us a pessimistic one. -
- chasingtides: This Isn't Just An Internet Problem - When you tell a survivor that s/he should just shut up and deal with it, you are acting along with the rest of the culture that silence survivors. You are speaking alongside all of the people who have told us it is inappropriate for us to talk about what happened to us. When you tell a survivor that the survivor wanted to be a victim, chose to be a victim, or was asking for it somehow, you are standing among many who speak for the victim-blaming culture -
- such_heights: a little warning would be nice - So I'm trying to get my head around the idea that there's a big difference between saying "hey, this uncut post is super spoilery for people who haven't seen last night's episode yet, you should cut it" and "hey, this story might be very triggery for survivors of sexual violence, you should warn for that". Adding the warnings is about the same amount of effort in both cases, and wow, the second kind of sounds like the one more worth avoiding. -
- tejas: The Warnings Thing - What I really can't see the sense in is *not* using the warnings that are standard for the specific fandom. The usual reason I see given is that "it would ruin the story". I gotta say, if that will ruin the story, maybe the story isn't all it's cracked up to be. -
- ineptshieldmaid: Fandom: coming up with new and interesting varieties of wank each week - I like the idea that I can decide, on the day, whether I want to read dub-con, and that I can weigh it against things like how much I like the author or the prompt or the pairing. -
- lerah99: Warnings and Fandom - Personally, I am a fan of warnings. -
- helgatwb: Random thoughts, again. - I know there is no way to warn for every trigger, but there are some things which are common triggers that affect a lot of people. Warn for them. -
- antennapedia: This is all procrastination from writing, you realize. Somebody should kick me. - Story headers aren't about spoiling the content; they're about reader strategies. -
- eyebrowofdoom: Bite my privileged speaking position - As far as I can tell, virtually no one on the "warnings non-compulsory" side has argued that no one need ever warn for anything. As far as I call tell, virtually no one on the "warnings compulsory" side has argued that is necessary to warn for everything that could upset anyone anywhere in existence. -
- telesilla: Fandom as a Safe Space? Depends on who you are. - I'm also in favor of people who know they could be triggered being aware that, while fandom is trying, people will slip up and when they do it's not out of malice. That sometimes when you have an allergy that can kill you, you need to depend on your own reading of labels and your friends' input and just in general, be a little more cautious. I believe that fandom is a community and, as with any community, everyone needs to contribute to fixing the problems that exist. -
- prozacpark: random updates/thoughts. - I also don't think slash is as gender-politics free as slashers like to think, because there's a good bit of slash that turns around and gender encodes the men so they're still playing those het gender roles. And even when it doesn't, it is still a genre that EXCLUDES women from meaningful relationships. -
- emeraldsword: untitled - What makes a space 'safe'? Who decides that the space is safe and is there a responsibility from anyone to maintain that 'safe' label? -
- ignaz: Warnings - An author who wants to post a story to the Archive must select one or more of the above seven options: one or more of four basic warnings, one of two "choose not to warn" options, [...]or a cheerful assurance that none of the above are applicable to the story at hand. -
24 June 2009 @ 09:09 pm
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
- kalpurna: wanky but true - We're a community of women. We are a COMMUNITY of WOMEN. -
- giandujakiss: The warnings thing. - I do not recall ever reading an author's warning that I felt spoiled a fic for me. -
- sageness: $0.02 on this year's fic warning kerfuffle - It's like putting in a stoplight at an intersection where there's been an accident. You don't realize there's a need until it's too late, but at that point the need is clear and putting in a light will save others from harm. That's common decency. -
- destina: Where is my sparkly pony, and why is it covered in manure? - I thought quite a bit about how fandom raises my blood pressure now instead of chilling me out, most of the time. -
- fairestcat: Morning Rant - Where the HELL did this idea come from that only penetrative acts = "sex". -
- giddygeek: Really? This is where we are? - It's so interesting to me that here we are, writing stories about falling in love, and armageddon, and people turning into penguins; here we also are, examining our privilege and doing what we can to make sure every voice is heard. -
- carolyn_claire: I, too, am a veteran of the Haircut Warning Wars - Seriously. They happened. (And may still be happening, for all I know.) Those who don't believe that people in different fandoms at different times have argued HARD for warnings for different things, things that YOU may find trivial or absurd but THEY obviously didn't, because you haven't seen the arguments--believe it. Really. The longer one bops around fandom and the more fandoms one bops in, the more one will see this. Your not having seen it does NOT mean it hasn't happened, so stop behaving as though it does. -
- blackboggart: Warning wank and 'artistic integrity' - The phrase "artistic integrity" is very heavily related to the phrase "artistic responsibility". There is an expectation of an artist, that no matter what you are putting out into the world, you have a full blown responsibility to your work. On the physical side, if you are creating a public artwork, you have to research the rules and regulations and make your art safe for a public space. If you create a sculpture, and that sculpture is unstable and hurts a member of the public you are liable. -
- telesilla: It's too late to worry about slippery slopes; we're already on one. - BDSM -- So here we come to it. There I've been talking about death and rape and child abuse and then all of a sudden...here's something that is an integral part of my sexuality being comapred with those three things. Somehow fandom has decided that a form of consensual sex needs to be warned for, like it was the same as death or rape or child abuse. -
- wistfuljane: This is what happens when I engaged in comment discussions - I'm so tired of the argument that readers who have triggers should assume the worst of an unwarned story (one without a warning or a warning disclaimer). That they should check with the author, a friend, a search engine, whatever to make sure that it would be safe for them to read. I mean, that what's I would do if I have a food allergy!//Here, have some statistics! -
- naath: Meta Meta - But increasingly I'm find that there are a lot of topics that simply can't be discussed in a public forum, because others come along and refuse to let the discussion happen; and I find that bad because, whilst of course we could all retreat to closed communities, it makes it much harder for people who are just starting to dip their toes in the water to find things. -
- impertinence: Regarding Privilege - Triggering is directly related to rape and sexual abuse. Moreover, it is incredibly common for people who have triggers in fandom to, in fact, have sexual assault related triggers. The fact that these triggers exist, and the fact that so many people are totally unaware of what triggering really means, is very strong evidence of a problem that I have outlined in many previous posts: the cult of silence surrounding sexual violence victims. -
- vassilissa: On triggers and warnings - I know you're really attached to not disclosing what the surprise is in your Peanut Surprise, but you know, even restaurants warn. It doesn't mean disclosing the whole recipe, it just means going over the most common allergens: nuts, peanuts, eggs, dairy, seafood, wheat. -
- queenofhell: warning: wank - it is completely insane to me that we even have to have this discussion at all, and it is deeply, deeply depressing that we are having in this particular fashion. Some of the arguments I'm seeing are frankly mind-boggling, and unfortunately really familiar. -
- quettaser: WARNING THIS POST CONTAINS SUBSCRIPTS AND VARIABLES - What is the net cost to the fandom community - measured in some made-up unit of personal effort/thought - of warning vs. not warning? -
- fairestcat: I Don't Care Abut Blair Sandburg's Hair - I want to have today's fight. I want to state my case and make my argument and I am more than willing to discuss and defend that argument. I'm even willing to discuss arguments being made elsewhere during this iteration of the debate. What I'm not willing to do is discuss, defend or be held responsible for what someone else said some unknown number of years ago in a completely different section of the internet before I was even in fandom. -
- solar_cat: I Can See the Wank at the Doorstep, but I Just Gotta Ask... - How do you parse these terms? Is it "dub-con" to you when you as the reader are fully aware that both characters are mentally consenting but one character isn't aware of the other's consent? Are "non-con" and "rape" the same thing, or is there a difference? -
- winterweathered: the lights illuminate the exit signs over the wings - it would be nice of you to put in a note in your header. "There is no non-con in this story. If you have other specific triggers, feel free to message me and ask me about the content!" This [...] OPENS THE DOOR [...] making it clear that you are receptive to people's personal issues and will be NICE about answering questions. It ALSO gives your reader the option to take responsibility for his or her own mental well-being. -
- amadi: Warnings & How To Do 'Em - Now, for those who wish to include warnings [...] and wish to do so in a way that protects those who do not wish to be spoiled by warnings from said spoilage, in a manner accessible to users of all browsers, all OSes and screenreaders for the visually impaired (while still preserving screenreader users' ability to not be spoiled by a warning if they'd rather not be) I come bearing HTML for you... -
- reflectedeve: odds are, you won't like what it is - There is some measure of common consensus over what triggers may be the most common and thus the most important to warn for (thus helping the broadest number of readers): these tend to include any sexual consent issues (from rape through dubious under-the-influence situations), child abuse, self-injury, and suicide, etc. However, complete consensus is going to be impossible, and covering all possible triggers even moreso. This does not invalidate the importance of using warnings. -
23 June 2009 @ 04:44 pm
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
- ix_tab: Triggers, warnings and such - We don’t have a responsibility to invisible strangers, all of them wagging their disapproving fingers at us. We have a responsibility to our friends and our friends friends that we try to make it that what is supposed to be fun and enjoyment doesn’t harm them. -
- iamsab: spring is for ficathons - When I remix, I read through and try to isolate what the original author hung the story on, the punchline or the key elements or the perspective or whatever, and then have to make the decision as to whether my remix is going to keep that nucleus or not. -
- swan_tower: awesomeness and fair use - Collage can qualify as transformative work, so far as I’m aware; you can cut up and re-use copyrighted material in order to make a larger work. Montages are the same thing, in video. So if you put together a montage which serves a distinct purpose, one not identical to that of the original material, then yes, I think it should count as fair use. -
- boosette: How To Make Text Disappear With HTML. - What I am going to show you all how to do is the white-out warning [...] -
- nextian: by the way, the brothers bloom rocked - I have also heard a lot of people say: but when we do not warn, we are not acting in bad faith. I am getting really sick of the phrases good and bad faith. I am not really sure what they mean. Of course you’re not intentionally setting out to hurt someone. If there is one thing fandom should have picked up on by now, it is that intention really isn’t everything. -
- darkrose: Sometimes, the obvious isn’t. - Two things bother me most about the warnings discussion.//The first is the assumption that there are only two kinds of authors: those who always warn, and those who never warn. If you always warn for some things, but fail to warn for something that turns out to be a trigger for someone, you are automatically lumped in with the “never warn” group, and labeled selfish and thoughtless for not warning. -
- airgiodslv: Community - We are a community of minorities, of all colors and sexual orientations and gender identities and religions. We have a responsibility, to ourselves and to each other, to do no harm. Part of what this means is that just as we inform each other, we look out for each other. Part of what being in this community means is that every person in it has a right to feel safe. -
- wistfuljane: I am sorry - Following the initial incident that sparked the recent Bandom warnings debate (round #2), a significant number of fans blamed readers for asking for warnings. -
- phoebe_zeitgeist: I suppose it’s not suicide until I hit ‘post.’ - The problem isn’t so much with the idea that warning for rape will lead to warning for haircuts, so much as it is that a norm of loud upfront warnings for potentially harmful ideas in written material in general is a troubling thing to contemplate. -
- reflectedeve: the other part of it’s for you - Obviously, we will never be able to enforce a warnings standard on fandom. Standards and awareness vary widely, and some people just don’t care. This seems to me a pretty poor reason not to ask for that standard, as much as possible, and it certainly is no justification for trying to SHUT SURVIVORS DOWN. -
- were_lemur: Thinky Thoughts: Rape vs “Non-Con” - Is a fic that is described as non-con different, somehow, that one which is described as rape? Perhaps non-con has some characteristic (the victim secretly enjoys it? and/or falls in love with the perpetrator?) that makes it a specific, separate genre? Could non-con be rape as self-aware kink, as opposed to treating it as a serious matter? -
- untappedbeauty: On warnings and analogies - I genuinely wish that those arguing against warnings on fic would stop using analogies. Analogies are a GREAT way of making light of an issue that doesn’t deserve to be made light of. They’re a great way of derailing an argument with something that IS NOT COMPARABLE to the issue at hand. -
- thingswithwings: again? we’re having this debate again? - how many times do we have to have the warnings debate before we all stop arguing for our privilege to intentionally hurt people? -
23 June 2009 @ 12:21 am
Monday, June 22, 2009
- zvi: Warnings - The thing about this is, I am perfectly okay with people needing warnings to decide whether or not to read a story. And I am okay with them deciding that if they don't get a warning, then they won't read a story. I don't understand why they insist that all stories have warnings. If there is no warning on the story, then you do not have information on whether or not something triggering is in the story. Why is that hard to grasp? -
- flourish: Thinking about triggering - I don't like the thought that my stories would put someone into great emotional distress. I may seek to evoke certain moods, but I never seek to evoke that kind of deep emotional pain, and I think that's probably true for 99% of authors. And, yeah, adding warnings is something small that I can do that will make life a whole lot better for some people, and I think that's my obligation - or at the very least, it's my obligation to make it crystal clear that my story is "read at your own risk". -
- impertinence: Sexual Assault, Triggering, and Warnings: An Essay - survivors are not asking for extensive warnings on their rare and/or particularly specialized squicks. Survivors are asking that authors not hurt them even further by placing them in danger of being thrown back to such harmful mindsets. Survivors are asking that they be given a tool that helps them choose their fandom space and continue to heal, rather than have the same wounds reopened. And most importantly, survivors are asking for something that they did not have at the time of the assault(s): the power to say no. The power to not be made helpless and afraid.
Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.
- fluterbev: Meta: The Rules of Fandom (Part 1) - So now, without further ado, I present to you the Rules of Fandom. -
21 June 2009 @ 10:08 pm
Sunday, June 21, 2009
- xparrot: black and white and read only in specific fan circles - But more than that, it seems like some ziners are perturbed by the thought that scholars and non-fans might be able to read their zines. [..] And I admit...this baffles me. -
- iamtheenemy: Warnings and such - Expecting warnings for common triggery things like rape, death, incest or dubcon isn't priveleged, for fuck's sake. It's expecting some common courtesy from the community that we're all involved in. You know what is priveleged, though? Having the luxury to be able to complain about people needing warnings, because those specific issues don't trigger you personally. -
20 June 2009 @ 03:43 pm
Thursday, June 18, 2009
19 June 2009 @ 11:02 pm
Friday, June 19, 2009
- amalnahurriyeh: Salvador Dali as Fanartist - But Dali deliberately reworked pieces by artists he loved and was obsessed with, in order to uncover shades of hidden meaning or provide a hidden subtext or otherwise change and fuck with the meaning of the original work. He had something to say about those other paintings, and he figured out a way to say it. -
- musesfool: hide your heart, girl - I was also thinking about threesomes yesterday, about writing them, and how for me they always seem to hinge on one member of the trio as the ...fulcrum, I guess would be the right word, or pivot - the point around which the relationship turns. -
18 June 2009 @ 10:15 am
Wednesday, June 18, 2009
16 June 2009 @ 02:32 am
Monday, June 15, 2009
- meganbmoore: In which I ramble about THOSE subjects with no real central thought - So while you have a reaction to canon that can boil down to "I prefer the relationship between A/B to A/C because A/B are more equal to A/C" inequalities between the genders in your own writing, or perceptions in approaching canon (in my admittedly limited reading of fanfic, power imbalances between characters usually seemed to be far greater than they were in the canon) would seem to be based on internalized bias, not nature or anything about the way things "have" to be. -
- capriuni: Davros, Daleks, and Disability Again (Almost a year later) - So, with Davros in the picture, the Dalek mythos only perpetuates and reinforces the hierarchy of Ability and Personhood. The more able you are, the more you're a "real" person. -
- accioslash: More Comments About...Comments - I've even gone so far as to rec something in my journal or on a list but not actually comment to the author. In the overwhelming majority of those cases it's because the author is someone I don't know or is in a non-HP fandom. I'm weird about commenting to people I don't know. -
- nellorat: LJ and Me Part II: Insidious Ideas - I think I agreed with those who grew to deplore my comments much, much more than we disagreed. However, both in the entries in RaceFail and in the entry on men & rape in cereta's LJ, a number of people seemed to hold a number of beliefs that I find not only wrong but also pernicious. -
14 June 2009 @ 07:52 pm
Saturday, June 13, 2009
12 June 2009 @ 10:16 pm
Friday, June 12, 2009
- threewalls: [Meta] Vanilla is not normal. Vanilla is a kink. - Related to this, I would like to say that I like my kink explicit rather than masquerading as "normal", and my kink dynamics not to pretend that they are gender dynamics. -
- vector: Essay on pairings and such - But I feel like a lot of the time people treat it like that's the choice - that het is going to be mostly following traditional societal standards for what a relationship is and slash is going to be mostly following fandom standards for what a relationship is. And, I mean, if you're choosing between those, obviously slash will win - you're at least starting with a relationship between "equals" there, or at least not actively demeaning your own gender. That's a really terrible choice, though, because there are a lot more things you can do with both het and slash. -
11 June 2009 @ 10:03 pm
Thursday, June 11, 2009
- rm: patronage, transactional relationships and fandom - When you pay for that ticket to that event with the smart party with the celebrity guests or what have you, you are not paying for that celebrity to be your friend or to give you special access -- whether to themselves, their private sphere, or information about their work. -
- penguin_attie: Attn Germans in Fandom: Internet Censorship debate and why this concerns YOU - This means that if the BKA determines that it does not like one single LJ entry, ALL OF LJ IS GOING AWAY. -
- penknife: On point of view - The thing is usually that there's a big difference between what I can show from one character's perspective and what I can show from another's. -
- jessriley: The Responsibilities of a Beta. - How much responsibility does a beta have toward a writer? You could argue that it varies depending on the expectation of both parties, but a point I feel very strongly about is the responsibility of trust; the trust that your beta will keep all your flaws, your weaknesses and your vulnerabilities in confidence. -
- hannahrorlove: Thoughts on Alternate Universes and the construction thereof. - To apply a gardening metaphor, when I work on an AU that isn't meant as a one-off joke to be read in ten to fifteen minutes for a laugh or a story where the elements that make it an AU have been so recently integrated that tracking the changes is mostly asking what's going to happen next, I don't want to stop at grafting or transplanting new elements or the characters into a new situation or context. -
- musesfool: there's still some time to change the road you're on - I know most writing advice says you'll end up cutting your stories by up to a third in the editing process (this is talking about novels, so scale it down, I guess, for short stories), but my stories often grow - sometimes by up to a third - in the editing process, because even after all these years, and many different betas telling me not to leave that stuff out (whatever "that stuff" may be for a particular story), I still tend to underwrite than overwrite.. -
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kanata: Comfort Zones - What I write is what I'm interested in. These are the things I think are interesting, the types of stories I enjoy. So if this is my "comfort zone", what is beyond that? -
- rodo: Languages & Fandom - A Poll - What language(s) do you use to participate in fandom? [POLL] -
07 June 2009 @ 01:56 am
Saturday, June 6, 2009
- elke_tanzer: More thinky thoughts about cons, My Spaces and Not So Much My Spaces - Overnight I found myself thinking about how different people (I won't even try to generalize into groups or realms of professions or realms of fandoms) define the word "panel", and what structures (as opposed to topics) of panels I enjoy. -
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sqbr: Old school fandom: Can we fix it? - But I'm sick of so many conversations being framed as "Why my form of fandom is Better and the True Form Of Fandom", so that even when it's true (in at least one respect) it's hard to engage with an open mind -
- coffeeandink: Unpopular opinions - Look, I'm sorry, science fiction fandom is not a special snowflake and media fandom is not the greatest place ever for racial discourse. -
- gabrielleabelle: Newsflash: Women are interesting - The heart of the Bechdel test is an unfortunate truth: our media has the assumption that men are not interested in women except as they relate to men. It is thought that a conversation between two women that isn't about a man could not possibly interest men. -
- dysprositos: Fannish expectations - what expectations do we (Western media fandom as found on LJ and other journaling services, and united with such communities as Metafandom, Fandom_Wank, Fandom_Secrets, and so on) have of each other that are not related to fandom but that are not expectations we would have for humanity at large? -
- arabia764: For the love of fandom - I don’t tell everyone but a lot of people do know. The husband knows what I write, my boys know how much I like J&J, my parents know I went to the conventions. -
04 June 2009 @ 04:16 pm
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
- aquaeri | An Abstract of an Essay - So, there's all these people, you, me, our families, our neighbours, our peoples and nations and cultures. And somewhere it becomes too hard for our big monkey brains to see lots of individuals and we start seeing groups. And something that at least I am very guilty of is that I see what the group wants, or what I think the group wants, and it's often quite antagonistic to me and what I want. -
