Tag: fandom racism

a letter to the world, a friend, and to everyone else

A7 Comments

You probably don’t know me.  What I do for Stitch’s Media Mix, and Stitch, is largely unseen.  I don’t engage in fandom the same way Stitch does— or for that matter the way most of you do— I tend to more actively interact with news and sports than I do with fiction, and I really enjoy avoiding fan spaces. 

But I have known Stitch for over a decade.  I know who they are as a person and who they are as an author, and who they are as a fan.  I know the work Stitch puts in to every article that gets published on here, on Patreon, in Teen Vogue.  And I believe in the work she’s doing.  It’s VITAL that we actively think about, and actively engage in critiquing the entertainment we consume.  If we cannot critique our entertainment, if we cannot place it in the large context of our society (both how it is informed by society and how society informs what we find entertaining) then we are not doing everything we can to make a better society. 

And Stitch has chosen to not just apply critical analysis to fiction and to music, and to the reactions of the fans. She has chosen to take this really incredibly dense academic concept and make it accessible, both in terms of how it’s written (trust me, every single article Stitch writes could be SO MUCH more dense) but also how and where you have access to it.

Read More »

Thread Collection: When Representation DOESN’T Matter (8/4/2018)

Stitch1 Comment

Originally posted as a thread on Twitter on August 4, 2018

Fandom about shows/films with white queer characters: “You have to support it because it’s a win for ~all of us~ and #RepresentationMatters”

Fandom about shows/films with queer characters of color: “I don’t know why, but just don’t feel like this is something I’m interested in”

Read More »

Meme-Ing For A Reason #4 – Fandom’s Been Racist

Stitch
The “always has been meme” with the earth representing fandom and the first astronaut asking “wait, it’s all racist?” with the second astronaut holding the gun and saying “always has been”.

Fandom has always been racist.

All fandoms.

Even your fandom, whatever it may be.

Both because there are no fandoms that are actively anti racism by default and because the shape of fandom discourse in 2020 is that folks are actually super comfortable with being racist in defense of fandom. You can go back to transformative fandom at its birth and guess what’d be there… lots or racism.

Read More »

Meme-ing For a Reason #2 – Blaming “Antis”: Easier Than Speaking Up Against Racism, I Guess…

Stitch1 Comment
The “Who killed Hannibal?” meme where Eric Andre represents “weirdos in fandom” shooting “space to talk about racism in fandom spaces” and then going “why did antis do that?”

Back in February, shortly after the big wave of Rey/Kylo fans pretending they were underogoing gender based oppression over shipping their ship because John Boyega roasted them, I saw an account that identified as anti-anti (fan/shipper) or “proshipper” make a tweet that was basically like:

“Sometimes, I wish that as an anti-anti I could call out bigoted works in fan and professionally released media, but then people will think I’m actually an anti out to censor fandom”

Recentlyl, I was making memes and I remember that I’d just (as in this half of 2020) seen the same set of people – way too invested in shipping for their own good – once again complaining that they couldn’t call out or speak about racism in their specific fandom spaces. This time it wasn’t because they feared being called an anti and accused of censorship… but because they were.

And rather than pause for a moment to think about how the actual problem remains racists in fandom, I once again saw people moaning about how “antis” (and again, anti what? In what fandom? When?) are the reason why anti-antis/proshippers can’t talk about racism in fandom in their own communities.

Read More »

Meme-ing For a Reason #1 – Is This A Reason Not To Care?

Stitch

I love making memes about fandom and my experiences in fandom. Have a meme.

The “Is this a pigeon” meme with the a thirteen year old weeb mistreating people over shipping as the butterfly and adults in fandom gesturing at the weeb-butterfly and going, “is this a reason not to care about an unrelated conversation about racism in fandom?

I think it’s really funny (but like in a morbid way) when I see someone using a twitter user as an example of how bad all “antis” are (where anti can mean anything from someone harassing someone over ships to someone that dislikes a character or trope to… someone writing about racism in fandom) and that “antis” need to handle this person because there’s apparently a hive mind afoot…

And I then click through to go block and report the person because it’s my thing and then the “anti” in question is like a thirteen year old weeb shouting about a ship from a show they shouldn’t be watching in the first damn place.

Read More »

Thread Collection: Escapism Would Be Great (1/18/2019)

Stitch

Originally posted as a thread on Twitter January 18, 2019.

I saw a tweet that I’m… not gonna touch but:

Escapism in fic and fandom is great, but as a Black person, I find it impossible to escape into fandoms and fanworks that treat Black people (fictional and real) as burdens to be left on the side of the road and complained about.

I’d love for fandom to be a space where I can leave isms behind and just focus on the squee but as a Black person?

FANDOM WON’T LET ME.

Read More »

When Transformative Fandom Passes The Buck On Representation In Fandom

Stitch12 Comments

“Well if there were more well-written characters of color, I’d focus on them,” is a recurring excuse for the way content is unfairly weighted towards white characters in Western media fandoms.

I have heard it used for over a decade and it’s an excuse used to successfully argue that the thing stopping them from caring about Black/brown people in their shows is… quality and quantity.

Back when we were hearing the first rumblings of rumors for Pacific Rim Uprising’s John Boyega connection, my friend Holly over at DiverseHighFantasy posted on Tumblr that:

The PacRim fandom is already chanting for no romance in 2, but wait till they see whiteguy Jaeger Tech #3 and whiteguy cafeteria server in a 2 second shot together.

The post on Tumblr currently has over fourteen thousand notes and considering how from the jump people were insulting Holly, accusing her of “a homophobic microaggression”, saying “let women like things”… .it probably hasn’t gotten much better. From John Boyega’s interviews and how he talked about why he wanted to be a producer – this film was his production company’s first outing – we knew that the film was going to probably have a diverse cast of characters.

Read More »

[Stitch Answers Feedback] How Are You Mad About RaceFail 09 Coverage in 2020?

Stitch2 Comments

Just now (like at 9:49PM) I got a comment moderation email from D_Moze’s comment on Why White Supremacy Can No Longer Provide Cover for White Academics by Robin Anne Reid that read:

I was there for Racefail ’09 and every word you say is a filthy lie. Racefail was a couple of grifters and anklebiting anonymous trolls attacking established authors with false accusations of racism, and people like you — people who’ve never contributed a thing but hatred — made bank off of it. Shame on you.

And I since I don’t want to have Robin subject to replying to this nonsense – and I didn’t approve the comment anyway – I decided to take one for the team and reply briefly to this “feedback” so you could see that you were seen… and found frustrating.

D_Moze… In case you missed it, we are in the middle of a pandemic, seeing racist upheaval everywhere, the US still doesn’t have another president called officially, and some of us are poor because of a bunch of those things.

I can’t believe that this is what you decided to do with your time!

Read More »

Link Lineup – November 2020

Stitch1 Comment

I’ve been extremely online across October and I’m happy to say that the internet has not let me down. So I bring y’all some of the best content I’ve found across the internet between October and now!

the return of the pleasure activist

in every single aspect of life, seeking the pleasure in it makes it so much more possible for me to be deeply present in the world and sense what is needed.

now, it has become a politic for me…living not just to the point of survival, but to the point of pleasure. i am certain that pleasure is the missing piece in our movement(s) for a new world.

The first time I heard of someone calling themselves a “pleasure activist”, they were a Rey/Kylo shipper claiming that being a pleasure activist is why they’re so invested in Kylo (“if i center my pleasure on characters who i believe can and should be redeemed then that’s a manifestation of how i hope our world can heal thru pleasure”). So of course, I was kind of a dick about it because I am… kind of a dick about so many things related to Rey/Kylo shippers.

Thankfully, one of my darling social media buddies set me on the right path and showed me what pleasure activism was actually all about. Beyond what that moomoo up there said, the idea of pleasure activism actually does work for me. It’s more aligned with the theorists and thinkers I’ve been consumed by since college than anything else.

And it does not actually support focusing on the redemption of a white man as pleasure activism. That’s not how that works. (But then, that day was when someone compared not wanting a Kylo redemption arc to supporting the carceral state so… that fandom is NOT okay.)

Read More »

Thread Collection: Scapegoats (6/6/2019)

Stitch

Originally posted as a thread on Twitter on June 6, 2019

Can we all agree that it’s beyond fucked up that across multiple fandom spaces, Black people IN fandom, when critical OF fandom (usually for racism/racist fan works), are seen/portrayed as ATTACKING or POLICING “real members of fandom” and ruining fandom for THEM?

I got accused of attacking people when I was nice, when I was actually mean (mocking folks who were missing the point on my posts), and even now when I don’t engage.

Read More »

Thread Collection: FFA Racism Instance (7/22/20)

Stitch

Originally a thread on Twitter. Collecting threads to make things more accessible since I essay there too for folks off of twitter.

Oh sorry not gone because guess what, people keep lying on me (and Rukmini) in this whole AO3 thing amd like I actually state clearly what I’m about but these smooth brained racist mother fuckers turn off their reading abilities when they see me referenced (ffa.rocks/?t=2609548751)

(Aside from the fact that even if the OTW reached out to ask me if I could come on as a consultant, I wouldn’t do it because

a) full time job where I’m valued and

b) I’m not willing to fling myself into THAT racist fire, the anger at the idea that people could pay me for anti racism training is one that is actually been going on as long as I’ve had a patreon.

Nevermind, again, that 90% of my content on racism in fandom is free and either here or on my site. Or that the people who hate me won’t read it anyway. I’m apparently the only person in fandom who cannot charge for my work in fandom – which I’m already NOT ACTUALLY DOING.)

Anyway: I wonder how many of those racist little worms still have blm in their Twitter bios? (That link is a fail fandom anon mobile version which means that anons can and will say all kinds of nasty shit they want about fans of color like me, Holly, and Rukmini even as they pretend they care about anti racism in fandom. Tagging won’t solve this shit either. Like these people don’t know me and they apparently can’t read and yet… Here they are.)

Read More »

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Fandom Wank

Stitch2 Comments

Labeling the posts that fans of color make about racist fanworks (from accidental issues of representation to purposeful content created to harm) and racism from fans (again ranging from “I didn’t know this was an issue” moments to sustained targeted harassment) as “wank” or “drama” actually does contribute to people writing off what we’re talking about and experiencing. (Contrary to the “talking about racism in fandom makes it harder for folks to care about Real Racism” stance…)

If you don’t use “fandom wank” to refer to (for example) a fan creating really racist art of a Black character because they were accused of whitewashing them, but you do use it when talking about the people calling that out…

Well.

At the end of the day, if you use “fandom wank” or “drama” as your tags or terminology when you’re talking about folks talking about racism in fandom, you’re actively contributing to a culture of fandom that ignores that real harm is happening to fans of color in fandom because of the different levels of racism here. 

It’s not something I expect to see change anytime soon because this is something I’ve seen done for at least a decade and folks do love their familiarity, but – 

Consider that what’s wank and drama to you in conversations about racism in fandom – and why you tag and talk about it as such – is actually serious for many fans of color who are frustrated to see their experiences dismissed as “wank”.

Short, Sharp, and Simple: I’m Tired of White Fragility in Fandom

Stitch4 Comments

Please understand how funny it is to see someone (who I don’t know and who certainly does not know me considering how much they’re lying about me in that tweet alone) publicly admit that the reason they don’t like my work is because they have decided my goal is to make them feel bad to be white.

That’s what happened at the start of August when a twitter user I have had blocked for months started going off on a tear because I made fun of her “I write smut so edgy that Prince would’ve loved it” tweet: she actually went mask off-hood on and said that she didn’t like my articles because  “it became implicit that whiteness was a born sin in most of her tweets and articles“.

Like that’s what scared her away from my work… the idea that I, a Black person growing up in a world that makes it clear that we do not matter no matter what we do and writing at a time in history where Black people are being maimed and killed by features of whyte supremacy at really high rates, might not love whiteness right about now.

Read More »

Fandom Racism 101: Feeling Fragile

Stitch2 Comments

No one likes feeling as if they’re under attack when they’re just trying to do their thing and vibe in a space that feels right.

Fandom is comprised of digital and physical spaces populated by people from various marginalized communities and with vulnerable backgrounds or traumatic pasts. We’re talking about people constantly under fire from someone, usually for something that they are or that they’ve gone through. In fandom, sometimes criticism at every single level is constantly taken as an attack and for the most part, I do understand the process behind rejecting critique that seems aimed to injure instead of educating others.

Except when it comes to racism in fandom.

Read More »