“When You Start To Know Someone, All Their Physical Characteristics Start To Disappear. You Begin To

Heather O’Neill (thewalrus.ca/portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-corpse)

Alois Hans Schram (detail)

i used to only hate my body but now i hate who i am as a person too lol

I used to tolerate people boosting/expressing people posting anti viewpoints, because if you’re not familiar with the discourse around all of this then their faux-wokeness and use of progressive-sounding buzzwords can be sort of deceptively persuasive (sort of similar to other reactionary communities like TERFs and ace exclusionists, and yes, it’s also the same reason why conservatives are so fond of calling people pedophiles in the same way that antis do!). I mean, hell, when I first came across anti discourse I made the mistake of taking their talking points in good faith and was fairly convinced myself.

But, honestly, in wake of this new, sickening situation with what’s been happening to that fish blog (of all places) and the numerous atrocities I’ve seen these demons pull off over the past few years I think it’s about time we starting being fucking explicit and warning people about this stuff before it goes any further. As silly as it is that we have to have this discussion in relation to fandom discourse of all things, the vile rhetoric that has become simply normalized in certain communities is leading to actual real people’s lives being at risk, and unlike the immature bastards perpetuating this nonsense I actually care about that.

Here’s a cheap rundown:

People who claim that “anti” means “anti-pedophile” or “anti-abuse” are lying, even if they’ve convinced themselves that it’s true. It’s similar to how TERFs claim to be anti-misogyny.

Folks who have reblogged anti talking points on the grounds of the above likely don’t realize the deeper context, but if they don’t want to get wrapped up in the bullshit they better pull themselves out of those communities quick.

Most of the ideas spread by the hardcore anti crowd have been coopted from SWERFs and Christian conservative environments, which is unsurprising given the amount of overlap with those communities (reactionaries flock together).

The handwringing over female fans enjoying M/M erotica, paired with poorly mistranslated Japanese buzzwords, is both cartoonish misogynist AND racist nonsense.

The idea that we can prevent real world harm by banning fiction that portrays similar harm is cartoonish authoritarian nonsense.

The idea that fanwork locked behind explicit adult content warnings and more specific triggering content warnings will warp the minds of impressionable readers and cause crimes that they commit to be the fault of the author is cartoonish reactionary nonsense.

The idea that fictional characters cannot be adapted away from their original portrayal without a transformative work “really” being about the original portrayal, despite both portrayals being equally made up, is cartoonishly ludicrous nonsense.

The idea that adults cannot interact with potentially dark topics in a safe fictional environment without being somehow “tainted” or wanting to then go and enact those ideas in real life is cartoonish conservative nonsense (see the video game panic of the 90s).

The idea that people cannot have the personal autonomy to know what kind of content they want to consume and must have been involuntarily brainwashed by society into reading “impure” works is cartoonish SWERF nonsense.

The anti “movement”, group, community, whatever you want to refer to it as, is literally nothing more than a jumbled hodgepodge of the above ideas bound together by immaturity, in-group/out-group dynamics and the thrill that unsavoury people find in having designated target to bully (there’s a reason why these folks get violent so fast, folks!). This isn’t even to touch on how their abuse is usually specifically weaponized against the neurodiverse, queer people, woman, and other marginalized groups.

Antis are not just people who don’t know any better (although they often are that), but they are actively dangerous, toxic individuals, and their community is a breeding ground for abuse tendencies. If fandom is to avoid withstanding much more of this sort of thing then we need to start actively calling out these behaviours when we see them before our communities become defined by this sort of reactionary hand-wringing in what is supposed to be this cultivated progressive and transgressive environment.

(n.b. if you are here to leave a snide comment beneath this because you’re a righteous anti who is against the “evil freaks” who are interested in dark fiction then you can do so and swiftly fuck off).

occupations for an exiled wretch

As a seasoned practicioner of ‘social distancing’, there are a never-ending list of activities with which to occupy oneself during these unsettling and exiguous times. A mere sampling below:

i) partake in an opera viewing (or two, or three…) (x)(x)(x) ii) learn a new language (the better with which to summon ancient gods) iii) plan a music/drink pairing (x) iv) throw a surrealist fine dining party (for one), à la dalí (x) v) hold a séance (x) vi) peruse online archives (x)(x)(x) vii) write an epic poem viii) purchase a chateau (x) ix) plan the ideal world-travelling itinerary (food, lodging, and activities in each place along the way in painstaking detail) x) establish a secret society (password and uniform are mandatory)

Wake Up

A series of small gods of Spring waking up from their Winter Sleep

small things to add to a hand written letter:

a teabag of your favourite tea

heart shaped note with cute drawings

stickers on the outside of the letter, and inside

handmade paper doll

small print or postcard

a sketch or a little painting or a poem

glitter or sequins or pearls or buttons

small candies or bubblegum

cut out magazine pictures or articles

folded paper, like origami

textile like small ribbons or clothing patches

coins or flat things found in a souvenir shop

pressed flower or leaf