shipping-isnt-morality:

“Abusers will see this content as support for their abuse!”

Also seen phrased as “even if you aren’t an abuser yourself, you’re contributing to the culture that normalizes it!”

Let’s unpack this, because it’s one of the more common anti arguments.

I have a feeling that this comes from the popular “rape jokes are bad because any rapists in the audience think you’re on their side” mentality. I have issues even with that, but if that argument is true, it still doesn’t correlate to shipping.

1. The size, context, and composition of the audience matter. Fandom is disproportionately vulnerable groups in our society, meaning that already, the vast majority of people both creating and consuming this content are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. The exact opposite is true for most mainstream comedy.

2. The social influence of fandom is minuscule compared to the influence of a single comedian. More people watch Comedy Central every day than have read the top 10 most popular avengers fanfics of all time. And it’s not just minuscule in terms of audience scale; media’s ability to influence us is directly tied to its quality.

3. Labeling fic as appropriately keeps it from validating abusers. The reason for this is pretty simple: abusers do not call themselves abusers. They’ll avoid that term at all costs, even after they’ve been convicted. Rape culture will not call itself rape culture. By acknowledging that this content is something to be warned for, by calling a spade a spade, any validation comes at the expense of admitting that they’re an abuser.

4. Shipping does not inherently minimize something the way that jokes do. Humor relies on a topic not being take too seriously; shipping, and fiction in general, is perfectly capable of taking on serious topics without minimizing them. And tying back to the previous point – explicit acknowledgement of the issues, or even implicit acknowledgement of the issues, nullify the biases any kind of media create. If you START OFF with, “What is depicted here is abuse”, it literally stops the process of normalization in its tracks.

5. No media, no matter how widespread, has the power to make people behave in antisocial ways except a few rare people who already had issues with that kind of behavior. Sure, movies inspired people to buy a certain kind of pet or visit a previously unknown location; those are all pro-social behaviors. Rashes of rapes, assaults, murders, domestic abuse cases in the wake of media portrayals – regardless of tone – are unheard of. Because social condemnation is stronger than fiction.

TL;DR A marginalized group writing a warned for story on an appropriate platform with a small audience cannot contribute to normalization. At all. Stop attacking fandom creators.