Read on Twitter
we should absolutely encourage LGBT creators to share complex, messy content, esp. from their perspective as an LGBT person. unfortunately, many of the tweets that say this tend to defend creators who romanticize/sexualize abuse, and that’s a serious problem we need to address.
not every story will be happy or will have a happy ending. LGBT theme-centered stories- and stories with a majority LGBT cast- aren’t exempt. it’s important to have diversity in media featuring us to remind others, and ourselves, that we’re more than just our pain OR our joy.
we need both types of content out there to show our very real, human complexities. speaking from experience as a WLW, i want more happy, sweet romance content with characters like me... but there’s also a lack of well-written conflict between wlw pairings that makes me sad.
however... many OPs of these tweets have the tendency to lump in “the right” to create legitimately harmful content that not only fetishizes the suffering others have been through, but portrays it in a way *anybody* seeing it will be impacted negatively, into this idea. it sucks.
these sentiments are true at its core, but the people who condone or create CP + other harmful content take this and shift it in a way that shields them from criticism while disregarding their LGBT siblings, especially (potentially fellow) abuse victims.
if you wanted to get mad at ANYBODY for how people are wary of these posts and assume the worst, it’s those people. through their own words, THEYRE the ones that imply incest + CSA content are inherently linked to LGBT identity, not the people calling this out and being worried.
instead of blaming and putting down these concerned people for speaking up, why aren’t we questioning that we have generation(s) of LGBT creators and consumers collectively traumatized and hurt by harmful content out there to the point of sharing this wariness with one another?
to do that only silences people and allows this to continue in a cycle. nothing gets solved and people will continue to hurt and be affected by these posts (and what they condone) in minor and major ways if we don’t take action, and *better* action on how to deal with this.
we can talk criticisms of *how* we hold (LGBT) creators accountable when done so in ways that aren’t productive or healthy to others and ourselves. but holding people in our community accountable for what they make and how it affects people is necessary for us to grow *together*
tl;dr: we need complex, messy content about LGBT people and LGBT themes. this doesn’t include fetishized abuse. why blame the people wary of posts saying this instead of wondering why there’s so many people willing to tie in harmful content like CP into the “complex & messy”?
