So I did some statistics on ao3 today (half-assed, no .cvs file pulling, used just the filters on the side), and what really stuck out to me was how much gen there was in the Silm tag - which makes this particular fandom rather unique. Numbers under the cut:
Reblogging this. This is not a fandom where it’s impossible to find gen or that’s overrun by shipping content. About 50% of fic in the ao3 silm tag is gen, about 40% is gen tagged with no pairings, and about 90% of it is not rated explicit. It’s not a fandom that ignores gen either - about half of the most popular fics are gen.
If you dislike something, it’s easy to see it as ubiquitous, but no one ship or character or group of characters predominates in this fandom. Even the Feanorians are only tagged in about 50% of fic on ao3, but over ten thousand fics on ao3 are not tagged with Feanorians.
I blacklist tags liberally, highly recommend, and am more than happy to talk about the tools I use to do so if anyone’s interested.
the tolkien fandom really is a place where in the year of the lord 2022 you can post stuff like “I just think friendship is better than shipping!” and people nod along and don’t think to check whether the op is a homophobic christian who has absolutely zero issues with any form of het shipping. it’s just those pesky ship-crazed gays, making everything sexual and forgetting the Nuance! (they are absolutely a homophobic christian. like, invariably.) I’m genuinely amazed that either a) people don’t apparently catch the vibe? they don’t smell the bigotry? b) they smell it and don’t think it’s worth saying a word about; c) apparently a good number of people agrees. I can’t think of a single other fandom right now where that would be allowed to fly. and you know, I tell myself I won’t be getting into discourse, but that means dumb character discourse; but this kind of thing is incredibly alienating (and infuriating, and disheartening) to see happening over and over, in communities that otherwise I’d call my own.
This is extremely important, and I definitely have more to say on the topic.
It’s getting to the point where I almost insta-block anyone who mentions the name “Meril” and doesn’t say “Orodreth” in the same sentence.
I thought we were a particularly good fandom about this, but it turns out no, so, somany people are just outright homophobes.
As undercat-overdog put it (I don’t want to tag them unnecessarily), “interesting how none of these people talk about Aredhel/Celegorm”.
It also sucks as an aro person, because we can’t really talk about our aro headcanons for a character without inevitably denying a gay ship that character is in using the same arguments that the homophobes use. “You’re technically making a good point but shut up” doesn’t feel like a very good critique when you’re trying to combat this sort of rhetoric.
see, I think when talking about a specific ship, my impression is that a lot of the time, people are actually complaining about a specific ship. Sometimes they’re not and you see the signs everywhere that the real problem is the gay not the ship, but oftentimes a ship just gets on peoples nerves, it’s not their thing, they’re a contrarian, etc. But then if in the post they go from complaining about Samfro or Russingon to talking about how we just don’t value friendship enough, making it clear that it’s the shipping in general not specific aspects of the ship… a lot of the times if you check out OP they’re homophobic.
I don’t have data to back that up, but I really dislike the auto accusation that frequently happens that anyone who doesn’t like Russingon is homophobic, when, hey, it’s the most popular ship in the fandom by far and so if it’s not your thing it’s got to be a bit grating.
I think the way to talk about a ship you think of as platonic that is frequently portrayed as romantic is to talk about the specific reasons from the text or from your headcanon that really make that platonic relationship appealing. So it’s not just friendship over shipping! but grounded in more specific details.
Agreed, ad I generally find it easy to tell when complaints about a ship are based in homophobia (or other bigotry) and when it’s based in dislike of the ship in question because a person just doesn’t like the ship. (And assuming I’m correct about the post this was written in reference to, it was absolutely and obviously homophobic.) Hating russingon isn’t homophobic and that realllly shouldn’t be used as an attack in ship wars, but hating it because it perverts the creator’s vision and mars ~pure friendship is a giveaway, especially when talking about male friendships, plural, being tainted by shippers who do stuff like that; the reasoning and language of disgust/purity is something to watch for.
There’s also, I feel, reasoning based in the idea that romantic relationships are lesser than friendships, and that I’m also very uncomfortable with (especially since attacking romance as a genre is often done in sexist or misogynistic ways). Romance is not empty of meaning, it is not hollow, and it is not a lesser or lower form of love. It’s important to have space for ace and aro interpretations and not put them down, and it sucks that hating a ship for reasons based in homophobia can look similar to reasons based in genuinely preferring friendships to romantic relationships and liking and finding meaning in aro headcanons, but if you’re unsure about a post a quick glance at the op’s blog can often give you a clue. But there’s a difference between preferring reading about friendship and non-romantic relationships, talking about how you like an aroace reading of #character and putting down romance and shippers as lesser, and I see the latter a fair bit.
(Also, the idea that this fandom is biased against gen or that it’s impossible to find gen is plain not true. It really does suck to see something you hate all around, but it’s also easy to block ships and characters you dislike, and to complain about them in private rather than in public. As a contrarian who dislikes many popular characters, blocking/blacklisting tags has genuinely made my fandom experience better. I highly recommend it to people who feel they’re inundated with a ship they hate. Here’s a guide on how to block tags, authors, and individual fic on ao3.)
….. Understandable, however this was in response to a bunch of the younger part of the fandom who think 25 is “old”. This was really a reminder for them.
a lot of people (coughs in tiktok) have been saying lately that microlabels are harmful. what i have to say about that, as someone who’s been in and out of a lot of queer spaces in their life, is that if you use a microlabel, and you feel it’s helpful to your understanding of your identity, absolutely continue to use it. labels are tools that help us navigate the spaces we live in. if you love your label, keep using it! be proud of it! you are valid, it is no one’s business but yours, and you are more important than any queer discourse.
gotta be honest i really hate how minority artists are expected to use their identities as marketing. like #ownvoices IMMEDIATELY got hijacked by corporate interests
