On Content

warlordenfilade:

I believe in people taking responsibility for their own comfort and happiness.

I tag ships, I tag content that many people find disturbing, I tag posts that are NSFW, and if you’re my friend and have a less common phobia or trigger, I will tag it for you.

This gives people the tools they need to decide if they are okay to see something, if they might want to see it once they’ve prepared themselves or entered the right mood for it, or if they never want to see the thing.

I am not offended if people choose not to look at certain posts or certain fics because they’re concerned about their ability to handle the content, because they don’t like a ship, because they just don’t feel like it.  I am not offended by people setting and enforcing their own boundaries.  

I am offended by people being harmed by being silenced.  I am offended by people forcing their boundaries onto others (which is different from my free choice to, for example, not discuss spiders with my arachnophobic friends.  I can still discuss spiders with everyone else, and I do.  I’m just not going to discuss them with the people who are upset by them.  I am not going to accept that I should never discuss spiders, ever, because someone who’s arachnophobic might overhear me.)

I don’t censor the stories I’m trying to tell.  I think it’s actively harmful to make some subjects So Terrible They Are Unspeakable.  It prevents people from examining and exploring and understanding ideas in a venue that doesn’t involve real people in the experience.  It shuts down dialogue, and in the silence, falsehoods and ignorance breed.  It gives power to Shameful Secrets.  It removes people’s ability to seek their own catharsis in the safe venue of make believe.

I tag to give the reader the power to read now, read later, or not read, as they choose.  I have to trust that readers will take responsibility and make wise choices.  If some people are not legally able to take responsibility, I have to trust that their caregivers are taking responsibility.  This blog is an adult space, like a casino, and is marked as such.  Nobody is shutting down lotteries because children shouldn’t gamble.  

I don’t tag everything, because for every thing that exists, there’s probably someone with a phobia of it.  I can’t be responsible for every passing mention of, well, everything.  

I also don’t tag the main contents of this blog. If you’re upset by robots, non-heterosexual couples, the existence of militaries, or my charming personality, just unfollow me.  

I’m not offended by people unfollowing because they don’t like my content, don’t like my personality, are just bored with Transformers, whatever.  My follow list has no relation to my self esteem, so if you’re no longer interested, it’s okay to leave.

This blog is where I celebrate my fandom.  It’s where I post things that are important and meaningful to me.  I share these things in the hopes other people may also enjoy them, but even if absolutely no other person does, I have, so they’ve served their purpose.