heads' up, fandom folks
May. 30th, 2007 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reflectedeveFandom's having a pretty rough time of it lately. First the FanLib mess, and now . . . what is being referred to has "Strikethroughgate."
(This is to say nothing of all the comic-feminism wank lately, which I've been dealing with in my RL identity. Maybe things seem crazier to me than they might do, since there's a high percentage of wank that I'm actually invested in? As opposed to the times when I'm completely a bystander.)
Anyway, I don't have a big post to make on this strikethrough mess, but for those of you who don't know: LJ has been deleting/suspending journals and communities due to allegations that they support/facilitate illegal activity. Specifically, activity involving paedophilia and incest. These allegations apparently come from at least one third-party activist website.
One of the biggest problems here is that the accusers are failing to differentiate between real communities of, say, paedophiles . . . and communities devoted to fiction and fandom kink. For instance, one of the first casualties (to be noticed widely, anyway) was![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
pornish_pixies, which was a well-known, general community for Harry Potter slash rated R and NC-17. While it did include "incest" amongst its interests, incestfic was actually a minor cross-section of the posted content. And in any case, it was all fanfiction. The important distinction between this and actual criminal activity is, I hope, obvious.
(It seems that the allegations may have focused largely on interests listed by the suspended/deleted journals, such as "incest" or "rape." Even RPG journals, listing the fictional interests of roleplaying characters, have been suspended. Content and context seem to have been ignored. It's also important to note that some people list those interests because they oppose said activities, or have survived them.)
Anyway, I don't have all the information or a great deal of insight, but check out a rather comprehensive collection of reactions, info, and links.
Read that post if you want to know more, or are worried that your journal might be at risk. Of all the reactions so far, I rather like this (though it might easily be problematic for some people who strongly value their fandom anonymity):fandom_counts.
Fandom is my happy place, my favorite of hobbies. I don't like seeing it stomped on like this, and for such completely wrongheaded reasons. (I might have expected someone to attack us for, say, copyright violation--which I'd have had us fight, but at least it would have been somewhat legitimate!) Think of the porn. (I miss the pixies already.)
[ETA:] This post contains a letter (to the organization allegedly behind the accusations) which details very nicely why what they are doing is problematic.
[ETA the second:] Right. Don't panic, or anything. Don't pitch a fit. Just be informed.
(This is to say nothing of all the comic-feminism wank lately, which I've been dealing with in my RL identity. Maybe things seem crazier to me than they might do, since there's a high percentage of wank that I'm actually invested in? As opposed to the times when I'm completely a bystander.)
Anyway, I don't have a big post to make on this strikethrough mess, but for those of you who don't know: LJ has been deleting/suspending journals and communities due to allegations that they support/facilitate illegal activity. Specifically, activity involving paedophilia and incest. These allegations apparently come from at least one third-party activist website.
One of the biggest problems here is that the accusers are failing to differentiate between real communities of, say, paedophiles . . . and communities devoted to fiction and fandom kink. For instance, one of the first casualties (to be noticed widely, anyway) was
pornish_pixies, which was a well-known, general community for Harry Potter slash rated R and NC-17. While it did include "incest" amongst its interests, incestfic was actually a minor cross-section of the posted content. And in any case, it was all fanfiction. The important distinction between this and actual criminal activity is, I hope, obvious.(It seems that the allegations may have focused largely on interests listed by the suspended/deleted journals, such as "incest" or "rape." Even RPG journals, listing the fictional interests of roleplaying characters, have been suspended. Content and context seem to have been ignored. It's also important to note that some people list those interests because they oppose said activities, or have survived them.)
Anyway, I don't have all the information or a great deal of insight, but check out a rather comprehensive collection of reactions, info, and links.
Read that post if you want to know more, or are worried that your journal might be at risk. Of all the reactions so far, I rather like this (though it might easily be problematic for some people who strongly value their fandom anonymity):
fandom_counts.Fandom is my happy place, my favorite of hobbies. I don't like seeing it stomped on like this, and for such completely wrongheaded reasons. (I might have expected someone to attack us for, say, copyright violation--which I'd have had us fight, but at least it would have been somewhat legitimate!) Think of the porn. (I miss the pixies already.)
[ETA:] This post contains a letter (to the organization allegedly behind the accusations) which details very nicely why what they are doing is problematic.
[ETA the second:] Right. Don't panic, or anything. Don't pitch a fit. Just be informed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-31 02:25 am (UTC)I've edited my original post to include a new link, which does a really good job of explaining the difference between this and a legitimate sting operation.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-31 03:17 am (UTC)And I totally understand where you're coming from and whole-heartedly agree. However, I think this organization sees rape in fiction as an introduction to committing and condoning those crimes--which is what I meant by seeing their side of the coin.
Granted, I've never heard of Harry Potter porn readers going out and sexually assaulting Harry look-a-likes, but a far, far, far right conservative Christian-esque group might see it as a threat. Kinda like those violent video games that "inspire" kids to actually go out and kill cops (frankly, though, I think the problem has more to do with the kids and their parents than the makers of the video games).
But yes, I agree with your point. Unless a crime is actually being committed, there's no point (and no right) to attack these people. We start doing that and we'll end up with a bad rip-off of Minority Report.