big life; small space

I'd volunteer -- such a project is right up my alley. But I simply don't have the time.

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Ditto. I'd be happy to make a really detailed to do list and even the talking points, but someone else has to herd the fucking cats.

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And of course in a postscript at the bottom it mentions that there are people besides those weirdos in fandom (I totally want to call fandom the fan cathedral from now on) who have a problem with how 6A is running things.

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Well, i have to say I'm still happy that they added it in after the fact.

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In a way, it's even better than it being in the article. It says they are listening and that yeah, the 6A stuff looks fuckedy.

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Ah, yes, you are so right - it's showing that non-fandom is following this stuff and reading these articles and such. Which is something I actually really, really need to see. As much as possible.

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I'm not in fandom. Sincerely, could care less about it.

This still pisses the hell out of me. They're showing a blatant disregard for their customers.

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Excuse me? This particular comment was in reply to

rm and really didn't call for your input on your opinion of fandom, which you've already made quite clear. Guess what? I'm not that heavily involved in fandom myself. That doesn't mean I don't have a severe problem with a group of people being demonized by masses that won't bother to educate themselves past their gut feelings.

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Well, excuse me for trying to chime in and offer an opinion in a discussion between two people I think of as friends.

Thanks for clarifying our relationship. Much appreciated.

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It's possible I misread the intent of your comment and overreacted but I'm tired, and part of what I'm tired of is you basically calling many people who happen to be my friends pedophiles. It's insulting to them and insulting to the real victims - and in many cases, that's the same thing. And considering the work I do for organizations like PROTECT it's insulting to me too.

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Yes, you misread me. That may be my fault and if it is, I'm sorry.

For the record: I was a victim and the emotional scars run pretty damned deep. I don't discuss this online or anywhere else, so you'd have no way of knowing. But now you do, so please realize that my feelings about these issues weren't formed in a vacuum. If you really feel a need to know more, then send me an email, please, and I'll explain. I don't want to discuss that aspect of my life any further in a public forum.

So then, let me be clear: I am absolutely not stereotyping all people who read or create slash, nor do I think that 99.999999% of the members of fandom are pedophiles. If I wasn't clear about this, then I'm very sorry.

It's not my intention to insult you. In fact, I have tried very hard to deliberately phrase my comments on my own journal so that I'm not painting all people in fandom with the same brush.

I find stories with *young* minors (such as pre-teens of 11 or 12 years,) engaging in graphic sex with adults disturbing. People who get off on such stories also disturb me. The fact that the stories are merely a depiction doesn't change how I feel about them.

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May we virtually shake hands and chalk it up to being tired and stressed?

It's possible I've also misread other comments you've made elsewhere, and the sum total had me coming at you badly.

I'm just very tired of people comparing my friends to rapists.

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*offers hand*

I'm sorry, too.

Truth is, I know that anything that even touches on a child abuse issue (especially violent or sexual abuse) is highly charged emotionally for me. I'm more likely to go off on an irrational rant on this topic than any other, so I usually try not to get into discussions with people about it. But I'm opinionated, and sometimes my mouth gets the better of me.

I'm just very tired of people comparing my friends to rapists.

I would be too. And I'm really, sincerely sorry that I gave you that impression. :(

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marzipan-pig.livejournal.com

I'm non-fandom and I care about it. I haven't posted a lot but it did change how I use LJ (I won't pay and I don't use the 'advertising' option anymore), and I talk about it a little with people.

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I have to admit though, this quote made me roll my eyes:

""'Obscenity' is the perfect tool to weed out everything that doesn't fit in a nice, clean, straight, male-dominated and preferably white world," charged a user named erestor."

I'm sure that's what motivated the feminist movement to fight pornography as obscenity and degrading to women over the years.

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Sure, but many of us do think (I wish it had been expressed better there) that this is about sexism and homophobia. If the people deciding what has artistic value were turned on by the images, that is if the Snape/Harry pic had been Snape/Hermione a lot of us are pretty sure if wouldn't have been banned. It's a guess, but one a lot of people are habouring. Similarly, since fandom is mostly female, a lot of people feel like this is an attack on female sexuality that isn't about pleasing men. Do I think this is consciously the case? No. Do I think it's subconsciously the case? Hell yeah.

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It's a guess, but one a lot of people are habouring.

Perhaps. Chalk me up in the "unconvinced" column. I'm not saying you're wrong, per se, just that I haven't seen any compelling evidence one way or another. One or two instances doesn't make a trend, and since, as you say, slash fandom is overwhelmingly made up of women, that hypothesis is going to be awfully hard to prove one way or another.

I read about an instance (documented somewhere on my flist) where someone's hentai tentacle rape drawings of a woman had gotten an artist banned a number of months ago. So, if LJ didn't already police the naked images communities for TOS / underage violations, I'd probably be more inclined to see a conspiracy here.

I think it's more likely that LJ has moved against the HP fandom communities because they have been receiving DMCA orders from the publisher's lawyers and are afraid of being sued, rather than out of an sort of prurient interest. The last strikethrough debacle makes it seem as if 6A acts only when prompted.

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drfardook.livejournal.com

I don't participate in fandom but I've been following the issue for the reasons that CNET picked up on.

As I don't know enough about fandom, do you really think that there's enough community cohesion to pick someone as a representative and stand behind that person? And by standing behind that person I mean being able to keep a lid on those who would talk shit about them and 6A to anyone within earshot and even those across the room.

Talking points work great when a group can Shut The Fuck Up, Get In Line, and Let Me Do The Talking. Otherwise, not so effective when you're giving mixed messages.

Still, I think CNET is being as positive for fandom as you could hope. Very encouraging.

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