It can be incredibly tough to run this account (and its associated accounts/website). Not only do I have to constantly engage with things that are outright triggering to me (mostly in my research). Some of it makes me feel a great deal of "guilt by association." As in, if someone saw what I was looking up, would they assume the worst about me? This is frustrating, especially since what I want is to prevent harm, as well as allow people to express their art, experiences, and condition as freely as possible.

I'm tired of talking about the same thing, though. We have overwhelming evidence that fiction, particularly kink and fetish fiction, is not inherently harmful. We also have evidence suggesting that, if someone is already prone to violence or aggression, they may be more likely to consume that media and feed into a negative habit. Those things are quantifiable, and can be a real problem!

But properly tagged works meant for adults? Those works only have the responsibility to be tagged and posted in the correct spaces. What an individual does with them later is not the fault of the creator, because the creator cannot have control over how their media is consumed, reviewed, or used. And, in the same turn, we should keep adult media away from children and those who are vulnerable-- but that statement should be obvious, and isn't solved by censorship of creatives.

@Ronoae's piece, Contentious Art, goes over that very briefly. It uses The Matrix as its reference piece, and how it was coopted by the alt right to push their "anti-woke" narrative.

But don't feel obligated to read the (very personal, very heavy, and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to read it-- please stay safe!) piece! I've dropped the relevant source links below for transparency's sake.

KidsHeath: Seeing Violence

APA: Virtual Violence

APA: Violence in media: Psychologists Study Potential Harmful Effects

One Amahira's Google Document for Puritans

I can't really say in good faith that I know what I'm doing. With this post, or with anything else associated with this account. 😂​ But I do like talking about contentious fiction, and I'd really like to talk about fun things more often. I hope I can provide that to some degree, instead of the constant slog of horrors we are forced to witness in our day-to-day lives.

May you live in interesting times, indeed.