yonmei

yonmei @ 09:22 am: Seven Reasons Why Fanfic Is Like Gay Marriage

1) A lot of people believe it is immoral and illegal--despite some forms of it being legal in some places, and having a history that goes back thousands of years.

2) A lot of the reactions are based not on rational or legal arguments, but personal squick--specifically, anti-sex squick, where the objector believes that any form of sexuality they don't like should be forbidden to everyone.

3) There's a long mainstream history of ignoring or denigrating both alternative-to-mainstream sexualities, and alternative-to-mainstream creativities: and strong connections between both.

4) Both inspire a common reaction of, "well, I suppose some people Do That Stuff, but do they need to be public about it? Why can't they just keep it to themselves and not inflict their weirdness/perversion on the rest of us?"

5) A serious, public interest in either can result in lost job opportunities and community ostracisation. It is common enough for people to argue in both instances "you're not actually being prosecuted - what more do you want?"

6) Some people reply to either with "well, you can want that, of course... but you should be able to control your impulse to act on those wants."

7) Most of the people getting outraged are not personally affected by either. In very basic terms, they are trying to control the behaviour of other people that has absolutely no effect on them. If you don't believe in gay marriage, don't marry someone of the same gender. And if you don't believe in fanfic, neither write it nor read it. A hefty helping of MYODB is now being served at the control-freak buffet. Please help yourself.

(Credit to elfwreck and aislingthebard, responding to a specific ranty-mcranty-pants post about the ingratitude of fanfic writers that they are not constantly being sued.)