Most of us know it when we see it, but I figure any discussion about fandom antis and how to respond to them would benefit from having a solid answer to “what even is an anti, anyway?” Laying out the exact characteristics that distinguish anti wank from every other kind of wank also helps clarify what, exactly, is going on here, why it’s appalling, and also why it’s appealing to those who engage in it.
I’m going to define it as a behavior rather than a particular type of person. The anti movement is:
1. A form of intra-community aggression within fandom, that
2. Seeks, as its primary goal, to designate out-groups who are fair game for social brutality, by
3. Categorically declaring certain forms of fan engagement (ships, characters, fic genres, fanart styles, video game mods…) to be intrinsically morally wrong and in need of stamping out, regardless of how or why one engages with them, and
4. Justifies this by claiming a causal relationship between the targeted activities and some form of (usually SJ-flavored) real-world harm that they allegedly promote.The order is important, because it goes from most to least essential. 1 is fundamental context, 2 is ultimate purpose, 3 is the mechanism used to accomplish that purpose, 4 is the justification for using that mechanism.
Let’s take it number by number.
Antis are not people who dislike something and write meta about it, Antis are literally bullies that will doxx you because you like their notp
Yes this. There is a HUGE difference between someone who just doesn’t ship something or who has a NOTP, and an anti.
Someone who doesn’t ship something or someone who has a NOTP will scroll past things, maybe blacklist those tags or go to stricter lengths if the content in question makes them rlly uncomfy. BTW, that is what you SHOULD be doing if you aren’t down with a ship.
Antis will literally go into the tags of the ship, find specific users, send them anons with death threats, racial slurs, and suicide baits, and then complain about how they are seeing the ship all over their “recommended” (which, btw, when you fucking SEARCH SOMETHING or use the tag, it’s going to show up because tumblr thinks you want more of it).
Tl;Dr- Antis are NOT the same as non-shippers/ people with NOTPs.
“
Someone who doesn’t ship something or someone who has a NOTP will scroll
past things, maybe blacklist those tags or go to stricter lengths if
the content in question makes them rlly uncomfy. BTW, that is what you
SHOULD be doing if you aren’t down with a ship.”
That distinction can become another version of “ignore the bullies and they’ll go away” though.
If someone’s posting something that is blatantly racist (like, say, a line in a movie “translated” into fake ebonics, which actually did happen), I’m going to say something. If that makes me an anti then…
Rush's tumblr archive 