The body shaming and misogyny in NCIS and Hawaii 5-0 fandoms is not okay.

[theeverdream]

ETA: A lot of what I say is non-specific; my comments to this post have a lot more detail, if you want it.

So apparently in the two active fandoms I'm in, body shaming has been deemed acceptable. Not just okay by an unspoken consensus among community members but actually permitted by mods. One of the comms has a rule against negativity towards actors and I was told that saying something is wrong with someone because of their weight doesn't qualify.

One of the mods of a comm I'm in is very anti-a woman character and it comes out very badly. There's supposed to be no bashing in that comm either. People in different comms say "you know who" or "her" when talking about someone and it is childish at best, misogynistic at worst.

It's getting ridiculous. Saying "her".. referring to characters in a derisive manner - I think that weakens slash fandom as a whole and that saddens me. If I had to choose which issue I was more passionate about, it would be the body shaming, due to my own experiences and the experiences of my friends and family. People with the same body types as certain actors are being told there is something wrong with them and they stand in front of their mirror and believe it.

This is not okay.

I don't really know what to do anymore - it's hard to try to make things better with no support from the people who could implement some changes. So here is what I can do right now. Have a graphic:





Link to it, pass it on... spread it around however you want to.

Look at it and believe it no matter if you're bigger or smaller.

Comments

[theeverdream.livejournal.com]

Not so much Lori from H50 as female characters from NCIS.

Regarding Lori, I've seen a lot of dislike towards her and a lot of it is of the opinion type. The worst thing is, I think, the not referring to her by name. When someone says something like blah blah a scene with "her" and then someone else says oh yes, I'd rather not see "you know who"... that, to me, creates a poor atmosphere. I think it puts so much emphasis on dismissing who Lori is. Even if we dislike her, she is a person with a name and I think a basic level of respect should not be that hard to give.

I definitely would not think an atmosphere, even a widespread atmosphere, of wanting her off the show is misogynistic (even if I did not agree that "she is written badly, she is portrayed badly, and seems to have no real purpose on the show". I don't like Lori either. I'd much rather see Kono more than we currently do.)

I am not bothered by your comment at all and there's no need to delete anything. I know there was a lot of stuff in my post I was not referring to specifically so I don't mind clarifying anything that needs to be.

[gyri.livejournal.com]

Oh, whew. Still, it's your journal and I shouldn't have gotten up on a soapbox--should use my own journal for that.

[theeverdream.livejournal.com]

Oh no!! I figure posting something like this is going to invite comment and discussion, and you were respectfully doing that and it's all good :-)