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franzen. (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} franzen) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} fandom_wank, |
That's it! Thanks: you said what I was trying to touch on so much more clearly. And, weirdly, it's that specific element (among a few other things) that really makes the Ms.Scribe wank a case of "not funny, not at all" for me. The stereotypes Ms.Scribe used aren't exactly eradicated and having been on the receiving end of them, it's really hard for me to laugh. Ten years later, those same prejudices are still kicking. While I doubt fandom would be as gung-ho with the fatphobic remarks today, I think it's a question of degree and/or "obvious prejudice" rather than fans simply developing a norm that appearance is not mockable. I know a lot of HP fans (or HP fans who migrated to other fandoms) have aged and transitioned into social justice work, but fatphobia and "vaguely brown backward people lulz" are far from dead.
It's like the in-house transfail that, mercifully, has not been repeated with regard to Andy Blake -- wanky behaviour is funny; devaluing someone based on prejudice is not. I can understand why that clusterfuck left so many people unable to remember that once upon a time, VB/AB was known for "the wank that never ends," because it was disgusting and it made me look twice at people. Watching the Ms.Scribe saga -- both at the time and then again in 2006 (and yet again this week, to refresh my memory) -- was like that for me.
Ms.Scribe played on people's prejudices and created (in my eyes) cartoonish villains (I am constantly amazed that anyone bought her act, as I... didn't find the reveal that surprising). Writing a manifesto about shipping or a tao of a character? Funny, even wanky, if you go over-the-top pretentious. Fatphobia? Not so much. And it wasn't just Ms.Scribe, unfortunately, as I remember some very nasty attacks related to weight being leveled against a BNF. (And weight was probably part of the reason Cassie absolutely did not want her photo leaked.) It's hard for me to see the lulz, because it's not like those stereotypes have died out -- just thinking about the stats regarding negative character judgments and weight depresses the hell out of me (and, of course, the correlation breaks down when you look at men, not women).
tl;dr I get it, intellectually, but for some reason it's not funny for me. The fact that she got away with so much without being checked is amusing, in a sort of "what the hell is wrong with you people" kind of way, but I don't really think of Ms.Scribe as harmless, in the same way Andy gives me the creeps when I look at what a mess he's made of other people's lives.
It's like the in-house transfail that, mercifully, has not been repeated with regard to Andy Blake -- wanky behaviour is funny; devaluing someone based on prejudice is not. I can understand why that clusterfuck left so many people unable to remember that once upon a time, VB/AB was known for "the wank that never ends," because it was disgusting and it made me look twice at people. Watching the Ms.Scribe saga -- both at the time and then again in 2006 (and yet again this week, to refresh my memory) -- was like that for me.
Ms.Scribe played on people's prejudices and created (in my eyes) cartoonish villains (I am constantly amazed that anyone bought her act, as I... didn't find the reveal that surprising). Writing a manifesto about shipping or a tao of a character? Funny, even wanky, if you go over-the-top pretentious. Fatphobia? Not so much. And it wasn't just Ms.Scribe, unfortunately, as I remember some very nasty attacks related to weight being leveled against a BNF. (And weight was probably part of the reason Cassie absolutely did not want her photo leaked.) It's hard for me to see the lulz, because it's not like those stereotypes have died out -- just thinking about the stats regarding negative character judgments and weight depresses the hell out of me (and, of course, the correlation breaks down when you look at men, not women).
tl;dr I get it, intellectually, but for some reason it's not funny for me. The fact that she got away with so much without being checked is amusing, in a sort of "what the hell is wrong with you people" kind of way, but I don't really think of Ms.Scribe as harmless, in the same way Andy gives me the creeps when I look at what a mess he's made of other people's lives.
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