Folks have come to me seeking my opinion on several occasions lately, so here goes:
I have said from the beginning that working with other fandoms, str8 allies, and industry professionals is key. We will never achieve our goals as fans on our own. Any type of us-them mentality, especially regarding other LGBTQ-centric fandoms and media allies, will lead to our demise.
I didn’t fully understand the Layne/Ben thing a week or so ago, for instance. I certainly saw Layne’s point, but the whole thing felt out of left field and ultimately counterproductive. Tbf there’s probably a context that I was not privy to. In sum, they are both important and have important contributions to make to the movement. Neither should be demonized or alienated. We can’t afford to lose them.
Meanwhile there are several prominent but divisive entities within the fandom itself who seem more interested in a personal / small group power agenda than actually helping the movement. That is fatal. There is no room for personal agendas here.
The LGBTFDB / LGBTVDB split is a good example. It’s a classic philosophical difference of fostering change from the outside vs inside (the inside being the “system” aka the TV industry in this case). In fact, both groups could be working in tandem if LGBTV weren’t so paranoid that LGBTF is somehow trying to commandeer the movement, as if that were possible. I attribute part of this to poor outreach on the part of LGBTF. The dialogue there just failed from the outset. Not sure why. But from my perspective, it was like watching a slow-motion social media car wreck.
On the fan side, part of the problem is also that we lack a longitudinal view of how movements can function. At least in the US, there has been no effective model for consensus-based work in 20-30 years. Most young fans have only ever seen division and internal nitpicking in the larger political/cultural arena. There are just no current models for effective consensus-based movements. We need to dig into history for that.
Likewise some fans seem actively interested in inciting drama within the movement rather than having us accomplish anything. Like drama either for pure entertainment or – much more insidious – the kind of petty bullshit that plagues the entire millennial left right now: tearing each other apart over (relatively) minor differences in opinion or philosophy and quibbling over arbitrary semantic differences.
The insistence that everybody has to agree on every little thing is just unrealistic. We need to focus on our common interests, aka the larger issues at stake. Again, historically speaking, we older folks have let our political culture devolve into a bunch of talking heads sniping at one another and jockeying for power, so our generation at large is partly culpable in terms of the example we’ve set, or rather not set.
All this combined with people’s kneejerk internet emotional reactions and the compulsion to “call someone out” over any conceivable “offense” often leads to ranting, division, hurt feelings, and on a larger scale, ultimately alienating potential allies from our fandom / the larger movement. There are several loose cannons who seem especially adept at this type of alienation, and some have pretty large followings. Sadly those are exactly the type people who won’t step off for a minute and give others a voice, despite their continual insistence that they’re being silenced.
We as a movement were at our best when we were articulating our case in a rational manner to a wide audience, sometimes through allies like Mo Ryan & Ben, sometimes through direct outreach to the press, and I think stuff like the billboards is a great impulse. Those were very effective in terms of visibility.
We are also at our best when we manage to keep a sense of humor even in the face of such a daunting, serious underlying problem (I.e., institutionalized discrimination / homophobia in the media and culture at large). Yes, it is possible to be effective and still keep a sense of humor.
I won’t even get into the whole ship wars bullshit. It wouldn’t exist if people didn’t respond to the bait from the hateful wing of the “those” fans – seriously, their idiotic opinions deserve zero attention. Engaging in this in any manner makes our whole fandom seem petty and stupid. What if a group incited a ship war, and the other group just didn’t show up? No ship war.
Twitter trends and polls are basically exhausted at this point, or will be by the end of the summer with the end of the current TV cycle. We need to get back to wider goals.
Several fans have approached me about my opinion, so here it is:
We need to get a solid, unified message out there through as many channels as possible.
In order to do this, and instead of quibbling over nothing, we need to remember that we are all fighting for the same 2-3 things:
1) that the public learns about and understands the danger of BYG for real LGBTQ people’s lives, and that this trope intersects for POC in especially devastating ways,
2) that the industry understands that they are under scrutiny and absolutely must take responsibility when representing a vulnerable, persecuted largely young population, and
3) more generally, we have to convey the message that homophobia & ignorance still dominate, and that individuals, professionals, and the collective tendencies of the larger media landscape can counter those destructive narratives and can actually save real people’s lives.
We can continue to make Lexa’s death mean something by having real impact. But we have to adopt a “blood must not have blood” philosophy amongst ourselves and unify in order to do that.
Lots of good sense being made in this post. Thanks fro writing!!!
The Doctor Is Out 