You're a wwizard, Eridan

(via eridans-boobs)

linkeepsitreal:

Here’s something that bugs the hell out of me.

I see it a lot. Usually in response to gay pairings. Almost exclusively, in fact. The whole, god, fandom really can’t do friendship, can it? They just don’t appreciate friendship. Not everything has to be romantic or sexual! Not everyone needs a partner to complete their lives! Why can’t people just appreciate the wonderful, pure friendship that canon so kindly gives us?

Fuck this.

No, actually, don’t, because that’s the whole problem isn’t it? Romance sullies friendship. Sex dirties friendship. The very idea that someone might want to fuck their friend utterly erases all of the valuable elements of that relationship. It makes it ‘impure.’

First off, friendship is not pure. Friends don’t exist in this harmonious, beautifully vice-less world. Friends fight, sometimes they get jealous of one another, sometimes they get jealous of their friend’s other friends, snap at one another, sometimes they invade each other’s space when it’s not wanted, sometimes they don’t laugh at each other’s jokes, sometimes they don’t return hugs, sometimes they say dumb shit that offends the other, etc. People are people are people, and sometimes they fuck up, but good friends always make up, and apologize when they’ve been idiots. Usually they’re able to move past things. Almost like lovers, huh? Except for the sex! Sex makes all the difference, because it couldn’t possibly be that love is multi-faceted or something, where friendships and romances are merely two different knots in the same rope.

Friends can be attracted to other friends, even if they don’t want to pursue a relationship. And sometimes friends do take that leap! Sometimes friends choose to date! This doesn’t mean that the friendship suddenly goes poof, that they can no longer be selflessly loyal, or have a dorktastic secret handshake, or joke about that one time they got so totally hammered and drew moustaches on each other’s faces, like, totally in sync! The best romantic relationships are ones where you’re friends with the person you’re in love with. These two states of being are not mutually exclusive, or even incompatible.

Just because I happen to ship a non-canon pairing doesn’t say a goddamn thing about me, my character, or my critical capacities. Hell, it doesn’t even say anything about my feelings on THIS ISSUE. Right now I’m arguing for my right to ship who I please, but when it comes to female/male pairings, I’m pretty desperate for canon m/f friendships because there’s so FEW of them. (The whole male/male friendships being targeted by this argument is a whole other can of worms I won’t open. Briefly: while fetishizing gay men is problematic, there are so few queer narratives in canon that I hate the idea of begrudging people the ones they make themselves.)

But if I ship John/Sherlock (I don’t, but for the sake of argument), it doesn’t mean that I cannot understand and appreciate friendship in all its wonderful complexities. If I want Magneto and Professor X to kiss each other’s faces, it’s probably exactly BECAUSE I like and respond to their friendship so much. I am fully capable of appreciating friendship, but also enjoying the whole “what if” element that fandom can provide.

My shipping preferences don’t prevent you from basking in the pure glow of a budding friendship. There is totally nothing wrong in preferring to explore a relationship through the buddy lens. But consider that my shipping two friends doesn’t change canon. It also doesn’t prevent YOU from contributing to fandom in ways that focus on the friendship, or creating spaces to discuss those elements of the relationship.

In short: c’mon, fandom. Live and let live. Let people ship how they like, ‘cause judging people based on what facets of love they choose to explore in isolated incidents isn’t cool. No, not everything has to be about romance—but sometimes it can be, and there’s nothing wrong with THAT either.

(via biznasties)

Read More