so, uh, some people jerk off to lolicon. and others.. wow, uh, i don't know. what do the bestiophiles do? get off to nature documentaries???
when confronted with others that disgust them, people nowadays have started saying "get off the internet and go to therapy" instead of "kill yourself", as if therapy will somehow magic them into a normal citizen with normal desires. but we should really already know from the history of gays being forced through conversion therapy that desires can't just be poofed away like that. and if you don't enjoy my comparison of "pray the gay away" and "pray the bestiality away", then, well, tough shit. just because it's a desire that you don't like doesn't mean it'll magically completely work differently. the difference between a kink and a paraphilia is a social difference, not one hard-coded into our biology. and, in my experience, therapy is not a huge fan of squashing down and bottling up your feelings anyway.
no, you must accept that some people get off on things that disgust you, and that fact isn't going away any time soon. deviants with unwanted desires will continue to exist so long as there are desires that are unwanted. and, personally, i think those people should be allowed to do things other than bottle it up forever, rot in prison, or kill themselves.
this essay will not be solving or even really addressing this problem, and will instead be petty bitching about terminally online fetish art discourse. i will be arguing in defense of the following things in the context of fiction:
the crux of my argument is that people should all calm the fuck down. it's just a bit of fun, and harassing others in an attempt to 'purge' this stuff from the internet is cruel, puritanical, and futile. this essay does not excuse the use of this content to groom children, nor address the problem of toxic online communities formed around these subjects. i am only arguing about the creation and sharing of the art itself, given that the creator is of age and has taken reasonable measures to tag it appropriately.
thanks!
people with sexual trauma often say they are triggered and disgusted by fetishization of sexual abuse. and it's like, i hear you, and i'm sorry, but you have a responsibility to manage your own triggers. war vets come home triggered from loud noises, but we don't all cancel new years fireworks. ("damn, i wish," sayeth the autistics.)
also, a lot of people with sexual trauma fetishize sexual abuse for the same reason others avoid it. they start to like it as a way to cope, long before they're an adult that's able to process shit like that. you may think it is unhealthy for them to reenact trauma through their kink, but buddy, that isn't your call to make. nobody knows their own mind better than themselves and you HAVE to give them the benefit of the doubt.
like, it'd be really inconvenient for the anti-rape-fetish crowd if people (especially trauma victims) could indulge in it healthily, now wouldn't it. it's just easier to doubt them.
of course i don't think only trauma victims can make rape fetish stuff. you want trauma victims to disclose their trauma? you bitch? no, that's terrible and infeasible. besides, rape fantasies are really, really common. believe it or not, we live in a sexually repressed society, and a lot of the time women are not really allowed to be sexually promiscuous or to show sexual desire. and dubious consent crap is how they deal with that. they don't have to deal with the ramifications of *wanting* it if it's forced on 'em, see.
if this is shocking news to you, you probably don't have a very good grasp on the complexity of human sexuality.
let 'em write their sexy vampire kidnapper smut. who cares.
ok, so for those at home, a "proshipper" is someone who believes it is morally ok to ship adults with children or siblings with one another. an "anti" is someone who does not believe that is morally ok. and for some reason there are also "anti-antis" who think it's not ok to be an anti. are there "anti-anti-anti"s? jesus christ.
fundamentally i just do not care about this. i am not fourteen. i don't give a damn. you think i care wether people ship Frisk X Sans or Sans X Papyrus? you think i am going to gasp and clutch my chest in horror? shut up.
often in this situation, people say 'but what if a child runs into it, or it is used for child grooming'? to which i say, sorry, hon. you're too late. that shit's plastered all over the internet already. harassing individual artists ain't changing shit. groomers will just use other porn. you are just being mean.
furries exist in a stupid sort of grey area where everyone's like I-ISNT THAT BEASTIALITY??!! YOU WANNA FUCK A DOG?!?! and furries have responded to this by... looking at other furries and going I-ISNT THAT BEASTIALITY??!! YOU WANNA FUCK A DOG?!?!
most people draw the line at 'feral porn', wherin the animal walks on four legs. if this seems arbitrary, that's because it is. others are concerned about wether the genitalia are more human or animalistic, which makes a bit more sense on the surface. like, you do have to look at a dog dick to draw a dog dick. i don't care about that either, though. some people are therian and want to literally, actually be a wolf in real life. like, not a furry. a regular wolf. it stands to reason they would think fellow regular wolves are hot, right?
no, the only real argument is a slippery-slope argument- that if you look at enough 'feral porn' you will actually want to fuck a dog in real life. and sure, let's say- ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF ARGUIMENT- that maybe they might. but that doesn't matter unless they actually do. don't conflate desire with action, sister. many people struggle with violent impulses but would never hurt a soul.
despite what you are experiencing emotionally, it takes an extra step to actually abuse someone (or something). and if someone is experiencing sexual attraction to animals, wouldn't it be better for 'em to have warriorcats porn to get off on, instead of just real animals?
we furries (especially sexual furries) already deal with being thought of as freaks. drawing a line in the sand over who's the REAL freaks is just more of the same bullying we've been getting since the beginning. we're all freaks at the end of the day, and we ought to stick together.
here's a bunch of discourses that, in my opinion, are just legitimately very stupid.
IT IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT TO LEAK SOMEONE'S PORN WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT. WHAT PEOPLE DO BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, AND DMS COUNT AS CLOSED DOORS!! if someone's art gets leaked and it has some 'problematic' shit in it, that is the fault of the PERSON WHO LEAKED IT!! THEY'RE the ones who made it public, not the creator!!
ANY argument against most kinds of porn boil down to that it can be used to harm people, and if they are POSTING IT PRIVATELY to OTHER CONSENTING ADULTS, then it is LITERALLY DOING NO HARM TO ANYONE!! it's like cancelling someone over the fantasies they have in their head. that shit is PRIVATE.
oh, and for anyone who didn't know:
THOUGHT CRIME IS NOT REAL.
YOU CANNOT COMMIT SINS WITHIN YOUR HEAD. DO NOT EVEN FUCKING BRING UP THE BIBLE TO ME OR I AM GOING TO CRUCIFY YOU DIAGONALLY
don't harass people. don't like, don't read. and be very careful before you declare a group of people as degenerate. this same exact pattern was, and still is, perpetuated against the most vanilla queers in existence. the internet is not yours to shape with a cudgel of respectability, and not only is that impossible but you also shouldn't do it.
i grew up in fear of the seemingly unstoppable surge of the cancel culture mob. artist after artist that i look up to have been downed by that wave crashing against their vessel. as someone who wants to establish an online career, i was terrified that one day it could be stripped away overnight. that i would fall, like many before me. once 'proshipper dni' started popping up on everyone's bios, i felt like the whole world was my enemy.
but i don't, anymore.
i have friends at my back, and while i'm not entirely sure what is to do of the genuine problem of groomers on the internet, i don't think public execution by mob is it. this is a complicated subject, and i don't think anyone's really figured it out. god knows i haven't. but THIS AIN'T IT. i don't need a pHd to recognize public shaming when i see it. callout culture is a fucking cancer and i'm going to stand up for what i believe, not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because i don't want to build up a fanbase who would lynch and abandon me in a heartbeat if someone made up some shit about me. yeah, i didn't even have a chance to mention it, but half these goddamn allegations are MADE UP!
i am SO. TIRED.
i'm quitting the game, i'm done living in fear. i've been yelled at before, i can take it again. and if i can't, and i have to leave the internet, i want you all to know that i won't regret a damn thing. not even if my opinion changes. i'm doing my best to do what's right, and that's all i can ask of myself.
people with paraphilias or 'degenerate' desires should probably still go to therapy- not to 'fix' them, but to learn to manage them safely. it's a stressful, shameful thing, and in isolation people turn to suicide or are pulled into toxic communities. lust does not create monsters, cruelty does.
and, for any of those who have taken part in this toxic cancel culture nonsense (especially teens), i want you to know that i don't want to send you into a spiral of shame. i am QUITE uninterested in punishing anybody. we live in a culture of far too much hostility and hurt, and although i am obviously very heated about the topic, i do not wish harm on anyone. take care of yourselves.
PS. while im at it, i think endogenic systems are fine and i am a patricia taxxon supporter. peace!
- brak 4-21-25