Anyone who isn’t new to fandom can think of an instance of a creator (fan or professional) getting harassed into deleting their art/writing/social media.
You might even think “ah, yes, but you see, that person DESERVED it—“
This post is for you.
Please think about who benefits from the slow drain of marginalized artists/writers from internet spaces, as more and more of them fear being crushed by their, often well-meaning, cohort. It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of a new discourse, especially when it’s a Big Name Fan telling you how to think. It’s easy to forget that there are real people behind these artists’ accounts.
SFF Twitter is going through the same drain of talent that we’ve been seeing in fandom spaces for years, as more and more creators feel unsafe engaging with their work publicly, after watching so many of their fellow creators being harassed and doxxed, sometimes to the point of deleting, and other times—as in Fall’s case—to the point of wanting to end their lives.
Fandom has a harassment problem, but if you’ve ever participated, even unknowingly, in the wave of harassment that follows a bad-faith “callout”, it is NOT too late to change your behavior. Let’s work together to make fandom a space that people feel safe in again.
