Wilbur: Who's the lucky- who's the lucky lady, who's Missa, what's she like?

Phil: It's a dude. *laughs*

Wilbur: Phil, you didn't tell me you were bi, and also polyamorous.

Phil: Definitely not.

Wilbur: What does Kri- what does Kristin think of your- of your... husband?

Phil: SHE'S NOT CANON IN THIS UNIVERSE! And we- and it's not like that, it's not like that- it's uh, we're- it's platonic, we're just dude's hanging out protecting an egg-

Wilbur: Who's the top?

Phil:

Isn't it like wrong to call Viserys a rapist? He groomed Aemma and Alicent but he didn't rape them in a sense he didn't go like Aegon with Dyana. There are many types of rape of course but like it seems wrong

*EDITED POST* (4/13/24)

Ask comes in response to this reblog/post. This is about the show, yes?

No this isn't like anything with Aegon raping Dyana, taking her surprise and her yelling at him to stop. BUT I'd say that seeing that your wife doesn't want you to touch her means she hasn't given consent. Alicent was very obvious in her lack of desire to have sex with Viserys.

We have no scenes of show!Viserys marrying and living life with Aemma before episode 1, right? So we have to assume that in HotD, he also married Aemma at the ages in the original story/the bks. Age is definitely a matter we can look at here to determine grooming or no grooming, but since this is a world where:

most noble marriages are arranged and those marrying often do not actually get to choose their legal partners

where the marrying AND consummating persons can be under our (American, idk abt other nations) legal age of 18

we need to see who pursued who before the betrothal (not the marriage, the betrothal) AND why they did so? Because there is a difference b/t:

someone trying to preemptively make their future spouse more comfortable with them so the eventual consummation isn't awkward or a "failure" or stressful or something else I add below about the anxiety to perform one's duty

--AND--

them claiming they are doing such only to get the target to fuck them/be more vulnerable to their influence.

There's no strong proof of him wanting a sick sense of control or influence over Aemma before they married or betrothed. There's no proof of Viserys asking or pushing for a marriage with her for the express purpose of fucking with a child, because he wanted to have that type of control over her or any child. And they were arranged to be wed. He was around 16 to Aemma's 11 when they married and they consummated their marriage when she was 13.

Under this context, the 2 years of waiting might have been seen as "too long", as much as it shouldn't have been, but for whoever were willing to marry Aemma off at her 11 yrs of age are probably those who also applied some pressure to said couple to consummate, EVEN IF the couple actually liked each other, too.

Even without some external entity actively or purposefully making that sort of pressure--either maliciously or impatiently, like ordering a consummation versus constantly asking about it--the couple themselves could have both felt anxious to perform their "duties" to & for their parents/authority figures/families. But we simply don't know for sure and it wouldn't be mutually exclusive.

The couple lived & grew up in a world with little concept of a strong "legal" age, or a boundary for girls that was also enforced by laws. A world where doing your duty to your families, to your "God", to the authority figures around, to oaths you take you were often held as higher ethical standards than doing what some of us moderns would think is an ethical duty to "humanity".

Adult!Viserys expressly chose Alicent, though. And with Alicent being very obvious, I don't see how he couldn't have seen Alicent's reluctance or hesitance in all the times they had sex (at least 4 for each child)? From what little we see, they don't seem to be a couple where they (really Viserys) at least watch for each other's cues or signs of desire in bed. AllegedlyLola on TikTok says it best of HotD!Viserys (but much can the same shoudl be said for his book version): he says he loved Aemma, that he will always love her, etc. and pedestalizes Aemma to the degree that Rhaenrya could never be Baelon, her siblings can never be her, and all to never really give us a real picture of who Aemma was so he does not have to divulge how some of his actions have ruined Aemma's life. Helaena not having kids or at least stop having them before Rhaenrya becomes Queen/he dies would have even helped Rhaenyra...smh. He doesn't ever think to not let his daughter Helaena marry at 13 & have TWINS not long after (as Aemma died in part bc she started having children WAY too early after they consummated their marriage); he forces his daughter to marry Laenor to fix a problem he created instead of actually thinking about what would be better for her claim and position--which is not to marry a gay man!, esp when everyone knows he is gay; I mention Alicent already...this is the same guy who marries a 15 year old but gets angry with Daemon for seducing his 19 year old daughter and saying she is just a "girl"...bro...Add on the fact he allowed a faction against his heir and be lead by his second obviously hostile Hand & wife exist in court instead of properly intervening and diminishing Otto and Alicent's influence over Rhaenrya so she wouldn't have to escape to Dragonstone...no self reflection, just constant deflection, ignoring, placating the wrong people, putting his foot down at the wrong moments, not pursuing certain avenues or voids of information like in the Vhagar claim incident AND allowed the same thing that happens to his first wife happen to his next wife and his two daughters...ugh.

Getting back to Alicent, remember, consent is not a one-size-fits-all. You need to constantly ask for it and confirm it.

Keep in mind that this is an HotD Watsonian reading/analysis. The writers chose to make show!Alicent so vulnerable and defenseless to introduce something that modern viewers would easier think of her with their no-under 18s (and in certain age gaps, really under 25s) rule without making them really think about what these people themselves were going through. It's easier to assess a medieval setting or circumstance with the rules of conduct that we follow and know and then apply to them as if they would 100% understand how we think INSTEAD OF us FIRST trying to understand how they would think & react to what they have had to live with or learned so that we may expose how/where the double standards are.

I'm not saying that we should go back to marrying 15 year olds, I'm saying take a breather and assess how these people will think & act and assign the "fault" of such to the world instead of just them. Where it's appropriate. I am also not saying that you shouldn't feel uncomfortable, either. I'm saying do the activity fiction requires of us and see through the characters' eyes to understand them instead of trying to enforce you own views right away and all the time to find the nuance.

Example, this Youtube commentator perfectly describes Alicent's mindset within the lens & contextual vocabulary of what the feudal world asks of its people, acknowledging her victimhood but still holding Alicent accountable/showing/implying how wrong she isr:

001: Sandman - A random thought

002: Rose/Corinthian

003: Rose Walker

sandman - a random thought if the corinthian has multiple apartments, does he hire cleaners? or is there like, dreaming magic that keeps the places dust-free? or does the corinthian have a secret assigned cleaning day? (imagine him in an apron and rubber gloves scrubbing the kitchen.)

send me a ship - rose/corinthian when i started shipping it: i think it was after reading heavy lies the crown? that fic is just...mm. delicious.

my thoughts: coco/rose plays with so many themes i find fun. what does it mean to be a person. what do you do after a narrative has ended but you still have to live. what is the difference between devotion and love. can you ever truly love god or is that relationship fundamentally fucked. what if god was also just the girl whose brother you saved and she thought you were some kind of potential guard dog. what if god held your leash and you liked it. what if you bit the hand that feeds you and it still came back for pets.

what makes me happy about them: the thing is, i think rose fundamentally understands the corinthian as a person, in a way that dream never will, because dream knows what he really is was made to be. meanwhile the corinthian understands rose as both human and Endless (because that's his whole function). they get each other. also i'm a diehard believer in giving the corinthian to one of sandman's female characters, because frankly anyone is going to be better at handling him than dream once coco is outside the realm of "favorite" and it leads to Fun Shenanigans.

what makes me sad about them: the thing i'm grappling with in the la guard dog sequel is that, while they get each other, i'm not sure they can...fix each other. like, none of us can really "fix" each other, and both of them have deep-running trauma that goes beyond the other's capacity to heal. there's a part of me that could see a bad ending au where essentially the corinthian makes rose Worse, whatever that might look like. also, at least in canon, that they don't talk again before dream unmakes the corinthian. what does rose think about him, really, in the end? it feels very much like he's Trying with her, even if that's tangled up in his attempts to overthrow dream and save his own life, and even if inherently it's performative on some level.

things done in fanfic that annoy me: a lot of the wider fandom treats rose like a kid. which feels unfair, given that she's a) in her twenties, so a legal adult, and b) shouldering adult responsibilities plenty of her peers don't have to worry about. [insert rant about how Black girls aren't allowed to have childhoods but are also not seen as capable once they're adults.] most coco/rose people are already thinking about rose as a consenting adult and someone with very real trauma, but i guess the other thing would be it's easy to forget the corinthian is an inherently hungry thing.

things i look for in fanfic: ...fics of them at all? authors grappling with categorization of "thingness"? the absence of hob as some kind of uncle figure to the walkers.

my kinks: debates about personhood. pain play. unequal power dynamics. (this is a whole bhol characters thing, i think i just want someone to tie up that white dude.)

who i'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other: again, too poly for this question to ever apply to me. i'd like to see more Rose ships in general.

my happily ever after for them: well, that's just the la guard dog au.

give me a character - rose walker how i feel about this character: big. i care about her. i want to hold her in my arms. i want to bite anyone who looks at her as just a prop for morpheus. tv!rose is SO fucking interesting, the show fleshed out so much of her character in relation to her positioning as a young Black woman, and that is DELIGHTFUL, and i want more people to engage with her.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: obvs i'm writing coco/rose. there's a whole other unwritten thing that is cori/matt/rose as a poly triad. rose/calliope has Potential. rose/barbie, of course, is adorable.

my non-romantic otp for this character: i think rose and lucienne could be such good friends. another storyteller for the librarian??

my unpopular opinion about this character: rose is a lot less naive than people think she is. she's young, yes, but she's experienced, she's intelligent, and she knows her values.

one thing i wish would happen/had happened in canon: i hope we see more of rose in subsequent seasons! she features as a recurring character in the comix. i do wish comix rose had been more nuanced as a character - she's so much the coming-of-age archetype that she's basically not really a person anymore.

my otp/ot3: apparently i am a coco/rose truther. (let the everywoman fuck the eyeball eating nightmare!) but mostly i'd like more people to engage with rose as a subject in general, rather than relegating her to the sidelines or ignoring her altogether.

I have no idea where I'm going to be this time next year. I'll be fully certified to maintain planes by the summer, and tho I will likely get my start playing with the flight school's planes sometime in the next few months when I get my Airframe license, if all works out, I may get with the local cargo planes after- but there's a high chance the airlines might snatch me up. I have little desire to go into the airlines, ngl, but I may if they bribe me enough, which will end up having to be pretty damn nice bribe cause I already known what the cargo guys have on the table. The offers I've seen from 3 of the biggest airlines so far are extremely lowballed in comparison. 😆Even then, I would still prefer to get into NOAA's Hurricane Hunter base. 😏

They say the airlines are desperate for A&Ps cause most of the people they had the last 20-40 years are retiring rn. + at the beginning of 'rona when all the airlines were grounded, they made thousands of their employees retire, 3 of my teachers in the last year were among em. It's kinda funny, one of teachers said they legit offered him 20k cash to retire on the spot early 2020, so of course he took that, I don't blame him! Tho now they're calling him up during class to come back to work. He turns it down each time cause even tho he's worked for em for 30 years, they keep offering their starting wages (16-18/hr depending on day or overnights) and he's like "I'm not squeezing into fuel tanks again for that!"

When the CEO of that one airline stopped by my class last month to whine about how he can't get any mechanics, but his wages would start at less than what I made in retail and top off at about the same as what I could make in any local warehouse. Like bruh, you want me to be held responsible for thousands and thousands of lives for that and I'd have to move to one of the most expensive cities in the US?? Nah bruh.🙃 Ngl tho, it's kinda nice getting to call some shots as the worker for once. Some of my old coworkers see it as stingy but the sheer level of liability and real consequences that can come if there'sa fuck up makes you think twice. Every older aircraft mechanic I've talked to say they keep a lawyer on speed dial, the companies and the feds will try to do everything in their power to make their job easy and fuck over the easiest person to get. And keeping good personal records of the work you did on a plane can be the only thing keeping you from being charged for murder. One of the museum guys I volunteer with said it almost happened to him because the airline had lost records of a repair someone else after him did. I've seen my Airframe instructor break down after retelling some of her legal battles. & my powerplant teacher says🔺️ deleted lots of old records back in 2011- the big airline that still flies jets that are 30+ years old. In normal US court of law you're innocent until proven guilty, with the FAA you're guilty of crashing a plane with 200 people on it until proven otherwise. Yah, not playing that game. I love aviation with all my being, but imo that type of stuff is more scary than flying any clapped out 1960s flight school shitbox plane. + yah, I highly value my free time and wellbeing, but I know exactly how dangerous this work can get and just what kind of toll it will take on me in time. My options are practically endless rn when I get that card, so I'm going to go with what's best for me. ((':

A MEMORY: THEY'RE NOT EVEN LISTENING Synopsis: Mars, age 22 and living in a 1 bedroom apartment in the North Side of Chicago, tells his wife that he's quitting ballet. Soundtrack: Inside Voices by Too Close To Touch (tw argument, tw alcohol mention, tw implied assault, tw non-consensual acts)

"I did it. I can't believe I did it," he let out, half a laugh bubbling within his throat and escaping in a breath. His wife sat at the kitchen counter with a glass of red wine in one hand and her laptop open in the other. She often drank while studying, claimed it helped her focus and made her feel more mature, manifesting the lifestyle that she wanted where she was older in a nice house and reviewing legal notes for her actual case load instead of pretend ones for her classes.

"Did what?" She asked, sipping her wine, setting it down carefully so the glass didn't clink too loudly against the faux granite countertop. She couldn't help but start to mirror his smile, it had been a while since she'd seen it that big, the last few days and even weeks he'd been so serious, focusing on his interview and performance for the new ballet company he had been applying for. "Did you get in?" Anticipated excitement rising.

Mars blinked, "Well. Yes, but--"

"That's great, honey!" She cheered and stood up, moving around the kitchen counter island to grab him a wine glass from the cabinet, "We should celebrate!"

"No," Mars stepped forward, stopped her hands from opening the cabinet doors and held them within his own, long slender fingers decorated only by a silver wedding band on his left hand, "No, that's not it. I quit," and he smiled, broad and wide as if it was something to be proud of but she didn't understand and her brows furrowed.

"What do you mean you quit? You just said you got in?"

Mars squeezed her hands, "I did but I'm done. I don't want to do it anymore. I told you I was thinking about quitting and I did it. Starting tomorrow I'm a free man." Finally, finally, after years, he could be free and he waited, searching her face for a positive reaction but all she did was pull her hands out from his.

"I don't understand. I thought you wanted to work for this new company. I mean, why even apply if you weren't going to do it?" She questioned, confused and agitated. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened," he responded a bit too quickly, too defensively, body stiffening in response. "I told you already. Weren't you listening?" And he repeated it again though he'd told her countless times before though with a bit more ice and pent up malice in his tone, "I don't want to do ballet anymore."

She exhaled harshly, "Why not? Did something happen? Whatever it is you can just apologize--" Mars scoffed "--What?" She snapped at him.

"Why do you automatically assume it's something I did?" Mars questioned her sharply, moving around her to put some space between them but she followed.

"Because you've been so weird lately. Talking about quitting, saying you hate ballet when you love it. You've worked towards this your entire life and you're just going to let it all go to waste? Are you really going to be that petty that you'd purposefully ruin the rest of your life?"

"I'm not being petty," Mars replied, jaw tense, muscles flexing as he pulled open the fridge and peered inside though he wasn't looking at anything in particular and reached in on impulse to grab a beer can. "And I don't love ballet. I hate it," he slammed the door and cracked open the beer can, alcohol fizzing and foaming out the opening at the top, "I hate da fucking hours. I hate da fucking outfits. I hate da fucking wood floors and da goddamn mirror. Da stupid fucking mirror. If I never step foot into another studio again for da rest of my life I'd die happy." If he never saw his reflection again either he'd be even happier.

"What the fuck wrong with you?" She questioned, voice inevitably rising to match his volume.

"Da fuck is wrong with me?" He shouted her words back at her, anger rising like battery acid, sour at the back of his throat, throwing the beer can into the sink where it exploded in a spray of bitter alcohol, "Da fuck is wrong with you? Why can't you just fuckin' support me? Why isn't anyone listenin' to me? Why doesn't anyone fucking believe me when I say I'm done?" Everything coming out like a tidal wave, "I hate this. I hate myself. I'm fucking suffocating. How come when I say no it doesn't mean anythin'? Why ain't my no good enough? Why can't I say no? It's supposed to mean somethin' but it-- an' ya ain't listenin' to me. I keep sayin' I want to stop. I don't wanna do dis anymore, I don't--" his hands scrambled over his body, tearing off his jacket and throwing it across the room as sobs erupted out from somewhere deep within his belly, he'd shoved down his feelings for so many years and kept them locked up inside of a chest within himself but it was overflowing and the hinges were breaking, emotion leaking out from between the seams and into his daily life until now where it reached a point where it could no longer be contained and it all came rushing out and he was powerless and weak from fighting it that he could do nothing against the onslaught now but let it out not even capable of holding himself upright so he slumped to the floor, collapsing like all the air and life was sucked out from his body as his lungs and shoulders heaved with a tidal wave of unfelt feelings that now demanded to be felt.

His wife stood by, not knowing what to do. She'd never ever seen him break down like this before in their entire life of knowing each other, had never seen him cry this deeply. It was terrifying, watching someone she had always known to be her rock suddenly fall into pieces in front of her eyes, like he was shattering and all she felt capable of doing was to stand there and watch as the man she loved fell apart, unable to pick the pieces up and glue them back together. She tried but the movements felt awkwardly mechanical and without feeling, kneeling down to his level where she reached out, trying to wrap her arms around him but he flinched away from her touch.

"Don't touch me," he cried out in between whimpering sobs, "Don't touch me."

So she didn't and held her knees instead, fingers squeezing against bare skin, "I don't know what you want me to do," she said quietly and he couldn't answer her.

Why do you watch and support the dsmp when it’s full of racists, anti semetists and transphobia? Why does supporting and listening to poc, Jewish and trans people matter so little to you?

I'm not going to be discussing at length any individual cases/arguments about racist, transphobic, or anti-Semitic beliefs possibly held by Dream SMP CCs. Instead, this post will center on the absolute reach this Anon is making with their generalizing claim of bigotry against the cast and me. If you want threads about what the CCs have done wrong or a catalog of why they should be canceled, you'll find them in designated critical!tags. Idk why Anon decided to choose a daily clips and memes page who has made 2 total posts tagged "discourse" to vent to so?? you're not gonna get essay length debating like this again lmao (Keyword: Essay. This is a long post! Filter that tag if you don't want to see this.)

I genuinely have a dozen counter-arguments I could give for this intentionally provocative ask, but I'm certain drama-centric Dream SMP blogs have already worded those exact arguments with far more eloquent pathos than I could muster. So, I'm going to completely deviate from the response you want me to give, and instead be laying out an issue I have with this ask that people tend not to approach anon asks with

Give me a real human who is politically correct at all times. Sincerely, could you? Or would you never be able to, because no matter how educated, experienced, and empathetic a person is, they make mistakes? Try and name a show, a movie, a book - any piece of mainstream media! - that is truly, truly PC. You couldn't, because mass media is created by writers/producers/directors who consciously and unconsciously hold discriminatory beliefs reinforced by the society we live. That implicit bias exists in everything they produce.

We're influenced by our surroundings, as you should be well aware, and culture IRL is far removed from the highly sanitized/filtered/curated feed you'll find on Tumblr. Racist, transphobic, anti-Semitic, and all around bigoted views are firmly rooted in our governments, our mentalities, and apparently to your ignorance, our pop culture. Since so many forms of hatred are still legal, defended, and advocated for by those in political power, no entertainment will escape those traces of bigotry you're frustrated with the Dream SMP for having.

And so you classify the cast as "full of racists, anti-Semites, and transphobia", and condemn me for "supporting" them, while I would argue it's a piece of media that tries it's hardest to be the opposite. I have no doubt bigotry will crop up with the sheer depth intolerance is baked into societal constructs, but there's only a few fandoms I have found as intolerant to discrimination as this one. It's astoundingly diverse, with more canon representation in its characters than I’ve seen in...the majority of media outside of fanon interpretations. (Admittedly, Tumblr has calmed down as a platform in recent years, so maybe you've seen horrific supporters directly influenced by DSMP CCs in other places. But then I'd have to ask why you've come to a Tumblr blog to guilt trip about what appears to be largely unfounded claims of major discrimination in the cast.)

The DSMP is produced by a group of random Twitch content creators, which means it is being acted out with millions of eyes analyzing these flawed young adults and teens trying their best to be entertaining live. However, having a platform doesn't automatically give a CC the time and mental fortitude to instantly be sensitive to every social issue. So yes, I think there are instances when a CC makes bigoted comments or jokes by sheer virtue of being young and only so educated, but there's a grand total of 1 who habitually acts in a way that could match your description, and he was killed off very early on. Beyond that, it's noticeably uncommon for "problematic" conduct to occur compared to what you'd expect from Twitch/YouTube gaming culture. When anything actually offensive arises - as in actually a problematic stereotype/misconception and not just fake evidence made by antis - it's 60% a one off bad taste joke 40% addressing a tweet from 2017 with a shit take, and both are followed by educational threads trending on Twitter to explicitly teach the CC on that topic. So yes, the DSMP are not perfect, never will be perfect, but they're certainly not consistently pushing racist, transphobic, or anti-Semitic narratives. Edgy jokes resurfacing from the awful period of humor that was 2010s? It's happened, and every time that creator has owned up to it and made clear that was their shitty high school humor that they've long grown out of. (Because yes, people can change and grow from their past selves.) But actual bigoted beliefs being held or campaigned for - even subtly - by any DSMP creator? Nope.

In essence, you've asked why I would support content made by flawed individuals who aren't PC, but every avenue of entertainment is made by flawed individuals who are fundamentally less PC than the DSMP's distinguishing progressive storytelling, bc others have to answer to corporate TV studios and movie direction teams that are 99% old Hollywood white guys. All entertainment reflects society's institutional prejudices. This makes me ask, how much vitriol do you hold for the mainstream media that truly is harmful and controversial in the way that the DSMP painfully isn't? If you would have me blog about another topic, what alternative could you suggest that genuinely is more inclusive to the discriminated people you're trying to champion for? What CW show or anime you're on Tumblr for isn't being produced by actual bigots behind the scenes, unaccountable in a way the live streamers on the DSMP have no way of replicating? When you consider the largely sanitized, teen-friendly, and open content of the DSMP so harsh and disgusting, what pieces of media are left for you?

So, I'm not entirely sure what parts of the SMP you consider so egregious that you would label it's entire cast to the severity you did. The CCs have made mistakes, but they also are committed to improving themselves. I understand the doubt you would have for the integrity of a field dominated by college-age white cishet guys. They have the least incentive to care about social issues, yes, but this fandom is notorious for being PC - to an overt degree even. That's not always good either, but it does mean that when a CC is remotely intolerant, their own fan base will call that shit out. Surprisingly, young adults/teens who haven't even hit their late twenties are open to education on issues important to their fans? When compared to big name shows or million dollar franchises, you'll realize that this audience can directly reach out and inform the creators on significant campaigns and political causes. I watch and blog about what I do because this fandom has curated a culture within the media we watch, and the plot drives some very significant parts of itself off what we find interesting and consider okay. The creators actually care, consume, and listen to our critiques and ideas, including them into the story they make - can you say that about any other media?

Finally, I'll address that last line of your ask. Taking into account that this is a clips and memes blog...what are you basing your assumptions on? Reading my Minecraft Roleplay quotes will, shockingly, not tell you much about what intersectional issues I care about, listen to, and experience daily??? Your ask gives me such grief because you've made a sweeping claim while failing to consider that 1: I might be a member of some of those groups and 2: that my political advocacy is done IRL - not on Fandom Tumblr. I can excuse the 1st one at least; you've no real way to know I'm not white or cis, and even then, being part of a group doesn't mean you have no internalized hatred towards it. However, the 2nd point is....one of the worst points you could have sent in an ask to me, specifically. I'd say that listening to, learning from, and supporting marginalized groups is actually something that matters a great deal to me. That's why I've had meetings with my State Representatives to lobby against discriminatory bills for the past 3 years. I've gone twice in person, and this legislative session over Zoom, since my activism group wasn't able to meet with them inside the Capitol Complex.

Overall, I have volunteered over 200 service hours educating my peers on Mental Health, Reproductive Justice, LGBTQ+ Issues, etc. and plan to continue my advocacy in higher schooling. If you're American and do want to help combat racism, transphobia, and antisemitism IRL, educate yourself on the House/Senate Bills moving forward in your State's legislative session this year. Learning about Trojan Horse legislation that can set up legal precedence for further harm to marginalized groups is infinitely more productive than starting an argument with a high schooler’s Minecraft blog. Saving yourself from the stress of awful roleplay is easy too! If you hate seeing my type of posts on your feed, block the tags you see under my other posts, and then block me. Anon, I'm just hoping you understand that sending holier-than-thou fandom discourse to kids on Tumblr is not the social justice move you think it is.

Extra in tags:

Anon, sorry for taking so long and the length. There was a lot to address and I tend to ramble. Due to the length I am going to divide your ask in chunks and respond to each paragraph individually for clarity's sake.

I'm curious as to why you have addressed this to Sesskagu shippers both here and later. TBH, this alone will make many doubt that you are truly neutral because you seem to have fallen for the common but false claim that the anti sentiment has it's roots in bitterness over a lost ship war.

Those supporting the end are made up of a variety of people who are simply united in their dislike/disappointment. Among them are shippers and non-shippers, antis, neutrals and even some SR fans who are bothered by how their ship is portrayed.

Personally, I don't think it takes any kind of mental gymnastics to have a problem with how Sessrin is depicted in Yashahime. There are some antis who probably do purposely make the worst possible interpretations to fuel their disgust/anger. But most are being completely sincere in their belief that Rin was married and pregnant by the time she was 15. You have probably already seen and dismissed all the anti arguments to support this view so it would be pointless to rehash them. You can believe it's just about disliking Sessrin but there were many antis like myself who were willing to accept the relationship even if we found it distasteful had Sunrise gone about things differently.

Each "hater" has their own reason for continuing to watch the show and I can't speak for them. Or as a "hater" either as I enjoyed the show. But I also think it's a trainwreck with many issues and problematic portrayals.

If people are targeting individuals and maliciously interacting with their posts then that is definitely harassment. However, I suspect you also mean the general posts made by antis criticizing those who watch the show.

The belief that watching/supporting Yashahime equals supporting a p*dophilic portrayal of Sessrin and other unsavory stuff is an opinion I disagree with. But I also disagree that expressing that opinion is harassment.

I get why you find it to be extremely harsh and hurtful but I also think you are taking it very personally when you needn't.

Consider my position. I'm an anti that still enjoys Yashahime. Most of those posts are made by my moots, some of which I have very friendly interactions with. I have even more reason to feel personally attacked by them but I don't. Just because I respect someone's right to an opinion that doesn't mean I am obligated to agree with it and make it apply it to myself. Unless you agree that liking Yashahime means condoning p*dophilia, then I'd advise you to take the view that those posts don't pertain to you at all.

As for petitions, bad reviews, being glad Yashahime is almost over... Well that's some of the least offensive actions an anti can take. Two of the three are against corporations, not fellow fandom members and the other is just a celebration amongst themselves.

They don't affect anyone else unless the petitions and bad reviews are substantial enough to put the shows future in jeopardy. IMO, the correct counter action is good reviews and supportive petitions, not telling antis to stop. They have the right to express their opinions.

I have seen many grooming and csa survivors say they also don't view Sessrin as having those aspects. However, there are many survivors on the anti side that strongly disagree. While I think that the opinions of those who have endured similar circumstances have more weight, it also creates kind of a never ending tug of war situation where neither side can really "win" the argument because they are equally balanced. For every survivor saying it is, there is one saying it's not.

Generally, I choose not to use the words p*dophilia or grooming when describing the Sessrin relationship or say that everyone who likes the pairing is a P&G apologist.

Many antis don't agree on this, but I think it's possible to have headcanons and scenarios that result in a version of Sessrin in which those things are not present. Fanonwise anyway. To me, the canon situation can definitely be interpreted to believe that they are present.

Mostly, I tend not to use the terms because they have specific psychological and legal definitions. That makes it very easy for SR fans to completely dismiss the idea that they could apply to Sessrin because it's not a perfect fit. I think if it turns out to be part of actual canon or if it's just part of one's own headcanon that Sesshomaru was "waiting" for Rin to grow up and courting her with gifts like the kimonos then that means he had a romantic interest in her when she was too young for it to be acceptable.

He might not be a technical p*do in that he is attracted to children, but his thoughts and actions are of one with regards to Rin. I agree with those that say Sesshomaru would never intentionally manipulate or pressure Rin to be with him, thus not "technically" grooming.

However, informing her via courting that he wants to be with her when she is older does put a type of manipulative pressure on her. For years, she will have to live with the knowledge that her literal savior, the most important person to her in the world, someone she loves and doesn't want to disappoint, is waiting for her. It will absolutely influence her life choices and who she becomes.

No need to apologise, I don't mind being vented at and am clearly prone to long-ass messages myself.

I think you do have some valid frustrations but I don't think they all are.

It's often forgotten that antis are major fans too. Many wanted to love Yashahime but in their eyes Yashahime "bashes" the OG and it's characters. It's ruined something they held near and dear. And they are highly upset about it.

Think about it, that's probably why you and others are so angry at the criticism. It's bashing something you all enjoy or maybe even love and it's making you highly upset. You all are more alike then you realize.

You can let it all impact your fandom experience or realise there is very little you can do about it because that criticism, even if you find it unfounded, harsh or extreme has the right to exist provided it doesn't break the rules of the website. You won't be able to block it all away.

it's a tired old cliche but it's true that you can't control what others do, only your own reaction to it. And frankly I think some of your reactions are as extreme as to what you ascribe to antis. I mean, you want them to stop celebrating the end of Yashahime. How does that really personally affect you?

A change in perspective as I described earlier goes a long way in not taking anti criticism personally. It even works when you are being personally attacked. I have seen posts about me specifically saying I am a deluded and deranged individual with real life mental health issues just because I think Kagura is the mom. Those people don't know me and I know the truth about myself. So why let someone's unfounded false world view affect me or my fandom experience?

Anyway, you probably just wanted to rant and weren't expecting or wanting this massive response. I hope you find a way to deal with the negativity because it's not completely avoidable but it will die down eventually.