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New Forum Rules 06/29/2018

Stop internalizing criticism of shows you like.

You cant so much as mention being uncomfortable with something such as a gay kiss or copious male fanservice because it "presents an unwelcome feeling" on the forum.

Halko wrote:

You cant so much as mention being uncomfortable with something such as a gay kiss or copious male fanservice because it "presents an unwelcome feeling" on the forum.

But you can. You can say "I didn't like Free because gayness makes me uncomfortable".
You can't say "I didn't like Free because those fags made me uncomfortable". Don't you see the difference? I think it's fine to be uncomfortable around homosexuality. Some people grew up in different cultures or circumstances. But you shoudn't insult those people, they've done nothing to you.

Also... Free isn't gay. It may have some homosexual overtones, but it's not actually gay. None of the characters are.

Going on and on about how uncomfortable "gayness" makes you, regardless of how "politely" you phrase it, makes gay users of the forums uncomfortable and contributes to an unwelcome environment. That seems to be the whole point of the new rules: Even if you try to say it "nicely," couch it in XYZ other beliefs, etc., bigotry is still bigotry and won't be tolerated. I'm gay, and bigotry couched in religion still hurts, still harms us just as much (if not more, sometimes) than homophobia for other reasons, and is still completely unnecessary considering I've yet to find a religion used to "justify" homophobia that doesn't have other members who are not homophobic, who interpret their sacred texts just as (if not more) deeply and thoughtfully. That's something you can think about and adjust; I can't change the fact that I'm a lesbian.

Is there any reason to bring that up anyway? What does "I'd watch this but it's too gay" contribute to the conversation? If you absolutely have to say it, there are other ways that don't imply homophobia: "I don't like yaoi/yuri" (genres with their own set of tropes, some of which LGBT people find distasteful, too) or "Cool premise but since it seems to focus more on the characters' muscles than anything else, as a straight guy I'm not that interested." Even so though, I don't see why it's so important to go into threads about shows you're not interested in just to say that, which is different from a detailed criticism.

Anyway, on another topic: I've enjoyed shows that I also thought had misogynistic elements to them, just like I've enjoyed shows that were overall good but might've had one plot twist or one character I didn't like. It's totally possible for someone to criticize a show without criticizing people who like it. That's the difference between the statements in question: "gay kissing makes me uncomfortable and contributes to the destruction of traditional families" says something negative and hurtful about gay people. "This show objectifies women" only says anything about the show, not any actual people.

No, I made a point in my post that there is a difference between a flippant "why I'm not watching this" comment that contributes nothing to the conversation, vs. a more specific, pointed or detailed criticism like "I don't like how this show objectifies women." They aren't the same thing. Also not all shows that people would criticize for being "objectifying" would be harem/ecchi genre shows, nor do all harem shows treat women the same way.

I'm pretty sure the rules make it clear that no one is allowed to be made fun of for any of the traits listed, even if they're in a "majority" or "privileged" group. It's been brought up that there are people on the forums who've had weird hateful vendettas against white people or men, and they've been dealt with as hate speech/trolling just like in the reverse situation.

That said, since this keeps coming up, I'm curious what you would define as "hatred against straight people" and any examples you would list that have happened on this forum.

Because I felt that they were genuinely upset about this, and not just trying to derail.

I wasn't refering to you or the person you responded to specifically (though cynical me is not so sure about the 'being genuinely upset part', to be honest...), but to a couple of accounts who'd been created in the past few of days, people had been argueing back and forth for several pages now.

"This person disagreed with me in an inoffensive way without insults and i didn't like it so im deleting his post because im hurt." The rules as they are written blatantly makes this an ok thing to do. If you want to do that fine but man up to it and say it directly at least.

Going on and on about how uncomfortable "gayness" makes you, regardless of how "politely" you phrase it, makes gay users of the forums uncomfortable and contributes to an unwelcome environment.