Thread by @RukminiPande

Part 2 of the interview is up now! In it I discuss how fandom axioms like Ship And Let Ship, while overtly defusing conflict in fandom spaces, also enable an ahistorical perception of how fandom treats characters of color and invisibilises whiteness #SqueeFromTheMargins

https://twitter.com/henryjenkins/status/1141498003259158529

Firstly, I'd like to clarify that there is certainly a heightened tension around shipping practices in fandom and this is not a validation of harrassment or kinkshaming or purity wank.

HOWEVER, it's also important to see what these axioms enable over time and across fandoms.

As a neutral axiom, SALS holds the promise that if you don't find what you're looking for in one fandom, you'll find it another. And if people don't love what you love you should move on.

And that's fine and makes sense right?
Except that in situations where there is erasure and sidelining of character of color in texts where they SHOULD be the the focus, SALS encourages fandom to look the other way.
A structural whiteness is soothed away into individual actions

The implication of SALS is that if a fully realised/well acted/tropey character of color is not as popular as Some White Person With Two Seconds Of Screentime....that might be sad and unfortunate...but fans of the former need to find another text or create their own squee.

This once again has the effect of locating the problem of conflict in fandom around those who identify the erasure.

Write your own fic, build your own archive, find your own people, essentially establishes whiteness as default.