So, wow, this post really took off and got more notes than I thought it would. But, since there’s been so much stuff in the comments (and my inbox) on the same few themes I thought I’d do an update with a couple of amendments.
First: AO3 made its fundraising goal! Which is amazing. Thanks to everybody who donated and signal boosted and I’m so happy to see that some people were inspired to donate because of this post!
2nd: AO3 does not host child pornography.
Child porn is illegal. Creating or distributing it is a felony in the US, where AO3 is located. It also violates AO3′s TOS. Since some people do not seem to know what child pornography is, I thought I’d post a definition for you:
(8) “child pornography” means any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where–
(A) the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct;
(B) such visual depiction is a digital image, computer image, or computer-generated image that is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; or
© such visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
source (emphasis mine)
The key words here are “Visual depiction,” “use of a minor,” and “identifiable minor.” In other words, real images of real children engaged in real or simulated sex. Stop calling written works of fiction which depict imaginary characters engaging in sexual acts “child pornography.” Stop accusing the creators of said fanworks of felonies with no evidence. Stop throwing around scary sounding words like “literal child porn” to make your point; it’s offensive to the survivors of actual child porn and diminishes their abuse. It doesn’t make people take you seriously. It just shows that you have no grasp of the definitions of the words “literal” or “child porn.”
Yes, AO3 does host works depicting underage sex, and rape, and incest, and all manner of works you may be uncomfortable with. Yes, I support the OTW, not despite, but because of, the fact that they host these kind of works.
Why? Because AO3 is a space whose members are majority queer, majority female, and those individuals are more likely to be the victims of rape, sexual assault, and childhood sexual abuse than its perpetrators. Lots of those squicky fanworks are produced by survivors who are writing about these themes with depth and intelligence. Many of these survivors use fic to process trauma, and many of them use AO3 to connect with other survivors. If you ban these kinds of fanworks, you are shaming and silencing a group of people who have already been shamed and silenced.
“But I wasn’t talking about those fanworks!” You say. Thoughtful works which critically examine the topics of rape and abuse are fine. I just want AO3 to get rid of all the gross fetishistic fic created by pedophiles so they can get off.”
The problem is, you cannot ban one without banning the other. Either you allow works that depict underage sex or you don’t. Either you allow works that depict rape or you don’t. Saying that you should ban works that are “graphic” or “explicit” requires people to make subjective judgments about which people will disagree. And in the end, what you’re really asking is for mods to judge and decide which works have redeeming value and which ones don’t. And you can’t. One persons trigger is another’s catharsis.
Neither can you say that something is inherently bad because its purpose is arousal. Arousal is a complicated thing. Some survivors were aroused during their rape or assault. Does that mean they wanted it? Of course it doesn’t. So why would we assume that readers who are aroused when reading a fanwork want what’s going on in the fanwork to happen to them or someone else in real life? Also, how do you know if the author was aroused when they wrote the fic, or if the reader is aroused by reading it? You don’t. So don’t use this as a metric.
People say that fanworks depicting minors having sex with adults are used to groom children. Abusers have been using toys and candy and promises to groom children for centuries. The blame should always be placed on the abuser, not the tool they use to groom.
People say that works depicting rape or childhood sexual abuse are triggering for survivors. Anything can be a trigger for a survivor. All kinds of innocuous things can become associated with traumatic memories. There are lots of things that are common triggers, and AO3 has Archive Warnings for some of the biggest: Death, Underage, Rape/Noncon, and Graphic Violence. There are others, too, like drug use, miscarriage, abortion, etc. Writers who use the archive are generally pretty good at using these warnings, and AO3 recently rolled out a new filtering system which makes it even easier to exclude certain warnings and tags from searches. Every person is responsible for curating their own archive experience, and reading fanfic, like everything else in life, comes with risks of being triggered. AO3 actually does a much better job than mainstream media, which generally has only vague ratings, at helping people navigate those risks.
Finally, there are people who just seem to be ignorant of how much servers and bandwidth cost, who insist that the AO3 fundraiser is a “scam” and that AO3 staff are “pocketing” money. To these people, all I have to say is that AO3 posts their budget online. It’s totally transparent. You can see exactly where the money goes (answer, 115K went to their server overhaul).
Anyway, thanks again to everyone who donated and signal boosted, we did it!
guttertongue