the science of seduction

nothing to do with steven moffat.

And that is that it is “aggravating” or “tedious” or whatever when people discuss gender and especially racial issues in source, because “it’s all just fun!” and fandom is spoiling it for you.

Seriously. Just stop.

Do you hear what you are saying?

You are saying that your fun is more important than even considering the possibility that it might be in some way hurtful to someone else. You are saying that you want fandom to be a place—glorious liberal that you are—that you can be guaranteed to be able to take your pleasure at the expense of others without any fear of being questioned for it.

In other words, you’re saying you’re a spoiled privileged creature with a monstrous case of entitlement and no critical self-awareness at all.

word!

and now, back to the sherlock spam.

This has really been starting to bother me lately, so I’d like to take the time to articulate it. When I critique a television show, it does not mean that I do not like it. It also does not mean that I think that you should not like it. Nor does it mean that I secretly believe that people who do like it are terrible, no good, very bad people. My critique of television shows stems solely from my experiences of watching them and is not a reflection on other people; I don’t want to tell people what to watch or how to watch it.

There are, in fact, many things in this world which I critique because I care. Like America. Or feminism. I critique these things because I think that they have value and potential, but they still have problems. I am not going to refuse to acknowledge the problems simply because I like these things. Indeed, I think that it’s my duty, as someone who likes them, to critique them and try to improve them. That includes defending things which are personally not to my taste, sometimes, and it includes protecting fellow critiquers when they are being attacked by people who seem to believe that if you dare to criticize something, you obviously hate it.

relevant because this happens in so many fandoms, particularly when it comes to discussions about, say, Orientalism in Sherlock or racism in Doctor Who. the latter in particular has not gone down very well in a lot of DW circles.