So I know I usually don’t get into this sort of stuff but I thought I’d share something in light of the recent tumblr purge. I saw some antis rejoicing in the fact that certain artists got deleted, and that was upsetting to me.
One of these artists was a fanartist that I myself found distasteful, on account of their art containing a lot of r@pe, g*re, and various other uncomfortable things. Looking at their work made me physically sick, even their sfw pieces, in part due to the style being so distinct that it was impossible not to be reminded of their more violent content when looking at it. They were very popular amongst fans, however, and even a favorite artist of my younger sibling’s.
Instead of harassing the artist or chastising my sibling and other members of the artist’s following, this is what I did: I politely messaged them and asked them to block me.
Shocking, I know! I explained that their content made me uncomfortable, but that it was difficult for me to avoid on account of them being so popular. I didn’t shame them for creating the content they were creating or try to tell them to stop. And you know what they did?
They sent a polite reply back and blocked me, like I asked. They didn’t apologize for their content — there was no need. And, from then on, I was free to enjoy my blogging unperturbed by their artwork.
A while later, I purchased a fan zine that happened to contain their work. As I recall, the zine contained one piece of their work and also came with another work of theirs separate from the zine.
I did not harass the organizers of the zine and/or tell them that they were horrible people for supporting the work of that artist. I did not tear my zine to shreds out of rage or demand a refund. What I did do was gift the separate piece to my sibling, because I knew they would enjoy it (while being very careful to keep the piece flipped over and not look at it lest it trigger me 😅) and use a sharpie to black out the piece that was contained in the zine. Cue some lighthearted gagging noises as I handed the piece over to my sibling and I never had to think about that artist again.
TLDR: Be the bigger person. Get on anti block lists. Politely ask creators who are making content that doesn’t cater to your tastes to block you, or at least to tag their work properly. tumblr is one of the only places where this is even possible, so make use of that privilege.
Gay Hell 