Anti-larrie

An anti-larrie is a One Direction fan who disagrees with, or actively opposes, larries (fans of the theory that Larry is real, i.e. that bandmembers Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are in a relationship and are pressured by their management to stay in the closet). 
"Anti-larrie" is an ambiguous term that means somewhat different things in different parts of One Direction fandom. Crucially, depending on the definition, the term may apply to different subsets of the fanbase, resulting in contradictory claims over what "antis" believe and do. 
==Different Groups, Different Worldviews==
One group of "anti-larries" make up the small, loosely defined network of tumblr blogs who debunk larrie theories, argue with larries, or analyse or archive larrie activity from a critical perspective. These blogs tend to have names like whylarryisntreal and debunklarry and were popular during the heyday of both 1D and fandom on Tumblr, possibly reaching a high-water mark in response to the spread of Babygate theories in early 2016. im-on-fire-now was one of the earliest blogs, predating the term "anti-larrie" itself, who posted a manifesto in June 2013 called ; in 2016 im-on-fire-now commented that "after feeling like the sole dissenting voice in a sea of larries a few years ago, it’s so nice to see the scales tipped the other way now; to see so many others speaking up and speaking out, especially those who have rarely (or never) done it before.", 9 April 2016 Many anti-larrie blogs, along with many other 1D blogs, have since deactivated.
Fans who are or were actively blogging about larries, or were part of this tumblr network, are more likely to describe themselves as "anti-larries". However, plenty of other fans might also use the term to describe themselves, and still other fans might hold similar opinions, but not use the term, reddit post by pimpdaddy30, r/OneDirection, 21 December 2020.. Twitter wars between larries and other fans have been ongoing since at least 2012, though the term anti-larrie itself only dates to 2014. A group of 1D fans on Twitter in the 2020s seem to have adopted the term for themselves. Meanwhile, Harries (fans of Harry Styles exclusively) are often called antis by Larries simply for disliking the Larry conspiracy theory, but the usage of it as a self-identifier among Harries is variable as many Harries are disinterested in One Direction altogether and think Larry is irrelevant to their daily fandom activities.
Some of the tumblr anti-larries have said they are former larries, and most seem to be RPF fans, who object to larries flouting established norms when shipping real people (such as not breaking The Fourth Wall). However, because One Direction was a massively popular boyband, with a very large fanbase, many 1D fans who are annoyed with larries are likely not RPF fans and may even be opposed to shipping in general; their objections to larries could be anti-RPF objections. Regardless of their differing views on RPF, both groups of fans also object to larries due to their harassment of 1D members and their families. (It's important to note that the fanbase was active on Twitter, where it was difficult if not impossible to maintain separation between different groups of fans, let alone separation between the fanbase and the celebrities, who were also on the platform and were the reason for the fandom to congregate there.)
Self-identified tumblr anti-larries have sometimes remarked that larries seem to have a different definition of anti-larrie. (See #Anti-Larries vs Anti-Larry.) According to Tumblr user anticonspiracist (Shit Larries Say prior to deletion), larries include all non Larry believers in their definition of "anti". Larries say they define antis as people who are "against Larry" and do not include people who are "ambivalent" or "don't care" in their definition.9 April 2021 Fanlore edit The term non-larries is sometimes used instead."non-larries" + "anti-larries" Twitter search A non-larrie is any 1D fan who doesn't believe that Larry is real.
Within the larrie worldview, 1D fandom seems to be divided up ideologically as follows: people who believe in Larry (larries), people who don't (non-larries), people who don't have an opinion (neutrals), and homophobes who hate the idea of Harry and Louis in a relationship and that's why they're arguing that Larry isn't real (anti-larries). (Some larries may not make a distinction between neutrals and non-larries.) As a result of this worldview, larries may sometimes label a fan correctly as an "anti-larrie" (because they're arguing that Larry isn't real), but have a completely different understanding of what that means.
=="Antis"==
Many fan communities on different platforms have used the term "anti" to describe some group of fans who are against something in that fandom. 
Larries often refer to anti-larries as antis, and others have adopted it, which has caused confusion in pan-fandom discussions where the most common meaning of "anti" is anti-shipper.For example: "...holy shit, is this an actual Larry on meme, or does "anti" mean something vastly different outside of One Direction fandom??" 2016-04-11 comment, Fail_Fandomanon. 
==Origin & Definitions==
The term "anti larrie" seems to have been in use by larries as long as the term larrie, since 2014:
*September 21, 2014: "Anti larries are so funny like why are you so anti what are you afraid of??", Sep 21, 2014.
*September 27, 2014: "When anti-larries get all up in your grill: BITCH I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THIS LARRY SEXTAPE YOU GON NEED TO CALL ME BACK LATER", Sep 27, 2014
*September 28, 2014: "have you ever noticed that anti larries are always the ones to make everything about larry", Sep 28, 2014
Describing other fans as "anti larry" or as "anti larry shippers" goes back further on Twitter, twitter search 2 January 2022., but few references to "anti" and "tinhat" in the 1D context turn up. 
"Antis" as a noun by itself is harder to search for, but seems to have been in use since at least December 2014:
*December 18, 2014: "even after h&l come out the war between larries and antis will still continue because some people are CLOSEMINDED FUCKS", Dec 18, 2014.
*December 30, 2014: "literally a war between the antis and larries, I wonder if Sam knew before he posted what he was doing", Dec 30, 2014.
*January 11, 2015: "its so funny when antis use the most ridic "proof" to make fun of larries but when theres actual ~proof they suddenly cant read", Jan 11, 2015
There has been some debate about who came up with the term anti in the 1D context, and what it means exactly: 
===Anti-Larries vs Anti-Larry===
Larries' definition of anti-larrie does not distinguish between opposition to shipping Larry and opposition to larrie activities. This may be due to a variety of reasons--a convenient straw man, the presence of many 1D fans who don't approve of RPF shipping, or the fact that larries do not distinguish between shipping (enjoying the dynamic between characters and creating or consuming sexual or romantic fanworks about them) and what is known in other fandoms as tinhatting (believing that their ship is real). The anti-larrie blogs of tumblr have tried to correct this misunderstanding, but larries do not appear to have heard the messageFor example, see this twitter larrie who discovered with shock and confusion in 2022 that antis were reading Harry/Louis fanfic: , tweet by Livyourlife___, 29 December 2022.. For example, in answering an anon ask about why people set up anti-larry blogs, the-counter-narrative wrote:
In practice, some anti-larries ship Larry Stylinson, while others ship other combinations of 1D bandmembers as fictional pairings.
===Contrasting Definitions and Fannish Drift===
As of 2020 larries seem to have been effective in spreading their definition of "anti" to non-larrie parts of the fandom, at least on Reddit, causing non-larries to refuse to identify with "anti" despite holding similar views as antis on other platforms:
A 2021 r/OneDirection conversation between a larrie and an anti illustrates the problems caused by contrasting definitions:
By 2023 some disbelievers on Twitter were wondering what the heck to call themselves:
==Tumblr Anti Discussion Topics and Activities==
On Tumblr anti-larries often set up blogs specifically devoted to debunking misinformation, writing rebuttals against larrie arguments, and answering anon asks. Another major theme of anti blogs is calling out offensive and harassing behavior of larries, especially the harassment of 1D members' real-life girlfriends and families.
As of 2016, another discussion topic was dissecting how larries maintain their belief in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. According to antis, larries live in an information bubble, reinforcing each other's views and refusing to seek out or trust alternate viewpoints; news about 1D is believed to the extent that it supports their conclusions and disregarded when it contradicts Larry.
In early 2017, antis were still going strong, again focusing on larries' worst behavior on social media, especially toward the mother of Louis's baby."I don't get why you antis treat her like she's the Virgin Mary come to give birth to the return of Jesus." "She is a target of an immense amount of hatred for having given birth to a baby and refusing to be silenced the way you wish she would be." , 4 January 2017. larriearchive was created to document "cyberbullying" and other larrie posts considered extreme.
As of 2023, some anti-larrie blogs are still active, though many have become dormant or were deleted.
===Boycotts and Challenge Rules===
Starting in 2016-2017, likely in response to the fallout from larries' belief that Louis' son wasn't real, another discussion topic was the idea of actively boycotting or excluding larries from fandom, including blocking and not reblogging non-tinhatting fannish content posted by larries and preventing them from participating in fandom challenges. 
In December 2016, the tumblr account biglarrieboycott was created after back-to-louis proposed a general boycott on reblogging non-tinhat fannish content from larrie blogs or participating in larrie-run events, arguing that "It is the distribution of 'neutral', non shipping posts by these folks that enables the toxic mindsets that lead to mistrust of everything in these mens’ lives to proliferate throughout fandom, and it damaged all of us and our perception of the boys in increments every day for years.", 11 December 2016. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 117 notes. The instigating incident was a larrie-run charity drive in honor of Louis's mother after her death from cancer. back-to-louis and other anti-larries said they were angry first because larries had been harassing Louis' mother for publicly expressing love for her grandson, whom the larries didn't believe was real, and second because of gross responses to her death by larries., 11 December 2016. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 64 notes., 10 December 2016. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 158 notes., tumblr post by dylan-klebold-is-my-baby, reblogged with rebuttle by millionharry, 11 December 2016. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 176 notes., 11 December 2016. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 218 notes. (Both larries and antis accused the other side of making her death about Larry.) back-to-louis argued that larries needed to be starved of attention because "What they believe right now is that most people just don’t care about what they do because sure, they get some pushback when they tinhat, but they get most of their notes not from gross larrie speculation but from their cute text posts or their talented graphics.", 11 December 2016. The big larrie boycott list contains 118 names as of 2022., tumblr post by biglarrieboycott. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 1570 notes. 
yessoupy started a related list in March 2017 for fans who wanted to avoid reading AO3 fic by 1D tinhats (larries or ziams), 5 March 2017. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 803 notes. and in the following month made a similar list of 1d_bigbang fics written by larries, 27 April 2017. As of 8 February 2022, this tumblr post has 10 notes..
It is unclear what impact the biglarrieboycott list had on the wider fandom, but it may have influenced the development of rules excluding larries from challenges and the creation of new challenges by larries in response.
On March 28, 2017, 1D Married in Vegas Fanwork Fest announced it would "not reblog contributions by tumblr users who tinhat Larry Stylinson.", 28 March 2017. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 16 notes. When asked if Houies (fans who think H/L used to be together) were allowed, the mods said yes and further clarified that "We just don’t want to elevate the voices of people who promote disrespectful and toxic behavior toward Louis and his loved ones.", 30 March 2017. Accessed 6 February 2022. The Married in Vegas fest was ultimately unsuccessful (only two works appear in the AO3 collection), but its rules attracted the attention of larries. On March 29, kingsofeverything declared that antis were "a bunch of assholes" and contrasted their behavior with larries, who she described as "inclusive. we may not agree with you or believe what you believe, but we’re not going to tell you that you can’t participate in a fic exchange or fest.", 29 March 2017. As of 6 February 2022, this tumblr post has 324 notes. kingsofeverything created a larrie-friendly version of the challenge on the same day: Larried in Vegas (AO3 collection) and larriedinvegasficfest (tumblr account). Despite the name, the collection was open to all ships; as of 2022, 8 works are posted, 7 of which are tagged Harry/Louis., AO3 collection. Accessed 7 February 2022.
In October 2017, yessoupy published an anon ask on her Shit Larries Say blog:
Shit Larries Say replied encouraging people to start their own challenges that excluded larries. anti-larries then asked the mods of 1d bigbang what their stance on tinhats was. The mods' response managed to antagonize both larries and anti-larries, who made alternative big bangs with contrasting rules (see New One Direction Big Bang and The 1D Collab), which may have hastened the end of 1d bigbang.
In 2018 1D Back For You Collab, a tiny WIP challenge run by a Niall fan, as well as One Direction Fic Exchange, an even tinier exchange run by yessoupy, both excluded tinhats.
==Twitter Anti Activities==
Although some of the self-identified 2010s tumblr antis have/had twitter accounts, a lot of other fans appear to label themselves as "antis" on twitter, especially in the 2020s. Some of the 2020s antis seem to use the label to indicate a sort of cultural affiliation and may not want contact with larries at all, tweet by cinemalovern1 (Sep 26, 2022), tweet by bernietaupin31 (Apr 30, 2021), though the many tweets from larries confused over why antis are engaging with them instead of staying on their own "side" indicate that the "argues with larries" type of anti still exists., tweet by IarryIuvbot (Nov 10, 2020), tweet by twoghostsry (Nov 30, 2022), tweet by gaylrry (Jan 10, 2023)
===AntisAreHotter===
Larries started the trending hashtag #LarriesAreHot on November 9, 2020, so other fans started another hashtag in response, #AntisAreHotter. Many tweets in both hashtags were in Spanish or Portuguese, with a large Italian presence in just #LarriesAreHot. Some fans posted selfies, while others posted comments. Some people posted in multiple hashtags at once, some argued that #AntisAreHot was a better hashtag, some people argued that everyone was hot, and some people argued that people were being extremely immature., tweet by pvrpl3h4ze (Nov 10, 2020), tweet by Bridget05789778 (Nov 11, 2020)
, tweet by pinkrrydarling (Nov 9, 2020) (Nov 9, 2020), tweet by bruised_emotion (Nov 9, 2020), tweet by lavender_f0g (9 Nov 2020), tweet by folkIorestyIes (9 Nov 2020), tweet by toriatoriatori (Nov 10, 2020), tweet by collisionfairy (9 Nov 2020)
===AbolishLarries2021===
On March 7, 2021, #AbolishLarries2021 trended on Twitter (number 38 according to us.trend-calendar.com) and was attributed to anti-larries. However, it may have trended because so many larries tweeted it or because it was started by a Marvel fan. The hashtag was started by @capsyeIena, a suspended account who appears to be anti-RPF., tweet by capsyeIena, 7 March 2021.
==Other Fans' Views==
A lot of other fans, larries and non-larries, think that antis are wasting their time trying to change larries' minds. In a 2016 tumblr discussion between antis, springstylers said, "Some people ask me why I do it because they think it’s hopeless and I’m just looking for trouble but like you said I can’t let them get away with that behavior.", 12 February 2016.
Larries have characterized antis' behavior as weird and obsessive, asking why antis spend all of their time trying to argue with larries instead of just enjoying One Direction. (Tumblr anti-larries argue that these are just their side blogs and they do spend more time on other things.) Many larries made fun of anti-larries' debunks as unconvincing and illogical, or insisted that antis were trying to debunk arguments larries never made, or argued that antis were trying to debunk ship-related content that wasn't intended as a proof. (Anti-larries have often complained that larries misrepresent anti arguments.) A problem with larries' and anti-larries' characterization of one another is that both groups are poorly defined and contain a diverse array of opinions, but each side tends to assume the weakest arguments and worst behavior they are exposed to is representative of the other side as a whole.
Many larries think that anti-larries are homophobic and hate larries for believing that Harry and Louis are gay.See a 2020 tumblr discussion between lornasaurusrex, thisiskatsblog, and others. lornasaurusrex: "#they hate us because we think theyre gay #not because we reach" thisiskatsblog: "you see the pattern and it’s hate for the gay" , 4 February 2020. As of 19 December 2021 this tumblr post has 6 notes. (Some anti-larries have complained that it's especially annoying to be mislabeled as homophobic when they are LGBTQ+., 5 May 2017., 24 August 2016.) For example, lornasaurusrex blogged in 2021:
In 2016 an ex-larrie recalled, 
In addition, larries often see antis' uninvited attempts to argue with them as bullying and harassment. Certainly anti-larries and other non-larries, including 1D fans who don't like RPF or shipping, have made fun of larry theories on social media. Larries feel that many tumblr blogs exist to mock them, such as anticonspiracist, zot3-flopped, and niamflopped. Anyone ridiculing larries could be seen as an anti-larry blog, though as such they are engaging in a different activity from the debunking blogs (see for example larrieparody). Many non-larries have been outspoken in their anger toward or disgust with larries. However, many anti-larries criticize what they see as yet another attempt on the part of larries to demonize the opposition.
Big larries have blocked anti-larrie blogs so that antis cannot reblog their posts. Anti-larries believe that big larries do this to control their followers' access to information, so that other larries won't be exposed to visible counter-arguments in the reblogs. (Larries see this as an example of conspiratorial thinking on the part of anti-larries. See Big Larrie#Controversy for how a 2015 incident may have influenced anti-larries to assume that big larries coordinate.) At least one big larrie countered by saying that it was for her own peace of mind to curate her fandom experience."I don’t feel like engaging you in a discussion. I don’t. I just feel like blocking you so you can’t do it again and I don’t have to keep seeing your URL." , tumblr post by worshippedlove, 10 February 2016. As of 2018 worshippedlove is no longer a larrie. , 11 June 2018. In the 2022 book Everything I Need I Get From You, author Kaitlin Tiffany conducted interviews of ex-Larries, which confirmed that they felt their access to information was restricted when they were Larries.Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2022). Everything I need I get from you: how fangirls created the Internet as we know it. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-53918-4. OCLC 1264273710.
In a February 2016 tumblr reblog, lrambling commented that the vast majority of the fandom probably didn't pay any attention to either anti-larries or larries."The majority of fandom doesn’t care about debunks, and debunk or call out posts don’t get a lot of notes." , 8 February 2016.
==Academic Usage==
Bethan Jones's 2016 book chapter on 1D fansJones, Bethan. “ ‘I Will Throw You off Your Ship and You Will Drown and Die’: Death Threats, Intra-Fandom Hate, and the Performance of Fangirling.” Seeing Fans: Representations of Fandom in Media and Popular Culture, edited by Lucy Kathryn Bennett and Paul Booth, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016, pp. 53-66. uses the term "anti-Larry" to mean fans opposed to shipping Harry/Louis, though her definitions of shipping, tinhatting, and Larry Stylinson are muddled throughout. This is probably an independent coinage; Jones applies previous fan studies scholarship on anti-fandom in comparing negative media responses to 1D fans to intra-fandom responses to Larry shippers. Jones' description of 1D fandom appears to include all of the active fanbase on twitter, including fans who don't like RPF.
==References==
Category:One Direction Fandom Glossary