Social Justice and Fandom

Social Justice (SJ) is a philosophy term coined in the 19th century meaning "the fair and just relation between the individual and society"; 21st-century progressive social activists emphasize the importance of social mobility, safety nets, and economic justice in achieving social justice.Wikipedia:Social_justice 
In fandom, social justice means different things to different people. Racial issues, issues surrounding disability and access, proper portrayal of mental illness and respect for mentally ill fans, triggers and warnings, standards of (male and female) beauty and attractiveness, feminism, LGBT rights, acceptance of incest ships, and normalization of seemingly pedophilic ships are frequent topics of "social justice"
discussions.
Fannish social justice really picked up around RaceFail '09.See for example the 300+ "racefail09" bookmarks and their associated tags at the delicious account of Metafandom. Accessed 7 Dec 2011. Dead link and unarchived as of 16 Dec 2022. It now appears in discussions surrounding a wide variety of fannish community events such as Wiscon, Vividcon, Worldcon and the Hugo Awards, and the OTW elections of 2011. Also appears in numerous small groups and communities discussions as well as in one-on-one discussions. 
It permeates all aspects of fannish life, from blogging, to writing fan fiction, to archiving, vidding, running conventions, and simply hanging out on twitter and tumblr. It is not unusual for fans to find themselves in the midst of a social justice discussion when they thought they were talking about the story they just read or the plot of their favorite TV show. 
Social activists sometimes self-identify as Social Justice Warriors, but "SJW" is also used pejoratively by others, in some cases to describe activists and in some cases to describe wankers who deploy social justice terminology.
== Social Justice Within Fandom - A Multitude of Voices==
*Some people say SJ has made fandom a safer place for them. They are able to speak up about painful issues, and people will listen to them. 
* Some fans feel that social justice has allowed them to discuss the "isms" topics more freely. An example: "I think social justice has done some great things for fandom. I'm involved with steampunk and there have been some great conversations about historical -isms and representation that might never have happened had people not spoken up. But there are also some pretty toxic SJWs who get held up as "experts" (both online and in books and conventions) that don't make anything better for anyone and just end up convincing the dudebros in fandom that everyone concerned about inclusivity is a raging SJW who thinks all white men in steampunk are genocidal colonialists." comment in "Baby's First SJW" post dated Jan 7, 2013. (Dead link as of 16 Dec 2022.)
* Another example is when fans acknowledge social "isms" that occur within fandom, particularly racism, homophobia, transphobia, and lesbophobia.post by cannibal-rainbow on Tumblrpost by gbptboys on Tumblr
*Fandom is a microcosm of the everyday world and while many of us use fandom for escapism, many more of us use fandom as our main social interaction. Part of that social interaction is the need to engage each other and discuss ways to reduce prejudice. An example: "Yes, fandom may seem small and insignificant, but when taken apart and looked at individually, every single thing that perpetuates oppression can be small and insignificant. “Fandom isn’t srs business” may be a valid argument but… you can apply that argument to just about everything. Where do we start? How do we destroy the cage if we’re going to label every thin wire as insignificant? We have to start somewhere, right? I’m not saying it’s a good idea to randomly throw the word “privilege” around or start attacking people for being in fandoms, but sitting here and pretending that privilege doesn’t exist in fandom, fandom doesn’t mold our way of thinking, and it’s stupid to care about social justice is… well, just a little ignorant." ‘Social Justice’ is bullshit and it’s killing fandom (dead link) dated June 15, 2011; WebCite.
*Some people say that SJ debate has had a negative impact on fandom. "Calling out" (to bring public attention to perceived oppressive behavior) -> "signal boosting" -> dogpiling. Receipt blogs. SJW as bullies. Some examples: "I don't think many SJWs are yelling and screeching and bullying because they're really trying to do what is right. I think it's more an excuse to bully and, in some fandom-specific cases, rip into ships and characters you don't like. It's a fandom-approved excuse to bully." comment in "The most annoying hatedoms" post dated Oct 16, 2013 in fail-fandomanon; reference link. Pick and choose who gets dogpiled. Refusing to accept apologies unless they met strict criteria. An example: "...it doesn't help that 9 times out of 10 when I have seen someone called out for saying "I'm sorry if", it's not because they didn't seem genuine, it's because the SJWs weren't ready to call the dogs off yet and didn't want to let no apology get in the way of them telling the person how terrible they were for a little while longer. Assuming bad faith at all times is a great tool for continuing to wank nastily at someone who's trying to spoil your fun by attempting to be decent and reasonable." comment in Most patronising phrases in fandom? post dated August 16, 2013; reference link. This practice is not limited to fandom or to tumblr; it is endemic on lifestyle and social websites.Ariel Stallings, Online bullying – a new and ugly sport for liberal commenters. The Guardian, October 18, 2012. 
*People familiar with actual social justice work say that most 'social justice' arguments in fandom are not true social justice at all. Tumblr blogger chasingshhadows, Fandom Petition for People with No Background in Social Justice to Stop Trying To Teach It. July 24, 2013. A sample comment: "Tumblr 'social justice' is a fucking travesty that values self-righteous fury as an argument sufficient unto itself and devalues careful, measured reasoning as 'coddling bigots.' That praises and rewards the shutting-down of communication. That teaches smug superiority and frowns on compassion and empathy. That took 'lashing out in anger is an unproductive but somewhat excusable reaction to injustice, and is not a reason to dismiss a sound argument' and dragged it into the realm of 'everyone subject to systematic oppression has an absolute right to lash out in anger to whatever extent they please, and no one else has the right to criticize their behavior or be hurt by it,' and thence into an echo chamber where performative displays of anger become the goal of communication. I’m not pretending to sainthood here. Getting patted on the butt for a righteous smackdown is dangerously seductive, especially when you have a short temper on certain subjects. And the danger of this particular echo chamber is that it’s easy for normal, intelligent, well-meaning people to get sucked into it. But it’s not a healthy model of communication. Healthy models of communication (a) encourage empathy and reasoned dialogue and frown on incoherent rage explosions, and (b) treat anger, rudeness and cruelty as undesireable but sometimes excusable -- in proportion to the provocation and the circumstances. Tumblr 'social justice' rejects any notion of proportionate response and has its priorities in communication neatly reversed." Tumblr user tenlittlebullets, Response to Fandom Petition for People with No Background in Social Justice to Stop Trying to Teach It, July 28, 2013. "I’m not against social justice itself, I’m against the toxic and stupid tumblr brand. Let’s see if I can find a few examples real quick..." Tumblr user the-pietriarchy collected screenshots of common examples of SJW that serves no purpose but to hurt and shame others. 
*Others point to instances where SJ results in "POC feeling harassed, marginalized, and mocked by the very actions and "activists" that purport to be on their side" (their POV being labeled white/racist and when their minority status is revealed social justice activists continue to label them as privileged and racist). List compiled on fail-fandomanon on April 12, 2012 :"...this OP and secret here are proof that white people do sound white. they are ignorant, racist, and disrespectful to every other culture and ethnicity but their own stinking white-privileged asses. [...] OP isn't white, as we find out in the first few comments of the secret thread." on fail-fandomanon; and ""As a black woman I don't feel that many of the loudest participants in these discussions give a damn about equality. They want the accolades, they want the popularity, they want the capital to be as self-righteous as they wish." on ontd-feminism; and ""I'm posting because I'm not racist nor do I perpetuate racism just because I understand irony." on godofwine; and ""I spoke with an girl at a con this weekend who was more or less chased out of the community when on her very first comment she was accused of being privileged over something relatively innocuous, responded that she was not white and did not have white privilege, and then was snarked for that because she was confused over what privilege she was being accused of, and now she's been lurking and not leaving any comments at all for some time because she wants to learn but is too afraid to say anything." on ontd-political; and ""I'm a Black, Puerto Rican and Native American woman who is in the middle of questioning her sexuality. I'm really new to academic race/sexuality/feminism discussions and sometimes don't understand one view point and when I ask to have it explained, it's always "Pick up a book" and questions of "Well, what book would you recommend" are often met with laughter." on ontd-political.No Night Vale SJWs, Please is run by a Filipina woman. It is a collection of observations, insights and links about SJW as it is practiced on Tumblr and how it has negatively affected non-white and GLBT fans of Welcome to Night Vale, a notably inclusive show.
*Criticism of American-centric bent to SJ discourse: too much focus on what is offensive to Americans and not enough attention to what is not offensive everywhere else. ESL fans are often attacked for not getting the cultural context right. For example, this FFA thread about the reality TV series X-Factor: "I don't know if they're British or not, but they sound like they've internalized American SJ issues. This British nonny did the same way back in her baby SJer days, before she actually read the work of British anti-racists and realized you can't just shove one country's workings on another, and British anti-racist activists have been griping about people trying that exact thing for a long time." thread at Fail-Fandomanon (Accessed Dec. 13, 2011)
*SJ discussions often result in "flattening of experiences". As one anonymous poster said: "But it is not a black and white thing where there is a Right Opinion and everyone who doesn't agree is a vile monster. And I think it's pretty shitty for allies to be more concerned about raging than actually listening to the people they're supposedly defending." comment in the MLP:FiM Wank thread at fail-fandomanon dated Jan 22, 2012; reference link (Accessed Jan. 25, 2012) In connection with the role that allies can and should play, one fan pointed out the following in reaction the the "Derpy Hooves" controversy (which staff writer Amy Keating speaks about here, and do read the comments) in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fandom: "Conflicts about complex issues should happen within a marginalized group. Allies stay the fuck out of an argument like that when you see it happening because your contributions/opinions in those instances are neither worthwhile nor welcome. If you can't accept that marginalized people are going to disagree amongst themselves about things and that when you see that happening you need to back the fuck off and engage somewhere else, then you have no business calling yourself an ally." This comment is going to be kind of blunt. (Accessed Jan. 25, 2012); WebCite. 
*Example of the impact of SJW on fandom: Hurt/Comfort Bingo wank - all participants = ableist. However, nuances are lost - some fans actually disabled, like h/c anyway and appreciate more representation in fan fiction/fan art. comment in dammed colonial's post "Hurt/comfort and the real world" dated June 12, 201: A dear friend completely turned my thinking around considering h/c as a genre in emphasizing the *comfort* as therapeutic and transformative not just for the characters, but for the author and readers. We can't fix traumas in real life, but undergoing their treatment, comfort, and possible resolution in fiction can be immensely liberating. Further, the writers may well not be writing about "probably people they know", but *themselves* and/or their loves. This then led to damned colonial responding: "I kind [of] feel like if your personal healing is hurtful to other people, then perhaps you need to do it in private. (Maybe with a trusted group of friends, or something.)" In a follow-up comment damned-colonial clarified: "if you are working through something specific, and you know in advance that the particular way in which you are doing it is likely to trigger or upset people, then unless you want to hurt/trigger those people you probably shouldn't post it where they will see it (or at least give them a way to avoid it, by providing warnings/cut tags/opt-in filters/mechanism of your choice). (I would apply this equally to fic and to non-fic posts.) What I didn't mean to say: you shouldn't post H/C fic publicly because it is inherently hurtful. (I don't actually believe that to be true.)"reference link. The Fail Fandom Anon Wiki has a roundup of links about H/C Bingo that go into these issues and opinions in greater detail.
*Some members of the groups that SJW are attempting to help believe that their struggles are in fact being appropriated and used to further the SJW's agendas and/or to "win points" in Internet arguments. One comment: "For the record, I am a Canadian indigenous person who has family and friends who live on Canadian reserves, and while I agree with you that the way the government has handled funding for First Nations housing has been disgraceful, I am deeply offended and angered that you would use a tragedy like the one in Attawapiskat as part of a bizarre and disingenuous argument about something unrelated and comparatively unimportant....I'll tell you something honestly: I think this argument is such absurdly obviously grudgewank that it's really beneath notice. But it doesn't stand alone, and it's so outrageously offensive to me in a personal way that I am commenting despite my best judgement. I am just so fucking sick of seeing this happen, of seeing people like you make fandom an uncomfortable and unfun place for people like me, all in the name of defending my rights. Look around you. Who agrees with you? Whose voices are missing? Are you achieving what you claim to be trying to achieve? Or are you, in fact, silencing or driving out everybody who isn't college-educated and middle class? If you are a member of a privileged group, social justice is about listening more than it is about talking. Find out what the people you claim to want to champion actually need from you. I doubt it is going to look anything like this." sprat commenting in recessional's post dated January 12, 2012.
*Some groups do not appreciate efforts at White Knighting. In a 2013 discussion on whether the term "queer" should apply to transgender people, some people said it sounded insulting because it implied that transgender people were not really their stated gender. Several people explained why "queer" was appropriate; a comment: "Please study LGBT history before you start white-knighting for us. Trans people always been queer and it's nothing to do with us not really being the gender we identify as.".comment in the SSBB: the queer issue? thread at fail-fandomanon dated March 29, 2013; reference link: While "queer" was originally a Victorian Era pejorative against gays and Lesbians, the word began to be reclaimed in the '80s specifically to describe non-normative gender and sexual identities distinct from "gay". It is often used to widen the range of specific identities described by "LGBT."
*Other fans look back at their social justice days as a developmental phase they traveled through: "Getting too deep into SJ is something that happened to me a few years ago. The worst, most uncomfortable part of that phase was how I saw other people...everything became about categories and I could barely relate to individuals any more....Being a self-declared 'ally' against someone's oppression is all well and good but it isn't what friendship is made of." "When good friends go SJW" thread at Fail-Fandomanon (Accessed Jan. 11, 2012)
* Some fans appreciate the efforts of social justice activists - both in fandom and IRL: "Personally, though I've had a really scarring IRL experience with "SJWs", I still respect that people are trying to do what is right, and I prefer that to hypocritical apathy & cynicism any day (sooo easy to do nothing and act superior about never having to make difficult choices), though I'd prefer some sanity in my activism."comment in The most annoying hatedoms post dated Oct 16, 2013 in fail-fandomanon; reference link.
*Some fans make an effort to distinguish between the awareness of social justice issues and the means used by those who try to implement that awareness: "There is an oceans-wide difference between "needing to be more aware of social justice issues" and "needing SJWs" [social justice warriors]. Wishing the latter is like wishing an A-bomb strike on a fandom - it'll work, but only because there'll be nothing left." anonymous comment in Fandoms that could benefit from SJWs thread dated March 25, 2012.
* The belief that its about sex and women who have sex: "Fandom purity wank is absolutely about control over women and women’s sexuality. There’s nothing ambiguous about it.... It’s about sex. It’s always about sex. From the constant tantrums over ‘problematic’ shipping to the righteous doxxing of ‘pedophiles’ (which in current tumblr parlance means anyone who draws or writes canonically underage characters in romantic or erotic scenarios), fandom’s big efforts at moral reform always seem to revolve around restricting and controlling the sexual expression of the majority-women community. You won’t meet many people who stay up past their bedtime to scream at strangers on the internet about unethical portrayals of non-sexual violence - unless, of course, they suspect the women involved in its creation are getting off on it. You’ll struggle to find an anti blog dedicated to the insidious social ills of torture whump fic, or goopy hurt-comfort where all manner of human suffering is put on display for the viewer’s enjoyment. The purity crew dress up their agenda as a desire for collective self-improvement and raised moral standards, but they don’t seem too worried about aspects of public morality that don’t somehow tie back into sex. What they’re upset about is the same thing conservative minds have been upset about since basically the dawn of time - there are women out there in the world doing icky sex things without the permission of their communities. And these people, these moral guardians, they’ve gotten really good at couching their fundamentalist views in progressive language. They don’t say ‘you’re to blame if you provoke men to rape’ - they say ‘your fic normalises sexual violence and contributes to rape culture’. They don’t say ‘women ought to be chaste’ - they say ‘your fantasies are socially harmful and you owe it to the world to be more self-critical’. The messages are the same and the desired outcomes are literally identical. The core assumption underlying all of it - an assumption that I’m sure our puritan forebears would find deeply comforting - is that women’s sexual expression is a matter of public concern, and that women are directly responsible for upholding the moral standards of their communities by restricting themselves to a narrow repertoire of publicly controlled, socially condoned sexual outlets. Anything beyond that repertoire is a grave moral breach. itsbuckybitch.tumblr, August 17, 2016 
* Many fans suggest that fannish behavior and preferences are not representative of an individual's social values.See Fandom Is Not Your Safe SpaceA PSA for the VLD fandom by educating-antis on Tumblr (dead link) Others, however, believe that one can only separate themselves from fiction to a certain an extent, but not so consistently that the way it has no effect on their real life attitudes and behavior.See Racism In Fandom#Personal Preference"Art does not exist in a vacuum..." by thesecondsealwrites (dead link) Additionally, many consider how fiction frames certain topics to be key on how then social justice attitudes are affected."as someone who has pretty Heavy Shit™ in the visual novel i'm writing i want to talk about how abuse in fiction isn't always bad..." by teamarimo on Twitter (dead link)
* With fandom being largely left-leaning and in favor of sociopolitical equality, some have taken to comparing fannish etiquette to social movements or using these movements as analogies in comparison to fannish behaviorpost by freedom-of-fanfic. 
===From a 2016 Discussing: Privilege, Imbedded Politics, Permission to Enjoy, Gamergate... ===
Upon tumblr user johnnysasaki's (tumblr blog deleted) questioning as to whether this was a troll, "yo can someone tell me what’s being said here or if the final poster is in accordance with the first three like i cannot understand this for the life of me", tumblr user thathomestar replied: 
Tumblr user rbpwn (tumblr blog deleted) added: "They were actually, seriously disgusted by people talking about how it’s okay for them to have fun." And intel-i386 (tumblr blog deleted) added: "fun is just a buzzword, true enjoyment comes from becoming further entrenched by your own views by defending them against people entrenched in their own."Fun is just a buzzword... Entire conversation can be seen here. (Dead link as of 15 Dec 2022.
Tumblr user gerardwayfanfiction (blog now deleted) added:
And tumblruser ameliaproblems concluded: 
===From a 2016 Discussion: Darkfic, Fan Art, Moral Absolutes, Double-Edged Swords, and Gatekeeping...===
==Thoughts From Social Justice Workers==
Those fans who are employed in social justice activism outside fandom are often frustrated with how the activism is expressed within fandom:
Often they express unhappiness that their experiences in fighting social injustice outside of fandom seems at odds within fandom:
==Migratory SJ Fandom==
Migratory SJ fandom is a perceived phenomenon in which social justice activists supposedly glom onto a fandom perceiving it to have good portrayals of minorities, then lecture fans (and in some cases the creators) about inadequate representation in their art and stories."[T]hey get into a canon because it's supposedly got good good PoC/female/LGBT characters, pronounce it THE BEST THING EVER, and then slowly start to turn on the fandom from within. The canon does something problematic, either a big mishap or a relatively minor thing, and they rage over it; they start to go after other fans for Not Doing It Right; they stir up lots of wank and make the fandom tense and unpleasant. Then they burn themselves out, lose interest in the canon or flounce out because the fandom is soooo awful, and leave the remaining fans to deal with the fallout from all the wank." Migratory SJ Fandom at Fail Fandom Anon Wiki, 2013-08-08. The term was suggested on Fail_Fandomanon and modeled on Migratory Slash Fandom. A good example may possibly be Steven Universe, particularly its Fandom War called Steven Universe Critical, in which fans became hyper critical of the show and it's creator, Rebecca Sugar. For a year or two hundreds of hateblogs were created in the name of social justice criticism before they eventually fell out of popularity, leaving the fandom with a large scar of negativity and a poor reputation among other fandoms.
There seems to be a fair amount of crossover between fans who use SJW/inclusivity terminology to demand their fantasied slash relationships be made canon, and those who hope for more explicit portrayals of gay sex on television for visibility's sake. Show creators and writers who are aware of these trends may insert content that lets the fans know they got the message. At best this is "ship tease" or "slashwink", but both slash and SJW fans may respond negatively, regarding it as Queer baiting if the characters aren't actually shown having romance with each other onscreen. This then becomes more fuel for SJW rants.
==Is Tumblr To "Blame"?==
Some fans blame the negative associations with social justice fandom on the platform structure of the social media service tumblr, with its lack of threaded conversations or ability to follow discussions. Beginning in 2011, Tumblr was the primary blogging service used by fans -- and by the Occupy Wall Street movement.
However, fandom social justice activism predates the rise of the tumblr platform by several years. In many ways this goes back to Star Trek: The Original Series with its frequent messages of social relevance, racial and sexual equality and acceptance of people who were different from ourselves. 
Other fans realize that powerful social and political forces outside of tumblr and outside of fandom have reshaped public and fan discourse in the United States (and to a certain extent outside the U.S.) since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks:
These observations seemed to have resonated within parts of fandom, with one fan commenting:
Still for some, the belief remains that while social justice is a force for good, the real problem within fandom is "Tumblr social justice":
And of course, a few are content to let Livejournal share the "blame" for the rise of social justice within fandom: 
Even slash fans were given some of the credit: 
==A Case Example: Zamii and Steven Universe==
Starting in 2013, disabled fan artist Zamii came under fire after drawing fan art that many felt ran afoul of gender, ethnic and other hot-button cultural themes. Over the next two years members of Steven Universe and Homestuck fandom reportedly created more than 40 critical receipt blogs and other social media accounts directed at her.screencap of sites compiled by members of reddit.Ghostlyeggs, Receipt Blogs Need To Be Banned. "Honestly after what happened to zamii070, receipt blogs should be banned from tumblr. ... All you do is promote harassment. If you run one of those receipt blogs on zamii070, her attempted suicide is on your hands just as much as it is on the people who directly harassed her... This is the only result that I see from ‘receipt’ blogs on tumblr. If anyone of you have any remaining decency you’d delete those blogs and take some time to rethink how you go about the issues that are important to you. Use this to improve yourselves as people."
In 2013, she drew Rose Quartz, a canonically zaftig Steven Universe cartoon character, in a manner that some fans believed was too thin and by doing so shamed fat women:
In late October 2015, there were reports that Zamii had attempted suicide. 
Responses to the events varied - many fans wrote in support of Zamii and some fan artists began drawing one of the characters as thin. Others felt that it was important to criticize problematic art and people and not to not be "pushovers for oppression." When Steven Universe co-producer Ian Jones-Quartey tweeted that "artists should be allowed to draw what they want" he too came under fire.
In spite of the reports of a suicide attempt, some fandom members continued to work their anti-Zamii campaign, claiming that she had faked the suicide attempt and the death/rape threats that led her to it, and pointing out various objectionable content in her past work.Tumblr user zamii070factkin, What's going on with Zamii? Post dated 2015-08-15. Others felt that any health related problems she was experiencing were not due to the social justice campaign:
This led Facebook commentator Joshua Ellis to point out that:
Criticisms of tumblr and the "social justice culture" showed a wide range, some with blunt and pithy language.
After claims began circulating that the Zamii campaign may have been fueled by a jealous romantic rival:
:"Bigots are using this as an excuse to say “lol Tumblr SJWs” because we have one person who managed to manipulate dozens of people to harass a young woman to depression and suicide just so their crush would be single again. I mean fucking plebcomicsA webcomic blog known for its satirical and bigoted commentaries on various stereotypes and rhetorics associated with the social justice activist community and/or modern leftist politics. In 2014, some self-identified SJWs [doxing|exposed her everyday name, address, employment and personal information]] and sent harassing emails to her work address, resulting in her being fired from her job as a security risk. Plebcomics fired after SJWs contact her employer, December 2014. started a “Je suis Charlie”A reference to the slogan Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie) used by millions of French people and around the world to support the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after an attack on its Paris office by Islamic terrorists in January 2015 left twelve staffers dead. thing to draw SU characters skinny in “solidarity” with Zamii.
:"Don’t stand for this bullshit. Don’t give into the mindset that one person’s fanart is a problem. Don’t allow someone’s stalker and harasser to win. And don’t let the asshole 4chan bigots win either."Tumblr blogger ryulongd, I’ve seen this thing going back and forth across Tumblr for a few days now, October 29, 2015.
::"This is a good and important post. However, the fact that the manipulative asshole was able to use progressive language and SJ discourse to their benefit in this way, and that these “callout blogs” did not get told to tone it down, shows that we do have an issue with the current discourse in progressive circles on this site (and others; it’s not unique to tumblr).
::"The prevalence of “fuel your rage” and “you don’t owe anyone an explanation” creates a bad, anti-analytical environment that reminds me of some maoist circles. Like, these mindsets can be useful and I’m not saying subjugated groups have to always be polite and nice, but in some circles, anger has been treated as a virtue by itself, and that can be used as a tool by manipulative people. I’ve seen it in real life, and now I see it here."Tumblr blogger jackbetackarmig, deleted journal.
:::^^^^ This so much.
:::Social Justice is losing its “brand name” if you will because of the behaviors outlined in the post above.
:::Because, more and more, calling out is nothing but a bully pile on that is neither Social nor Just."Tumblr blogger tartymae, . 
The level and duration of the vitriol directed at the fan-artist even drew negative comparisons from members of reddit, an online community well known for its own problems with cyber-bullying:
In August 2016, Steven Universe artist Lauren Zuke deleted her Twitter account after suffering massive amounts of harassment from SJW fans over female characters Peridot and Lapis living together. (There are several gay characters in the show and Zuke herself is gay.) Peridot and Lapis are not romantically involved in canon, nor is Peridot involved with Amethyst, who is also female; but a previous episode had shown interaction between Peridot and Amethyst that appeared to fans to have unresolved sexual tension. So, for those who were hoping these two would be together, the Peridot-Amethyst moment was construed as Queer baiting since nothing happened. Beth Elderkin, Steven Universe Artist Quits Twitter Over Fan Harassment. io9, August 13, 2016.Galveira, LAUREN ZUKE JUST DELETED HER TWITTER Reddit post dated August 12, 2016.
==A Case Example: The Harry Potter Alliance==
In 2005, a group of Harry Potter fans formed The Harry Potter Alliance, with the goal of harnessing the energy of Harry Potter fans to doing social justice works outside of fandom:
From their About Page:
==An Attempt to Lighten the Mood?==
An anonymous limerick circulated in 2012 using the Harry Potter metaphor of sorting social justice fans into groups or "Houses". The writer titled it: The SJW Sorting Hat.Source:The SJW Sorting Hat posted on fail-fandomanon on April 16, 2012.
: For easy reference we've compiled
: a short yet catchy song
: to assess your life experience
: and tell you where you belong.
: First, there's sparkly GLITTERBAG
: where dwell the varied queers
: be they gay or trans or merely more
: questioning than their peers.
: Then there's Chromaticity
: for those who aren't white
: often asked to look over
: things clueless people write.
: In Spoondom"Spoondom" refers to "Spoon Theory", an idea advanced in the early 2000 by advocates seeking to educate the public about the difficulties of living with chronic invisible disabilities. The concept applies a metaphor of comparing a number of spoons to the energy required to do daily tasks. For those with disabilities, even the simplest daily tasks (eating, bathing) often use all the available 'spoons' leaving them in pain and weak. During the Ableism debates of 2010, the Spoon Theory was appropriated by SJW and used in contexts that had nothing to do with disabilities - an act that some find offensive, and others find ironic. See fail-fandomanon's Is Spoon Theory actually part of social justice thought? dated April 16, 2012.
: if you're disabled or have triggers,
: be prepared to discuss traumas
: and be judged by whose is bigger.
: If you belong to none of these,
: join Privilege in a hurry,
: just make sure to never mention if
: you're poor or Welsh or furry.
==External Resources/Meta/Further Reading==
*Urban Dictionary Definition
* (June 7, 2006) 
* by marina on dreamwidth (October 31, 2010)
* Rhetorics of Social Justice Debates in Anonymous Fan Memes Online - a study proposal by Robin Anne Reid. (February 19, 2011)
*‘It’s Not My Job To Educate You!’: FailFen and Social Justice as Fandom” - report on by Barbara Lucas' International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, a panel that argues that social justice is like a fandom in terms of community and consumption, Issue 32 (2011) (report is offline as of 2016, not archived)From the panel: "ABSTRACT: This paper will examine the online Social Justice (SJ) community in SF fandom, focusing on that portion of it that began organizing during “RaceFail 09,” an exchange between professional SF editors, writers, and fans that took place primarily on the LiveJournal platform. While the SJ community is being studied through the lenses of online activism and critical race theory, this paper will explore the extent to which the structures and dynamics within the community mirror those found in more conventional SF media fandoms and the impact fannish performance has on how fen respond to SJ discourse."2011 Program Guide.
* A Guide to Calling Someone Out (Fail-Fandomanon) (July 2, 2011)
* Community, Trust, Responsibility, Consequences by K. Tempest Bradford - discussing how the misuse of social justice activism by individuals can undermine communities that seek to "discuss, deconstruct, and fight against bigotry and prejudice." (August 8, 2011)
*My Problems with the Tumblr Social Justice Culture, written by blaitzen on tumblr ("You see, in this culture we have created there is a wide-spread need for people to be victims. And they don’t only need to be victims—they need to be the most victimized. A sort of literal Oppression Olympics....What I have witnessed is a circle of people that are waiting to feel self-righteous and attack other people, because getting mad feels good.....We have misappropriated the word oppression.) (January 24, 2012)
* SJW Calling Cards (Fail-Fandomanon) (January 7, 2012)
* How The "Trigger Warning" Took Over The Internet, a Buzzfeed article detailing trigger warnings and the role that LiveJournal played in popularizing the practice (May 4, 2014)
* (2014)
* fail_fandomanon: (April 2015)
* by shinelikethunder on tumblr (22 December 2014) and a response by staniamstan: (6 March 2016)
*Looking back on a decade in online fandom social justice: unexpurgated version and A decade in online fandom social justice: Abridged by sqbr on dreamwidth (May 2016)
* You are just as responsible for your fandom activism as creators are for their fanworks by shinelikethunder (April 2017)
* Ok, well don't say I didn't warn you. by Bokai (May 2017)
* antishipping as the cool new trend, or: why are most antis under 25 years old?, freedom-of-fanfic (June 2017)
* , freedom-of-fanfic (July 2017)
* But I’m going to go more into how tumblr’s very structure led to a ‘race to the bottom’ sort of enacting of punishment via social justice, freedom-of-fanfic (July 2017)
Category:Spirituality & Fandom
==References==
Category:Activism Category:DiscussionCategory:Race & Fandom
Category:Disability