Anti-shipper

Synonyms:	anti, antis, safe shippers, proship DNI, anti-proship
See also:	noromo, notp, ship war, shipper, anti-anti, Puriteen, Purity Culture in Fandom, Anti-fandom, proship, self-shipping, Warriors of Innocence, Feelings Yakuza
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Anti-shipper is a fannish term that has been around since X-Files fandom in the 1990s, but has taken on different meanings in different contexts. It generally refers to someone who opposes shipping or a certain pairing, which can be for various reasons. The term is frequently abbreviated to "anti". (Note that "anti" has several other unrelated fannish meanings.)

Since the mid-2010s, the term is most often used to refer to a fan who believes that it is morally wrong to ship some ships. Other fans criticize anti-shipping for being an ideology that exists mainly to justify harassment.

Historical Uses

The terms anti-shipper and anti have been independently reinvented several times over the years in different fandoms for different reasons.

The X-Files

The oldest known use of anti-shipper occurred in The X-Files fandom, which is also known to have coined the term shipper. Anti-shipper was originally a synonym of Noromo, a term that developed in the 90s, meaning a fan who wanted Mulder and Scully's relationship (in canon or in fanfic) to be platonic.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy fandom in the early 2000s featured regular use of the term "Anti," but this term was applied broadly. The word anti often preceded a character name, narrative arc or ship, to illustrate a fan's dislike of that character, narrative or ship. It was also applied to fans engaged in anti-shipping behaviours (possibly as an insult), but these fans do not appear to have self identified as antis.

Despite this, some of the arguments made by anti-shippers were very similar to moral arguments made on Tumblr over a decade later. Fans who opposed the pairing of Buffy/Angel often claimed that that pairing was paedophilic, because Angel was a 250 year old vampire and Buffy was 15/16 in season 1. Fans who opposed the pairing of Buffy/Spike often pointed to their violent interactions in canon and the abusive nature of the pairing.

Pokemon

The Pokemon fandom also employed "anti-shipper" in this way. An example from 2000: "The story ends with the three of them going their separate ways, or J & J falling out of love or hating each other. (I won't have any of that anti-shippy crap! Not here, not now, not ever! I don't care how well-written or intriguing the story is -- if it's anti-Rocketshippy, IT'S CRAP as far as I'm concerned!)"

Anti-Ship Art and Groups on DeviantArt

DeviantArt had clubs and other groups dedicated to ship hate and used the label of Anti.

Starting in 2008, in Invader Zim fandom the Anti-ZADR-Club hosted contests to create Anti-ZADR art, each with a unique theme, such as Jhonen Vasquez (creator of Invader Zim) reacting to it. Another such group was anti-knuxouge, founded in 2004. There were many anti groups in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom, such as Anti-Couple clubs A-F, Anti-Couple clubs G-P, Anti-Couple clubs Q-Z, etc.

Anti-ship art often showed the two characters of a pairing being revolted by each other, one being frightened of the other, or both of them engaged in violent acts against each other. Anti-ship stamps were also popular.

There were also groups founded against certain types of ships in general rather than specific pairings. One group founded September 15, 2010 is titled Anti-Incest and has the motto: "Family is family, nothing more." This group was affiliated with a now-defunct group called Hetero-Pairings, which may or may not have been anti-yaoi. There were many anti-yaoi groups on DeviantArt. Many were fandom-specific, but others were more general, such as AntiYaoiFangirls, Down With Yaoi, or YaoiHatersFC, group "For artists above and against stereotyped art such as - yaoi, yuri, slash, hentai, mpreg, lolicon, and similar genres".

People against a certain ship would sometimes refer to themselves as Anti(Shipname). For instance, one anti-Shadamy stamp from 2010 has the description: "If your an Anti Shadamy then hope this pleases you". Another anti-Shadamy stamp posted in 2012 says to fav "if you're an anti Shadamy"

Another concept on DeviantArt was the "anti-couple", pairing that contradicted another pairing and is posed as an alternative to it. For instance, The-Anti-Sonamy-Fans shared art of Sonally (Sonic x Sally) and Shadamy (Shadow x Amy), which are both anti-couples to Sonamy (Sonic x Amy) because they pair Sonic and Amy with other characters.

A post from 2006 about "couple extremists" also complains of "anti people" and says they are both causing fandoms to "turn sour".

• 

  Title: "Anti ZADR Poster" Artist: NiftyNautilus (February 6, 2013)

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  Title:"*read the discription* Fluttercord is pedophile" Artist: finnfangirl (June 29, 2014)

• 

  Title: "anti yaoi piccie" Artist: lolavampirebat, base by Invadershade1094 (May 2, 2010)

• 

  Title: "gone fishing" Artist: Keirii-of-Celts (July 9, 2009) Note: made for Anti-MidnaXLink Club contest

• 

  Title: "THE FIRST ANTI SHADIKAL PIC" Artist: PrincessShannon07 (November 27, 2007)

• 

  Title: ANTI CREAIALS 4EVA" Artist: WaveFan (April 1, 2008)

Panfandom Use Since 2016

Beginning circa 2016 in Tumblr and DreamWidth fandom, anti-shipper (or just anti) has been used to describe fans who disapprove of a ship and its shippers because they believe the ship is problematic or morally wrong. Specifically, older shippers on these platforms started using and still use the term "anti-shipper" to describe fans who harass shippers for shipping "morally wrong" ships. Having a term to describe the harassers' ideology became important because fans feared that the harassment was causing a chilling effect on online fandom activity. (The fans they identified as antis were more likely to be active on tumblr or twitter, not dreamwidth.) However, as the conversation about the phenomenon continued, and as the phenomenon itself grew, typically younger fans in fandoms with a large anti-shipper presence became more likely to self-identify as "antis". These fans may or may not be harassing anyone and may or may not be the same fans that the dreamwidth crowd is complaining about.

Fans who opposed antis were at first called anti-antis, then later pro-shippers.

Judging whether a ship is problematic usually involves assessing whether the canon facts about the characters and their relationship to each other would be indicative of an unhealthy romantic relationship if the characters were real people. This can include incest, non-con, and what anti-shippers call "pedophilic" ships, among other ships they deem "unhealthy". Ships labeled "pedophilic" can include cases where there's a canon age gap between the characters, or a fan created a fanwork depicting an age gap with one character underage. Anti-shippers have also been mocked for incidents where a ship was labeled pedophilic because a fan drew ship fanart in which one character arguably looked underage maybe, or because the shipper is an adult whereas both characters are canonically teens, or because the shipper is an adult whereas the characters were teens at the start of canon (but grew up).

Classifying a ship rather than a particular fanfic as containing pedophilia is a novel framing in fanfiction fandom. Fanfiction can be set in the past, present, or future of the canon setting, and in AUs characters' relative ages along with other demographic information can be changed completely. It has been suggested that many antishippers are either new to fanfiction, or are not fanfiction fans at all.

Fail_Fandomanon was discussing the phenomenon as early as October 2015, but the term itself may have appeared later. See the Fail_Fandomanon wiki entry. Closely tied to the concept of anti-shipper are "purity wank" and purity culture; see AO3 Content Discussion (2016).

Tumblr user wrangletangle relates the origin of Tumblr anti-shippers to the long-standing Tumblr etiquette of "don't tag your hate":

The “anti” problem arose because Tumblr has no functional community structure, meaning people started using the tags themselves to replace the communities from back on LJ. In that context, tagging a negative post with the tags that apply was making the posts show up in the only viable community structure, which was a violation of LJ etiquette (where communities were self-selecting and moderated). This was exacerbated by the lack of functional cut tags, so everything was all completely visible, and you had to scroll past every post in its entirety. The culture of “don’t post anti in the tag” was a social concept developed to deal with Tumblr’s non-functionality for fandom purposes.

In March 2017 an anon on Fail_Fandomanon elaborated on this origin story, explaining that the antishippers were told go to their own anti[ship] tag, which they did, and where they only interacted with like-minded people and therefore ended up radicalizing each other.

In February 2018 tumblr user and anti-antishipper freedom-of-fanfic argued that anti is a self-designation. A reblogger commented, "I’ve seen people describe themselves as 'an anti' in the meaning 'I am against pedophilic/incestuous ships and I will actively argue against their right to exist on the internet'."

In 2023, the term "safe shipper" started showing up in Tumblr self-shipping communities, as a way to indicate "proshippers DNI." This term may be only used in the self shipping communities rather than being part of the general "anti" vocabulary.

Beliefs and Comments

Though all anti-shippers hold their own variable beliefs, in general anti-shippers from this context believe that "fiction does affect reality," and want to see certain types of content removed from website(s) or at least heavily hidden. This is in direct opposition with anti-antis, who believe fiction does not directly affect reality and that all ships are equally valid. For example, an anti may see the contentious furry fandom discourse surrounding babyfurs as something that needs monitoring. They may see artists who draw it as clear-cut pedophiles, and some may even believe baby fur art should be considered against the rules on sites such as Furaffinity and InkBunny, where such art is common and allowed. This is because they would see this type of art as harmful, and believe it directly aids in grooming children into believing NSFW of babies is okay, or that getting off on babies is okay. However, an anti-anti would disagree completely, believing that kink art of baby furries is acceptable, especially if the artists claims they create the art for "coping reasons."

Some anti-shippers create callout posts directed at artists who make art of or ship characters considered problematic, leading to many anti-antis to say that all anti-shippers are pro-harassment and doxxing. However, some surveys directed towards anti-shippers have responses from anti-shippers also disliking such behavior (see Discourse Demographics Survey (Voltron), where 57% of anti-shippers stated they discouraged harassment). Despite this, for many anti-antis anyone who self-labels as an anti-shipper is assumed to automatically be pro-harassment, and any support or perceived support of anti-shipper rhetoric seen as "harmful."

In 2020, a fanartist named Metrix-86 became a BNF in Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware fandom. When it was discovered that he had a secret Twitter where he drew shota and non-con of the characters, other fans posted two written callout posts and a video essay on YouTube outing his actions. As a result, his art on Tumblr (and his ask box) received negative attention. Another example is SethPup, a popular furry who also had a secret Twitter, where he drew his fursona having sex with real puppies. He also had a callout post.

Anti-shippers see merit in callout posts, believing they help shame the behaviors that they see as deplorable and harmful to fandom communities or the world at large. Callout posts not only make others aware of an artist's actions, but sometimes also cause them to move off-site or go into hiding under a different name, giving the appearance of success for anti-shippers. However, a pro-shipper would see these "problematic" artists as defendable and sympathetic, with the act of making callout posts deplorable and akin to harassment. Pro-shippers also argue that harassing artists with problematic tastes and ships actually does little to help the community, and that in reality all that ends up happening is someone is harassed, with little positive affect.

Though there are a number of popular anti-anti blogs who speak out against harassment for any reason, there are also anti-anti blogs that are, ironically, run only as receipt blogs and callout post blogs for anti-shippers. For example, one anti-shipper named bendyhatespaedos made it their goal to dox pedophiles on Tumblr. At a time, this included doxxing minors as young as 12 for shipping children together, which bendyhatespaedos did not deny. Bendy's argument was that "pedophilia is pedophilia, no matter how you stylize it," though they stated they no longer doxxed children. Anti-antis responded by harassing and making fun of bendyhatespaedos, told them to delete their blog, and said that they should utilize the authorities rather than take matters into their own hands.

Another example is of a 2020 occurrence between a 26 year old pro-shipper named MariAkutsu and a 13 year old anti-shipper named Kalmintz on Twitter. Mari had uploaded a NSFW fanfic of the children's cartoon Glitch Techs, and only indicated that it was a smutfic with the tag lemons, a phrase not many younger fandom members may know the meaning of. Kal ended up opening the fanfic and realizing it was NSFW too late. Being a minor and uncomfortable with an untagged smutfic that featured aged-up children close to her own age, she spoke out against it. The author, Mari, would then go on to make a 500 page long callout post for the 13 year old. This may be one of the largest pro-shipping vs. anti-shipping issues to occur within the Glitch Techs fandom, and a good example of how even pro-shippers are not except from the behavior they usually abhor in anti-shippers.

Based on some of the back-and-forth from the "Anti Asshole Anti Archive" on Tumblr (since deleted), some members of both ideologies have been considered in poor taste and guilty of behavior considered to be harassment, despite both movements attempting to appear more "morally correct" than the other. For example, bendyhatespaedos was considered an "asshole anti" for doxxing a 12 year old. However, further up in the Asshole Anti Archive, the OP acknowledges that an anti-anti had begun posting explicit gore, maggots, and disturbing images on anti-shipper posts, which would have ultimately been seen by children.

Some argue that fans use the term "anti" derogatorily in order to shut down any discussion of morality in fanworks. For example, an anti with this belief would see a stray pro-shipping comment on a discussion about pedophilic ships as being used to ignore the issues of grooming in fandom, simply waving them off as being an "anti," acting as the "fandom police," or pro-censorship. Some antis may even believe that, broadly, pro-shippers themselves are pedophiles who are in defense of grooming.

The understanding of what an anti and an anti-anti are, and how modern fandom treats the discussion, vary across people and age. For example, a minor in the fandom may have different opinions on the issue than an adult. While some minors may be disturbed by pro-shipper art that features children (especially if drawn/written by adults), other minors may be pro-shippers themselves and see nothing wrong with it. Others may only object if such art is made explicit, but see general art as fine. Opinions from the Tumblr tag for "anti" and "anti shipper" are below.

Just so those “anti-anti” types who claim to be the real allies know, as a minor I have always felt so, so wary around you. You remind me so much of creepy people, especially men, who I have met IRL, and your attitude toward my objections about the work you produce (especially stuff involving adults and children and noncon) is flippant, disrespectful, and just plain shitty. If you’re a grown adult and think that consuming content that outright romaticizes p**ophilia is okay, take a long and hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why you’re facilitating a culture that tried to groom me.

Weaver-z, a minor, Jul 12, 2020

A friendly reminder

FICTION IS FICTION. FICTION IS FICTION. Fiction is FICTION. Fiction is Fiction. It’s not real. These fictional characters you fight tooth and nail for ARENT REAL.

People can write and consume whatever they want because: it’s NOT REAL.

Pro-shipper Flies-for-brains, Jul 14, 2020

the reason we bring up our trauma when it comes to ‘shipping discourse’ is because we want people to realize just how fuckin serious what they’re doing is. ‘it’s just fiction!!1!’ no, it’s just just fiction, it’s the romanticization/fetishization of childhood trauma that’s created for the sole purpose of getting off to.

Weirdcourse, Jan 15, 2020

Hoaxes about Anti-Shipper Violence

There have been at least two hoaxes directed at pinning anti-shippers as physically violent. The first hoax was a part of an actual violent act, but the subsequential fallout of the event spread untrue and uncredited theories. In 2017, an Undertale fanartist attending a con in Taiwan was gifted cookies by a stranger. The cookies turned out to have needles in them, and the artist was injured but lived, having not swallowed the needles. Though the artist has never actually stated anything about the motive of the stranger, and nothing came out of it in terms of police intervention, a rumor was spread online that it had been an anti-shipper who did it. This was because the artist in question shipped Frisk and Sans from Undertale, a ship many anti-shippers abhor. Even in 2017, many of those who discussed the event understood that the claims of the assailant being an anti-shipper were unconfirmed. Despite this, people continued to perpetuate the idea that it was an anti-shipper without proof, and the theory still persists, unfounded.

While the "fan's" motives are not 100% confirmed, people are assuming that the motive was hatred of a ship the artist draws. I have not looked into this myself so if anyone can confirm, that would be great, but I have heard that the artist draws Sans/Frisk art. I do not know the nature of this art (one person I've seen said that Frisk is aged up, but, again, that's not something I can confirm), but I have seen some people react violently online to ships of this nature, so I would not be surprised if that was the reason.

BabyCharmanderK, May 11, 2017

The second hoax was directed at the Voltron fandom. A hoax spread that someone had sent the Voltron team cupcakes full of glass because their ship wasn't canon. There is little to no info on this hoax, and no news articles whatsoever, leaving most discussion of it within social media circles like Tumblr, Twitter, and Voltron's fandom wiki. What the non-canon ship was is unclear, leaving this hoax vague on whether or not it's about anti-shippers or pro-shippers. Depending on the ship it could be either, as some ships were disliked by anti-shippers while others were disliked by pro-shippers (see Voltron Controversies). Thus, who the hoax was about may depend on the perception of the viewer. The hoax resurfaced in 2021 due to someone on Twitter comparing MCYT's fans to Voltron fans. Even in 2020 and 2021, people still believe the hoax.

Pretty much the voltron fandom put glass in cupcakes and fed it to the dream works crew. It was a mess. I don't know all the details, but I do know that it was just one of many attacks. It you look it up, you should be able to find more information.

Satmarie, 10/29/2020

my favorite twitter lie is the "glass cupcake voltron cupcakes" where theres just not any sources on it ever happening apparently lol

TayGLisurfriend, Apr 2, 2021

Proship vs. Antiship Discourse

See also: Fiction vs. Reality Discussion

No matter how simple a fictional character pairing may seem, the truth is that it is almost never that simple. There is almost always going to be discourse of some kind — be it because people find the ship offensive, because they find it unappealing, or because they don’t like the people doing the ship itself. And soon what happens is that the very basic concept of shipping two characters becomes the breeding ground for something deeper and darker and messier. It brings you into the world of proshippers and antis.

Sarah Z, "Fandom's Biggest Controversy: The Story of Proshippers vs Antis"

Some fans have criticized Sarah Z and others' "pro-shipper vs. anti-shipper" framing. See Sarah_Z#Proshippers_vs_Antis_controversy.

After the rise of anti-shippers, other fans tried to argue with them. Fans who debate, argue with, or criticize anti-shippers were then called anti-antis and later proshippers. Neither side seemed able to convince the other, but nevertheless continued to rehash the same talking points for years. Other fans witnessing all the public wank aka "shipping discourse" began to characterize the whole ordeal as "anti vs. proship" discourse.

Some fans have complained that they are tired of hearing about it. Other fans have complained that they do not like being subjected to frequent mentions of disturbing topics like child abuse and pedophilia--topics that are brought up by both sides as anti-shippers accuse fanfic of being child porn and fic writers of being pedophiles and pro-shippers try to explain the actual definitions of these terms.

Self Description and Terminology

From a fan's 2020 Tumblr post, "Hey anti-antis/pro-shippers, we need to chat about our terminology":

While it’s true that anti-shippers coined the term “antis” for themselves (though some of them passionately deny this), I’ve noticed that the term is vague enough that people who are outside of fandom discourse can’t tell what it means. Additionally, the pro-MAP/pedo and pro-zoophilia communities over on twitter have stolen the term to refer to people who are anti-IRL-pedophilia and anti-IRL-zoophilia. I’m sure it’s safe to say most of us who call ourselves anti-antis and/or pro-shippers identify as anti-MAP/pedo and anti-zoo ourselves.

If they haven’t already, it’s very likely that more industrious anti-shippers will probably use this muddying of terms to their advantage at some point, in order to convince others that we’re attacking anti-MAPS and anti-zoos when we criticise “antis.” This would obviously make things needlessly complicated and confusing for people just coming into contact with fandom discourse, and it would make it easier for anti-shippers to convince newcomers that anti-antis/pro-shippers truly are defending IRL pedos and zoos.

To that end, I propose we do away, for our part, with the terms “anti” and “anti-anti” and come up with terms that are more self-explanatory and specific.

While I find the term “fandom frollo” both accurate and amusing, I think this term is also a bit too opaque, since anyone who isn’t familiar with Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame won’t really understand the connotation there. Plus, well, some of us anti-antis/pro-shippers are big fans of Frollo as a character, so associating negative IRL fandom behaviour with that character could become alienating to the actual Frollo fandom.

Personally I think “fanpol” or “fancops” is the best option we have right now for “anti,” since it is much easier to figure out (lots of folks are familiar with portmanteaus and how to understand them), and the idea of “fandom police” is rather self-explanatory. While the full term “anti-shipper” or “anti-[fill in your ship name here” is also self-explanatory, “fanpol/cops” has the advantage of applying to multiple fandoms, and to those who morality-police multiple aspects of fandom, not just shipping. My suggestion would be that if you want to specifically discuss anti-shipping, or anti-[fill in your ship name here]s, you use that full term (i.e., “anti-reylos,” “anti-bakudekus,” etc). Do not simply shorten it to “antis.” Make sure your terms are clear and specific.

As for “pro-shipper”, I think it has the same strengths and weaknesses as “anti-shipper.” It’s a very specific term, used for only one aspect of fandom. Of course, if you are a pro-shipper, feel free to continue to call yourself that, but I’m not sure it covers the full spectrum of anti-antis, or those who are anti-censorship. There are also pro-shippers who use the term because they aren’t fully comfortable identifying as anti-antis, though there is frequently a great deal of overlap. This is also perfectly understandable. It’s a perfectly fine term, and feel free to continue using it (I will, too), but as I said, I think it has the disadvantage of being too closely tied to just shipping.

I personally propose that “anti-antis” should start calling ourselves “anti-fanpol/cops.” It, like “fanpol/cops” has the advantage of being fairly self-explanatory and easier to figure out. It’s right there in the name, “anti fandom police.” Furthermore, it would automatically associate us with the anti-authoritarianism within fandom that we seek to represent.

Naturally, antis are going to refuse this terminology - at least at first (though in the ATLA some fanpol have already embraced it). They are going to try and redefine terms again, or try to continue using the old terminology. Do not play along. Do not back down. Continue using explicit, specific terminology instead of using vague terms like “anti” or “anti-anti,” which all too easily allow goalposts to be moved.

I have, however, seen people, including members of our community, argue that the term “fanpol/cop” may be insensitive to those who belong to minority groups, since they often do have to worry about very real police violence. This is something worth considering, and we need to be willing to listen to feedback about that. On the other hand, one might also say that authoritarian behaviour in fandom is unacceptable no matter who it’s coming from, and that if you police your fellow fans, your spade deserves to be called a spade. So I think there still needs to be some discussion on that.

In any case, the table is still very much open for ideas. Sticking to “fanpol” and “anti-fanpol” is my personal preference, but I would love to hear alternatives and for us to have a discussion about the possibilities here.

However, in the meantime, we need to chuck out the terms “anti” and “anti-anti” and use something different. We let them define the terms of the discussion last time. Let’s have it be our turn to define our own terms, especially in light of these new developments.

Example Ships

Examples of pairings where anti-shippers have been active:

• Reylo from Star Wars: The Force Awakens - claims that it promotes domestic abuse and incest, though no blood relations have been confirmed by canon.
• Kylux from Star Wars: The Force Awakens - claims that it promotes unhealthy darkfic and is racist due to shafting of an M/M ship between two men of color, Finn/Poe
• Sheith and any Shaladin pairings (ex: Shiro/Pidge, Shiro/Lance) from Voltron: Legendary Defender - claims that they promote pedophilia, though the showrunners themselves have avoided discussing character ages or have been inconsistent. After the release of later seasons, Sheith was attacked for also being incest (although they are not blood-related, flashbacks show Shiro taking a sort of older brother-figure role towards Keith)
• Sans/Frisk from Undertale - claims that it promotes pedophilia and child grooming (even in fanworks where Frisk is aged up).
  • Chara/Asriel from Undertale - claims that it promotes incest (the two were raised together but share no blood relation) and abuse
  • Sans/Papyrus from Undertale - claims it promotes incest due to being incest
• Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky from Yuri!!! on Ice - claims that it promotes pedophilia even though one character is 15-16 (by the end of the series) and the other is 18
• Arusigawa Juri/Kaoru Miki from Revolutionary Girl Utena - claims it's queer erasure (though many shippers do not deny Juri's attraction to women or her canon feelings for Takatsuki Shiori)
• Nino/Jaffar from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword - claims it promotes pedophilia due to a few years' age difference and Nino's innocent nature and youthful appearance.
• Any pairings involving Elise and Sakura from Fire Emblem Fates - claims they promote pedophilia despite Sakura and Elise being teenagers as well as legal marrying age by the standards of the game's setting
  • Corrin/Xander - claims it promotes incest despite the two only being foster siblings and sharing no blood
• Berkut/Rinea from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - claims it promotes domestic abuse due to Berkut going insane from demonic possession and shattering their formerly healthy and loving relationship.
• Any Byleth/student pairing from Fire Emblem: Three Houses - claims it promotes pedophilia and grooming due to Byleth having been a professor for any given house during part one, despite the fact that they cannot properly get together with any of their prospect lovers until after the final battle, which takes place after a years-long timeskip in which Byleth is no longer their actual teacher and the students are in their 20s.
  • Balthus von Albrecht/Lysithea von Ordelia - claims it promotes pedophilia due to their large age gap. Like Byleth's marriages, characters who reach their highest support level do not properly get together until after the endgame.
• Simon Blackquill/Athena Cykes from Ace Attorney - claims it promotes pedophilia due to Simon having known Athena as a preteen child.
• Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski - claims it promotes pedophilia, and is racist due to shafting the main character, who is a man of color, Scott McCall
• Eren Jaeger/Levi Ackerman - claims it promotes pedophilia (15/30+) and abuse due to a scene where Levi physically assaults Eren
• Yoon Bum/Sangwoo from Killing Stalking - claims it promotes rape and abuse, due to Sangwoo doing exactly all of that to Yoon Bum
• BLMatsu (matsucest) from Osomatsu-san - claims it promotes incest due to being incest
• Elsa/Anna from Frozen - claims it promotes incest due to being incest
• Dipper Pines/Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls - claims it promotes incest due to being incest
  • Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines from Gravity Falls - claims it promotes pedophilia (12-year-old boy/ancient demon)
• Sebastian Michaelis/Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler - claims it promotes pedophilia (Sebastian is over 100 years old, Ciel is 12-13)
• Pearl/Mayor Dewey from Steven Universe - claims it is lesbian erasure due to Pearl's lesbian-coding
• Hiro Himada/Tadashi Himada from Big Hero 6 - claims it promotes incest due to being incest
• Rick/Morty from Rick and Morty - claims it promotes incest and pedophilia (Rick is 70, Morty is 14)
• Snape/Harry and Snape/Hermione from Harry Potter - claims it promotes pedophilia
• Katsuki Bakugou/Midoriya Izuku from Boku no Hero Academia - claims that it promotes abuse apologism due to Bakugou's history of bullying Midoriya, although their relationship has since developed into a mutually beneficial rivalry.
• Remrom (Remus/Roman) from Sanders Sides - claims it promotes incest due to the characters being sibling-coded, and that it promotes rape/abuse and pedophilia due to the younger demographic of the fanbase.
• Beetlejuice/Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice - claims it promotes pedophilia due to Lydia having no canon age but being portrayed as a teenager

Meta/Further Reading/Discourse

Anti-shipper Meta

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Meta either by anti-shippers or aligning with anti-shipper ideology.

• "The Problem With "Fiction ≠ Reality"". Archived from the original on 2021-05-12.; archive link, a Google doc by an anti-shipper.
• Toxic Fandom: When Criticism and Entitlement Go Too Far (October 2018)
• This Grown Adult Made A 500 Page Callout On A 13-Year-Old, video essay of an anti-anti vs. anti-shipper event by an anti-shipper. (December 2020)
• A note to all “pro shippers”; archive link; Wayback link, short piece by "an adult who is a victim of CSA influenced by fictional material" (April 2020)
• i dont trust posts like "some teens think adults shouldnt be in fandom but adult women are the most prolific fanfic writers/fanartists"; archive link; Wayback link, short meta piece from Twitter (July 2021)
• They made a thread on why proshippers are a cult that targets children and nuerodivergents, post by a pro-shipper, but screenshots are antishipper meta. Original antishipper meta. (July 2021)
• back at it again; archive link; Wayback link, anti-shipper meta by a kink blogger. (October 2020)
• Do Not Interact, a practice online of requesting that people of certain circles do not interact. "Proshippers DNI" is common.
• The Protectorate Archive, possibly a satire of anti-shipper mentalities, this very short-lived archive (it lasted a day!) purported to be for anti-shippers to find fanfic that suited their preferences. It generated a lot of discussion.
• The Strange Case of Stichomancery by J.D. Riley (Aug 16, 2022)

Anti-Anti Meta

Meta either by anti-antis or aligning with anti-anti ideology.

• early? example in Teen Wolf fandom: post by knottingwolves, with addition by plushstiel - outrage against moral policing of incest ships, with bonus argument that Sterek is worse because fandom doesn't acknowledge that it is problematic (March 2014)
• tumblr thread started by buckyballbearing - "prioritizing fictional characters over the needs of real women" (August 2016) (see I See A Lot Of Posts Going Around (Suppressing Women's Sexuality))
• What she says: I hate antis; What she really means..., ^{Archived version} by reysistantis (October 31, 2016)
• Towards a working definition of “anti” Towards a working definition of “anti”, ^{Archived version} by shinelikethunder (December 14, 2016)
• antishipping as the cool new trend, or: why are most antis under 25 years old?, freedom-of-fanfic (June 2017)
• Could you talk some more about how current antis relate back to the LJ social justice scene and when the morph from debating fanworks to dissing people happened?; archive link; Wayback link, 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". Archived from the original on 2021-11-09., freedom-of-fanfic (July 2017)
• I wanted to address an ask you answered a few days ago about violence in m/m vs. f/f, a Tumblr thread (2017)
• "shipping-isnt-morality.tumblr.com". Archived from the original on 2021-10-22.
• klancers4sh3ith's Twitter page dedicated to the inner workings of the Voltron: Legendary Defender anti contingent. Wayback link (August 2018)
• Fandom: When Criticism and Entitlement Go Too Far; archive link; Wayback link on geekdad.com. (October 2018)
• responses to the question would you say that "antis" are a predominant US phenomenon? compiled by Tumblr user fiction-is-not-reality2
• dynamicsymmetry: "There are a number of reasons why I'm very insistent on people not dismissing this movement in fandom as "only" fandom. It isn't going to stay confined to fandom. It's a worldview, and it's a poisonous and dangerous one.", ^{Archived version} (Sept 2019)
• Are You Pairing Fictional Characters the Way I Want You To?; archive link by Ratkinzluver33 (2019)
• fandom history lesson, ^{Archived version}; this will probably give you flashbacks but it's worth it to remind ourselves where we've been & where we still are, ^{Archived version}; A must-read. Before any younger or new members to fandom censure us for being "too permissive", or tar us with the same brush as literal criminals, this is why older (years/experience) fans are the way we are., ^{Archived version} (October 2020)
• "As a therapist, I laugh when I see 'get help/see a therapist' rhetoric from fanpol/antis. Sorry sweetie, I'm actually more concerned about YOUR behavior". Archived from the original on 2021-11-13., A therapist's point of view on Anti ideology. (May 2020)
• "Fiction does affect reality. Different kinds of fictional media affects reality differently. All psychosocial analysis carries nuance". Archived from the original on 2021-11-03., A twitter thread talking about the nuances of how much fiction does afffect reality, the actual realities of why people might enjoy taboos in fiction without condemning them in real life, from the perspective of a CSA survivor. (May 2020)
• Young folks would do well to remember. A tweet transcribed in a Tumblr post that reminded fans of the role older women have long played in fandom history. This post inspired mostly supportive responses in the comments. (May 2021)
• Purity Culture & Fandom ... Issa Mess: A video essay by a black woman who, while closer to a proshipper mentality, criticizes practices on both sides, specifically when it comes to the treatment of PoC and their potential instrumentalization. (May 2021)
• Alright like fuck terfs, gcs, and all those people as a whole, but... - fozmeadows answer to anon ask comparing antis to terfs. (October 2022)

Discussion Threads

Longer discussions between several people across various ideologies.

• "SHIP WARS: A Simple Guide for Fandom". Archived from the original on 2016-08-27., Tumblr post by shinykari, with arguments in the reblogs (February 3, 2016) , with 10,340 notes as of 27 August 2016.
• The roots of anti culture; archive link, at fail_fandomanon (August 2016)
• fail_fandomanon: Re: Where Antis started, ^{Archived version} at fail_fandomanon (October 28, 2016)
• Calling all fandom historians and academics, ^{Archived version} at fail_fandomanon (December 11, 2016)
• Ok, well don't say I didn't warn you.; archive link;Wayback link by Bokai (May 2017)
• What Exactly is a ProShipper and an AntiShipper? (2019)
• I REALLY want to know when Don't Like, Don't Read turned into Don't Like, Harass Author to Deactivation or Death. /r/fanfiction reddit thread (February 2021)
• What's up with Gen Z fans saying "pro-ship" and "anti-ship"? What do they mean? reddit thread (June 2022)

Academic Works

• Larsen, Victor. "it Makes Me, a Minor, Uncomfortable": Media and Morality In Anti-shippers' Policing of Online Fandom. (MA thesis) Ghent University, 2021.
• Aburime, Samantha. 2021. "The Cult Structure of the American Anti." Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 36. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2021.2147.
• Aburime, Samantha. 2022. "Hate narratives, conditioned language and networked harassment: A new breed of anti-shipper and anti-fan – antis. The Journal of Fandom Studies, 10(2), 135–155. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00060_1.
• Urbańczyk, Agnieszka. "Finding a Dead Dove in the Refrigerator. The Anti-Shippers’ Call for Exclusion of Sensitive Content as a Means of Establishing Position in the Field of Fan Production". Przegląd Kulturoznawczy, 53(3), 2022.[3]
• Bradburn, Madison. Fans Like Us: Anti-shipping, Othering, and the Reauthoring of Fandom. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Dissertations & Theses, 2023.[4]