Love the One You're With

I noticed there isn't a single fic in this fandom categorized as F/M without M/M. Since yaoi is so popular in almost every major fandom regardless of whether M/M ships are canonical in them, I decided to write this. I fully expect this fic will be unpopular simply because I wrote a straight fic in a yaoi fandom (AKA, doing the reverse of what's so popular on AO3).
And thanks, AO3 mods, for deleting my third fic (out of a whopping 5) and banning me for a month with no warning. Because, in case you didn't know, AO3 deletes fanworks even if they aren't in violation of their TOS. See https://freespeechhub.blogspot.com for more info on AO3 censorship.
Fic Summary:
Jack and Ennis mutually decide to just stay friends and to work on patching up their relationship with their wives.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

“You know, Jack, I've been thinkin',” Ennis says as he stokes the campfire.

“'Bout what?” Jack replies as he prepares a breakfast of eggs in the frying pan.

“'Bout us and where this whole crazy train we're on is leadin' us.”

Jack perks up at the mention of what they have. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Me and Alma've been talkin'...” he stares off into the distance. “We...we went to a marriage counselor recently and have been workin' on...” He kicks at a patch of dirt on the ground listlessly as he deliberates over his word choice for what he wants to say next. “Jeez, why is this so fuckin' hard to say!?” He hesitates for several moments as he messes with his already unkempt hair, taking a deep breath before mustering the courage to continue: “We've been workin' on patchin' up our relationship recently, Jack. I...I really wanna stay with her since we got the kids and all, y'know. And...and I think it's not right to keep cheatin' on her like this. She's a good gal. She don't deserve this.”

A nearly interminable silence follows as Jack lets his words sink in. They both simply stare off into space. Fearing the worst, Ennis finally turns to his lover and prods: “So? Ain't ya got nothin' to say about that?”

Jack sighs deeply. He likewise has to muster some courage before he can speak. “Well...truth be told, Ennis, I was thinkin' about goin' to a marriage counselor about me and Lureen too. I think we could still work things out between us, that it's not too late. Guess now's as good time for that as any, huh?”

Ennis laughs. “Yeah...guess so...”

Jack places the frying pan over the campfire, watching the eggs as they slowly cook. After a long pause, he adds: “I'll never forget what we had here, Ennis. I just...I think things are gonna be better this way. And y'know what? I'm abso-fuckin'-lutely positive that one day, relationships like ours will outnumber the straight ones. Just the child support payments alone'll make sure of that!” he snickers.

“Yeah, no kiddin'!” Ennis chuckles. “I just wish that time would hurry up and get here already...” he adds wistfully.
.
.
.
10 years later...

Jack and Ennis sit side by side at a sprawling dining table filled to the brim with all manner of delectable foods. Alma and Lureen sit opposite them, holding glasses of wine high in celebration. Their children sit at the opposite end of the table, flinging peas at one another as they giggle maniacally. Each face at the table sports a wide smile as they all laugh at some silly joke they just shared about the shortcomings of the current president.

It seems that, ever since Jack and Ennis went to the marriage counselor with their wives, their relationships improved to the point that each couple now regularly holds grand get-togethers for all their closest friends. And the closest of these friends is, of course, the one that each family's patriarch made up on Brokeback Mountain all those years ago...

Notes:

I made this fic as a test of my theory that there are a large number of heterophobes on AO3. After all, I can't think of any reason why so many fandoms are infested with nonsensical, implausible pairings (the vast majority of which are yaoi, of course, and a ton of them are irrationally popular despite offering no context for the 'ship) other than avoidance/ignorance of the canonical pairings due to heterophobia...Although I guess there are some people who do it just because hot guy + hot guy = canonical context is no longer necessary for the relationship to be “hot.”
Despite how there's a ton of fans of many straight ships too, it appears that just about none of us is infesting the yaoi fandoms with nonsensical straight pairings despite the fact that, yes, many of us do occasionally partake in and even enjoy entertainment revolving around same-sex relationships.
Please note how my fic went further than the vast majority of yaoi fics by, y'know, acknowledging that the canon relationship exists and by having the characters from the canonical pairing offer a rational explanation of why they're leaving that relationship for one with a person of another gender (a relationship that they were already in, even!).
Flames are more than welcome and will only serve to prove my point because, believe it or not, I like some fandoms & fics that contain yaoi pairings but only if they're canonical or at least plausible (Jack/Ennis is one of those I do actually like).
Update: Since the only intelligent comments I got came from people who either supported me or at least didn't flame/troll (just b/c I welcomed flamed doesn't mean that flaming was all you could do) is yet more evidence that a ton of fanfic readers & writers are heterophobes who get easily outraged over even legit criticism of their "fanworks." I'm still waiting for a decent counterargument, but at this point, I'm all but sure I didn't get one because my theory is 100% fact

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CherryPine6, HarmoniaLovepoison, broken_pencils, cannibalprophet, CTrees, on_the_wing, Moreta, setsuna, EtreHumain42, and Victorious56 as well as 3 guests left kudos on this work!

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bruh moment (Guest) Fri 05 Jan 2024 06:37AM UTC

the gnomeo and juliet vore fic was a better troll fic than this :/

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1. compson Tue 20 Aug 2024 10:41AM UTC
  
  Hey I think I wrote one of these 5 years ago. Nice throwback
  
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Ronald McDonald's McNugget McNuts (Guest) Fri 05 Jan 2024 06:42AM UTC

You're not just a clown, you're the whole damn circus. Please tell the world how you feel about this achievement.

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e_e (Guest) Fri 05 Jan 2024 06:58AM UTC

imma go find some m/m to cleanse my palatte after reading this

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Decada Fri 05 Jan 2024 09:29PM UTC

You could've gotten some F/F writing in here and got the scorned wives fucking so everyone's happy, but you went with this?
Weak + L + you get zeroes waifus + pussy behavior + I fucked your mom and your dad and your grandpa is next + this could've been poly

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1. Actually_austen Wed 28 Feb 2024 07:51PM UTC
  
  so real. love this
  
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proserpine_in_phases Fri 05 Jan 2024 09:48PM UTC

Man you didnt even try to develop the actual m/f relationships tho. Neither of the wives even get a line of dialogue, and you dont take the time to actually show the healing process of them mending their marriages. This is such a low effort fic, a concept like this could easily be a whole novel. This could have been a genuinely interesting fic if you had actually taken the time to write it out beyond a fucking shit synopsis and less than 600 words of dialogue and a pat 10 years later summary. You have utterly failed to prove anything because you havent put the work in

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1. lemnlime Fri 05 Jan 2024 10:28PM UTC
  
  At least you put some effort into your review, unlike pretty much everyone else, but I put in as much effort into this fic as I felt like. I ain't gettin paid for this and I've long stopped caring about # of views or kudos since those things rarely correlate to the quality of the fic anyway. If anything, u should be happy that you didn't have to read a 100K+ opus just to find out the author abandoned the fic or put in a shitty rushed ending. If you're this pissed about a 500-ish word fic that had good potential, I can't imagine how nasty you get with those authors!
  BTW, you could just so easily use this as a springboard for your own fic since I see you're a writer. Don't like how short the fic is but you like the idea? Feel free to take it and do your own!
  
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2. 1. proserpine_in_phases Tue 09 Jan 2024 12:55AM UTC
    
    Nah
    
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observer (Guest) Sat 06 Jan 2024 11:52PM UTC

so I, as many others, came across this on tumblr and I must say that the reactions are embarrassing. however, I do see why such reactions were made.
I think the use of the -phobia suffix greatly diminishes the message, of sorts, that you're trying to convey (troll or not). the term is often used by those in bad faith, those who feel "threatened" by media portraying more LGBT couples in the shows they watch. using it here to describe the way fandom looks at certain ships is very... charged. that may be what you're looking for, but all the same I do see you stating rather smugly that you "aren't surprised" and such by the reaction. either you're ignorant, pedanticly using the dictionary definition of a phobia, or you're simply a troll. and though it seems that the fic is indeed a troll, you do seem to strongly believe that there is a double standard at play in most fandoms regardless.
there is, indeed. you mention about people writing characters in an OOC manner just to convey a ship. this is true. while the nature of fanfiction will almost always preclude a level of OOC-ness in the characterization, I do agree that there often reaches a point when you find a fic of a ship you like, you read it, and you cannot recognize the characters at all. this of course can happen regardless of ship type, het or slash, but it is often fairly prolific in slash fic. it's something I get annoyed with as well.
however, it is also just as prolific in het fic, if not more, due to the rampant self-insertion that has been a staple of fanfic for decades now. female writers will bend a female character to be closer to how they themselves would want to convey a situation. the same is true of male writers, though (openly) male written fanfic does seem to be less abundant. it's clear in male-written original fiction regardless.
so the main issue I would say isn't necessarily that slash fic is more inclined to OOC writing; it's not merely endemic to that genre. I would say your other point is more substantial, the one you didn't touch on as much in your notes: that it's fine to write het characters into a slash ship, but it's not fine to write non-het characters into a het ship.
this is an unspoken rule in fandom; you simply do not in-gay a character in your fic. I am of the opinion that the characters themselves are not real, thus it is not akin to conversion therapy (as I've seen it described as). however, it is more sensitive for that reason. many people in fandom have life experiences that reflect the notions of conversion therapy or hiding their gayness by being in het relationships. when these fandom members come across a fic showing a canonically gay character essentially hiding their gay in the story, it's upsetting, to put it simply.
it's why I have the suspicion that this was a tactical troll fic; you picked characters from a series that are canonically gay, for one, but more importantly, you chose characters that canonically hide their gay.
if this was a serious fic, I think you could have really done numbers in a positive way. People may like their happy endings, but a more realistic take on something that happens in real life can also be appreciated. instead, this is more of a throwaway fic you wrote to make a different point and stir the pot rather than open a productive conversation. it's unsurprising that people are saying you are homophobic, especially when using terms like "heterophobic" unironically (not to say that a phobia of hets isn't real). it's unfortunate, because I think the premise you devised has legs to it.
I don't know if you are younger or older, but I think next time it would be more productive to use these ideas in a serious way. Will people still complain about it? sure. but at least you could have offered something worthwhile to those who are genuinely looking for it.
cheers.

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actually Wed 10 Jan 2024 05:10PM UTC

oh my god i thought this was a joke. oh my god

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1. lemnlime Tue 13 Feb 2024 04:38PM UTC
  
  Yeah, I'm just as outraged as you that there are so many heterophobes out there! Thank god they mainly just lurk on fanfic sites and are greatly outnumbered outside of their little safe havens
  
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proud-heterophobe (Guest) Thu 11 Jan 2024 01:36AM UTC

it’s crazy that ur posting this shit under a canonically queer fandom…

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1. lemnlime Tue 13 Feb 2024 04:37PM UTC
  
  Yeah, it's not like the heterophobes aren't posting queer BS in the straight fandoms or anything....
  (looks at your alias) Welp, at least you're honest about being a heterophobe
  
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valeriesweek Mon 05 Feb 2024 01:08PM UTC

this has the same vibe as that troll on twitter using AI to complete Keith Haring's unfished painting lmao so tone deaf

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1. lemnlime Tue 13 Feb 2024 04:33PM UTC
  
  Yes, it's so tone deaf to point out when people discriminate and then use the lame excuse of "but we were discriminated against first!" You sound just like the mods here XD
  
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Actually_austen Wed 28 Feb 2024 07:43PM UTC

1. OP did not watch brokeback mountain. Jack is a gay man, he cannot fix the marriage hes in because he is a gay man.
1b. although that point doesn't really matter because fanfic is fan fiction, the original work barely even has to be associated for it still to be valid fanfic.
2. ships can be anything bc they arent real. who cares if someone wants to write a 50k fic between harry potter and deku. Fandom culture and shipping should always be fun for the person posting. Nothing needs to be "plausible" because nothing is plausible! They are not real people! That one of the things I love about shipping culture, you can explore complex and interesting themes between any characters you want, be that mlm or otherwise.
3. I understand the critique of fujoshis and yaoi shippers, there is something to be said about the fetishization of mlm couples, but in no way is it "heterophobia". In fact, most people who post cringe yaoi shit are straight women! Fetishizing gay men isnt heterophobic, its actually homophobic.
4. If you dont want to read mlm or partake in certain ships, just exclude them from your tags and move on! You shouldn't shit on other peoples fun just because you don't like it.
5.In the end, there are still tons of fanworks that are mf and ff pairings. Writers like to write gay shit because there isn't a lot of canonical gay media out there, so we make our own. If you want to see straight people stories, just watch any piece of modern or old media, and you'll get your fix. You can talk about the censorship of AO3, but I'm going to ignore that until you acknowledge the censorship of gay people in real media aside from fan media. :/

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1. lemnlime Wed 28 Feb 2024 09:44PM UTC
  
  First off, I'm not "OP." This is not Reddit. The correct term is "author."
  Next, Jack and Ennis were clearly bisexual. No one forced them at gunpoint to get married to women and fuck their WIVES as we clearly saw happening in the movie. It wasn't even just implied that they fucked. How funny so many ppl on here seem to forget that...
  Sure, ships can be anything. Maybe next I'll ship Jack with his horse or a shoe or whatever. That would be far more entertaining to me than about 50% of the crap on AO3.
  "Nothing is plausible": So you would prefer media to be completely random and nothing that happens in any story follow from anything that preceded it? Sounds like you would love AI-generated stories then. When something happens that contradicts something that was previously established in a story, this is called a plot hole/continuity error/etc. They are not a good thing and pointing them out is a legit form of criticism. If an author wants me to take their fanfic seriously, they will at least TRY to make their fic plausible. Obviously, a ton of ppl on AO3 don't give a crap about plausibility in fanfics but fics aren't good just b/c they're popular. Some of my fave fanfics are criminally underrated and I've seen far too much crap with tons of views & kudos to let that influence my decision of whether to read a fic or not.
  "If you dont want to read mlm or partake in certain ships, just exclude them from your tags and move on" -- Gee, thanks for the unsolicited advice. Here, let me give u some too--if you don't like what I wrote, move on. You wasted your time writing this comment b/c it hasn't changed my mind about anything.
  "until you acknowledge the censorship of gay people in real media aside from fan media" -- this is such a first world problem. You can solve it just by making your own damn stories. This also isn't even an actual problem unless you're a heterophobe b/c straight relationships aren't something to be grossed out about and avoid. And the fact that BM exists proves that yeah, there is LGBTQ representation in the media, you just don't think there's enough of it. Huge difference.
  
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2. 1. Thaddenquoff Fri 01 Mar 2024 12:20AM UTC
    
    Hey! Sorry, the person who wrote this comment didn’t elaborate on this one, but I think some of your thinking is flawed here, and I’d like to hopefully explain why some of the comments on this fic are as negative as they are?
    First off, the characters in the story literally WERE forced at gunpoint to get married and have sex with their wives. Back in the time the story takes place in, if anyone thought you were gay, they’d kill you. We literally see this happen in the movie. It seems like they got married to at least smokescreen this a little bit, which was a common thing that happened historically. This is an in-canon explanation for why the fanfic writers here don’t mention the wives. Another explanation is that they just want to write about the two characters that the story primarily focuses on.
    Secondly, the bit about how the commenter would like AI stories shows your lack of understanding of why people write fanfic? A lot of people write fanfic as a form of thought exercise; by diverging from the canon, or by writing out non-canon ships or scenarios, it allows a writer to explore the story and thus add to their understanding. This is an important part of the creative process. By adding your own spin to a story, you are able to become more media literate. The fact that these stories are “implausible” is literally the whole point of writing those stories in the first place; they could not or would not happen, BUT fanfic allows writers to wave a magic wand and LET those stories exist anyway. It’s not a plot-hole, nor is it something to criticize. It’s honestly such a cool way people express themselves creatively, whether those stories are straight or otherwise. With that said, I understand that those stories may not be your cup of tea and that’s AWESOME. We all have our own tastes, and I’m happy you can find media you can attach to. But calling those kinds of stories “crap” is just being contrarian and rude for the sake of it.
    Thirdly, your final bit. This is the reason your story isn’t being received well. You went into a queer movie, made it non-queer, called those that like to write queer pairings ridiculous and flamed them for doing so, used language with a negative connotation like “infested” to describe it, and then called everyone who disagreed with what you did a hetereophobe. You appear to already have been contacted by mods about all this, but it seems you don’t really know why. I’ll ignore some of the weird homophobic rhetoric in your story for now and start with this: it’s not because we’re heterophobic or because we’re trying to silence you. Another big reason why people write fanfic is because queer representation in fiction is SO RARE. Especially good queer representation. It is so rare, in fact, that people literally have to make their own. This isn’t something to be angry about. People are not heterophobic for wanting to see people like them in fiction. And while many talented writers can and do add queer characters, most of us aren’t lucky enough to land a book deal or a TV show. And so to fanfic we go. This is why so many “yaoi” fics exist: LGBTQ+ folk literally just to to read stories that reflect their experience.
    So let’s take it back to your story. Why are people getting angry here? It’s because you essentially walked into a queer space and threw a vase at wall. You used a lot of weird homophobic rhetoric in your story such as “relationships like ours will outnumber the straight ones” and a weird comment about child support. Then you only used the term “yaoi” to describe mlm relationships, which, while not homophobic, is still a little weird. Finally, you went in guns blazing about how most fanfic writers are heterophobic because they like to write queer stories that aren’t canon. Dude, you’re not some grand manipulator running a masterful experiment or some brave warrior taking a stance against something awful: You wrote a story that demonstrates a lack of media literacy, both in general AND for this story specifically, used homophobic language and sentiments, and then got frustrated when you got called on it. You walked in, threw a vase at a wall, and then when people were like “dude, what the heck, don’t do that,” you confirmation biased your way into believing you were in the right. That’s why people are dissatisfied with this story.
    Let’s make one final thing clear though: this story should exist. You wrote a story that encapsulated what you believe, and while I may fundamentally disagree with it, I still think that’s awesome. Stories are awesome and one of the coolest things to exist. I’m glad you used writing to express what you think. However, just because I’m glad it exists doesn’t mean people won’t flame you for writing this one in bad faith, with a wonky premise that defies the whole point of the original story, and with bad intentions designed specifically to make people mad. And I think THAT’S a little funny.
    Cheers friend!
    
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  2. 1. lemnlime Fri 01 Mar 2024 03:07AM UTC
      
      "the characters in the story literally WERE forced at gunpoint to get married and have sex with their wives" -- Look up the word "duress" in the dictionary. Seriously. Being "afraid" that something will happen because someone else got killed in a hate crime and you belong to that same class is not the same as being forced at gunpoint. The point you're trying to make is idiotic. Being a bachelor was a totally normal thing back in those days even for straight men and being a bachelor is hardly more than extremely circumstantial evidence of gayness at most.
      Dude, you would never make it as a film critic if you think plausibility/continuity and just plain making sense isn't important in storytelling. There are entire occupations (editors) dedicated to making sure movies make sense and proceed in a logical way so that they can be understood and aren't just random nonsense. Making characters suddenly behave in ways that are contradictory to their established personality is a good example of an error which any attentive critic would be quick to point out. The fact that OOC fics are so popular on fanfic sites just tells me that they're popular but that by itself certainly doesn't make them good. I know this concept is probably difficult for you to undestand because you have no idea about good story-telling principles but maybe do yourself a favor and look it up sometime.
      I know exactly why my story wasn't received well (and I already stated elsewhere that I really don't care about how my fics "peform" anyway since I'm far more concerned with making a fic I can be proud of and that conforms to good story-telling principles and/or makes me laugh) and it's that I triggered too many yaoi fans/LGBTQ ppl on the very place where a huge percentage of them hang out. Still, zero fucks given.
      "queer representation in fiction is SO RARE. Especially good queer representation. It is so rare, in fact, that people literally have to make their own" -- This comes off as incredibly heterophobic, dude. They "have to" make their own? The inverse of this statement is "there is something wrong with straight relationships in the media and that problem is that they are not gay enough". and BTW, the original fics section is right over there. Feel free to load it up with whatever fics you want. You can even say they're inspired by the fandoms you like and "this character looks just like Ennis from BM". Just don't think I'm gonna change my mind about being disgusted when ppl go to the straight fandoms and load it up with OOC yaoi fics. especially when there IS LGBTQ representation in the media but you probably don't like what's out there just because the guys in those movies aren't as hot as the guys in the straight fandoms (this is literally a quote I took directly from reddit, BTW, when i asked why ppl don't just write yaoi fics for the fandoms that already ARE yaoi. needless to say, i lost even more respect for the LGBTQ community when this dubious "rationale" was given).
      "You used a lot of weird homophobic rhetoric in your story such as 'relationships like ours will outnumber the straight ones'" -- you're the one arguing that Jack & Ennis are only pretending to be straight because they "literally WERE forced at gunpoint to get married" and yet u think that line was weird? You have got to be kidding. I think everyone who is in the minority of some group of ppl at least secretly wishes that the minority was actually the majority b/c it's lonely being in the minority of any group since you have less ppl who u can relate to. for instance, pretty much any only child makes friends easier with other only children b/c they have something in common which is relatively rare. that's literally all that line was a reference to.
      "and a weird comment about child support" -- I literally have no idea what u find weird about this line. you literally just come off as a troll who has a problem with literally everything you don't like it and you want to start bitching about it b/c u have nothing better to do. i also have no idea what "media literacy" is but it definitely just sounds like you're trying to be a smartass.
      My writing got lazier as I went on b/c I'm seriously tired of beating a dead horse here. I already figured the IQ of the average person on AO3 was pretty low and I'm not seeing much in these comments to change my mind about that.
      
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    2. 1. Thaddenquoff Sat 02 Mar 2024 09:05AM UTC
        
        Hey. Sorry, I’m back again. Ending it like I did didn’t sit right with me. You’re probably a bait, but in case you aren’t, then I still feel like this is something I should say. I’m sorry I reacted like that. I’m an aro/ace man, which means I fall under the banner of the alphabet mafia. I saw something that repeated a lot of sentiments that have been told to me and the people I care for and reacted more strongly than was probably warranted to a 500 word story.
        I don’t think I’ll ever agree with you. And that sucks. But I understand how conviction and principle work. If someone walked up to me and told me that my belief in the LGBTQ+ was harmful, I’d laugh in their face. I imagine it’s the same for you, albeit for your own thing. So, despite it all, I know nothing I say will change your mind. And that’s fine. You have something you believe with ironclad conviction, and you’re willing to fight for it. Approaching as your enemy won’t do anything, as coming to any conclusion that you don’t come to yourself is pointless.
        You have no reason to listen to me, but I hope you’ll keep something in mind. In the future, I hope you’ll continue to be creative. To write and read as you please. The world is constantly changing. The winds blow differently, up and away from the status quo. That’s a scary thing. So I hope you’ll keep writing and being creative. To use this outlet to vent your frustrations and expand your perspective. I can’t guarantee how happy people will be with you if you write stuff like this (myself included), but stories are an incredible thing; the more you explore, the more you change with them.
        Cheers friend! I hope you take your own path, whatever it may be.
        
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  3. Anon E. Mouse (Guest) Thu 18 Apr 2024 03:48AM UTC
    
    Wow, what a pedant. Chill. It's not that deep, fam.
    
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alakazamryn Tue 12 Mar 2024 02:18AM UTC

sadly this fic is pretty bland as far as joke fics go. usually spongebob shows up or somebody gets vored so it wasn’t really funny. maybe you can write another chapter where ennis says “PUSSYYY” in a cookie monster voice, or perhaps a meteor strikes and kills everyone instantly. those are just a few of my suggestions to make it better!

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1. lemnlime Tue 12 Mar 2024 01:48PM UTC
  
  Well, you clearly have the IQ of a toddler if that's what you find amusing. Also, it's not a jokefic. It's the heterophobes on AO3 who are the joke
  
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soapy Wed 13 Mar 2024 04:08PM UTC

C’est bien guez

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HorribleHag Sat 16 Mar 2024 02:13AM UTC

You kind of fail to get your point across over how loudly you're trying to make it about 'heterophobia' rather than what it actually is: internalized misogyny, discontent with feminine performance and perceived power imbalance through socialized gender.
Also fanfiction is supposed to be transformative and fun, not an exercise on what is more plausible, otherwise people would be perfectly content with never making fanwork ever. Fanfic doesn't need to 'make sense', it only needs to be fun to create and fun to read no matter the skill.

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1. lemnlime Sat 16 Mar 2024 01:28PM UTC
  
  Believe it or not, there are those of us who don't like reading fics where random nonsense happens unless done for parody/humor purposes and every editor and English teacher on the planet would also disagree with you. But I realize that ppl with the IQ of toddlers might prefer the random nonsense so you do you XD
  
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2. 1. HorribleHag Sat 16 Mar 2024 04:34PM UTC
    
    Imagine having the ability to write for fun just to be this boring.
    
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(Previous comment deleted.)
1. lemnlime Sat 16 Mar 2024 01:37PM UTC
  
  You all are the ones that keep writing comments on this fic which is now weeks/months old, proving I made some good points and ruffled more than a few feathers since the lifespan of things on the Internet is so short. Why does anyone even care what 1 rando on the 'net thinks? Do you write a diatribe to everyone who makes a comment you disagree with? There are far better uses for your time, I can assure you. If I was just a homophobe with nothing more, pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten so much attention as ppl quickly dismiss me and move on with their lives.
  I'm not even responding to the "heterophobia is not a real thing" argument anymore, just see my other comments re: that. And last I checked BBM is set in the 1960s so I can't take anything u say seriously after you made that big of a fuck-up in logic by calling it the "Old West", lol.
  
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Bruh (Guest) Sat 16 Mar 2024 04:04PM UTC

“I’m not gay bashing” “I’m actually a fan” if you don’t like gay people then pick the other 95% of media with straight ships. It’s 2024. Retire the homophobia and grow up

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Lukassssss (Guest) Mon 27 May 2024 09:15PM UTC

This Drabble is old but I feel the need to comment so I’m going to. Ignore if you feel like it :) (Just consider all caps to be italics because I am ~autistic~ and prefer to use italics to emphasize words to get my point across better but I can’t do that here)
Okay, I COMPLETELY understand where you’re coming from. A lot of fandoms I’m in are definitely prone to gay fetishization and ‘heterophobia’, but this fandom is REALLY not the fandom you should’ve used. Yes, I see that you used BBM because there are no exclusively F/M fics, but your entire point about people preferring nonsensical gay ships over canonical straight ones (which I will admit, I do agree with in some cases) has quite literally zero relevance to this fandom BECAUSE of what this movie is. Brokeback mountain is a movie centered around the HATE, VIOLENCE, and FEAR that queer people experienced (and still do today!!) for simply BEING THEMSELVES and LOVING SOMEONE. The entire point of the plot is that Jack and Ennis are suppressing their emotions and hiding from their families because they’re SCARED, and it’s HURTING them. It hurts EVERYONE AROUND THEM. It’s very clear through the way their interactions are presented that Ennis doesn’t love Alma. He doesn’t. Maybe he did at one point, but really, he doesn’t. He loves Jack, and he’s extremely scared of the way he feels due to his TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES and his knowledge of what happens to queer people when they’re found out. The thanksgiving scene, for example, where Alma is telling him about how she knew what him and Jack were doing on their ‘fishing trips.’ His reaction was one of genuine fear and panic. The way you presented this idea not only dulls down the entire point of Brokeback mountain to “hey, If you’re gay and you love someone of the same sex, you should stop that and suppress yourself to make society happy.” But also presents this (very bad) solution in a shit way too. This kind of decision would be extremely emotional for both parties. They loved each other for YEARS and now they’re deciding they need to cut it off for the good (not really) of everyone involved. And you presented it as “Hey, I’ve been thinking- I know I’ve literally cried over how much i love you and the fact that we will NEVER be accepted or allowed to be together due to shitty societal standards but uhhhh actually I think my wife wouldn’t like that I’m gay (the literal entire point of the movie. Cough.) so I’m going to shoot any mental health i have left by ignoring my actual real identity and love for you and forcing myself to continue an EXTREMELY UNHAPPY marriage, which will result in poor mental health for not only me and my wife that i do not love, but our two daughters as well!” “Oh, wow! I’ve been thinking the same thing! So funny, right?” Like this is some sort of joke. I understand. I UNDERSTAND where you’re coming from. But using this fandom really just makes you look bad ill be honest. I don’t mean this as any sort of personal attack in any way, but as a queer person who has experience with homophobia and how bad that shit hurts, and how it feels to bottle yourself up and water yourself down to make other people happy, this really ticked me off. Brokeback Mountain is an amazing movie which put those feelings into perspective. And this kinda just took a shit on all of that to prove a point that is, quite literally, Irrelevant to this entire fandom. Thank you for your time. Have a good day and/or night.

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bread_ducky Fri 19 Jul 2024 02:59AM UTC

It's amazing how you could use other examples but you choose a GAY movie that talks about two MEN who live in a past era trying to hide and relate to this new love of their two, so this fanfic doesn't make sense to me, why the fuck do they suddenly stop falling in love and BAM they become straight again, it's like throwing the film in the trash and giving it a shallow and flat ending.
Yes, a large part of fanfics with M/M or "yaoi" as you say are very shallow and purely fetishizing homoaffective relationships, but representing this using a good film that has no fetishization and is a (kind of) great example of what was happening at the time, is just stupid.
(and if this is just trolling, I don't care, I just wanted to prove a point:P)

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compson Tue 20 Aug 2024 10:41AM UTC

This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, hands down.
1 Brokeback mountain fanfiction that is a f/m retaliation fic
2 Referring to fucking brokeback mountain as yaoi. In 2023
3 the summary
I am not heterophobic. I am a straight woman. I cannot for the life of me understand why you chose brokeback mountain. Like it just feels wrong. Of course people are going to get mad—but I guess that’s your goal. People are just not heterophobic in a way that matters. It’s not even like how you can’t be racist towards white people, it’s just like. If you say “burn the straights” there is no fucking way you’re not kidding unless you’re mentally ill. “Heterophobia” can be slight and vague and maybe annoying, but it doesn’t actively harm anyone. Even in fandom. Brokeback mountain is a literal example of how comparatively bad it is to have homophobia vs “heterophobia.”
The entire premise of brokeback mountain surrounds two men who have to fight their sexuality and love due to society. The whole story is about being gay and how hard and horrible it is. Meanwhile because heterosexuality is the default, it is rarely if ever focused on as a point of conflict. Romance conflict is different from identity conflict. I don’t think it’s comparable in the level you said it is.
I don’t think it’s even worth leaving this comment here because obviously you know that comparing shipping two straight characters together vs a canon gay character and a woman is an entirely absurd and so utterly different notion. If you watch a romance movie centered on two characters and entirely about their love (straight or not), it makes no logical sense to ship them with anyone other than each other. But I guess this just reveals some biases because there’s no way you can rationally ignore this fact without having some other reason
I think a lot of the heterophobia you are talking about can be explained by sexualization. Fan (usually non males) see a hot character who is a guy, and the fan is attracted to guys. They find another hot guy who doesn’t even know the other guy exists. What could be better than two hot guys individually? Both of them. Inside each other. Bam. They’re fucking and you’re the gay fetishizing voyeur. This isn’t heterophobia I think some fans just like seeing their favorite (the hottest) characters together and interacting. And fucking. I mean it’s not entirely morally right but I think it’s similar to how guys like watching lesbian porn (which is decidedly morally worse than just liking two guys in a relationship)
On the other side there’s lgbtq+ people who want to see representation that doesn’t exist in most media. But I think those people are usually not looking for just the sexiest unreasonable ships. It’s hard to separate
Also another explanation why gay ships are popular among female fans, it’s just sexism/gender roles in popular media. When you don’t have a woman shown in a relationship, it removes the identity relatability that exists normally. And 99% of straight relationships in media just show the woman as not entirely equal to the man. If you are not a traditional woman in that you don’t identify with typical gender roles, it is less painful to consume media that doesn’t press against your identity

Here’s a theory on you. A passage from your note:
“I'm still waiting for a decent counterargument, but at this point, I'm all but sure I didn't get one because my theory is 100% fact”
You have 112 comments and now 113. If you cannot find one reason to be not 100% sure in any of your ideas within anything in your comments and anything that exists in the world, I don’t think you want to have a conversation in the first place. I think this a rage bait to feed your biases and further ingrain you in your beliefs. Nobody likes to be anything other than 100% right.

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Miku (Guest) Tue 11 Feb 2025 12:59AM UTC

listen to Confessions of a Rotten Girl

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ChoppedUpNotKilled Thu 06 Mar 2025 01:02AM UTC

I agree that there can be an issue in fandom in general with gay pairings being prioritized over straight and lesbian ones, but I don't see the issue as heterophobia, I see the issue as misogyny. If the issue was heterophobia then lesbian relationships both canon and non-canon would be prioritized over straight pairings just as much as gay male pairings are. Really a lot of people would just rather write about men than women, which is a shame and speaks to larger and deeper issues in society. I was totally with you until you attributed the issue to heterophobia instead of misogyny to be honest, but I can respect that you're attempting to address the issue even if we disagree on what it is.

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