Psychology of fantasies

[littlest-lily]

@Olo Why am I not surprised that you watch Contrapoints?? I knew I liked you for a reason

[Olo]

@littlest-lily Funnily enough, this was the first one (!). It was recommended by another Size writer who watched it and was chagrined to realize that his most recent story was actually a gender-swapped Twilight, to which I replied with:

[littlest-lily]

@Olo Oh how the tables have turned (not that I’m a big Twilight fan, but I was a bit frustrated by the sheer amount of hate that it got)

[Olo]

@littlest-lily In our society, anything teenage girls like must be destroyed.

[littlest-lily]

@Olo Ran out of upvotes

[Olo]

@littlest-lily That happens to me every other day around here.

[blehb]

@littlest-lily Oh boy, I had a massive Twilight phase as a preteen/teen. I love looking back and laughing about it.

No judgement to younger me. Adult me shamelessly loves trashy romance/smut.

[Nyx]

@littlest-lily said in Psychology of fantasies:

(not that I’m a big Twilight fan, but I was a bit frustrated by the sheer amount of hate that it got)

Same. I was never into Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey, but it’s frustrating how much hate those books received. I remember seeing a thread in the giantess community about how problematic Fifty Shades was, and many of the people who were responding liked things like crush and vore and murder. There were a lot of stones being thrown in glass houses…

[Nyx]

@blehb said in Psychology of fantasies:

Adult me shamelessly loves trashy romance/smut.

I have bought (and will continue to buy) books based on the fact that there was a hot monster guy on the cover.

[SmolChlo]

@blehb I had a life size cardboard cut out of Edward Cullen lol not to mention the insane amount of Team Edward gear I bought from Hot Topic. Twilight and my Emo phase merged together perfectly ️

[littlest-lily]

@Nyx I thiiink that part of the reason 50 shades got a lot of flack was for it not being the best representation of what BDSM actually is, so the fact that it got so mainstream was potentially a disservice for the kink community. But also I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the backlash came from harmless reasons (like it being “porn for moms” )

[Nyx]

@littlest-lily said in Psychology of fantasies:

@Nyx I thiiink that part of the reason 50 shades got a lot of flack was for it not being the best representation of what BDSM actually is, so the fact that it got so mainstream was potentially a disservice for the kink community. But also I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the backlash came from harmless reasons (like it being “porn for moms” )

It’s fictional and has many of the same vibes as other romance novels (which shouldn’t necessarily translate into real world relationships, either). If it had tried to sell itself as a nonfiction BDSM guide, I would have agreed with those critics. But most viewers can separate reality from fantasy (as is the case with horror and video games). Not to say that the novels were perfect; I had trouble getting into them, especially since Christian Grey was way too small

[littlest-lily]

@Nyx Yeah, I’m not sure how much it truly did affect mainstream people’s idea of BDSM or not, since kinks still feels like a bit of a taboo subject in most spaces. I do think that sometimes something blows up with the mainstream in a bad way (ie I think there are a whole lot of misconceptions about what furries are, which leads to unfortunate levels of mocking/derision from the general population). And I personally didn’t really know anything about BDSM until 50 Shades got popular, so at first I felt very creeped out by the whole idea - honestly the backlash that it got was what led me to research and learn about how BDSM actually works in real life. But I agree that 50 Shades is fiction and shouldn’t necessarily have to be “good representation,” and that by and large it might not have had that much of an effect on people’s minds.

(And yes, I also agree that I would have been way more interested if he was a lot bigger hehe)

[Nyx]

@littlest-lily said in Psychology of fantasies:

I do think that sometimes something blows up with the mainstream in a bad way (ie I think there are a whole lot of misconceptions about what furries are, which leads to unfortunate levels of mocking/derision from the general population).

I think that acceptance of kinks have come a long way but there are definitely pockets of resistance, and I’ve seen furry art/vore art/other art mocked because people aren’t into it. In those cases, I think that those in the community should continue to pursue their interest and create art, stories, etc. Even if it’s never accepted by mainstream audiences, it will inspire others who share the same interests.

I will say that sometimes it’s bad behavior on the part of the community, and that should be addressed. I’m thinking specifically of the size community, who will sometimes harass real life models and companies about their kinks. It stops being about enjoying the fantasy harmlessly through art/fiction and starts to affect real life people.

[littlest-lily]

@Nyx Completely agree! And yeah I’ve seen that firsthand with foot fetishists too - I used to work for a YouTuber, and although she was a fashion/lifestyle vlogger, there was this group of dudes who were clearly just there for anytime she showed off an outfit with sandals. They always commented early, so it was a regular thing for me to log in shortly after every video uploaded and delete all the foot comments lol. She wasn’t too bothered by it, but yeah definitely a case of a few people making an entire group look bad