@skysayl Thank you for your input.
I honestly didn’t expect this divergence of perspectives (or for this discussion to be brought up at all). I never interacted in the micro/macro communities before, so I might just be unfamiliar with some of the frequently discussed topics here.
Here’s my chance to contribute.
I mostly understand your point. But I fail to see how not knowing a public celebrity personally would warrant it into ooky territory. Same thing for it blurring the line of consent.
For your first point, they are actors and models. Capitalizing on their audiences’ emotional and sexual fantasies is the backbone of their professions (Henry Cavill being one of the chief examples). People they don’t know developing para-social relationships with them is par for the course. It goes for every industry: streamers, idols, youtubers, A-list actors, models, porn actresses, etc. I don’t think knowing them personally should be a requirement to engage with their work lol
As for consent, I would word it differently for the sake of not blurring the definition with that of actual real-life sex consent. Let’s use permission for a better fit.
Again, I understand your point and agree with it. It would bother me too, if I wasn’t a model or any kind of celebrity. I worked in modeling before with various models, men and women. None of us minded being fantasized on by our audience the few times we brought this topic. If they’re not indifferent to it, some find it hilarious or flattering.
“Well, our job obviously entails that, silly.”
It’s not just normalized, it’s accepted and expected the more famous you are in this industry.
The only thing that really rubs everyone the wrong way is for people to capitalize on their pics without permission or to divert their audience/followers with fake accounts.
But the same concerns on consent/permission could be raised about the much bigger communities of writers fanfic-ing various actors or boys bands members and making them partake in all kind of unholy shenanigans in their stories. These instances are so frequent that they made their way to the mainstream.
The persons involved cannot realistically agree or disagree to every scenario and its varieties, even less so if they are the kind to not care in the least. I might find most of said fanfics to be uncomfortable reads, but that’s just me. That doesn’t make them wrong.
I still maintain that it’s perfectly normal and it shouldn’t be considered an issue by projecting ourselves too much into it.
I know I might be the odd fish swimming against the tide here, but it’s a genuinely surprising perspective to stumble across to say the least.
Could stem from cultural differences.
