mcmanatea:

Just because someone doesn’t mention mental illness on their blog
does not mean they have not experienced disordered mental states.

Just because someone doesn’t mention sexuality on their blog does not mean they are heterosexual.

Just because someone doesn’t mention gender on their blog does not mean that they are cis-gendered.

Just because someone doesn’t mention disability on their blog does not mean they are abled.

Just because someone doesn’t mention race on their blog does not mean they are white.

Erasure
of people’s mental illness/gender/sexuality/disability/race by a person
in a privileged position is more often done out of ignorance than
malice.

Exploitation or appropriation of people’s mental
illness/gender/sexuality/disability/race in a fandom work is likewise done more often
out of ignorance than malice.

Not every single person on Tumblr is
well-versed in appropriately sensitive language. Even people who
consider themselves part of a marginalized group can forget or misstep.
No one is perfect 100% of the time.

However, portrayal of mental
illness/gender/sexuality/disability/race in a fandom work is often the
result of someone trying to work through their own thoughts and feelings
regarding the same. Before you leave comments based on your
assumption of someone’s status regarding any of the above, please keep in mind that you are only seeing the facets of this person that they are comfortable sharing publicly, and you can do a great deal of damage with careless words. For someone who has dealt with mental
illness or
disability, accusations of using it for the sake of entertainment can
trigger them and send them into a spiral. For someone who has dealt with
confusion and ostracization due to their gender or sexuality, attacking
them based on their presumed cis-het status can make them feel
invisible all over again. If you honestly think it’s wrong for someone
to portray a character as a different race, there really isn’t any
explanation besides bigotry, and you’re probably a jerk.

Fandom

can be a wonderful and mostly-safe place for people to explore different
themes and real-life issues. But when you spew anonymous hatred because

you assume that a content creator is not part of a particular group and
is exploiting the identity or struggles of that group, you can be doing
untold harm. This is especially true if you yourself have experienced
discrimination of any kind! Instead of hurting someone out of simple
ignorance, you are attacking them with full knowledge of how personally
devastating it can be to be misunderstood and shunned. Not only that,
but you have now put them in the position of either accepting your
vitriol without complaint, or revealing personal details in order to
defend themselves. Being a member of a marginalized group does not grant
you the right to demand that information from anyone.

If you disagree
with something that someone else has created, open a dialogue with them!
Send an ask, let them know what’s bothering you! But don’t do so by
being accusatory and nasty. If something honestly makes you so angry
that you are incapable of being civil, walk away until that feeling
passes and you can be respectful. There’s no guarantee that everyone
will listen to you, but at least you will have presented your case
without behaving like a bully.

TL;DR: Nobody owes
you a personal disclaimer that includes all of the reasons they have a
right to create certain content. If you disagree with something that
someone has created, talk to them without being an asshole about it.