The State of the Supergirl Fandom

You have several groups within this fandom...

Fans like myself, who are just tired of the shipping all together, who would like for Kara to be single, but by no means want Mon-el off the show, and even if they are still together, that is fine....just less screen time on their lovey dovey stuff so to speak, and we would like less of that all the way around. There are a lot of us, we just don't speak out all that much, we enjoy the show and go about our business. I would venture to say that the majority on this site and the one I work on, along with many others fall into this category. They love Supergirl, they want more Supergirl, they want more Kara, they want more of the sister time that we saw in the 1st season....but as far as the abuse accusations, the toxic relationship accusation....we kind of shake our heads at that, and just don't see it. If others saw that, ok....everyone takes from a series what they will.....

You have fans that want #Karamel married....probably not going to happen, certainly would bet on it not happening, but in a relationship? sure...

#Supercorp (in its beginnings) had the desire for Kara to be gay and in a relationship with Lena, it shows in their fanfic, their twitter posts, tumblr blogs, photoshops, and artwork...to say that isn't at their core is just wrong. Once it was clear that that is not going to happen, they melded with those that have found the writing to be abusive, and toxic when it comes to Mon-el and they are loud, these two groups have melded into one for all practical purposes on twitter and tumblr.

Then you have those that agree with the abusive and toxic dialogue but do not want to be associated with the group above, they are not as vocal, they are not as harassing and they actually don't like what is happening within that group even though they may agree with some aspects of their agenda....I use the word agenda, because there is an organized effort, with specific talking points that are being driven on a constant basis..... agenda --
a list, plan, outline, or the like, of things to be done, matters to be acted or voted upon, etc.:
So, this group that agrees with the "lists" the "outline" do not agree with the plan of action in how these things are being acted upon. I totally understand that....please understand, those of us that like what we have seen in Season 2 with some things to be built upon or tweeked don't like being lumped into what some are calling "that toxic Supergirl fandom" so I totally understand where you are coming from.

As far as #Sanvers and #Karamel? Yes, they have their extremists (for lack of a better word) as well.....but they do not have what would be called an agenda from the above definition. Why? because they don't need an agenda, what they are wanting is happening....their ships are canon at this point, there is no need for an organized effort to get their desires across to the PTB. They fight with #Supercorp people in their defense of their ship, in defense of themselves for the most part.....#Sanvers as well, and you have some within the #Sanvers ship that agree with that very first group of #Supercorp people I described above.

As far as #Karolsen, I might have gotten that wrong in the spelling.....that ship sailed, and it is not coming back. That was made very clear by the writers at the beginning of the 2nd season when they were asked point blank what happened. They said that at the end of Season 1 it was what they wanted, but as they began to see it come to light in their discussions, it just wasn't there for them. Whether it was lack of chemistry between the actors, lack of desire on the part of the writers to try and force it to see if it would work, whatever their reasons, they said that it just did not work.

As far as that first group of #Supercorp people, that story line is not going to come to light...no matter how much they scream about it. It's just not going to happen. I do however think that if given the time, and correct direction from the director, that friendship could be very special. YES, it has to have bumps along the way, if it didn't it would be boring....

It is very obvious that these writers are committed to #Sanvers, it is just how much time they have with Floriana...I hope a lot more than what we are being led to believe...

As far as #Karamel, I know the writers really like the chemistry between the two, as do the directors that have worked with them....BUT, once we see who Mon-el becomes, if he becomes Valor, will they continue in a relationship, will they not.....that is just something we have to wait and see. But one thing is clear, Chris is coming back as a strong part of the story.....in what capacity remains to be seen.

As far as "will they, will they not" make a statement in regards to the topics of abuse, and what some are saying was a toxic relationship between Kara and Mon-el....we may have that answer at Comic-con.....I do not believe the writers, or the actors, or the PTB believe what they wrote, created, and put up on the screen was any of those things, but they may very well speak to some of the concerns. If they do, I have a feeling it will be along the lines of what I just stated, if they don't say anything.....that is an answer in itself....and it probably goes back to again, what I stated above. That is just my gut feeling, that is something we will just have to wait and see......but we can go back and forth here, and we can call each other whatever ship we want to, but I believe people here have their opinions, and no matter how many times we repeat our thoughts on the subject....no one's mind is going to be changed....it becomes "beating a dead horse"

As for myself however, one of the reasons I went so strongly in the other thread was because it was the elephant in the room, and the passive aggressive debate was getting no where. I am one that likes everything out on the table for all to see.

My final thoughts on all of these "ships" is this....... you can make an omelette using 30 eggs, 29 of them can be the very best quality eggs on the market, but if #30 is rotten....that omelette is rotten and that 1 egg, ruins the omelette. I think that is what "ships" are doing to a fantastic series.

The PTB gets far more information that is far less emotional, biased and confrontational and then they make their decisions. To put numbers, percentages etc as to how many love or hate this or that character is a shout in an echo chamber at best and naive at the least. The CEO has given the answer some like it, some dont, but the decision has been made. Time to move on.

Melissa called Jeremy brave? I like her even more now. Truly well done there MB.

And for a different perspective than anyone else. I am deeply disappointed in what the cast did. And I know many others are also. But does that deserve the hate they received, absolutely not. A lot of people have reached out respectfully to the cast to let them know what the real issue is. This is not just about SC shippers. A lot of LGBT fandoms from other shows have also voiced their disappointment in what the cast did. I will not get into that here because that is not the point of my post. I just want to voice my opinion that people have a right to be hurt and to say they are is not wrong. Many have been respectful without the hate. The hate just gets more attention.

I hear you, and I respect your feelings on it....I disagree with you, but I respect how you feel. The problem however is, it has gone far beyond..."they are the ones getting the attention", that has been the reasoning for months now. That reasoning has gotten those of you who are fans of Lena nowhere. They are getting the attention because ANY, AND AT THIS POINT ANYthing that these actors post on Instagram or Twitter is then inundated with the hate, with MAYBE 2 people that believe as you do calling for calm. It went beyond that weeks ago.

What if, just a what if....Jeremy had said in his song...and then Lena and Kara became good friends, so please stop harassing us on Twitter and Instagram and let us post in peace with all the fans....do you think that would have been allowed to pass? I think not, we would have the same exact thing as we have now. Had they left just the first part of what I said....the same thing would have happened. HAD THEY SAID NOTHING at all about Lena and Kara, that would have triggered hate as well. The Sanvers crowd was upset that Maggie and Alex weren't mentioned in the song....

When you have a group of people that simply want to spew hate, anything will set that off. And we have proof after proof after proof of that.

So, though you totally....YOU TOTALLY have my respect in what you are feeling.... unless your side of this fandom doesn't speak up louder........this will continue and it will no longer be a "they hijacked our fandom" it will be "guilt by association"....In that song, they weren't disrespecting you, they were confronting (FOR THE FIRST TIME I MIGHT ADD) that faction of the fandom that has shown them nothing but disrespect, threats and harassment. Did they mean to come off in a disrespectful way to you? Of course not...but to you they did, and that's a problem, but you will never get redemption in this as a fandom because this group that you say gets the attention, once this dies down, will find something new....it will be in a look from Melissa at Katie in an interview that means absolutely nothing, it will be in a rumor made up by someone to forward their narrative, but it will happen again. That I am totally sure of. I wish soooo much that this fandom was unified in its love for Supergirl, that is where I stand and will continue to stand. But the...."That's them......" narrative just does not go very far with me anymore. I'm sorry....

Considering a rally call. General mobilisation to a twitter crusade. All the sensible people here, do what we can, bury the SC comments with positivity and show the cast sense prevails, and they have no need to be forced into apology by people who hijacked their sexuality to use it as a weapon in what is in fact a fandom war.

If you will look at my avatar, that is exactly what is happening. That is just a part of that campaign.

A lot of of sentiment against Mon-El tends to ignore his negative traits are deliberately there because his is a redemption story.

Not to mention he is actually surprising very respectful and secret altruistic to begin with if one was to pay attention.

I tried replying earlier but it showed an empty comment.

So let me try again. I think there are a lot of things going on.

First of all it seems that people fail to make the distinction between "I'm offended" and "that's offensive". People can and do get offended by any number of things, but that varies from person to person. When you say something is offensive you are saying that everyone is offended, or that everyone should be offended.

Second is the issue of intent. People say it doesn't matter what Jeremy intended because the damage is the same.
I disagree, call me old fashioned but I think intentions matter, even if the result is the same.
Imagine I spill a glass of red wine on your white carpet. There is a difference between me deliberately throwing my wine glass at the carpet, and me dropping my wine glass because I tripped. Yes, either way I should apologize and try to fix it, but that doesn't mean you have the right to accuse me of vandalism.

The worst part of all of this is that it occurred in the huge lull between seasons, otherwise we would be discussing what happened in the last episode and speculating on what will happen in the next episode.

I honestly don't understand how people can put so much energy into being spiteful.
I am strongly reminded of Jon Ronson's TED talk "How one tweet can ruin your life"

Please allow me pose these questions to the Supercorp fans here:

1) Do you condone booing any of the Supergirl cast/crew at screenings/panels?
2) Have you seen a concerted/orchestrated plan to undermine Katie (or the Lena character) at conventions?
3) Have you witnessed any death threats against Katie for simply portraying a character on a TV show?

My sincere hope is that you've answered negative to all of the above because I would like to believe that none of you are part of that toxic portion of your fandom. But with that said, all of the above have been directed at the actor Chris Wood and the character Mon-El. Which is why I believe there's now a backlash against that vile element of Supercorp. I'm not saying there are no bad elements in Karamel (no fandom is perfect after all) but you can surely see the concern towards this specific fandom because the attacks have been steadily escalating.

Somebody mentioned (I believe it was littlestar?) that they were called out by the larger collective and that it won't happen again. While I applaud the efforts to reign them in, unfortunately it HAS already happened (just yesterday) and will continue to happen unless something is done by the larger Supercorp fandom, and them alone (since any outside rebuke will be construed as an attack against them). In whatever way plausible to shut down their toxic rhetoric (call them out, shame them, block them, etc.).

If not, they will continue to reflect poorly on the decent Supercorp fans unfortunate enough to be lumped with these hooligans. And all the name-dropping, name-calling of the Mon-El character by the Supercorp fans in general only serve to fan the flames of hate further. I've seen some of you make low-key, subtle jabs here in the forums and I implore you to refrain from doing this for the benefit of those who like Mon-El. You would likewise not appreciate it if sarcastic digs were aimed at your favorites.

It's ok to like what you like. You do you. The world would be so boring if everyone liked the same things. But attacking the cast/crew and other fans for liking something you don't agree with... that's unacceptable.

The despicable amount of hate being generated by that toxic faction is genuinely affecting people's lives as well as our enjoyment of the show. TV is supposed to be entertaining. When it comes to a point where the hate for a character/storyline is overwhelming and consuming you and you no longer enjoy it, I hope one finds the sense to step away and disengage. It must be exhausting to harbor such hatred and spew toxicity 24/7.

The point of Supergirl, the very show they're espousing to be a fan of, is to spread positivity. Yet they're doing the exact opposite. Positivity and respect moving forward is key. I like what I like, I respect what you like, and you do the same for me.

Please allow me pose these questions to the Supercorp fans here:

1) Do you condone booing any of the Supergirl cast/crew at screenings/panels?
2) Have you seen a concerted/orchestrated plan to undermine Katie (or the Lena character) at conventions?
3) Have you witnessed any death threats against Katie for simply portraying a character on a TV show?

My sincere hope is that you've answered negative to all of the above because I would like to believe that none of you are part of that toxic portion of your fandom. But with that said, all of the above have been directed at the actor Chris Wood and the character Mon-El. Which is why I believe there's now a backlash against that vile element of Supercorp. I'm not saying there are no bad elements in Karamel (no fandom is perfect after all) but you can surely see the concern towards this specific fandom because the attacks have been steadily escalating.

Somebody mentioned (I believe it was littlestar?) that they were called out by the larger collective and that it won't happen again. While I applaud the efforts to reign them in, unfortunately it HAS already happened (just yesterday) and will continue to happen unless something is done by the larger Supercorp fandom, and them alone (since any outside rebuke will be construed as an attack against them). In whatever way plausible to shut down their toxic rhetoric (call them out, shame them, block them, etc.).

If not, they will continue to reflect poorly on the decent Supercorp fans unfortunate enough to be lumped with these hooligans. And all the name-dropping, name-calling of the Mon-El character by the Supercorp fans in general only serve to fan the flames of hate further. I've seen some of you make low-key, subtle jabs here in the forums and I implore you to refrain from doing this for the benefit of those who like Mon-El. You would likewise not appreciate it if sarcastic digs were aimed at your favorites.

It's ok to like what you like. You do you. The world would be so boring if everyone liked the same things. But attacking the cast/crew and other fans for liking something you don't agree with... that's unacceptable.

The despicable amount of hate being generated by that toxic faction is genuinely affecting people's lives as well as our enjoyment of the show. TV is supposed to be entertaining. When it comes to a point where the hate for a character/storyline is overwhelming and consuming you and you no longer enjoy it, I hope one finds the sense to step away and disengage. It must be exhausting to harbor such hatred and spew toxicity 24/7.

The point of Supergirl, the very show they're espousing to be a fan of, is to spread positivity. Yet they're doing the exact opposite. Positivity and respect moving forward is key. I like what I like, I respect what you like, and you do the same for me.

I like this, I like it a lot because it's a good evaluation of what makes rhetoric dangerous.

I, however, want to be as down the middle as possible.

Have Karamel shippers called out Sanvers supporters as supporting a non-important relationship?

Have Karamel shippers actively dismissed the imbalance of LGBT characters on tv because Mon-El is more socially acceptable

Have Karamel shippers called Lena and Kara not possible because Lena would never be lesbian?

Before we jump to answer these questions. Let me just say, I want to try and channel both or all sides of the fandom. These may or may not be my personal opinions but that shouldn't matter. What I like about where this thread is going is that we are illustrating each others' arguments and we are hearing them. We don't have to agree with them but hearing them, acknowledgeling them is the best step to saying "I hear your point and I don't agree but I don't dismiss you either"

Everyone, this is hard, this is life. These are hard level topics and people have their life dedicated to some of these topics. I appreciate the course we are starting to take. We are listening. We are presenting sides. And we are comprehending. I am not asking everyone to agree, but compassion, understanding and accepting that an opinion against yours is not an attack against you is pretty priceless. Thank you!

He is not the reason. The reason is some of the SC fandom. That has been acting extremely immature and selfish and with no regard for people with other opinions than them. They have taken their assults to the writers, actors just because they want to control everything. Its not right. They really need to accept that not all have their opinion and that there is also many that like Mon-El.

Although I realize his character is a big reason for the hate plaguing the fandom, I thought the thread was meant to focus on the bad behavior of fans, not him.

Mon-El is a very touchy subject here. There are some very passionate opinions surrounding him and I didn't want to see the discussion around the toxicity of our fandom and how to change it turn into an internet fight over him. That was my only concern.

Liking mon el is exactly the problem. This is not a simple difference of opinion. This is support for a character who CANONICALLY owned slaves, who sidelines Kara on her own show, who replaced a black man as Kara's love interest and who has treated her very badly. This is not a matter of "I like the Guardian storyline!" "Eh, i thought it was dumb." Those are differences of opinion. This is a matter of real world issues.

Thank you for highlighting the problem. the problem is people that think they are of moral superiority to others and must save everyone else from some fictional character. I can assure you as an adult I dont need to be saved.

and btw Mon-El didnt own slaves. Everyone on daxam not named Queen Rhea was a slave. King Lar Gand disagreed with her and she killed him with impunity.

I think that joke had little to do with it being a lesbian ship and much more with the reputation that Kara/Lena shippers specifically have built for themselves for being rude, aggressive and unreasonable, because of the actions of several loud and active members. And while there are no doubt rude, aggressive and unreasonable fans for all other character combinations too, it seems the volume of the aggression in this particular ship happened to leave the most impression on the cast.

I'm sure if all Kara/Lena shippers up and left then some other group would take over the mantle of being the meanest and rudest. But right now it happens to be them because they are the loudest and most belligerent.

It's just hard for me to see people as fans when the first thing they do is turn around and trash Melissa's personal morals and relationship history. If you turn that much on a person you claimed to like just a day earlier, how much of a fan can you really be? Her supposed moral failings didn't bother you before.

It's a good example of the kind of tunnel vision shippers can get. Everything that is or seems in support of them gets blindly worshipped, Everything that is or seems to be in their way must be destroyed at all costs. Nothing else matters, just the ship and their personal feelings over being denied the ship.

Of course there is nothing wrong with shipping across sexuality lines, but if people are that rude and aggressive about it, can you really be surprised that you develop a negative reputation? Not because it's lesbian, but because of the rudeness involved? I'd like to think that shippers of straight couples who are that verbally abusive towards the cast, the show and fellow fans would also develop a negative reputation.

Yes some SC shippers take things too far, but so do some KM shippers (there are posts in this thread listing the things they have done). The fact that you refuse to accept that is baffling to me. How blinded can a person be?

The point is that volume matters. And that's why SC shippers have developed such a negative reputation apparently up to include the actual cast members.

Just because both sides of an argument have done some wrong, doesn't mean that they have done equal amounts of wrong. This is a false equivalency that people use all the times in politics.

Somebody else here posted a good potential explanation of why that is, that that isn't because SC shippers are inherently more immoral than let's say Sanvers shippers, but the circumstances put SC into where they are the aggressors while Karamel and Sanvers can be enjoyers of the show. They don't have as much of a need to change the show to their personal preferences because the show already delivers them their personal preferences. So they have less reason to be aggressive about it and attack the show and the people who make it.

Some are still belligerent and plenty of SC are not belligerent, but in general is seems that SC shippers are the loudest at the moment up to the extent that even cast members who are not directly involved in the conflict (the way Melissa, Katie, Chris and Rahul were) have heard of their negative reputation.

If let's say fans of Winn and Kara had as many instances of fans being mean and aggressive and demanding their couple get together or at least for Winn and Kara to never have any other partners then that fanbase would be the one that creeps out the cast.

klanked39 has sense.

Kara/Lena (SC) were formed as a direct result of wlw looking for some form of representation. There is a severe lack of wlw rep in media so fanon ships are born. To invalidate rep that wlw are in desperate need/want of is ugly. That's where sexuality comes in to play. Wlw rep (as non-canon as it is here) has been disrespectfully dismissed as a joke.

Supergirl the show provided representation with Alex/Maggie. But instead people keep being pushy about a different pairing even though there has been plenty of indication from the cast and crew that this is probably not in their plans (including Katie saying "for once, it's not here", yes she added that of course you can make up your own fantasy, but that doesn't change that as far as she's concerned, as far as she knows it's not actually there). .

Nobody says you have to be satisfied with only Alex/Maggie, but the excuse that all you want is some representation rings pretty hollow when the show has representation. Not to mention several other shows, including shows on the CW and even shows in the superhero genre.

If people only cared about representation in general then it wouldn't matter if it is Lena and Kara. But that is not the case. Some people act like it must be this couple in particular and nothing else is good enough and everything that stands in the way of it must be destroyed.

If all fans were just "It would be really nice if that was the case" (or "I'm fine with it being fantasy only and I won't try to change what the show is doing" it would be one thing. But there have a higher than normal number of fans who are belligerent about it and who attack everything that isn't their couple.

I have sympathy about feeling there is not enough representation for there to be a couple that fits your personal kinks, but to me it still seems kinda misleading to portray "I want a couple that hits exactly my personal kinks" as being exactly the same as "there is not enough representation".

For what it's worth I remember the Felicity/Oliver fanbase also had a reputation for being obnoxious and pushy about their couple. So it's not just a question of straight versus gay, it's not even about canon versus fanon, it's about the actions some fans (in a high enough number that it doesn't feel like isolated cases, but instead a habit) take.

Jeremy acknowledged that what he did was hurtful, so why can't some of you? If you can't see it then it's likely you're not part of our community. And if you're not part of the community why are you trying to speak over our voices?

Saying it isn't an attack on your sexuality to disagree with one specific couple isn't the same thing as saying you weren't hurt. It's easy for shippers to get hurt over shipper things.

For as much as you all talk about how hateful the SC shippers are you all need to realize the hate you say about them is just as bad.

The fact that some shippers act like anybody not sharing their ship view is a personal attack on them doesn't mean that it is "just as bad" as sending actors personal hate.

Actually it has become very clear and simple. Others and I have said various things which summed together, definitively demonstrates why it is not an attack on sexuality in what should be a logically infallible way. I used to self victimise a lot too, thinking everything is an attack on a group I belong to. Sometimes obviously such worries are well warranted, but in this case frankly there is no way you can make this into homophobia.

This was never the case of homophobia. This was a case of invalidating a large portion of their viewer audience. This was a case of mocking and dismissing a segment of the fandom. For a show that prides itself on being LGBT positive, this was absolutely insensitive

Unfortunately, a large portion of the people who are outraged online view it as homophobia. I personally don't. Reiterating that I have no ill will towards the peaceful and respectful Supercorp shippers, I think the only reason the topic came to mind for Jeremy during the "rap" is because of that smaller-yet-extremely-vocal segment of the Supercorp shippers that have been incredibly disrespectful. The people who have sent death threats to Chris, and harassed Rahul for for the ONE episode he did. That's the subgroup that the cast most likely associates with Supercorp most. I also think that's one of the reasons Supercorp continuously keeps coming up in interviews. I'm not Jeremy, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine that's what I imagine he was thinking of it when the joke was made.

Was the joke made in bad taste? Maybe. I didn't find it offensive, but I'm neither a shipper, nor LGBT. And I understand that I will never understand what the people of that community go through. But I've seen posts from LGBT people and Supercorp shippers defending Jeremy against the seemingly disproportionate backlash. But the less respectful minority of Supercorp has definitely left an impression, seemingly negative, with the cast. It's sad, but you can tell by the looks on their faces any time it's brought up.

And now people are harassing Melissa, saying she should apologize. From the video, I don't think she really did anything wrong.

I have absolutely nothing against Supercorp as a concept. I just unfortunately think that the group (again, due to what I believe is a very vocal minority) has a stigma attached to it, now, and even the cast is aware of it. It's a shame that a ship, any ship, has gotten to that point.

In the end, I think it was joke, with no ill will behind it. He realized soon after the impact of it, and tried to apologize. I also think it has been blown WAY out of proportion.

not only is this horse dead, but we've made burgers and put ketchup on this sucker at this point.

Excuse us for speaking out about an incident that deeply, deeply hurt the LGBT section of the fandom. Jeremy has and he seems genuinely sorry, and I for one accept that apology. That doesn't change the fact that A) It happened, B) It echoes what several of the more nasty fans have said to us, and C) Melissa has not apologized when she was the one who called Jeremy 'brave' for what he did.

Considering how they immediately got sent death threats, how is brave not a very apt prediction? Melissa was predicting that he would get abuse over this and lo and behold he immediately did. Why is it so hard to accept that with the type of hate the actors get it is completely reasonable for them to perceive that aspect of fandom as something scary? Why would you not be intimidated of people who send you death threats over fictional characters?

And no, the excuse that it is only because they insulted fans in real life does not cut it, because 1.) death threats are never okay, your feelings don't mean that you have the right to threaten people and 2.) Rahul was attacked like that when he hadn't done ANYTHING except play a role he was cast for and his episode hadn't even aired yet. It happened because people apparently thought he deserved to get hate for daring to get cast and accepting a job offer where his fictional character would touch another fictional character whose fictional sexuality those people happened to be invested in.

Yeah, mocking Kara/Lena also hurt the nice fans (and Jeremy has apologized), but what is this brave comment if not a commentary on those fans that are indeed scary obsessive and verbally violent over this particular couple? And who react absolutely with unreasonable hate over a completely legit decision. The show is absolutely within their right to give Lena a past boyfriend, Lena is their character. And it is completely within somebody's right to then take that role and get money for it.

The Kara/Lena fans don't want to admit to their fangroup having a huge problem with verbally abusive overly obsessive fans. And yes, other fangroups have that too and then hopefully they also have a negative reputation in their fandom. And maybe if Kara/Lena fans were gone then the Kara/Mon-El fans would do the majority of the abuse. But then the Kara/Mon-El fans would be what I would be complaining about. But right now, Kara/Lena fans make up the majority of the abuse.

It's not even comparable to the behavior by the Kara/Cat Grant shippers in season 1. I don't know why the Kara/Lena fans have so many much more mean spirited members, but that's the way it is. They are the ones who do the majority of the abuse in this particular fandom. The fact that other fans are also mean doesn't change that right now most of the aggressive fans in this fandom come out of this fan group. Those fans rightfully earned their negative reputation for being mean spirited, by being mean spirited and hateful towards the actors.

Maybe in a really weird, twisted way having Alex be gay somehow made the mean fans think if they are just mean enough to the writers they will get their couple. If so, then that's truly messed up. BECAUSE the show actually tries to do uplifting and loving representation in Alex, they in the minds of some people are suddenly fair game for abuse. When shows that are way more homophobic and never even have a gay couple or character get a free pass. What kind of destructive logic is that? Nobody is ever invited to be verbally abusive. There is no "that tv show was wearing a short skirt, so it had to expect to get that kind of reaction":

See when this type of stuff happens, Jeremy would need to be very brave indeed to do what he did

Considering a rally call. General mobilisation to a twitter crusade. All the sensible people here, do what we can, bury the SC comments with positivity and show the cast sense prevails, and they have no need to be forced into apology by people who hijacked their sexuality to use it as a weapon in what is in fact a fandom war.

My two cents on this issue: i recognize as a straight man that my opinion might not be as important as others but as it is the reaction of the fandom has kinda gotten ridiculous at this point. Now i love Supergirl and up until Comic-Con i did ship Supercorp but not for the typical "guy reasons" you would expect. I loved the dynamic and the storytelling opportunities the pairing could've had.

Getting back to Comic-Con, was the cast out of line on a significant level? Absolutely. Should they have apologized? Yes and Jeremy did, as for Melissa seemingly brushing it under the carpet, i view it as a situation that someone i talked to described it as "d@mned if you do, d@mned if you don't."

Now as for the fan reaction, i do think some things that the fans have decided to do make sense, even if i personally won't participate, i.e deliberately not watching the season premiere to send a message to the showrunners. What i don't agree with however is the WITCH HUNT that certain parts of the fandom seem determined to take part in. For example, seemingly deciding that Melissa, Jeremy, Mechad, Chris, David etc are homophobic because of one stupid incident when their ally-dom has been well documented. Because of this, i have no sympathy for the people who get blocked by them for the vitriol they spew against the cast.

Also the rise of Reigncorp as it is being called, is just petty af.

I could go on but i'm tired after getting that off my chest. Also hi, first post here. I tried to be as polite as possible so i hope i didn't break any rules .

I'm going to very cautiously dip my toe into this thread. I'm not on twitter only FB and have had to drop out of every group but this one and the shows official group because I just couldn't take the horrible things I was reading. I don't consider myself a shipper of any sort, because of this I won't use shipper names. I don't personally see abuse in Kara/Mon-El's relationship. They both acted childish at times but she gave as good as she got in thier arguments. She almost used Daxamite in a derogatory way several times. If you see abuse in thier arguments I won't try to convince you otherwise. I have never found success in trying to change someone's opinion over the internet, that's hard enough to do in person.

We need to change the perception of Supergirl fans from being the worst. If we don't do that we're going to see more negative effects on the show we all profess to love. Directors are going to decline the opportunity to work on the show after what happened to Kevin Smith. Writers are going to look for jobs on different shows to avoid being harassed. Actors are going to think twice about taking parts after what happened to Rahul Kohli. Katie could have decided she didn't want to be a regular after what happened with her brother and we should consider ourselves lucky she didn't.

I want to propose some rules of fandom that I hope all factions can agree on.
1) It's never ever ok to engage in or call for violence of any sort.
2) It's never ok to engage or involve a family member of anyone who works on the show.
3) Personal lives are off limits.
4) Recognize that actors have absolutely no say in the characters they play or the storyline. Harassment will not help your opinion be heard, it will do just the opposite and cause the actors to stop interacting with all fans.
5) Like the actors directors have no say in the storyline.
6) Writers have very little to do with the overall storyline and aren't allowed to change the season arcs.
7) Twitter and other social media sites are not the best place to express your opinions to the producers. If you disagree with a character or storyline, write an actual thoughtful letter to them or the network.

If you are a member of a particular group and see another member of that group violating the above rules you have a responsibility to stand up and let them know what they are doing is wrong. Let them know that thier opinion isn't inherently wrong, and if you do that you agree. But that you disagree with the manor they are expressing it and that you don't appreciate them giving your group a bad reputation as well as making your entire group seem "crazy".

I want to propose some rules of fandom that I hope all factions can agree on.
1) It's never ever ok to engage in or call for violence of any sort.
2) It's never ok to engage or involve a family member of anyone who works on the show.
3) Personal lives are off limits.
4) Recognize that actors have absolutely no say in the characters they play or the storyline. Harassment will not help your opinion be heard, it will do just the opposite and cause the actors to stop interacting with all fans.
5) Like the actors directors have no say in the storyline.
6) Writers have very little to do with the overall storyline and aren't allowed to change the season arcs.
7) Twitter and other social media sites are not the place to express your opinions to the producers. If you disagree with a character or storyline. Write an actual thoughtful letter to them or the network.

If you are a member of a particular group and see another member of that group violating the above rules you have a responsibility to stand up and let them know what they are doing is wrong. Let then know that thier opinion isn't inherently wrong, and if you do that you agree. But that you disagree with they manor they are expressing it and that you don't appreciate them giving your group a bad reputation as well as making your entire group seem "crazy".

Those are all great 'rules' for fandom conduct. I think most of us here on this site abide by them already, it's the people out their in twitter-land that need to be put in place. I've seen quite a few shippers trying to reign in their crazed fans but most of the time it's to no avail. I think whenever we see hate we should not only call out that person but also put forth some extra love and support to whoever the hate was being directed at.