The State of the Supergirl Fandom

@evrafter: so apparently 'shipdom' is the perfect word to use. i did a quick search and found that it is often used to refer to shipping fandoms. i guess i must've seen the word before so that's why it came to me.

@Kelly: yikes lol yes let's keep those under wraps

Tweets like this are disgusting. Here is Floriana Lima promoting an event she is taking part in for our vets and someone takes a shot at her.

by the by, be warned SG cast seem to be blocking people who spew hate in their direction. Seen quite a few people now blocked by different people.

Looks like they took a shot at him, not her. I understand that there is some controversy surrounding Casey Affleck, not sure what it is though, but that's beside the point. That tweet was completely unnecessary, but I don't see it having anything to do with the Supergirl fandom (aside from the fact that Floriana is part of the cast).

Best way to not get blocked by the cast, DON'T SEND HATE.

Many of those in that thread began following Floriana because of the Supergirl series...that isn't the first time they have gone after Casey on a thread that she has started....she was off of Twitter for quite some time. It got pretty bad not long after the GLAAD awards and she took some time off...she has just recently really began posting like she did before, and I think the fun she had with #Sanvers fans yesterday on set was great for her, but this type of thing has been pretty tough I think.

At the very beginning of the Sanvers story, the tweets she would get, the stories that were being sent her way were just beautiful, from kids, from parents just so cool to read....and then it began to change, and people like you saw in that thread began to infiltrate those threads and it finally got to the point to where those stories got fewer and fewer, the hate got more and more and she took some time off.

might be why she doesnt wanna be in the show?

and the name of the person who sent the tweet was named @alexsmaggie. sounds like the name of a supergirl fan to me

At least i think we can all agree on one thing here and that is they could actually kill every character off on the show except Kara/Supergirl and the show would still be fine

Whaaaaaaa?????

I'll just leave this hear

I'll just leave this hear

What's the post he replied to?

I'll just leave this hear

What's the post he replied to?

I am investigating that. i'll get back to you

At least i think we can all agree on one thing here and that is they could actually kill every character off on the show except Kara/Supergirl and the show would still be fine

No. We need Winn and the Manhunter at the very least

I'll just leave this hear

What's the post he replied to?

I am investigating that. i'll get back to you

Thanks. I'd love to know.

Man, it's just insane what has happened with subsets of the fandom, this year. Whether it's Karamel shippers, Supercorp shippers, or someone else. I'm aware that it's not all SG fans, or all Supercorp or Karamel shippers. But negative people in these subsets have been so insanely vocal this year, and it's unfortunately put a stain on the whole Supergirl fandom.

This stuff wasn't even an issue, a year ago. Not even slightly. Hell, last year, we were all just ecstatic that we were getting a second season! But now I see these twitter accounts that flip their sh*t when something doesn't go their way on the show! One account, in particular (who I will not name), threatens to stop watching, week after week, due to her hatred of Mon-El. Yet she always shows up the next week, to complain. She went as far as posting a self drawn comic of Kara beating the crap out of Mon-El, unprovoked, saying that's what she wanted to happen. It wasn't a costumed fight. It wasn't in defense. It was in civilian clothes, Mon-El saying a line from the show that was meant to be sweet, and Kara sucker punching him in full rage mode. It wasn't funny, or amusing. This supposedly "feminist" person, without a second thought, was basically promoting domestic abuse. Just because she ships Supercorp.

It just really rubbed me the wrong way, as someone who grew up with domestic abuse in the household. Despite being a male, I identify as a feminist. And every true feminist knows feminism is about equality, and wouldn't condone domestic abuse in any situation, against any gender.

And again, I know not everyone in Supercorp (or any subset of the fandom) is like this. But this was the first time I realized how out of hand certain members of our Supergirl fandom had gotten. It disgusted me.

Although I do not use or subscribe to Twitter or really follow all of the "ship" brouhahas currently going on, what it really implies to me is that within the last year, due to whatever reason (be it social, political or otherwise), a vocal, anti-social minority has taken control of public discourse and attempted to railroad any constructive debate. It is a sign of collective mental illness. Plain and simple.

Sadly, this is a reflection of our modern society in which he / she who screams loudest is the one whose (ill-informed, mean-spirited, patently false or downright kooky) ruminations or threats hold sway. Given this, is there really any wonder why more and more actors cancel or skip certain conventions altogether? Until certain segments of society get their acts together and behave, this degrading (and thanks to the Twitterverse, often anonymous) vitriol will continue to be front and centre.

As a small word of advice, for whatever it is worth to our board members, is to skip the run-of-the-mill Twitter Fan Groups (stalkers, actually) and focus on the more positive and like-minded fan communities as it relates to the show - yes, they are fewer and farther between. It'll save you the nagging migraines, needless stress and the need to reach for antacids on a routine basis.

Romulus just won the internet.

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.

He did. When Kara called the royals out for slavery, Lar Gand says "Mon el, your.../servants/ were always treated well." The use of the word 'servants' was deliberate. Watch that scene again.

As for 'saving' people from mon el, that's not what I said at all. You asked me not to put words in your mouth. I ask you the same.

thing is Mon-El isnt the real problem, he is simply the the current target because he happens to be in the way of an agenda campaigned by the supercorp fandom. Anyone in the way of that agenda gets attacked. I point to Jack Spheer played by Rahul Kohli as evidence who expressed his distaste for some of those fans because he received enough hate during his 1 episode stint to make a public statement.

I've been seeing this a lot lately, talk of an agenda. What agenda? I don't understand what people are considering their "agenda" to be?

For Lena and Kara to be a relationship on screen so they can have their ship

No, no, and no again. That is NOT true. I am a proud karolsen fan, and the reason I hate mon el has nothing to do with ships. Many others will tell you the same thing. This is homophobic BS that karamel shippers toss around to discredit antis.

no no no, you will not put words in my mouth, that is uncalled for. My sister is gay, my best friend is gay. I proudly walked in the march for pride so DO NOT come at me with that. keep it civilzed plz as I have not yet insulted or insinuated anything about you.

I would honestly hope you consider deleting this post as it is very offensive and disrespectful to me.

No, I will not. I called the shipping argument homophobic, not you. This is a very common thing in fandom; people ship a f/f pairing when one or more parties are in a (usually unhealthy) relationship with a man, and the m/f shippers accuse f/f shippers of having an "agenda" when they protest the m/f pairing. It happened in OUAT and things got nasty. Even in t100, where clexa was canon, bellarke shippers regularly lampoon clexa shippers. This isn't a new phenomenon, but I don't want to see it perpetuated here.

The "agenda" excuse ignores the fact that people have real, valid reasons for not liking mon el. It's a way to discredit people. I didn't mean to insinuate that you were homophobic, and I'm sorry that it seemed that way. That was not my intention. But saying that people only hate mon el for a f/f shipping agenda is homophobic.

@Kelly: Thought this may be of interest to you. In context, he's talking about the "hey everyone, we're dating" scene.

In reference to the post that was put up from Chris Wood, that was after one of his co-stars on The Vampire Diaries was getting slammed by a fan. His Co-star was Kat Graham...as far as specifics of it, I don't know...I'm not a stan so I'm not going to spend hours going back through his IG posts to find out.

Although I do not use or subscribe to Twitter or really follow all of the "ship" brouhahas currently going on, what it really implies to me is that within the last year, due to whatever reason (be it social, political or otherwise), a vocal, anti-social minority has taken control of public discourse and attempted to railroad any constructive debate. It is a sign of collective mental illness. Plain and simple.

Sadly, this is a reflection of our modern society in which he / she who screams loudest is the one whose (ill-informed, mean-spirited, patently false or downright kooky) ruminations or threats hold sway. Given this, is there really any wonder why more and more actors cancel or skip certain conventions altogether? Until certain segments of society get their acts together and behave, this degrading (and thanks to the Twitterverse, often anonymous) vitriol will continue to be front and centre.

As a small word of advice, for whatever it is worth to our board members, is to skip the run-of-the-mill Twitter Fan Groups (stalkers, actually) and focus on the more positive and like-minded fan communities as it relates to the show - yes, they are fewer and farther between. It'll save you the nagging migraines, needless stress and the need to reach for antacids on a routine basis.

I agree with you Rom, well said.....and the Bolded portion of your post.....I have to say, I have found a very good group of positive thinkers when it comes to Supergirl, and as I have stated before, recently I have finally, for the most part, muted those that I wish to not converse with....It has made my time on twitter much more enjoyable, and my hope is, I have done a good job of that muting so that I can enjoy SDCC 2017 as much as I have the last 2 years....That positive group you speak of however, is much larger than you think....and I believe they will be there front and center at the panel ready to enjoy a great Q&A with Leanne. That is certainly my hope....

In closing, there are more of you out there than you think Rom.....

The "agenda" excuse ignores the fact that people have real, valid reasons for not liking mon el. It's a way to discredit people. I didn't mean to insinuate that you were homophobic, and I'm sorry that it seemed that way. That was not my intention. But saying that people only hate mon el for a f/f shipping agenda is homophobic.

The problem is that while valid reasons exist, some people do things that are completely not valid.

A good example is the trashing of the actor who played Jack just because he was cast. Jack wasn't even on screen and the actor was already sent hate messages. Something that isn't reasonable in any interpretation possible.

Similarly, a lot of things have been used as "reasons" that were flat out untrue (like "Kara and Mon-El are blood related in the comics", something that has never been a thing in any comic incarnation).

People don't need "reasons" to prefer one ship over another, most people just gravitate towards who they find more hot or whose story archetype (ie friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, enemies falling for each other) they like most. But if some people keep up listing things that are flat out untrue or unreasonable, like sending hate mail to the actor of a character who hasn't even aired yet, that's when other people will grow weary of those supposed reasons.

Not to mention people who call Mon-El abusive, yet see nothing wrong with other characters who do things that are easily comparable if not worse than things Mon-El has done in the relationship.

That's why a lot of the times people like what they like and they then use supposed reasons to explain why nobody else should like them and why the writers should stop writing them.

And that's when it moves away from something being a "reason" to really being more like laundry lists in a pseudo political argument about why your position of "I think this couple is cuter than that couple" is somehow "more right" and more morally righteous. It makes it feel like rather than watching the show and taking it for face value and talking about what you actually see on the show, some people start parsing it for arguments they can use in their laundry lists so they can beat the laundry lists of all the other people.

And that's why people start calling it "agenda". That it seems like some people have a goal, to "defeat" the other couples and have their couple reign supreme and they look for "weapons" in this "fight".

I don't need a laundry list of reasons to dislike a character. Usually there is like one scene at the most, then I start not liking the character, but to me that's it. I just move on to liking the characters I like. And unless the character I started to dislike does something spectacular to make me like them, I pretty much ignore them and don't look for new reasons to not like them.

SUCH a great response and write-up, Thalolli!! Here's MY two cents that I haven't really given. I've stayed out of most of the argument because I just want to be a Supergirl fan. The following ideas could go in the Mon-El thread, but the ending thoughts fit for ANY fan. So, I'm placing my thoughts here.

"Not to mention people who call Mon-El abusive, yet see nothing wrong with other characters who do things that are easily comparable if not worse than things Mon-El has done in the relationship."

I.e.... Maggie consitantly lying to Alex....Maggie cheating AND lying about it. Hmm... Isn't that exactly what Mon-El was doing--lying because he was ashamed of his past?

Then there's Kara. She hasn't been a Saint. Or James being ok with taking a baseball bat to thieves. Etc etc etc etc

The point is... First: this is a show.. fiction. Not real. I've read comments after comments on social media that very much concern me....people blurring the lines between what's real and what's fiction.

Second: People in life AND in fiction are imperfect. I've read comments made against Mon-El and many times have found myself thinking, "Yikes...if that's the standard that person has for a real relationship, that person will forever be a party of one." Example: my parents have been married since 1968. I've heard doors slammed. They've argued....and, oh my gosh...yes... sometimes even in public. But, that's reality, it's human, its growing. Relationships can be ugly because humans are... imperfect. My parents are incredible, and they are incredibly in love. That's what real relationships are like...giving, and taking, and learning, and forgiving, and forgiving again.

Yes, there ARE abusive relationships. There IS child abuse, spousal abuse, partner abuse. I taught 4 years at a lock-down facility for youth from all over the world... Famous kids to even a girl who lived by hopping train after train after train, to a girl who lived in a cardboard box in a Washington D.C. park. Kids who had been molested. Kids who had molested others. Little boys who were sold for sex so their moms could get drugs. I've seen it all. But, an argument between parents or an arguments between a parent and child, especially in a ficticious tv show written by a group of writers does in no way automatically mean they are headed down an evil or milicious path.

Sure wish some people in fandoms would bring it down a notch...step away and regroup himself/herself. I fear those who have so much vitrol against Mon-El or any character for that matter, have some deep seeded issues that need addressing. I fear many are projecting their real life issues onto a ficticional show. I fear they have a warped view on reality. I worry they don't realize there is no perfect relationship... that arguments or stumbling don't always mean devistation and abuse.

The "agenda" excuse ignores the fact that people have real, valid reasons for not liking mon el. It's a way to discredit people. I didn't mean to insinuate that you were homophobic, and I'm sorry that it seemed that way. That was not my intention. But saying that people only hate mon el for a f/f shipping agenda is homophobic.

The problem is that while valid reasons exist, some people do things that are completely not valid.

A good example is the trashing of the actor who played Jack just because he was cast. Jack wasn't even on screen and the actor was already sent hate messages. Something that isn't reasonable in any interpretation possible.

Similarly, a lot of things have been used as "reasons" that were flat out untrue (like "Kara and Mon-El are blood related in the comics", something that has never been a thing in any comic incarnation).

People don't need "reasons" to prefer one ship over another, most people just gravitate towards who they find more hot or whose story archetype (ie friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, enemies falling for each other) they like most. But if some people keep up listing things that are flat out untrue or unreasonable, like sending hate mail to the actor of a character who hasn't even aired yet, that's when other people will grow weary of those supposed reasons.

Not to mention people who call Mon-El abusive, yet see nothing wrong with other characters who do things that are easily comparable if not worse than things Mon-El has done in the relationship.

That's why a lot of the times people like what they like and they then use supposed reasons to explain why nobody else should like them and why the writers should stop writing them.

And that's when it moves away from something being a "reason" to really being more like laundry lists in a pseudo political argument about why your position of "I think this couple is cuter than that couple" is somehow "more right" and more morally righteous. It makes it feel like rather than watching the show and taking it for face value and talking about what you actually see on the show, some people start parsing it for arguments they can use in their laundry lists so they can beat the laundry lists of all the other people.

And that's why people start calling it "agenda". That it seems like some people have a goal, to "defeat" the other couples and have their couple reign supreme and they look for "weapons" in this "fight".

I don't need a laundry list of reasons to dislike a character. Usually there is like one scene at the most, then I start not liking the character, but to me that's it. I just move on to liking the characters I like. And unless the character I started to dislike does something spectacular to make me like them, I pretty much ignore them and don't look for new reasons to not like them.

Very well put! Although I continue to take issue with the whole 'agenda' thing. Because while you make an excellent point of what agenda could possibly mean, it has become evident that within the SG shipping fandom 'agenda' is almost always in reference to the idea that SC shippers are trying to push a f/f couple on us. 'Agenda' holds so much negative connotation and when brought up in discussions/arguments of a f/f ship it becomes grossly homophobic.

I fear those who have so much vitrol against Mon-El or any character for that matter, have some deep seeded issues that need addressing. I fear many are projecting their real life issues onto a ficticional show. I fear they have a warped view on reality. I worry they don't realize there is no perfect relationship... that arguments or stumbling don't always mean devistation and abuse.

Great thoughts evrafter, thanks for sharing! This last paragraph rubs me the wrong way though. There is a reason people 'project', and it's because they find too much similarity between something they went through and something being shown on TV for entertainment purposes. People watch these shows to be entertained, not to reminded of the awful things they've gone through in life. We each have our own reality, what someone else takes issue with you or I might not.

Here's an awful example but, if someone who was raped in real life watches a scene in tv show/movie of a character being raped, would that not affect them? Would it not bring up horrific memories?

That's what seems to be happening here. People have expressed that these types of viewers need more therapy. And that idea there is just a big no from me. Therapy is meant to help people heal and overcome, not make you forget or turn a blind eye.

And nobody's saying their relationship needs to be perfect, just healthy. Healthy couples argue, that's a fact. But they argue about inconsequential things; they don't lash out at each other over the basis of who each person is. If they do do that, can we really be calling them a healthy couple? If couples are finding so much fault in who their significant other is should that couple really be together?

Here's an awful example but, if someone who was raped in real life watches a scene in tv show/movie of a character being raped, would that not affect them? Would it not bring up horrific memories?

If somebody were raped by a guy in a red hat and on the show they start watching the main character suddenly starts wearing a red hat and gives them flashbacks => would it make sense to demand the show change it?

What if you change it to a blue hat, and suddenly there's a different person who was raped by somebody in a blue hat?

If you had a friend in real life who started wearing a red hat you might tell them to please stop wearing it and if they are friend they would stop doing so. But a tv show is not your friend, no matter how much the PR department makes the actors pretend they are just like real friends to the viewers.

A show is watched by millions of people all over the world they can't account for every possibility. Because it's a tv show, not your personal friend. And that doesn't even cover things like making one group happy at the expense of another or at the expense of the artistic vision of the creator.

If a show causes somebody anguish rather than entertainment then imo they should stop watching for their own sake.

And nobody's saying their relationship needs to be perfect, just healthy.

A fictional relationship doesn't need to be healthy, it just needs to be interesting to watch. For example, there are a lot of ways it could be debated that at least some aspects of the Kara/Alex relationship are unhealthy, even if the participants are deeply well meaning.

Not to mention, people have relationship that are neither that healthy nor that unhealthy all the time. They are part of life.