Anti-Shipping vs. NOTPs

sinning-satan:

I think a lot of problems boil down to terminology … 

I’m seeing some anti-shippers confused, as they feel they have to drop shallura, because they’re anti-shaladin … they can’t ship one without feeling hypocritical, as they’d either have to use the same arguments as shippers or participate in a double-standard with one ship okay and one not okay.

See, we didn’t have anti-shippers when I grew up.

We had NOTPs.

It meant that – for example – Shiro/Keith could be a person’s NOTP, because of a variety of personal reasons … maybe they see Keith as too young, or dislike the perceived power imbalance, or just not think they have chemistry … but they could still ship Shiro/Allura … they might headcanon Allura as an adult, or think they have chemistry, or just enjoy the aesthetics.

There was no ‘discrepancy’ or ‘hypocrisy’, because it wasn’t made into something about morality or right/wrong, but just … what’s right/wrong for the individual. If Sheith’s not right for you, Shallura may be right instead, so one is your NOTP and one may even be your OTP. It’s all good.

In anti-shipping, it becomes more about ‘morality’ and an objective ‘right/wrong’, so a few people paint themselves into corners … if you dislike shaladin only because it involves a teenager, then proceed to base all arguments upon that fact, and then you can’t then like another ship with a teenager without seeming to contradict yourself. 

If a lot of people return to the NOTP system (“it’s not for me, but it may be for you”) as opposed to the anti-shipping system (“it’s bad for everyone, so it’s right for no one”) … we’d probably all be happier, as everyone would be able to enjoy what they liked.