sunpatchy | When your fave( fic)s are problematic in hindsight...

Sometime in January I had decided it was time to do some new year cleaning. Specifically, of my 250+ carefully chosen bookmarks, I wanted to keep the ones from fics that I had particularly enjoyed and might be tempted to reread or rec, while un-bookmarking the other ones. So I did what any sane person would do—I opened a new tab group, opened 250+ tabs, and started picking my way through. I'm nowhere near done and I might never finish, but it's sure been a fun time marie kondo-ing my bookmarks and reminding myself of a lot of stories that sparked joy for me in the past (and still do!)

My oldest bookmark was created in 2015 and I'd been reading fanfic for a while before then, so perhaps it shouldn't be surprising to realize that among the fics I love I would find a handful that, upon rereading, have things that bother me now (or ones where the writers have went through this experience). It got me thinking...what do you do when an old fic of yours is problematic? Not "dead dove sexual content that was fittingly tagged", but more like "racism/bigotry showing up like weeds in sidewalk cracks" in the same way it pops up in real life.

So, here's three case studies of authors addressing (or not addressing) old problematic fic, arranged in order of severity, and my understanding of how the issue has been handled by the author.

Case A: Author's personal opinion of non-western weddings in author's note is a bit 😬

Fandom: BTS rpf
The problem: The chapter features a western-style wedding between two Koreans (which is fine) but the author's note states that the author made this choice because they don't see Korean weddings as romantic (less fine).
Author's apparent response: The original author's note was removed and replaced with a comprehensive statement of the situation, both at the beginning of the fic and before the wedding chapter.
My opinion: I appreciate the transparency and unequivocal statement from the author, and I think it's appropriate that they acknowledged they didn't realize this issue themselves but that it was pointed out by a reader.

Case B: Jarringly fatphobic banter as a backdrop for a love story

Fandom: FMA
The problem: In a canon-divergent story about Roy adapting to being newly blind, there is frequent banter between Roy and Ed. Ed talks about not wanting to get fat because it'd make him undesirable.
Author's apparent response: In the comment section, replying to one reader who left a long comment about fatphobia.
My opinion: Frankly it should be indicated to the reader before they had to read it in text, and it should be easier to find mention of this instead of having to comb the comments. There's some attempts at justifying this lack of addressing it due to the age of the fic and the effort required, but appending author notes is not exactly labour-intensive so I think more could have been done here.

Case C: This fic's entire premise is basically Camp Half-Blood the Residential School

Fandom: Percy Jackson
The problem: A lot. Percy and Nico go to bring Percy's baby Hawaiian half-sister back to camp. Percy takes her away without making any effort to keep her connected with her living Hawaiian grandparents who had been caring for her, dismisses their bond with her because they would only live for about a decade longer, makes no effort to communicate to them due to a language barrier, immediately gives the baby a "easier to pronounce nickname" by shortening her Hawaiian name, daydreams about having to fight the grandparents for his half-sister because they are sad to part with her... and more!
Author's apparent response: I don't see anything in the fic/author notes, and the comments are all positive from what I can see except for one user who asked for a change relating to incorrect F/F tagging.
My opinion: This fic and the response it received makes me angry and sad in equal measure.

I think it's pretty self-evident which of these approaches I appreciated the most as a reader.

Please note that these are all fics I have loved at some point in the past, and I didn't notice issues when I first read them years ago. People change and grow and it'd be very hypocritical of me to make assumptions about how the authors or fans of these fics currently feel about X issues. Sometimes we just aren't going to realize things until time has passed or someone else has pointed it out to us.

Fic can be unintentionally hurtful or bigoted just like any other medium, but I believe it's a unique space where authors can be accountable more easily: 1. There's a low barrier for individual readers to contact the author (comments on ao3 and communication through social media) 2. It's relatively easy for the author to modify an existing work and author notes and distribute the changes (unlike, say, physical copies of a book)

With all of that in fanfic writers' favour, I want to believe that most writers are well-meaning people who can have a little grace for readers who may be upset by bigotry in their writing. Personally, I don't think I'm asking much. No need for rewrites or taking down the whole fic, all I'd ask for is an author's note at the beginning and on the relevant chapter to warn your past and future readers.