"Fandom pushes fan artist to suicide attempt due to "feedback"

[the_ultimate_evil]

Steven Universe is a beloved animated children's show known for its smart and progressive depictions of its diverse and lovable cast of characters.

But these positive qualities in the show itself have led to a very ugly turn of events in the Steven Universe fandom, after a beleaguered fanartist said she attempted suicide after being bullied by members of the fandom who felt her art was problematic. In a bizarre turn of events prompted by the ensuing debate over what kinds of fanart are acceptable, some fans have now turned even against the show's creative team, including show creator Rebecca Sugar.

It all started last week when a fanartist going by the name Zamii caused a scare on Tumblr when she posted an apparent final note to her Tumblr, then disappeared for three days. When she re-emerged, it was to post a tearful video she claimed was being filmed at a hospital where she said she was getting the help she needed.

Prior to Zamii's alarming initial farewell, members of the Steven Universe and Homestuck fandoms had reportedly created more than 40 critical blogs and other social media accounts directed at her because they believed she was purveying problematic depictions of many of the characters she drew. During her time in fandom, Zamii had been accused of a litany of flawed portrayals of characters, including perpetuating "racism/stereotyping, transmisogyny/transphobia, apologism, incest, pedophilia, fatphobia, and ableism" in her art. For example, when Zamii drew a Japanese character from the popular anime Yowamushi Pedal, she came under fire for giving the character yellow skin and slanted eyes; when she drew a black character, she came under fire for removing her Afro and giving her blonde hair; when she drew a "Native American Fluttershy" from My Little Pony, the response was mixed and often critical, pointing out that she had further stereotyped the character.

While the reasons for some of the criticisms are plain, others were harder to parse. Here's how one character, Rose Quartz, looks in official Steven Universe (SU) animation:

Here's an example of how she's drawn in one popular piece of fanart (not by Zamii):

In 2013, Zamii drew this partial view of Rose Quartz which her detractors felt depicted the character as too thin:

In her more recent art of the character, her detractors continued to accuse her of making the character too thin, tagging her work with "#fatphobia" and other accusatory descriptions, though the artwork doesn't appear significantly dissimilar to the official imagery from the cartoon. And criticism continued, independent of the size argument:

Part of the "evidence" that she was transmisogynistic included her using the words"dude" and "man" as interjectory statements while talking to a woman, then joking about the word use. Over time, Zamii created a list of rebuttals and explanations, including apologies, to many of the accusations of transmisogyny and problematic elements in her art. In response to claims of racism against Native Americans, she wrote, " have apologized for it countless times and have deleted the picture within a few days of posting it."

It wasn't enough to halt her feeling that she was being bullied. Though Zamii is recovering—her most recent update was Monday—the concern over the abuse she received has caused a maelstrom throughout her fandoms. A post made last weekon Reddit's Homestuck subreddit about the situation garnered dozens of supportive comments condemning the culture that motivated the bullying. The Steven Universe and related tags on Tumblr have been overflowing with similar outrage, backlash to the sentiment that harassment and bullying are somehow justified when they're in the name of progressive ideals. The wave of support for Zamii on Tumblr has led to a paradoxical campaign: Other fanartists are deliberately drawing the character of Rose Quartz as thin in protest.

On the other side of the issue, plenty of people have insisted that it's more important to continue calling out what they see as problematic behavior—even if that extends to the kind of social ostracism that led to all this to begin with. "Me not being a pushover for oppression makes ME toxic??" wrote one user. "**** that."

On Sunday night, the turmoil reached the Steven Universe production crew, prompting series co-producer Ian Jones-Quartey to weigh in with a now-deleted tweet, saying artists should be allowed to draw what they want.

The response was immediate:

Jones-Quartey's comments ushered in a new phase of the debate, as fans began criticizing his comments, along with series creator Rebecca Sugar. Years ago, when Sugar was still just a fan, she created fanart of underage characters, which has suddenly now opened her up to accusations of pedophilia from fans accusing her of creating "child pornography." The artwork under discussion depicts non-graphic sexual activity between two characters whose ages are ambiguous in a black-and-white cartoon comic. As these fans began to direct criticism toward the Steven Universe creators, other onlookers criticized Tumblr culture itself for being so quick to turn on its own.

"Watch the Tumblr fandom mindset in action," wrote Tumblr user nyx-born-prophet.

Until you do something they don’t like, you can do no wrong. Last month, the Crewniverse was a diverse group of talented people who made an amazing show. Now Rebecca Sugar is sick because she drew Ed, Edd, ‘n’ Eddie porn at one point. Ian JQ is a disgusting pervert for liking lolicon. They’re all racists, fat-phobics, and terrible people because they promote artistic freedom in their own fandom, but none of it mattered before they got tired of the bullying. None of it mattered before the fans drove someone to a suicide attempt.

"[T]he crewniverse thing is still freaking me out cause everyone is still taking it as black and white," echoed Tumblr user torimisu, referring to the fandom nickname, "crewniverse," for the SU creative team. "[E]ither you’re a villain cause you condone offensive drawings or you’re a villain cause you agree with harassment of young artists. [T]here’s no winning."

Meanwhile, the hateful rhetoric around Zamii's participation in the fandom continues, with numerous detractors arguing that she was faking her alleged hospital video, and one calling her "an absolute piece of ****."

It seems the conversation about how to call out problematic tropes without marginalizing or harassing other members of fandom isn't going to fade quietly away.

Update 1:15 pm ET, Oct. 28: Co-producer Ian Jones-Quartey deleted the original tweet mentioned in this article and issued a clarification on Twitter:

source link not included to to swearing on the page and comments



i honestly dont know what to think about all this.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I think I should be surprised, but I'm not, I feel sorrow, fans of a series encouraging positive behavior display ugly behavior.

I hope she recovers after this, and learn how to properly deal with online bullies.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

I'm sorry but the fandom did NOT push the artist to kill himself. Ten years ago on these very same boards I had people say to me (in response to my horrendous fanart) "kill yourself". Did I kill myself? Clearly not. I pushed myself to do better. Now I'm so good at this as a hobby, that the graphics department on the TV show I work on is trying to get me to leave Editing department for Graphics.

Moral of the story: Don't kill yourself - push yourself to be better.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Unfortunately, some folks don't have the strong will to simply shrug it off the way you did.

 

[jaganar]

YES BUT ASTROID ,you forget
WE USED SOMETHING THAT IS RARER AND RARER IN THE INTERWEBS today ....

COMMON SENSE

ANY artist worth their salt will power through and ignore the idiots (and i refuse to repeat TROLL... tho i will call those people A-HOLZ cus thats what they are )

I'm sorry but the fandom did NOT push the artist to kill himself. Ten years ago on these very same boards I had people say to me (in response to my horrendous fanart) "kill yourself". Did I kill myself? Clearly not. I pushed myself to do better. Now I'm so good at this as a hobby, that the graphics department on the TV show I work on is trying to get me to leave Editing department for Graphics.

Moral of the story: Don't kill yourself - push yourself to be better.

 

[WolfCypher]

tagging her work with "#fatphobia" and other accusatory descriptions, though the artwork doesn't appear significantly dissimilar to the official imagery from the cartoon

For example, when Zamii drew a Japanese character from the popular anime Yowamushi Pedal, she came under fire for giving the character yellow skin and slanted eyes; when she drew a black character, she came under fire for removing her Afro and giving her blonde hair; when she drew a "Native American Fluttershy" from My Little Pony, the response was mixed and often critical, pointing out that she had further stereotyped the character

Hmmm...this is sounding more like SJW bullying with their PC-ness as usual and less like they actually generally have artistic criticisms. I just looked at a few of her art on Google, and though I didn;t feel like going through everything I found with a fine-tooth comb, I didn't get the vibe she was trying to strengthen negative sterotypes. And by the way, that above Rose Quartz photo I quoted looks pretty damn good. I could go the typical route and say "lets see YOU guys draw something half as good as that..." but lets just say I didn't.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

its easy to say "grow some" but when everyone is basically leading hate mob nd slamming your for being basically every from of racist it could its toll

 

[WolfCypher]

Yeah, this isn't criticism for the sake of finding flaws in her style, its like these guys are just harassing her. And its the internet. Once enough people have chosen a target, its easy for others to just jump on and continue that trend against their target.

Its not enough to say she needs to develop a tougher skin. These "critics" aren't evaluating her art, their calling her a racist/bigot/sexist/"fatphobic" (!?). These are comments that hurt. I know people take that kind of thing seriously, especially when they know its not true. People don't want to be thought of as these things. I've joked with this one co-worker (I'm black, she's white). She offered me Watermelon rings (gummy candies). I've always joked with this girl. So I made a comment that she's racist implying I would want watermelon candy. I said it jokingly.

She got LEGIT upset. Again, I always make her laugh. This upset her. And then later, she came to me honestly concerned, asking me "you don't think I'm racist."

I look at Zamii as being a fan drawing art and taking her own liberties with her work (well...at least the little of her stuff I've seen. God forbid I type all this and then find something unapologetically offensive from her galleries). And these nut-job people are finding things to get all PC about and attack her for it. And she either has to stop drawing (or sharing it), conform to her bullies, or consider that she's this ugly thing people are calling her out for being (when she probably isn't).

 

[terry78]

People tell other people to kill themselves online all the time. Hell, i've gotten it in debates. Some kind brush it off, some can't.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

YES BUT ASTROID ,you forget
WE USED SOMETHING THAT IS RARER AND RARER IN THE INTERWEBS today ....

COMMON SENSE

ANY artist worth their salt will power through and ignore the idiots (and i refuse to repeat TROLL... tho i will call those people A-HOLZ cus thats what they are )

What upsets me the most about this story is that this person was weak enough to let themselves be effected by the incessant aggressive criticism of complete strangers.

its easy to say "grow some" but when everyone is basically leading hate mob nd slamming your for being basically every from of racist it could its toll

Yes, on the weak. The world is a tough place - an electronic hate mob shouldn't make you want to kill yourself, nothing should. The very fact that you're alive is a testament to your superiority over the millions of sperm that didn't make it to the egg. Now replicate those odds back exponentially for each parent (and their parents) going all the way back. Keep tracing that back to the odds of an asteroid impact wiping out the dinosaurs and leaving mammals to evolve, the perfect conditions required for life to flourish on this planet, for this planet to reach ideal living conditions, for this solar system to be made, for spacetime to come to fruition with the precise number of combinations of electrons to an atom to create the elements how we know them.

If you throw away all of that by letting a group of 0.0001% of the human population manipulate you through the use of 1s and 0s to a point where you want to kill yourself, you're insulting a minimum of 14 billion years of progress. Want to know how big that number is? It'll take you just under 32 years to count to that number. Let that sink in.

 

[Greens]

This reads like an Onion article.

The people who criticized her need to stop being mental invalids, and she needs to realize that she was in way over her head. A situation like this should not prompt you to kill herself.

 

[Tempest]

The emotional toll bullying takes on someone can be extremely high. To say it's simply a matter of learning to walk taller is pure nonsense.

You cannot compare a debate where someone tells you to drop dead, to the overbearing, crushing weight of having people constantly criticize and berate every single bit of creativity you do nit-picked.

It's like comparing a stubbed toe to having a leg hacked off. The only thing they have in common is that they are injuries to a lower extremity. A stubbed toe heals pretty quickly. A hacked off leg is going to be a lot harder to move beyond.

 

[tzarinna]

Damn, this is a whole lot of drama for such a cute and sweet little show. I'm exhausted just reading all the BS that came about.

 

[Victarion]

When did Westboro start watching a kid's cartoon?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Here's the thing. Nobody can make me "feel" anything. I chose how I "feel" in any given situation. External stimuli may try to sway me one way or the other but in the end I am making the choice to get upset, sad, angry etc. It took me a long time to learn this simple fact so I understand a younger person not yet having this insight. The internet can be a crappy place full of crappy people, especially when you put your art out into the aether. I was always a hot head growing up and I love to debate/argue with others, those defects still manifest in my life at times. Sounds like she could use some IRL friends if the opinions of these idiots give her so much pause. I'm sure there are plenty of people on these boards who don't care for me and there are most certainly a few I don't care for. In the end, though, I rest assured knowing there are only a few people in this world who's opinions truly matter to me and as long as I conduct myself in a manner in which I feel those people would be proud then everything is copesetic.

 

[Sithborg]

Here's the thing. Nobody can make me "feel" anything. I chose how I "feel" in any given situation. External stimuli may try to sway me one way or the other but in the end I am making the choice to get upset, sad, angry etc. It took me a long time to learn this simple fact so I understand a younger person not yet having this insight. The internet can be a crappy place full of crappy people, especially when you put your art out into the aether. I was always a hot head growing up and I love to debate/argue with others, those defects still manifest in my life at times. Sounds like she could use some IRL friends if the opinions of these idiots give her so much pause. I'm sure there are plenty of people on these boards who don't care for me and there are most certainly a few I don't care for. In the end, though, I rest assured knowing there are only a few people in this world who's opinions truly matter to me and as long as I conduct myself in a manner in which I feel those people would be proud then everything is copesetic.

The sentiment is nice, but that is not the reality. Especially if you are dealing with depression. We are only seeing the online portion of this person's problems. We have absolutely no idea what this person's life is like in real life.

The most damaging thing my father ever did was to install a feeling that I shouldn't need counseling to deal with various problems I had. There were also some other issues there, but I still had to get through a lot of my father's stuff. It just isn't that easy to say "I determine how I feel today".

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The sentiment is nice, but that is not the reality. Especially if you are dealing with depression. We are only seeing the online portion of this person's problems. We have absolutely no idea what this person's life is like in real life.

The most damaging thing my father ever did was to install a feeling that I shouldn't need counseling to deal with various problems I had. There were also some other issues there, but I still had to get through a lot of my father's stuff. It just isn't that easy to say "I determine how I feel today".

I beg to differ, it is that easy. I'm an alcoholic, battled addiction since I was 16. I'm schizophrenic and bi-polar. I've had a lot on my plate over the years as do most people. The key though is realizing that I am in control. That's not to say that I can never be made mad. Pause when agitated. Once I take an objective look at the situation, realize my role in it and choose how to move forward from there, then that determines the outcome. Emotions are just synapses in the brain correlating with specific chemical reactions. I do something I like and dopamine is released. If my body is harmed I feel pain. The subconscious mind will have an immediate response to most stimuli but just because something is my initial reaction doesn't mean that I have to let it dictate how I move forward with the situation.

 

[Victarion]

Everything's chemical. Yes, emotions are derived from one's neurons. The person being bullied here may have pruned those same neurons that've been working for you, DJ. It happens when a particular neuron isn't used all that often. You aren't totally wrong though. You are ultimately the one in control.

 

[Tempest]

I beg to differ, it is that easy. I'm an alcoholic, battled addiction since I was 16. I'm schizophrenic and bi-polar. I've had a lot on my plate over the years as do most people. The key though is realizing that I am in control. That's not to say that I can never be made mad. Pause when agitated. Once I take an objective look at the situation, realize my role in it and choose how to move forward from there, then that determines the outcome. Emotions are just synapses in the brain correlating with specific chemical reactions. I do something I like and dopamine is released. If my body is harmed I feel pain. The subconscious mind will have an immediate response to most stimuli but just because something is my initial reaction doesn't mean that I have to let it dictate how I move forward with the situation.

Again. Your situation is different than that person's situation. Your life has been difficult. I applaud your ability to overcome your issues. But it's pretty arrogant for you to assume that everyone can pull themselves up just with thought alone.

The answer is rarely that simple, and in a lot of cases, undiagnosed health issues, both mental and physical, can play a huge role in how people respond to things that happen to them. You have a diagnosis, and probably a treatment plan. You are fortunate. Not everyone has that.

 

[Marvolo]

It's hard to say "today I'm feeling good" when the chemicals in your brain are ****ed up and youre flooded with cortisol. When I was depressed and my serotonin levels were out of whack I went months without a genuine happy moment. Stuff that should have made me laugh or smile didn't. But I deluded myself into thinking I was all right and put on a face but I ended up shattering like crystal glass one morning. If I hadn't had my parents with me at the time I'm not sure what would have happened or what I would have done. I just wanted to be done with it and I was exhausted mentally and physically.

When a person is severely depressed the usual rules of the game don't apply and the brain is essentially broken.

 

[PacificBoy]

I think people are underappreciating the volume of abuse and criticism she's received. It's not the odd "you suck" but

"Prior to Zamii's alarming initial farewell, members of the Steven Universe and Homestuck fandoms had reportedly created more than 40 critical blogs and other social media accounts directed at her because they believed she was purveying problematic depictions of many of the characters she drew."

Not to mention it appears to be a community where she's quite involved in and has a strong attachment to. Simply walking away from it is not the easiest.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Again. Your situation is different than that person's situation. Your life has been difficult. I applaud your ability to overcome your issues. But it's pretty arrogant for you to assume that everyone can pull themselves up just with thought alone.

The answer is rarely that simple, and in a lot of cases, undiagnosed health issues, both mental and physical, can play a huge role in how people respond to things that happen to them. You have a diagnosis, and probably a treatment plan. You are fortunate. Not everyone has that.

I in no way expect a young girl to have the same insight I have on the matter. I believe I stated that in my first post as well. I'm in my 30's and just recently gained this knowledge myself. And that's not to say I'm 100% in control of my emotions at all times either. I am human and of course different things can have different affects on me. I was simply relating my experience on the matter and what has helped me.