ariannenymerosmartell:

Guess wat, tumblr. 

People have been writing “problematic” relationships since before Jesus learned to wipe his own ass. 

So much of renaissance literature focuses on creepy incest pairings, fucked up assholes trying to claim a young girl’s virginity, women exchanging sexual favors for agency. One notable example: when John Ford published ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, the literature world reacted as though the play would tear the very moral fibers of society apart. He was, quite literally, called the trash man, and it was decided that the play would bring about the end of decent society.

Guess wat. 

It didn’t. 

The world went on. Literally no one walked away after reading Ford’s play and thought, “Well, that’s that. Better go impregnate my sister and kill anyone who gets in our way.” However, people did come away from the play wondering if society was too harsh in its condemnations of what makes a villain. It left people DISCOURSING, if we will, on the merits and levels of evil. 

These themes are nothing new. They are not going to absurdly and suddenly “normalize” anything, because they never have. And, even better for our time than in Ford’s, as a society, we have become much more aware of how important it is to teach people about consent, about autonomy and agency, about safety. And it’s important that we keep teaching those lessons. But this does not mean we shun literature that explores anything negative. This does not mean we stop writing dynamics that explore Bad Things™ because, as history shows, it. won’t. destroy. society. 

If you don’t enjoy a thing, then don’t read it. Don’t interact with it. Ignore it. If you are disgusted by a thing, don’t engage with it. If it makes you sick, or ill, or makes you clutch your pearls in alarm, do not read the thing. NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO. And above all else, don’t you dare get on a high horse and try to gain some moral high ground by shaming the people who do read, write, and engage with such dynamics because

Guess wat. 

It only encourages them to do it more. 

Someone told Shakespeare that his penis puns were too bawdy. 

So he went out of his way to add more.

Literature has always contained content that people did not like. There are always going to be ways to critique a work in a valid and rational way. Criticizing those who enjoy those works, and calling them “awful?” Not valid. Not rational. Not helpful. Not smart.