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My thoughts on shipping.
Spurred by complaints against various pairings I've encountered online, some that I'm a fan of. I'll keep this short, I promise.
I get annoyed when people say that shipping ruins relationships, e.g. "They're just friends! Why do you have to make it dirty?!" The first thing you have to keep in mind is that I don't consider sex to be dirty. It's natural, it's fun, it's healthy when done right. What's so bad about sex? The other big tenant I base my opinion on is the idea that romantic love contains friendly love. They're not necessarily separate things. If you love someone as a friend, you don't necessarily love him as a significant other, but the reverse is definitely not true. The one you choose to spend your life with should really be your best friend, or at least one of your best friends. Of course, this means that some pairings I view romantically you may view as platonic, but my point is that two people being friends shouldn't mean that romance is not an option or is a cop-out choice. It should simply be a possible precursor to a good relationship.
So, my reasoning when I ship pairings goes something like this: They go perfectly together. They care about each other more than ordinary friends do. I can't imagine a better life for them than with each other.
And so I want them to be together, forever and always, to be happy. And if you're that close to someone, that devoted to your one, that emotionally intimate with your other half, why not throw in some physical intimacy too? Not dirty, not cheapening, just another aspect of a close relationship. This sort of theory doesn't apply to all ships, I know (I love Mello/Near, but that hardly fits into a "best friends" mold, though I do think a lot of the emotional ties are still present). It's just the way I think about the idea of sex and/or romance "cheapening" a platonic love.
I may write a companion blurb to this on why I ship and why there's nothing wrong with pairing-based fanfiction. Not tonight, though.
On an unrelated note, I feel sick. Any good home remedies for nausea?
I get annoyed when people say that shipping ruins relationships, e.g. "They're just friends! Why do you have to make it dirty?!" The first thing you have to keep in mind is that I don't consider sex to be dirty. It's natural, it's fun, it's healthy when done right. What's so bad about sex? The other big tenant I base my opinion on is the idea that romantic love contains friendly love. They're not necessarily separate things. If you love someone as a friend, you don't necessarily love him as a significant other, but the reverse is definitely not true. The one you choose to spend your life with should really be your best friend, or at least one of your best friends. Of course, this means that some pairings I view romantically you may view as platonic, but my point is that two people being friends shouldn't mean that romance is not an option or is a cop-out choice. It should simply be a possible precursor to a good relationship.
So, my reasoning when I ship pairings goes something like this: They go perfectly together. They care about each other more than ordinary friends do. I can't imagine a better life for them than with each other.
And so I want them to be together, forever and always, to be happy. And if you're that close to someone, that devoted to your one, that emotionally intimate with your other half, why not throw in some physical intimacy too? Not dirty, not cheapening, just another aspect of a close relationship. This sort of theory doesn't apply to all ships, I know (I love Mello/Near, but that hardly fits into a "best friends" mold, though I do think a lot of the emotional ties are still present). It's just the way I think about the idea of sex and/or romance "cheapening" a platonic love.
I may write a companion blurb to this on why I ship and why there's nothing wrong with pairing-based fanfiction. Not tonight, though.
On an unrelated note, I feel sick. Any good home remedies for nausea?