A while back i was reading a manga , this manga> http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/boku_no_mama_chan_43_kaihatsu_nikki/
here i learn about the term RPF and as i was reading about it i got the inspiration to write this post
What is rpf ?
RPF or Real People Fiction is when you paired two real living person wether they are an actor, an idol or plain public figures, and make a romantic fiction out of them
in japan they called it namamono or raw stuff, pretty cool terms huh?
more through definition and explanation you could find in this wikipedia page>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_person_fiction
and so i was reading the wikipedia page for RPF and i discover some people are repulsed / hate this kind of things. Trying to be open minded i keep reading trying to understand why it is wrong according to their POV
I think the have some points that i couldnt disagree. It makes me think and reevaluate my action as an avid shipper of real person myself and i would like to write about it
but first lets rewind again about the subject
starters for the beginners you could check video below for some basic subject like shipping and otp and how it began
shipping??
OTP??
history of subtext
first movie ship
it become RPF when the fans start shipping the real actor with each other instead of their character in the movie. Shipping William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy instead of Kirk and Spock. Shipping benedict cumberbatch and martin freeman instead of sherlock and watson (this i think inspired boku no mamachan story line btw)
and so moving forward then for the asia fandom first there were idols from korea of japan usually members of boyband (or girl band)
i dont know which came first wether its the fans objectify two members of the group, or the bands (or company behind them) that notice that girls love this kind of love line and start to use it as fanservice
maybe i think the first time was from the rock scene of Japan , where band mates would kiss each other in the mouth, hugging and carresing each other as their gimmick of live performance entertainment
in japan they called this thing member-ai or love and bonding between fellow member of a group and this is a really good marketing strategy and commercialized it hard, after korea also picking up on this and take it a mile further.
some articles of the subject of commercialization
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/49818/Jungmin_Kwon.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=nhttps://qssfc.wordpress.com/2013spring/homosexuality-in-japanese-media/
Now as you might notice from example above lots of the pairing are of the same gender and yes a large portion of this is are gay fiction and male x male pairing.
Sometimes the shipper or these rpf creators really do believe that this couple they are shipping is together in real life romantically.
Hell i also do! I could swear to GOD that QingYu is a match made in heaven real couple, i dont care i really do believe that even them neither of them have coming out or admit it yet :p
and please its no use to convince us or me otherwise, so just ship with all your heart content girls
But what are the boundaries?
Now i’m a hard fujoshi and i loveee my rpf otp and dirty fanfic
but sometimes it bothers me when the fans seems to forget to respect the otp as a person
one thing that i often find that the sometimes disregard the bottom/uke in the pairing as a mean and objectives them as a women and perhaps even lower.
from what i know in my limited knowledge of my gay friends, most gay even tho they are a bottom they are really uncomfortable being viewed as a girl or even feminine, even if we could see some feminine traits in their behaviour. Majority they still wish to be regarded as man, it doesnt apply when the bottom is non gender binary or transgender how ever ((in which case it not a gay relationship) or if the guy does enjoy being viewed as girl aesthetic wise (like cross dresser for example)
I think thats the main reason why asking who is the ‘women’ in the relationship, who wear pants, and who is the bottom be considered rude to be asked of a gay couple and most of them doesnt like to answer.
now in this we can analyze also why is it that bad to be considered ‘girly’ and ‘feminine’?
i guess its because we were thought that way for such a long time that masculine is superior and ‘feminine’ is inferior.
so i really hope fan could take notes of that and be aware of the way we treats them.
This is different than a fictional character that we could bend the way we want too, this is not an omegaverse reality where they are alpha and omega either
it good really bad also when the fans force their fantasies and insist it in every way possible until it totally disrespect the person privacy
the most obvious incident was when yunjae fans , display a yunjae NSFW/rated banner in a JYJ concert
i coudnt find the real pictures anymore but the report are pretty much here >
http://octopuskimchi.livejournal.com/2565.html
it got so big that it appears in the china news the next day
i am a YJS you can see it clearly but honey that not how you should treat your idol or a person, thats a public humiliation and bullying if i may say, thats not love
especially when yunho and jaejoong was already separated as a group.
as you are reading this you may think wow this whole shipping and rpf thing is horrible, why am i even doing it.
Sorry but this is my kinks and my pleasure i couldnt explain but not all of this thing are bad
it ignites creativity, induces understanding, compassion and then support to the sexual minority rights
if we could be wise enough to mind our boundaries and still respect our source of admiration its a great thing actually
