In recent weeks there has been an outcry of discontent with certain youtubers in the YouTube community. This is of course, the infamous sexual abuse scandal. At least four or five content creators in the last year have been called out for their inappropriate treatment of women and their attitude towards sex and consent.
Whilst a large number of viewers and fellow content creators have expressed their disgust at this kind of behaviour, it's still very disheartening to see the legion of 'loyal' followers and fans who have dismissed the accusations.
I'm not one to generalise but there seems to be a very noticeable pattern in the people who are defending these unacceptable actions. Young female 'fangirls.' I'm in no way saying that all fangirls are incapable of holding their idol accountable for any conduct that may be immoral or unlawful and there has been numerous cases of young fans feeling very betrayed and dismayed by the actions of someone they looked up to so greatly. Regardless it is still worrying to see the amount of people that have stood up for actions that are not only morally wrong but unquestionably illegal.
It upsets me incredibly to see how many teenage girls will dismiss sexual harassment and support seriously vile people just because they find them attractive. This is the problem with celebrity and YouTube culture, no one is being held accountable for their actions because they’re ‘hot’. It honestly feels like some fans are even scared to admit their idols have wronged in fear of being called out for being a ‘fake fan’. (That phrase itself could have it's own blog post it infuriates me so much!)
I think it's so important for everyone to realise that any sort of physical contact with a person without their constant is sexual harassment and that regardless of how attractive the culprit is they should not be able to get away with it. Sexual harassment or abuse can also be conducted verbally and can result in the mental manipulation of a person to do something against their wishes. This can be done by incessantly asking to the point of them being extremely uncomfortable, guilt tripping or black mailing.
It's so important to fight sexual abuse of any kind and to not stand by perpetrators. In some situations certain content creators have even been able to make a living off sexual abuse disguised as entertainment and it is increasingly necessary to stop this happening.
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