Things I Hate About Warriors Fanfiction

Homophobia in Fics

This isn't edited yet because I'm lazy so no one's allowed to point out my spelling/grammar mistakes. If u do u get cursed

Over the years I've spent on Wattpad (Something like four? Oh shit. Didn't know it had been that long. I don't have much to show for it,) i've seen the fandom grow up and trends shift onto more mature themes in fanfiction. One that's been popping up is homophobia.

There isn't anything wrong with homophobia in fics. It's cool to see real life issues be adapted to the Warriors world. A lot of us are gay and like to represent the oppression we face. Nothing wrong with that.

But the way homophobia is written about in a lot of fanfics isn't great. Makes me think some of y'all don't understand homophobia.

Homophobia isn't something that just happens to exist. It's a construct. It wouldn't exist without the human ability of complex thought. What I'm trying to say is it's a complex social issue with a lot of reasoning behind it. And fics often miss the mark.

You can't just parrot off the words "it's unnatural!" "it's wrong!" because you've heard homophobes say it. This is what I see the most commonly in fics. But why do the Clans find it unnatural and wrong? If you don't provide the reason why, your fic reads as juvenile and shallow. A good fic has depth.

See, in our world, homophobia largely stems from religion. The Bible said fuck them gays and that was that. Terrible attempts at making this a fun read aside, homophobia in the western world (and other countries too) comes from the belief that a religious figure condemns it. In the Old Testament, it's said that "man shall not lie with man," which is interpreted as against homosexuality. I've heard that it's a mistranslation that was supposed to mean pedophilia is a sin, but I don't know if that's true. It also comes from God making "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."

This chapter isn't to debate homosexuality, but it's pretty clear I'm all for lgbt+ and am against homophobia. I'm a bi girl! I like girls! Hell yeah gays! I'm not religious so I don't care what the Christian God condemns, (that doesn't mean that God's word is worthless; we respect Christians in this house) and even if I did, I would keep in mind that times have changed.

Warriors doesn't have the same religious condemnation as our society has. And sure, you can add it into your worldbuilding if you want. It isn't the route I'd personally take (in my opinion, if you're writing a fic that is just the human world but with cats, stick to the human world,) but there's nothing wrong with this approach! Go for it.

Let's take a step back to the "unnatural and wrong" argument. We've crossed off the religious reasoning. Throw it out the window for the time being. (Can human society do that? Just yeet homophobes in the opposite direction and run away?) But unnatural actually works in warriors fics...but none of you dumbasses ever write it well! It frustrates me so much. It's like the answer is right there, in neon yellow light, and y'all just look right past it.

Cats are cats. And to cats, reproduction is really important. For us humans, not so much with our current population. But in each Clan, they need reproduction to keep the Clan alive. Lgbt+ cats threaten the survival of the Clans because they're unable to have kits. Obviously there are some major solutions to this issue, like cats could just have kits and give em to another couple, or only some cats would be in same-sex relationships...its still a reason. It doesn't have to be logical, homophobia rarely is, but it makes sense.

And hey, if you want to incorporate real-life issues into warriors fics, say a big fuck you to prolifers and write a fic paralleling the current abortion situation where the Clans are extremely strict on reproductive rights, forcing mollies to mate and raise kits, and if you want to be realistic, include absorption. Cats can absorb their kits back into the womb...so basically an abortion? Just a warning, if you include reabsorption, you're going to get so many comments on it. Trust me, I offhandedly mentioned it in Saving Sable and it caused quite a stir.
This is a tangent but you know...here's a plot up for grabs?

When people write about serious social issues in warriors fics but miss the complex issues behind them, it doesn't look good. It looks really fucking ignorant, and it just gets on my nerves, I guess. I'm not saying you have to make your book a big moral debate. Most of us are teens. We're not geniuses; save that for philosophy students. Just make sure it fits into your world with valid reason for why it happens. That's all I ask.