You're the weirdo

I wrote this on the 21/07/25. Since then, on the 24/07/25, itchio has delisted (and will probably delete) all games, comics, artbooks marked 18+ from their storefront.

"But itchio didn't have a choice", they've been under attack since 2021. They were brought up during the apple vs epic lawsuit for their "offensive and sexualised" games. Many journalists, Ana Valens especially, have been reporting that itchio is not a safe haven for a very long time.

They could have given the people they made money off of a tiny shred of respect; a fair warning. Not some sneaky delisting done in the dead of the night, instantly freezing payments with no word on the future. Do I think itchio had to cave? Of course, they must run extremely tight margins. They were being threatened by trillion-dollar companies. But I, and many others, deserve respect. So we're just the freaks you get to put down to save yourselves? We're not allowed any dignity? Thank God it was us, and not you?

Itchio did release a statement a few hours after the deed was done. It blames collective shout, an Australian "pro-life" radical feminist group as the reason. I speak more about them below, but for now I want to focus on this part of itchio's statement:

We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors. Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.

This will not be a comprehensive list, I'll tell you that now. It'll start off banning the "bad" things. Then it'lll keep getting updated. Feederism? Don't you know you're promoting an eating disorder? Hypnosis? Yeah, that's just rape. Furries? Don't get me started...!

There is no stopping point. There isn't "just this ONE thing guys, everyone else is good". We're all standing in a row, and they're shooting us all down. When are they going to ban the term lesbian or transgender from even being written? Those are porn categories too, you know. Your squeaky clean, sfw meetcute is as dirty as anything else, because you might give someone ideas.

The ability and freedom to express yourself in your own terms is something so powerful it scares these rightwing nutjobs. You're giving people the words or connection they need to start thinking. And what if someone has a thought?? What if someone had a different experience to you?? What if someone named something that happened to them... And other people could name that too?

Words and art are powerful. Being able to share your experiences shouldn't be locked to the elite few. I share my stories as a lesbian, because I know other lesbians feel the way I do. Maybe one day they could share their stories with me too. We share ourselves to entertain, to connect, to make someone cry, to turn someone on, to make someone throw a book away in disgust because it was so boring. That's wonderful! In terms of nsfw art, you're giving someone the ability to say yes or no. I like this, I don't like that. I want this, like that, not too much. The ability to know other people feel the way they feel. To live without shame, and know there's others out there who have successfully shed that mindset.

Below the cut is what was written on the 21st.

I think anything and everything goes in fiction: to boring books, rpf and edgelord video games. I think they deserve to exist. I don't think creatively should be bound to one type of person.

I guess this is considered my most "extreme" opinion (outside of my iconic and fight starting: I don't think you should pay more than €2 for a pizza).

I don't mean as if they're completely removed from critique. Are you kidding? I love ripping into things! I LOVE talking to people about the highs and lows of a film or series, the context of how they were made, how it fits into the artist's body of work... but I wish the "critique" would move on from umm... this Media... might be bad for Society? Are other people stupid for enjoying something I don't get? But... I don't like it... So how could they? Don't they know they're bad? They're bad. I'm good. It's so annoying when people enjoy things wrong. Let's complain for hours about Bad Fans. I'm so smart. I'm so different.

What prompted this blog? This week, Steam suddenly removed a chunk of 18+ games from their storefront.

"Yeah, but those are the Bad Games. Those are the games No One Plays. They're about something Weird. It's okay if these ones go but I promise I'm actually 100% for other games (that are Good)...! Think of the Good Games they could ban with this!" Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Let me tell you this: You are the weirdo. Me and you? We're already far beyond the pale. The people who make these laws, who are the cashflow behind these "pro-life" feminist groups....

look at how these radfems think:

"All these porn sick brain rotted pedo gamer fetishists so desperate to get their hands on rape-my-little-sister incest games they’re now exchanging clues on how to find them so that they don’t all die overnight," Collective Shout co-founder Melinda Tankard Reist tweeted on July 18th.

note: im copy/pasting my bsky thread with some additional notes:

"brain rot gamer fetishists" ............ Okay 4channer throw in a normalfag for us and seal the deal, why don't you?

Smarter people have said it better than me, but I do think the language you chose to speak about others DOES say more about you (if you've been following terfisms, this is a dog whistle. She's referring to trans women and men. Why doesn't she just say child abusers if that's who she means?) Why is getting these random games off steam so critical? What about campaigning for better sex ed? Using this money to fund a series of ads about sexual violence? Paying staff members for hotlines for abuse victims?

"But this group has gone after the Bad Stuff: like noncon, sooooo" I don't know how to tell you this but games/books/films... it's all made up so there's no argument to be had. I care more if the devs got paid. Did they have a safe work environment? Can we calculate how many girls weren't raped because you pulled some shovelware off steam?

Let me give you a recent enough example. Were you on tumblr when the porn ban happened? And, hey, isn't it so weird that there's still so many pornbots and porn on the site? Kinda weird how it ended up effecting queer artists, trans people and women who spoke about sex ed, feminism... wow... it's almost as if... that was the goal? Kinda weird how that happens, right? So strange...

When these rightwing groups go after niche adult content, this is what they want. They want you to shuffle your feet and go well maybe that's for the best. At least it won't be me. And maybe those people were evil, if they drew something like that. They're banking on your disgust.

The reason you have to be okay with people liking different things is because the goal is for you not to have rights or think that life could be any different. Even your most sfw thing is considered TOO WEIRD by the christofacists in power who want to erase your existence. Too extreme? Couldn't be you? We are the weirdos.

You are not the one making the decisions. You are not the one giving judgement. It doesn't matter what you think. I know you want to sound smart, but at the cost of kicking everyone else down... is it worth it? Your morals about fiction have been upheld! Should I clap...?

These sorts don't ever think it's going to be them. They're a Good Consumer. You only Consume Good Content. You care about the Good Gay Content, not the Evil Bad Content. You are next in line, because you're a disgusting dyke like the rest of us. Your wholesome sfw gay novel won't be spared. Don't you know kids learning about what gay means will turn them down the demonic path? Are you a groomer? Oh my God, the birth rates! Why does no one think about CHILDREN? Do you think women should be trusted to know if they want a divorce? Is it rape if you're married?

I do think the reason get so heated over shipping fandom wank and media is because... it's a lot harder to face reality where you have the bit of power to make a change, to speak up, to use your vote, be a body in a protest, to donate some money to a charity you believe in, to have some sort of fucking backbone. Because... real life's messy. We have conflicting interests. But online you can have a snippy comeback or quote dunk someone and its an epic winz. You're good, they're bad.

--xoxo becky