Wait Why Do You Hate Harley/Parkner? Seems Harmless To Me

Wait why do you hate Harley/Parkner? Seems harmless to me

I don’t know how or why this ask came to me today but you know what, I got time.

I actually having nothing against the character of Harley Keener. He’s a literal child in the MCU that showed up for all of (5) scenes at best. Tony was an asshole to him, called him a pussy and was generally Not Very Cool as the Adult™️ in the situation. Just a plot piece for Tony’s development that in a just world, would’ve just been that.

But he isn’t.

The sheer amount of fan works that were created for and developed for him is both a sign of creativity, of the joy of fanfic of expanding something out of nothing, and also unequivocal racism.

And that is where parkner comes in.

There’s a thing in fandom called Two White Guys, a trope that has existed long before parkner ever did and will continue long after the heat death of the universe. Name a fandom and people will find the two white guys to obsess over, create fanfics for, create meta and art and history for… and have absolutely none of that energy for the canonical women + POC in the main white character’s world.

Peter Parker in the MCU has an entire cast of people his own age who are also POC. Tell me that there’s any other reason than racism that mostly white girls would see ALL of those characters, pass over them entirely (with the excuses that they don’t see the chemistry, or think they’re better off friends, or don’t know how to write checks notes teenagers), and instead decide that Harley Keener, a kid from another franchise in the MCU that Peter has never met before, is gonna be his one true love?

I’m a multi-shipper at heart but if you’re genuinely telling me that picking out the (1) white guy over literally every other POC that not only knows MCU Peter but has actual relationships with him on screen, isn’t an example of fandom racism than you’re probably white not seeing it for what it is.

Made even worse by how parkner as a fandom is to the POC in MCU Peter’s life. You can absolutely write two white guys smooching without being a sexist, racist POS.

I’ve yet to encounter it for that fandom.

Because if you have to make MJ or Ned have another marginalized identity that somehow magically makes them not interested in Peter Parker, do you actually care about representation or are you just a white girl looking for an excuse to bring the white dudes together?

Because if you have to demonize, make them abusive, or straight up MURDER MJ or Ned so that Peter is available and available for the white guy, you’re on my shit list.

Because if you argue with your whole chest that you “don’t see the chemistry” between MJ and Peter but write exclusively the white boys’ long and beautiful relationship when they’ve never even met, than you’re just a racist.

Because if you tell me that Ned is Peter’s BEST FRIEND and I just DON’T SEE THEM ROMANTICALLY but you’re easily able to write Harley in as Tony’s adopted son, Peter’s best friend/boyfriend and making him totally at ease in NYC when he’s from bumfuck nowhere and also a literal child with zero background, then I call bullshit on what you don’t see and say that you just don’t want to.

If it seems “harmless” to you, you’re probably white and have never had the unfortunate experience of reading fic after fic after fic (tagged PeterMJ or Peter & Ned or Peter & Flash) where the POC are beat down, abused, dismissed or completely ignored for the sake of some hick white boy from another franchise.

I actually used to LIKE Harley as a character, in theory, because I go feral for creativity in fan works. It is GOOD FUN to write something from nothing.

I have lost nearly ever bit of that like because of how many times I have personally seen, experienced, and been harassed by parkner fans— to the point where i have a new blog is in no small part because parkners (and most of irondad) is more concerned about protecting white girls racist fanfics than POC.

So no. I don’t like Harley. And I don’t like parkner.

And that has everything to do with fandom.