hopesichord:

Until I am able to actually be coherent about it, let me just say:

I’ve been in fandom for a very long time.  I have seen a lot of ships, ship wars, ship love fests, ship fandoms, ships that pass.  What is interesting and amazing to me about Ben/Leslie is not just Ben and Leslie as a ship but also fandom’s reaction to them.  Because it is the genuine feeling that I get (or perhaps I am projecting, because this is why I love Ben/Leslie so much) that a good deal of the reason why Ben/Leslie is so celebrated is because it is a ship that celebrates Leslie’s strength without qualifiers.  It is a ship based around how powerful and magnetic and wonderful she is to the people that surround her.  I love shippy drama as much as anyone — probably more, actually — but there is something very calming about a ship that celebrates the power of this wonderful woman to change people’s hearts and draw people to her.  That’s why I love them so much.  Badass women should be celebrated and loved for their strength at all times, but on TV they rarely are, not like this.  Not in this all-powerful way.  I think that fandom is a really interesting and amazing place for women, and it’s good for us to see this ship.  It’s good for me to see this ship.  This ship that celebrates the joy and wonder that is Leslie Knope.  Because we are all badass women.  And I’d like to see us celebrated as such more often by the men that love us.