The following thesis focuses on Anti- and Pro-shipping debates, their rhetorical behaviors, and their impacts on fandom spaces. These debates center around "shipping," the act of romantically pairing characters from media in fan productions such as fanart and fanfiction. Tensions have manifested between Anti- and Pro-shippers who disagree on aspects of shipping, namely if shipping reflects a fan’s moral values. As a result, arguments have broken out online and in fan spaces regarding what is and is not appropriate for fan production. Through inductive coding and triangulation, this thesis analyzes the rhetorical strategies employed by both groups as they engage in discussions regarding shipping on Twitter (X). This thesis posits that Anti-shippers alter media fandom behavioral standards by going against previously agreed-upon notions of fandom openness. This new practice is most prevalent when Anti-shippers attempt to push out creative members using vitriolic messages that label Pro-shippers as sexual criminals. These messages demonstrate a fandom paradigm shift where Anti-shippers sanction fellow fans who produce erotic content by rhetorically constructing them as immoral and inappropriate for wider public audiences. Further, by representing fictional characters as real, Anti-shipping challenges conceptions of authorship, the role of the audience, and fiction’s place within the world.