Don’t you dare tell me that a lot of the disdain toward the idea of ‘shipping’ doesn’t come from the fact that it’s traditionally associated with female fans. Don’t even try to argue that the fact that it’s considered shallow doesn’t have to do largely with the fact that 'stereotypically female’ interests and passions are largely considered more trivial and frivolous. Don’t even go there about 'friendship being so much deeper’ because it’s not, both are equally 'deep’ depending on how they’re handled, and your insistence on the above is again more of the above (in addition to it sometimes being queer erasure, homophobia, and/or misogyny depending on the ship).

Stop rolling your eyes at the idea of being passionate about ships and take a good hard look at why you feel that way. Because the idea that your 5k long essay about how some minor character in an anime mirrors a David Lynch film or whatever is so much more mature and intellectual and less 'frivolous’ than fans using their creativity and passion to create endless stories and universes and worlds through fanart, fanfic, meta, etc. that maybe happen to sometimes focus on romantic relationships, is fucking ridiculous. Shipping isn’t any more 'frivolous’ than any other aspect of fandom, and it’s in large part, sexism that says otherwise.