Draft:Countryhumans

Picture of "USA CountryHumans"

CountryHumans (or abbreviated to CH) is an Internet fandom established in personifying countries, typically portrayed by possessing spherical heads and the human body. Likewise, it's often accomplished by having national or stereotypical outfits and/or other stylistic choices, such as distinct physical appearances. These characters are often drawn or depicted in various artworks, comics, and animations. CountryHumans is utilizing countries by stereotyping, appropriating, or fetishizing certain countries. The CountryHumans Fandom has been hated from the creation, because of the characters: Third Reich, USSR, Vietnam, and other controversial characters. The fandom also tends to have toxic traits.

History

Countryhumans was thought to first have an appearance to the internet like from mid 2014 to more likely November 2017 but some people believe that Countryhumans might even be older than 2014. CountryHumans were inspired and reinvented by Countryballs (Polandball) and share similarities to Hetalia. Even though everyone thinks that the Country Humans Fandom is based on Hetalia, it really isn't. Within the communities, the fandom is extremely prevalent across the animation meme community prior to 2020.

Ships and NSFW content

During its growth in 2017 and early 2018, controversy struck CountryHumans when its users began establishing relationships (termed "ships" in the community) between certain countries. Many of these ships were viewed in a negative light, especially for the people who were native to the countries attempting to be "shipped". of these relationships, those including controversial states such as the  USSR,  Nazi Germany, and the  Japanese Empire often receive particular disdain for their taste.

Aside from the fandom ships, NSFW (Not safe for work) artwork has gained popularity from 2019. These posts are met with the same and often exacerbated responses due to their inappropriate portrayals. The most popular characters in NSFW artworks include  America, Latin America (especially  Brazil,  Argentina,  Chile,  Peru and  Mexico)  Russia, the  Third Reich and the  USSR.

On March 27th, 2019, the Youtuber "Pkrussl" uploaded a video titled "Countryhumans: These People Need Help", where he explains how the fandom is getting worse due to ships between historical countries such as  Nazi Germany, the  USSR, and the  Japanese Empire. This video brought attention to the community, dissuading many from interacting with the fandom.

Nicole Griffin and Aliff Najmi

In June 2024, the Youtuber "Kirby Bulborb" was revealed in the video "The Community That Almost Killed Kirby Bulborb" to have gone through an extremely traumatic situation in the community that almost led to him committing suicide, after a friend of his named Nicole Griffin (whom he met at Walton Hall Academy, and roleplayed as Prussia) joined the fandom in September 2020 and exhibited traits commonly found in the dark side of the fandom, such as getting involved in NSFW conversations, as well as falsely claiming that her sister was dead. The video described Nicole, as well as her friend in the fandom Aliff Najmi, as examples of the kinds of people who caused Countryhumans to have the negative reputation it does today.

LGBTQ+

The fandom is known for its portrayal of  LGBTQ+ characters. Countries such as the  USA and  Russia and others Countries ( Canada,  Mexico and  Brazil) are seen as and often portrayed as being gay. Despite this assertion, homosexuality in many countries ( Brunei,  Iran,  Jamaica,  Myanmar (Burma),  Malaysia, parts of  Russia [ Chechnya is known as the most Homophobic States in  Russia], etc.) is a punishable Crime. Countries in Latin America, Africa, Arabia and Eastern Europe which are sometimes portrayed as being on the non binary spectrum are especially criticized in the community.

It is quite rare, but sometimes  Vatican City is seen also being gay, due to really only men can live there. (Very few women do)

Criminalization

There are severe criticisms by users of certain countries against fandom, particularly due to the criminalization of current countries by past actions. This has been highlighted in countries such as  Germany,  Poland, the  UK,  Türkiye,  Japan,  South Korea,  France,  Portugal,  Spain,  Italy,  Sweden,  Finland,  Greece,  Serbia,  Ukraine,  Canada,  the USA,  Russia,  South Africa or  Israel, where fans of these countries have rejected the Country Humans fandom classifying it as highly offensive and even racist (cultural appropriation). There were cases of incitement to hatred and inequality.

Generally, criminalization is granted to developed countries while underdeveloped countries are portrayed as "saints". Users often criticize the Country Humans fandom as a decadent, especially since it focuses only on the negative facts of the history, many times inaccurate, and not on the positive facts of it. As well to "sympathize" with totalitarian political ideologies of the 20th century, such as imperialism, fascism and Nazism. And even inciting sexual relations between "relatives" such as pedophilia and incest (e.g. Nicole Griffin and Aliff Najmi going from a father-daughter roleplay relationship to an extremely sexual one). Which also may lead into the sexualization of the such.