[ SECRET POST #4553 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4553 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #652.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I just don't feel like ABO is something that I'm interesting in seeing a world built around. I don't get the appeal of it as a worldbuilding conceit. I get that for some people on here, it's apparently the primary appeal, but I just don't find it very interesting as a theme for a story. The only reason I read ABO fics is if they're basically just sex pollen fics under another name. It's baffling to me otherwise. I'm honestly kind of curious what people do get from it.

(not OP but I agree with them)

[type_wild]

Without having done any kind of research onto the topic, I could name a few just off the top of my head:
- Male pregnancy without having to justify it
- Six genders, and particularly the role of the female alpha and male omega opens up for some comparisons to be made with RL gender roles
- Depending on worldbuilding, the question of instinct vs. free will (this is the part where the, uh, uniquer sides of ABO tend to show up)

[(Anonymous)]

Is there anything that you can do with female alpha or male omega that you couldn't do just by like... having characters in the real world who don't fulfill stereotypical gender roles?

[type_wild]

Well, yeah? If you luck out and get into the weirder stuff, you'll find the early noughties uke stereotypes turned up to eleven. And somewhere out there, I bet there is at least one fic where someone has written about a female alpha where she's a woman in canon. Unsurprisingly, the only f/f ABO I've found has been genderswapped male characters.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I primarily read f/f which might have something to do with my reaction here, I guess.

try this one?

[type_wild]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/591257

F/f, and goes quite a bit into gender roles.

[philstar22]

Female with a dick you couldn't do with real world, though you could just do with futinari. But I agree that the gender stereotypes of ABO are the part that bother me. I don't see female alphas very much anyway.

[philstar22]

If there were more fics featuring female alphas or things like dominant omegas and submissive alphas, I'd be way more interested in ABO. But I never see those things. All I ever see is the same gender stereotypes shoved into the alpha vs. omega characters.

[type_wild]

I don't think anyone is saying that ABO fic are in fact exploring the possibilities the universe opens up for. I mean, I'm sure there is some, but I've seen, like... one.

[philstar22]

ABO has potential, but I have yet to see that potential actually ever reached. At least sex pollen can give me good porn without gender politics thrown in.

[(Anonymous)]

I find A/B/O falls into the same d*mn lazy feminization tropes that I hate. For my m/m ships, I want them to be in character, not one of them feminized into a female version. If I wanted that, I'd just read gender-swap!

[silverr]

"dominant omegas and submissive alphas"

but isn't that counter to ABO terminology?

Behaviorally, wouldn't a submissive alpha be an omega?

(I don't read ABO; my only understanding comes from how similar the power dynamics and some of the societal hierarchy sound to Ai no Kusabi.)

[philstar22]

I don't think so? Biologically alpha but behaviorally submissive? If behavior being inherent to biology is necessary for ABO to work, then I definitely don't want anything to do with ABO. To me these sorts of dynamics aren't interesting unless they are a choice and can be played with. Like, someone who is biologically an alpha and therefore everyone assumes they will be sexually dominant. and yet, while they are the perpetrator, they secretly want to be ordered around. That interests me.

What scares me about ABO is precisely the idea of behavior being biological. Because the same assumptions are made about men and women. And it seems like people have just taken those assumptions and just removed women from the equation altogether and shoved the women stereotypes/assumptions onto male omegas.

[silverr]

... that's what it feels like to me as well. "Biology is destiny" and all that. No my cuppa at all.

(Now, subverting stereotypical power dynamics? That can be interesting, but I'd rather have it without all the other ABO paraphernalia.)

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, it's not at all subversive to create a science-fictiony universe where queer men are compelled by nature to be fucked. That's 100 years of homophobia. I see no point in going there if you're not going to subject that premise to the satire.

[feotakahari]

BTW, if you ever want to see what happens when they remove men from the equation instead: https://star-anise.tumblr.com/post/185742538094/ive-spent-what-free-time-ive-had-tonight Get your brain bleach ready.

[(Anonymous)]

If I want half-baked biological essentalism, I can get my fill every morning from ranty guy on the fucking bus.

[(Anonymous)]

Sometimes the ranty guy gives me handouts. ABO only gives me regret.

[(Anonymous)]

but isn't that counter to ABO terminology?
Behaviorally, wouldn't a submissive alpha be an omega?

No. Some A/B/O fics definitely lean into the gender existentialism - depicting omegas as more inclined to be submissive, and alphas as more inclined to be dominant. But I don't think I've ever read an A/B/O fic that said omegas can't be dominant, or that alphas can't be submissive. The framing is more that a dominant omega is a dominant omega, whereas a dominant alpha is just an alpha.

That said, I've also read plenty of A/B/O fics that don't lean out of the gender essentialism. I haven't read many where the omega is a dom in the bedroom, but I've read quite a few where they're an equal party in the relationship, and are, if anything, braver and more of a bamf than the alpha.

[(Anonymous)]

*don't lean into the gender essentialism.

[tabaqui]

It really depends on the world they build, frankly. I've read a couple that are really ,really fun, and not at all the stuff that most people write.

Try this: it's funny, it's fluffy, it's not REMOTELY like the other A/B/O fic out there, and the writing is really good.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14772824/chapters/34165730

[osidiano]

Yessss I am so glad you recced the clownfish one. I was just thinking it needed to be brought up!

[tabaqui]

I LOVE IT SO!!!!!