guh - babies in fic

[salixbabylon]

Over my lunch break I was reading a story that progressively turned more and more into the kind of thing I don't read at all, but well, it was that or just sit there and *think*, so I read it.

Alpha Male and Beta Male have some underlying attraction. Due to something weird/magical, Beta Male is turned into a girl. Yay! Now they don't have to deal with any latent homosexual urges! Romance blooms, affection and lust are declared, and they get it on. But, uh-oh -- Beta Fe/Male forgot about birth control and now a little bundle of joy is coming! Bonding ceremony, birth story, love and sap until you could drown in the tears.

I don't understand why such stories literally turn my stomach. I forced myself to read the whole thing as an exercise in "why don't I like this?" Let's explore, shall we?

I am bisexual - I like heterosexual sex. I sometimes read and enjoy heterosexual smut. So that's not it.

I admit that I do have some minor issues with transgendered people, but that's not it either, at least not in these stories. And in today's fic, that aspect was even rather well-handled. So that's not it either.

I don't dislike children. I don't particularly blanket-like them, either, though, as most women seem to say they do. To me, that's like saying "oh, I love the elderly" - a bizarre statement implying that the elderly are all alike and one gets along with all of them equally well. I like some babies/kids; I don't particularly like others. I definitely don't have much experience with them. So that's one aspect of it.

I got married in a fairly traditional heterosexual wedding, which I wish had been quirkier, but still. I have no objections to bonding ceremonies. I have always been pleased to be included i ceremonies recognizing love, even when I think the couple is badly matched and won't last. So that's not it.

I think the part that chaps my hide is the "and then they lived happily ever after"-ness of it all, and the ASSUMPTION that having a baby is the ONLY way to achieve such bliss. The final step to perfection.

Sure, having a baby probably brings a lot to your life. And no, I'm sure that in my childless state I can't even imagine the utter joy your little ones bring you.

But uh, reality check - most of the parents I know have stated that their marriages have definitely suffered as a result of having children. Not always permanently, and of course it's possible that parenting will bring a couple closer together in a positive way (maybe I just hear the negative stuff more because my friends need to vent). I'm not saying kids fuck up your partnerships, but I am saying they have an impact, and usually one that leads to a lot less fucking in the hallway because you simply can't wait until you're inside the bedroom.

And if the point of the fucking story is these two GUYS FUCKING, then why on EARTH would I care about them getting married or having a baby and living happily fucking ever after in domestic fucking bliss??????

(Plus, could you PLEASE make a fucking EFFORT to NOT turn them into whiny crying GIRLS if they're going to shack up, get hitched, and reproduce? Please? Do you know guys who act like that? Who cry the 946th time their lover says "I love you"? No. You don't. Trust me.)

If you want your gay male characters to adopt babies and live happily ever after, fine. Take a glance at the statistics to see how rare that is, but if you choose to incorporate it, fine. BUT PUT A FUCKING WARNING ON THE STORY, so that when they stop FUCKING and start changing diapers and cooing about what a miracle the little bitsy adorable poos are, I DON'T HAVE TO READ IT.

and mpreg -- Jesus Fucking Christ, JUST SAY NO



Yes, I have ISSUES all over the place about having babies in my own real life. I just want my men to act like men and just FUCK and not have babies and birth control and motherhood worm its way into my escapist recreational reading. Is that so bloody much to ask?

*rant*rave*

*collapse*

Wow. That was quite a rant. I think that was building for a really long time. You can de-friend me now, if you must.

Respectful discussions of differences of opinion are always welcomed. Flames are not.

Comments

[heartofslash.livejournal.com]

I would respond coherently but I'm laughing my ass off so much I'm afraid all I can really muster is a hearty agreement.

I read/write slash because I like to read/write/fantasize about GAY SEX.

Last time I looked, STRAIGHT PORN didn't involve having babies. It's about STRAIGHT SEX.

So why would anyone put having babies in GAY PORN? I dunno, maybe the author got confused and thought she was writing a romance novel.

and mpreg -- Jesus Fucking Christ, JUST SAY NO

*cackles with glee*

I heart you, snog you AND three-dots you, darling! Is it possible to friend you AGAIN??

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

I read/write slash because I like to read/write/fantasize about GAY SEX.

I read/write slash because I enjoy the particular characters and dynamics of relationships that are outside societal convention. It's not just about porn for me. (Naturally, the porn helps quite a bit. ;))

The reasons for reading or writing slash are as diverse as the people who do it, I think. Hopefully there is enough out there that we can all read what most appeals to us.

[heartofslash.livejournal.com]

And if you read my work you would see that it is overflowing in the characters and dynamics of relationships that are outside societal convention department. It's no "just about the porn" at all.

But they are stories about men. Men being together. Not men who magically turn into women. Or men who conveniently start acting like girls because it would be "aw"-inducing or solve a conflict easily. I believe that's what Salix was ranting about.

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I have read any of your work and wasn't making a suggestion that yours isn't something I would enjoy. I was just offering another perspective on why people read slash. Not everyone only reads it for gay sex/porn, which is what I thought you were asserting. If I was mistaken, please accept my apologies.

I understand Salix's rant, because I agree with a lot of it. But then maybe some actually enjoy reading about emasculated men? LOL. If that's the case, I can't argue with what people like. I was just attempting inclusion. I certainly meant no offense.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

And I agree with you both -- sometimes I read slash because I'm horny and I want to get off. Sometimes (no - really!) I do want romance and a good story and characterization.

And I'm willing to bet that all three of us pretty much enjoy the same fics, given what I know of the tastes of both of you. :)

[heartofslash.livejournal.com]

I guess my real point is if an author is not into guy-on-guy, and feels the need to change one of the characters into a girl (either physically by magic or operations, or emotionally, by making him a girlyboy so he can have what amounts to a heterosexual interaction with the Manlyman of the pairing) then that author shouldn't be writing slash. That author should be writing het or hanging out at the snotty fanfiction sites where they look down on slash and slap an NC-17 rating on anything in which two men do more than hold hands. It's slash we're is talking about here, not gen fanfic.

And I do get a little snippy when it's insinuated that just because something features explicit sex between men it somehow no longer has characterization or plot or cultural analysis or psychology or verisimilitude or any of the other hundereds of literary aspects and devices that draw us to a work. And even pure smut has intrinsic value as literature. I apologise for that, but I have a whole site full of literature by a wide variety of writers and I'm sick of them feeling they have to apologise for writing about what everyone wants to read about even if they won't own up to it.

[lennongirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I can totally hear you. How many times I have stumbled across authours who do anything to let others know that "hey, I am writing erotica, this is not porn" to distinguish themselves from... what, exactly? If I write long, plot ridden fic, great. If I write pure PWP porn just for kicks, great also. I read and enjoy plot fic because there are amazing writers who get me hokked. But I also read pure smut because it's hot. End of story. Why pretend otherwise by giving it a better name?

[heartofslash.livejournal.com]

For that matter, who says "erotica' is a better name than 'porn'? I cringe when someone calls my work erotica - makes it sound like I don't have the guts to write real porn. *snerk* I do know of what I speak, since used to write porn for a living. I guess I've had my fill of sexsexsex. (So now I write sexplotsexcharactersexthemesexcomedysex ;)

[lennongirl.livejournal.com]

I don't know, and I don't judge what's better or worse. I just think that if I'm writing porn, I should have the guts to say so.
*shrugs*

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

*applause*

[lennongirl.livejournal.com]

*takes a bow*

:P

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

:) Glad you liked my ranting and raving.

Last time I looked, STRAIGHT PORN didn't involve having babies. It's about STRAIGHT SEX.

You are so much more succinct than I. No wonder I love you. :)

Whoop - double-friended! *beams*