Sexualized Saturdays: BDSM Universes in Fanfiction

It’s no secret at this point that I enjoy the kinkier side of things. BDSM has always been something that has interested me because there is something especially enjoyable about the power dynamics. And I enjoy seeing those dynamics in the fanfiction that I read, even when the fanfiction itself isn’t strictly BDSM.

There can be issues with power dynamics, of course; for example, most romance novels have some kind of power dynamics between the couple. Usually, the male holds a good portion of the power. This doesn’t necessarily mean the female love interest is docile in any way, although it is often the case in some novels. It’s been my experience that fandom likes when the less physically and/or socially powerful person is strong willed and intelligent and doesn’t take any crap from their more powerful counterpart. However, they usually still ultimately need their more powerful love interest. Even classics like Pride and Prejudice share this dynamic. Elizabeth doesn’t take Darcy’s shit, but ultimately he has more power in society than her, and it’s only with his help that Elizabeth’s family is able to escape a scandal that would have ruined them forever. The problem with these dynamics is that in mainstream pop culture, we largely see women in the less powerful role. And even in fanfiction, which usually focuses on queer relationships, the power dynamics still come off as heteronormative at times.

I suppose that one of the things that drew me to BDSM is that those power dynamics are out in the open and negotiated before the relationship begins. Rather than deal with societal understandings of who should be the dominant partner (men) and who should be the submissive (women), BDSM allows people to discuss what frankly all couples, whether kinky or vanilla, should be doing anyway. Since BDSM isn’t considered a quote-unquote “normal” part of society, there are fewer preconceived notions of how a relationship should be. But what if BDSM was the norm? Fanfiction often has a lot of alternate universes that I enjoy, but none moreso than AUs where BDSM is the norm. However, they bring with them a lot of interesting and problematic issues.

Magical Mondays: Alphas, Werewolf Packs, Hunters, and More Problems with Teen Wolf’s Worldbuilding

We have talked about the poor worldbuilding in Teen Wolf before, but this problem really takes the cake. Recently on Tumblr I saw a transcription one fan did at a Teen Wolf convention called Wolfsbane 3, during a panel featuring Ian Bohen, who plays Peter Hale. I’m not always the biggest fan of Peter, but Ian Bohen tends to be hilarious. And his opinions on Peter often make the character seem more interesting than he actually is on the show. But it was one comment Bohen apparently made about Alphas that really threw me for a loop. Basically he pointed out that Laura Hale, Derek’s sister and Peter’s niece, who is killed by Peter at the beginning of Season 1, might have killed her mother, Talia Hale, in order to become Alpha. Since she isn’t a True Alpha like Scott, she would have had to have killed Talia, or at least some other random Alpha.

pic via neurowolf
Seriously Ian Bohen is hilarious!

Because I can’t find the actual video of this panel, I am uncertain if Ian Bohen actually said this. But whether or not he did, on closer reflection I realized this has to be correct. In meta and fanfiction, the Teen Wolf fandom has always explained Laura becoming an Alpha as a hereditary thing. Talia died, and her eldest child, Laura, inherited her alpha powers. However, Bohen’s comment made me realize that this fandom theory has never been confirmed in Teen Wolf canon. You either can be a True Alpha, which is so rare in the show that most Teen Wolf characters didn’t think it was possible until Scott became one, or you kill another Alpha to take their powers. The show constantly tells us that lone werewolves and packs without an Alpha are not likely to survive. This would mean a whole society that is based on murdering your successor in order to keep a pack going and if most werewolf packs are like the Hales, then that would mean that they would comprise mostly of family members. So if you wanna be Alpha, then you have to kill grandma. …Suddenly everything in Teen Wolf gets a lot darker and more uncomfortable. It also sets up several issues in the storytelling, particularly in regards to which characters we are supposed to view as villains.

Teen Wolf: “Status Asthmaticus” Review

After a weird and kind of frustrating half a season, we’ve finally reached the mid-season finale. And although I got to get Cozy with Posey afterward on Wolf Watch, I don’t know if any number of puppies can me feel better about “Status Asthmaticus”.

Spoilers after the jump.

Teen Wolf: “Lies of Omission” Review

Okay… so, last night on Teen Wolf…

Yep, that about sums it up. This week we hate Theo literally even more than we thought possible, Jeff Davis attempts to kill yet another one of my OTPs, and I wonder where the fuck all the adults are this season. ‘Cause I mean, seriously, how do we not expect things to go to shit when a bunch of seventeen year olds are in charge!?

Spoilers after the cut!

Teen Wolf: “Strange Frequencies” Review

This week Teen Wolf was much darker than I expected it to be. Not only did “Strange Frequencies” have murder and dead bodies everywhere, it also had a significant amount of gore—and it even showcased a scene with Parrish hallucinating making out with Lydia’s dead reanimated body. What the hell, Teen Wolf?

Hit the jump to find out my thoughts. Spoilers ahead.

Teen Wolf: “A Novel Approach” Review

Last week we ended on a hell of a cliffhanger—Donovan had been souped up with weird wendigo powers by the Doctors and was going after Stiles, and meanwhile Parrish was burning dead supernaturals’ bodies on the nemeton with no conscious knowledge of doing so. This week’s episode starts off tense, right where last week left off, and things only get worse for our pack from there.

Spoilers for the punnily titled “A Novel Approach” after the jump!

Teen Wolf: “Creatures of the Night” Review

Another summer, another season of Teen Wolf for us to delight (or, more likely, despair) over! I wasn’t much looking forward to it coming back, and the episode wasn’t much to write home about, to be honest, but it was nice to revisit the pack (or, what of the pack is left) that I’ve come to love.

However, this episode wasted no time in jumping right into the most icky, disturbing Eichen House plotline possible, so consider this your trigger (for ableism, abuse, and general Eichen House terribleness) and spoiler warning right off the bat.

Sexualized Saturdays: Noodle’s Top 10 Headcanon Bi Characters

I basically live for representation of LGBTQ+ characters. As a bi person, I’m especially starved for good bi representation. Unfortunately, such characters are especially difficult to come by. Then there are wonderful characters who could be great bisexuals, and that’s where headcanons come in. A headcanon is something that is not explicitly stated in the text, but doesn’t contradict it either, and you like to imagine it’s true. It’s not as great as actual representation, but it can be great fun and provide comfort when actual representation isn’t there. So, today I want to share with you my Top 10 characters whom I like to imagine are bisexual and who would make excellent representation if they were made canonically bisexual.

Five Characters that Lady Geek Girl Wishes Were Pansexual

December 8^th was Pansexual Pride Day and as a proud pansexual myself, I wanted to mark the occasion by talking about pansexuality in geekdom. Except… there isn’t much pansexual representation in geekdom, and I’ve already written about the few characters who have been identified as pansexual. Gay and lesbian characters are still barely represented in all of pop culture, and bisexual and transgender characters rarely, if ever, grace our sphere of geekdom. So while it’s not much of a surprise that other lesser known sexualities are not represented, it’s always nice to dream of a day when more queer characters will exist in our media. Today, I decided to pick five characters that I would love to see come out as pansexual. Just to clarify, these are characters I wish would end up being pansexual. This does not mean that I think they necessarily are pansexual or are presented as pansexual.

Without further ado, here, in no particular order, are five characters I wish were pansexual.

Teen Wolf: “Time of Death” Review

Another week means another Moonday, and this week’s Teen Wolf was actually not half bad. Weird dreams, Shakespearean-inspired plots, and lots of relationship drama abound below the cut (along with spoilers, obviously).