I have become addicted to abo fic recently, and I need to rant about all the things I find weird and confusing about it. Omegas are the childbearing ones, so shouldn't they have female-typical anatomy? By that logic, alphas should have male-typical anatomy and betas should be intersex. Further, using he/she pronouns makes no sense; each designation should have its own set of pronouns. Not he/she/they, though; that would end up equating alphas and men and omegas and women and that's pretty gross even without buying into the whole "omegas are weak, submissive, and emotional" bullshit some people like. Butt babies? Why? What's preventing infection? Why not just make them intersex? With fully functioning versions of both sets, I mean, which I gather is rare (non-existent?) in real life. If you're going to make the boys intersex, you should make the girls intersex too. For fairness. I have only seen one fic which included a trans-dynamic character, which I think is sad. Why are the pairings nearly always a/o? Doesn't that get boring? I can't help seeing it as a way to force bullshit gender roles on (what tends to be) gay pairings. There's more I can't think of right now because it's the middle of the night and I'm scatterbrained at the best of times. I am possibly thinking too seriously about this.
Answer to a variety of these questions: I, and probably other people? Find PIV sex generally to be my least favorite type of sex to see/read about. So A/B/O gives fun systematic power dynamic times without it being straight-looking. For me it's less.. bullshit gender roles in gay pairings as. systematic inequality is my kink, a lot of that is enforced in gender roles, but, as stated before, i find het ships to be at best neutral. so. A/B/O feeds my need for gender role inequality without het. wheee I do agree that more non-a/o pairings need to be explored. i've had a ton of fun rp-ing poly tangles in a/b/o-verse, an excellent thing. also again i like systematic inequality and exploring ideas like what people in a universe like this might think of like, say, a/a or o/o relationships is fun. re: butt babies, that is so not the reason I look for this fic, so idk man. some people have a kink for it, some people just want childbearing but not vaginas. fair enough imo. my question is why haven't i seen female alphas with hyena-esque clit cocks yet, get on it, fanfic writers
As a gay trans man- I like having stories about men with non-typical bodies, without the irl baggage of trans issues. I have found fanfic that features trans characters without making that the focus of the story, but it's rare, and even more rare with porn. Watching different writers tackle the question of "how dose this all work", anatomically and socially, it part of the fun. I haven't even written an A/B/O story, but have put some thought into how anatomy and gender expression might work in a society like that. It's going to vary wildly between authors because of that. I am with you on wanting more pairings that A/O. I carry hope in my crotch heart for a B/O story that has smut and isn't terrible.
I don't write fanfic but I once wrote three pages of worldbuilding for a theoretical a/b/o-verse, including details on societal opinions on every single potential relationship out there- i went for a world that has both male and female variants of alphas, betas, and omegas, and was both hetero and a/o or b/b normative, for maximum potential prejudice (god help you if you're a f0/fo couple, no one will respect your relationship)
I like a/b/o for the social dynamics-- there's a couple other basic d/s universe fics that I like burying myself in that have a similar bit of social fuckery which is a blast. I'm actually not here for the babies at all, so buttbabies vs vaginababies isn't even a thing I fuss about, but I imagine at least part of the mpreg appeal is for people with traditional pregnancy squicks who want the rest of the deal that goes with it. (Personally I hate whenever fics refer to your caste/rank/whatever as 'gender' because it's so???? not????? but it's one of those things that caught on for some reason.)
I mean, for a/b/o i think using gender as a differential works, since all three (or six, if you're going for male and female of each category) have notably different reproductive organs, which is how.. sex, if not gender, is assigned, and the terms are often used interchangeably it would be weird to use 'gender' for other d/s universes tho .-.
Also totally there with you on the should be functionally intersex thing, but for SOME REASON nobody ever jumps the gun for that outside of the furry fandom.
>>; i def have a b/o oc ship where the beta is like HELLO FRIEND I SEE THAT YOU ARE IN DISTRESS, I AM GOING TO BE A HUGE JERK AND TIE YOU DOWN SO YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THAT DISTRESS AND BEG FOR RELIEF i mean -coughs- suzukiblu has done some fun stuff with intersex characters and interesting gender dynamics.
(a/b/o oc au, more like "beta dude is a jerkass dom who is so amused that everyone else got sex pollened; omega dude is really pissed off about his biology because he has science to do, biology isn't fair and also is an ex-soldier with ptsd; alpha girl is a sweetheart cutiepie who deserves none of this drama and is bewildered by these kinky weirdos; other alpha girl is so in spades with the beta dude and is incredibly pissed off and dysphoric about sudden alpha bits wait what the fuck is this shit.") (because of course it is a giant trans poly tangle yup)
I have always wanted to get into a/b/o it contains some choice kinks. I'm just terrible at finding fics that are not Bad. I take a stab at finding a fic, read some bad and go y'know maybe I'll try again in a year or so. So, if anyone has fic recs pls share.
I got linked to a fic once that had female alpha clit cocks! I couldn't tell you a thing about it otherwise except that it was a college au, not even the fandom, but it exists! For me, the appeal of a/b/o is the combination of sex pollen, xeno, and driven by instincts that it often ends up with. Knotting, scent kink, feral-ness - that's all my jam. The way people explore the expectations on male omegas often ends up mirroring some of my experience as an afab masc-leaning enby, so I like that too. Babies are only interesting when weird instincts about them are involved, so I can't tell you anything about that, except that vaginapreg really weirds me out. And I like to explore societal expectations of gender roles with a little distance - I can't read about a person Just Like Me going through shit, but I can do it with someone similar but different in a few key aspects. As far as the prevalence of a/o pairings, I've read several good a/a, o/o, and a/b fics over the years. A/A is my favorite thing in a/b/o because it really plays into the things I like most (dominance fights, instinctive aggressive sexuality, mutual protectiveness of your partner) and often has nosy people baffled as to how the relationship works. I know I threw together a multi-fandom a/b/o reclist in another thread, but that was a good while ago and I don't remember which one. I've probably read a lot more fic since then. I can probably put another one together soonish. (this reply is all over the place, I'm v scatter brained today, sorry)
Yessss. Xeno weirdness and loss of control are my jam. Like, consensual loss of control and also the horror of 'oh god this is not ok but I can't stop.' -nodnod-
Ooh, swinging through the thread with my favorite a/b/o fic where I... never actually processed that it was an a/b/o fic until a few months after I read it. This is Delicacy, and it's transformers, because what else would anybody expect from me at this point. And if you check it out, please do mind the warnings (sexual slavery, forced breeding (not too-too close to human), and literal baby eating) because this does get intense in spots, though it builds from a downer start to a positive ending. But the big thing that I adore about this fic is because it's being done with giant alien space robots, so they're able to get around a lot of the things that throw me out of standard-issue human a/b/o fic. Gahhh, sorry, gonna sperg out about this a little :P Okay, so the most common transformers xeno is valveplug, which is a dick and a vag for everyone! Customize yours if you want, you're all robots, go nuts! So everybody is rocking the same base set of junk, and outside of heat cycles (which have to be deliberately induced), everyone uses all the parts of their junk. But also, the biggest reason I didn't realize this story was a/b/o for so long was because not all cybertronians are part of the a/b/o system. This story stands in a setting that doesn't match any canon continuities, and the general idea is that the folks who turn into wheeled vehicles are living in one place, the jet planes are living in another, spacecraft in another, etc. They're not an integrated society and barely even visit each other. Only the flying-type pokemon do the a/b/o system. It's a point of division between the cultures that 'eurgh, you guys reproduce using eggs? 'whoa, hold on, you guys make babies mechanically?' But it's really neat, because the a/b/o slips right into a term from the original eighties cartoon, where some jet fighters come in sets of three, known as a 'trine.' They don't exactly define this, and what it actually means is 'no, no, these characters aren't just cheap recolors, they're, um, a matched set, that's right.' Fans have played with this in all the flavors between romantic triad and platonic military subgroup. But here, it fits so nicely. In terms of these societies, the standard romantic configuration is a+b+o, and instead of using alpha, beta, and omega, the terms the author uses are 'action,' 'order,' and 'vision.' We don't get to see quite as much of the worldbuilding as I'd like, because the story is never set in that society, but the story is drenched in flavor. Visions are the ones who carry offspring, and so much cool societal stuff packed in all over the place that I'm paralyzed by all the things I could talk about. There's some in-societal prejudice against Visions taking on leadership roles, which is called out as bullshit, and there's some cultural shift underway, but some people are disagreeing, etc. There's Visions in relationships with Visions, which is pretty scandalous by the old cultural norms, but there are Extenuating Circumstances and if you get into the story, it's actually really emotional and intense. Our protagonist (an omega) (starscream) emphatically does not end up in a ~proper~ Action/Order/Vision trine relationship at any point, he kicks back against that pressure every chance he gets, and gets the ending he wants. And when a standard-issue trine is together, the betas are an integrated part of the relationship and it's SO CUTE, oh my god. As far as I recall, there aren't any rules about which member of the trine makes the babbies with the Vision, and according to cultural stereotypes, betas take on like... a protector role for their trine. That's oversimplifying, and there's more to things than that, but it's a detail I appreciate SO much. And the cultural stereotypes are called out as such, and some people admit things have been too restrictive, but there isn't any magical instantaneous cultural shift, and the story also doesn't demonize people who are comfortable in their stereotype-approved roles. Plus there's also some really, really nice worldbuilding around the reproductive system they use, both on a personal level, but also on a community level. All with giant robots humanoids who turn into jet fighters. eta: with gender-neutral parental terms! But ANYWAYS, it's a super fun ride and dodges all the a/b/o tropes that bother me while adding lots of fascinating worldbuilding to support the bits I enjoy most. Starscream is an omega who's kicking back against societal expectations, but it's definitely not The Little Omega Who Could. It feels like a system that's real, in the context of their world. It's dark and sad and happy and fantastic and so much fun and I love it a lot. /sperg
I am not surprised to hear of abo being appilied to seekers but dang if that doesn't fit as an idea. I'm gonna have to read some robot trash now.
-flops- i blame you all Spoiler: nsfw, tw: body/gender dysphoria Yosef grows like a desert flower, small and round and brown while his classmates bloom around him, before he shoots up a foot in a year. His new inches feel like vines wrapped around his feet and hands; he stumbles, suddenly clumsy. He spends long hours in the bath, trying to soak the ache in his joints away. He can't quite pinpoint when he realizes... the other thing. That other thing. If he doesn't think the words, it's not going to happen. The first time he experimentally thrusts a finger into himself, he has to clap his hand over his mouth to keep from moaning. It's too intense, too much. He can't even stop - more, more, more - until his cock spills into the bathwater and his cunt trembles and squeezes tight around his fingers. There's a panicky tear running down his cheek as he drains the bath, rinses off fastidiously. All he can think is that he's just as pathetic as his father has always said. No control over himself at all. That's what his father always says. He refills the bath and tries not to think. (He ends up refilling it three times that day.) The problem isn't that he's an omega. He knows there are omegas in politics, in science. It's the twenty-first century, for god's sake. It's the idea of going into heat that makes him nauseous with panic. The idea of spreading his legs and begging for anyone who comes near him, being pinned down and gangbanged, his belly swelling with pups. Losing control of his own goddamned body and mind, and never quite being able to put it back together. It has to be some kind of cosmic mistake. Something wrong. He doesn't tell anyone. The doctor knows, of course. There's a little "O" on his medical records, on his school records. "Just in case your cycle happens when you're not ready," the doctor says with a smile on her face. "I understand what you're going through; you can come talk to me any time." He wants to smack the smile off her face. It's not the anatomy that matters. She's a beta. If she has sex, it'll be her choice. If she has kids, it'll be her choice. She has no idea what he's going through. For a while, he thinks he's right. It's some kind of cosmic mistake. Nothing happens. He gets a summer fever, once in a while, but he can ignore that. He tells himself it's the flu. It's just a bug going around. He'll stay home from school for a day or two, and he'll be fine. (His hands are fisted in the sheets, white-knuckled with the effort of not touching himself, when he knows how good it would be, how much he _wants_-) He goes back to school with a scowl. He can't stop himself from glancing toward Janine's empty desk when his teacher calls attendance. She's been out for almost a week. No one will say it out loud - it's a breach of privacy, and rude besides - but everyone knows what she is, now. The doctor shrugs and murmurs something about hormonal imbalances, and offers him a pill to make him regular. Make things predictable. He forces himself to walk when he flees the room, stalking through the halls instead of running.
