Work Text:
Introduction
Perhaps one of my favorite online stories ever was published in 2007 and ran until 2009. The story, November by Kabi follows a group of young men living in a post war, post apocalyptic society where biological warfare has killed nearly all women and those left have been rendered infertile. Our main character is Jesse, a soldier who loves his independence until the day he wakes up with blood between his legs. He has become a carrier, an intersexed being capable of giving birth. November follows a few months in Jesse's Handmaid's Tale-esque life as he's taken to the Center where he's trained to become a suitable bride for a high ranking official to his eventual marriage to Michael, a man who claims to love Jesse but who is abusive and harmful to Jesse's wellbeing. Along the way we're invited into a terrifying world of systematic sexism and inequality, all in the name of human survival.
Hi, my name is Lockea Stone and you're listening to Fanfiction Investigations, where we apply literary analysis to Transformative Works.
Description
Despite its publication in 2007, A/B/O, the modern equivalent of November's dystopic themes, would not emerge out of the Supernatural fandom until 2010. Since then, ABO, which stands for Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics has become one of AO3's most popular tags. These stories run the gammet of domestic fluff to dystopian horror, but one theme remains present in many ABO stories, a theme that November highlighted so well -- the fear of society's treatment of the female body as acted upon the male body.
First, let me explain for those who may not be familiar with what A/B/O is. The most simple explanation is that it is an imagining of a world where male and female is less defined and less important than one's sexual caste -- alpha, beta, or omega. Alpha's sire, omega's bear, and betas fall somewhere inbetween depending on the story. Beyond that comes different flavors, whether it be societies where omegas rule and alphas do not, or vice versa, or stories where both have gender equality but the inconvenience of having an omega body is explored. In most ABO stories, the relationship dynamic focuses on a male alpha and a male omega, usually with some old fashioned sexism thrown in and aimed at the omega characters. It's difficult for me to pin down a basic formula for ABO, which tends to be diverse in its plotlines, but the stories almost invariably end in one of three ways -- the breeding couple settles down into gendered domestic bliss, the alpha comes to recognize the omega's strength and independance as a human beyond their ability to bear children, or some combination of both and the ability of omega to be both mother and individual is celebrated. It is this last outcome that is of primary interest to this podcast.
Feminist Themes
In CardSlash's Assassin's Creed Fanfiction, "Immovable, Unbreakable," Altair is a omega who has fought tooth and nail to rise to the rank of master assassin, the only omega in the order. This, despite the harrassment he faced and the desire of many to marry him off the moment he presented as an omega. The story follows the events of the game, wherein it is Altair's pride that is his downfall at the beginning, resulting in the death of Kadar and the loss of Malik's arm. The event plays out as it does in canon, but with different results. Altair is summarily stripped of his rank as an assassin and married off to Malik, forcing Altair out of the role he worked so hard to achieve and into a subservient one to Malik, who learn early in the story is disdainful of Altair and sees him as nothing more than a disobedient omega who needs to be taught his place. Malik is bitter and angry at his trophy wife, seeing Altair as little more then a pathetic consolation prize. Throughout Malik's point of view, we see again and again how Malik dismisses Altair's experiences as an omega and the grave cost of his rise to power, from humiliation and objectification to rape and miscarriage. Malik willfully ignores Altair's struggles in favor of his own prejudice until he is forced to confront it -- when he learns that all of Altair's pregnancies were the result of rape and that he miscarried each time in order to keep both being raped and being pregnant hidden from the other assassins.
In this story, it is Malik who must change, to see Altair as competant and hard working in the face of unspeakable adversity. Likewise, Altair changes and grows, learning to see his omegahood not as a weakness but as an essential part of who he is. The story ends with Altair returned to his former glory as a master assassin with Malik as his partner and husband -- and their children are born with the promise that they will be assassins regardless of their sex or sexual caste. In this case, the alpha comes to see the strength of the omega in the face of systematic inequality, accepts them as their equal, but embrace's the omega's once-percieved weakness as a source of strength.
This embracement of omega-hood, thinly coded as womanhood, is a part of late third and early fourth wave feminism, where one's status as female defines ones place in the world. According to wikipedia, Fourth Wave is defined by an attitude of incredulity, a sort of "are we still having this argument?" type attitude to issues of misogyny. ABO, then, reflects this incredulity of the fourth wave leaders -- those who are in their teens and twenties -- and many younger members of the third wave. The over the top sexism reflects attitudes sadly all too common not even a hundred years ago, making overt which is now hidden.
In thepinupchemist's fic "Into Your Hideaway," Dean is an omega who has been trafficked until he eventually escapes. Traumatized and in shock, Dean is rescued by alpha former doctor Castiel. In one part of the fic we learn that Dean was tricked when he ran away from home, his omegahood a vulnerability to being trafficked. He ran from home because his father began to treat him differently after he presented as an omega, restricting his movements, arguing with him more, and beginning to treat Dean with overt sexism until Dean, who'd been independant up until then, couldn't stand it anymore. The culminating event is when Dean's father blames Dean for his own rape. These aggressions are exagerated forms of microagressions, small actions that often seem innocous but are unequal in their approach and serve to subtly undermine a person's identity. I'll use an example from my own life. I am often told I am "one of the guys" because I work in a male dominated environment. This implies that my femaleness makes me less and that these guys I work with do not see me as less, because they see me as a man. They deny me my womanhood in favor of tokenism. I cannot be female, because to be female is to not be one of their group.
In the case of "Hideaway," John Winchester, Dean's father, treats his son as lesser because he is an omega, even going so far as to elevate Dean's younger brother, the alpha Sam, above him. Here we see how the very real systematic sexism -- in the form of microagressions -- is made more visible when it is acted upon the male body. It would not seem at all out of the ordinary for a man to stomp all over a woman's desires, but when we see the alpha do this to a male omega, it becomes a clear abberation of our perceptions of normal behavior. After all, men do not treat other men the way they treat women unless they wish to emasculate them.
This demeaning treatment of omegas is seen clearly in Evilpixie's ABO series, which begins with the story "What We Are." In this fic, society has clear rules and expectations about omegas, including that they cannot own property and are expected to marry young. Bruce Wayne, an omega who disguises himself as a beta, is forced to confront these societal expectations when an accident reveals his caste to the world. As Batman, Bruce is casteless, able to fight villains and interact with the all alpha Justice League without the pressure and expectations of his caste weighing on him. However, he's forced to cope with misogyny both internal and external when his company is taken from him and he must rely on his family to support him while he attempts to regain some semblance of his past life. In a later story, Bruce becomes pregnant, forcing him to step down as Batman and rendering him unable to physically assert his dominance over his family in order to remain the leader. This masculine-coded expression of strength is proven false at the climax, when Bruce discovers that all his family -- including his rebellous alpha son -- sees him as their leader not because of his physical strength, but because of a deep and abiding respect for his moral character. Bruce's happy ending comes only when he overcomes his internalized misogyny to accept that he, as an omega, is strong, intelligent, hard working, moral, and above all else, worthwhile as a human being. Society does not change for Bruce, but Bruce's realization allows him to change society instead.
Cultural Anxiety -- The Monster of Misogyny
We've discussed the feminist themes in these ABO stories, how it is reflection of fourth wave feminism, but I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss cultural anxiety. The term refers to the fears we as a culture share, common themes between us. In his 1996 book "Monster Theory," author and scholar Jeffrey Cohen proposes that the monsters of horror stories, from Grendel to Frankenstein to Norman Bates, reflect current fears about the society that the author inhabits. What makes monsters scary is our own anxiety. For example, science and its seemingly limitless potential was a great fear of Shelley's era, while Psycho builds on McCarthian era fears about the enemy next door. While I wouldn't go so far as to call ABO a horror trope, I find it useful to apply this critical lens to understanding the appeal of ABO's dystopic themes and antagonists. Indeed, as a romance trope, ABO rarely includes an actual monster like those found in horror stories, but the antagonists themselves share one common trait -- that of the unchanging misogynist. In "Hideaway" this is Dean's father and Castiel's family, who belittle and deride Dean, as well as the traffickers who saw Dean as little more than a commodity to be sold. In "Immovable, unbreakable" the antagonist is Al Mualim, the master assassin who orchestrated Altair's multiple rapes and miscarriages.
In "Immovable, unbreakable", every antagonist the main characters encounter is defined by a common characteristic -- their treatment of women and omegas. In this world, you are not a good person if you act with misogyny. Only through overcoming his misogyny does Malik come to be recognized as a protagonist instead of yet another of Altair's many antagonists, and Malik is rewarded with a loving and equal partner and a family to replace the one he lost for it.
You'll notice I didn't mention "What We Are" when discussing monsters, which may seem odd given that it even opens on a scene where Batman must pursue a mass murdering omega known as the Joker while in the midst of preheat. As in Cards_Slash's story, the monster is overt, but in this case the representation of that monster is not immediately obvious. Joker is a two layered villain in this verse, representing both the audience's fears and the fears of the citizens of Gotham. In Gotham's case, the fear is of the powerful omega, capable of conquering the more dominant alpha. In the reader's case, it is the tangible realization of how misogyny has harmed society -- after all, Joker is only free to be a mass murderer because the world they inhabit do not believe an omega is capable of such horrendous actions. Again, it is misogyny that has created the monster, and only by overcoming both internal and external misogyny can the omega character achieve the happy ending of both domestic bliss and recognition of one's own strength as an individual.
Conclusion
A few years ago I had the pleasure of reading Wen Spencer's "A Brother's Price," a novel about a society where men are outnumbered by women 20 to 1. Men, then, are precious commodities. The protagonist Jerin is a hardworking and freespirited young man who longs to make a good marriage but finds his plans complicated by events around him. It's a rollicking adventure and romance similar to harlequin novels, wherein our peppy protagonist eventual attains the love of several beautiful princesses who marry him into their family. If it sounds at all like an inversion of a romance novel, that's because it is, and it was hardly worth an upset over, especially for those of us who grew up reading our female relative's romance novels. What struck me about this book, however, was not the text itself, but the reviews. "Imagine how much it would suck to live in this world." Men complained in their reviews of the book. For women, particularly those of us in male dominated fields like STEM, we don't have to imagine Jerin's worldview and life -- we live it alongside him.
At the same time "November" was being published, I read Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" for the first time. It took me over a month to read Handmaid's Tale, and a few days to read November. The difference between the two lay not in their themes and topics -- arguably both are similar in tone, theme, and plot -- but in November's ability to give much needed distance between the events of the story and the real world implications. Handmaid's Tale hits closer to home and is therefore the harder read.
Likewise, ABO allows much needed distance between today's misogyny and its attack on the female body by enacting that attack on the male body. Through this, and in the language of transformative works, our anxiety about the topics women deal with day to day can be explored more safely and the subtle attacks we face every day can be brought from the shadows and into the light.
Post Script
It should be noted that this episode focused on a small selection of ABO stories and is not representative of ABO as a whole, not even the most popular fics in ABO are included here. I didn't get to discuss several other aspects of ABO in this episode, but we'll revist these themes in future episodes where we'll discuss rape fantasy and power exchange, both topics found commonly in ABO fanfiction.
If you liked this episode, consider helping support it by reblogging, sharing, likes, kudos, and comments. We'll discuss your guy's comments and address any arguments we missed in this episode in our next episode, so feel free to "talk back" to us, whether we've opened your eyes or just upset you with our assumptions. Got a topic you'd like us to investigate for a future episode? Let us know in the comments section!
References and Links:
"Monster Theory" by Jeffrey Cohen
https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Theory-Jeffrey-Jerome-Cohen/dp/0816628556
"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
https://www.amazon.com/Handmaids-Tale-Classic-Collection/dp/1480560103
"A Brother's Price" by Wen Spencer
https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Price-Wen-Spencer/dp/0451460383
"November" by Kabi
http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600093679
"Immovable, unbreakable" by Cards_Slash
http://archiveofourown.org/works/2685119/chapters/6006827
"What We Are" by Evilpixie
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1844086/chapters/3964744
"Into Your Hideaway" by thepinupchemist
http://archiveofourown.org/works/1069692/chapters/2146371
Music:
Intro and Outro -- "Mark of the Beatsmith" by Hy Bound
"Fixations" by RiverSound
"Rabbit" by Brandon Strader
"Magitek Research Symphony" by RebeccaETripp
All music from OCRemix.Org