DiscussionWeird TQ+ messages in LGB fanfiction?

submitted by reluctant_commenter from self.LGBDropTheT

TLDR What weird TQ+ crap have you come across while reading stories that are supposed to portray same-sex relationships? (or TV/movies/other media too, I guess)

Sorry if this is too random, but sometimes I read fanfictions with lesbian relationships for fun and I've noticed a lot of them have messages that are kind of homophobic or biphobic, like:

  • "X character is pansexual because they are above being attracted to one sex vs. another! What a cool character!" (casting bisexuality as a choice, and homosexuality as closed-minded)

  • Heavy implications that same-sex relationships are only fulfilling if there is BDSM involved. (seriously????)

  • "Top/bottom" terms used in the context of two women in a relationship (half the time this seems to be a return to the BDSM point; the other half, it turns out the writer decided to pretend the characters were trans)

  • Sudden revelation that a character is trans and has a dick (my least fave)

I'm really sick of this shit, lol. I know I need to bite the bullet and seek out some actually decent books or something that I've vetted beforehand so there aren't any nasty surprises, but I just haven't bothered yet.

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[–]DestructionI ❤️ adult human females 34 insightful - 2 fun34 insightful - 1 fun35 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

The sudden influx of trans has been the worst! I used to be a big fan of a certain Tumblr fanartist. One of my favorite characters of hers was a chapstick lesbian whom the artist decided to turn into a transbian. And then she turned another character trans. And then another character trans (who was in an established hetero relationship at that point) and I just dipped. What's worst is that the stories she wrote before it all went downhill were truly about normalizing LGB relationships. They were never like "Hey look at these two gays!! Watch them do gay shit and talk about being gay all the time like it's all there is to them". No, they were just normal characters who just so happened to be gay and they lived their normal lives that way. But since her art has taken the turn for the T it's suddenly all about them going to pride parades, coming out, binding, trying drag, changing pronouns etc. Mind you she had trans characters before and they all were rather likeable. But then she just started erasing the past of the established characters who were HAPPILY LGB BEFORE and any love I had for her art disapeared like a fart on a breeze.

[–]cinnaflo 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That sounds like the worst... I’m really curious though, who is this artist if you don’t mind stating? And if not, what type of art style do they have?

[–]haveanicedaytoo💗💜💙 27 insightful - 11 fun27 insightful - 10 fun28 insightful - 11 fun -  (1 child)

Oh god... I haven't waded into the muddy waters of fanfiction since the My Immortal days. I know there is a genre out there where the men get pregnant, but that pre-dates this trans/queer trend by many many years, and as far as I know it's all women writers. I wrote an original fic once back when I was a teen, it was about this one girl who runs away from home, and she's super desperate, and coincidentally runs into another girl from school (a hot girl, but they never really talked because they were in different circles) the hot girl ends up inviting her home and hides her in her bedroom because she lives in an enormous house (I didn't really know how enormous houses worked, okay?) and then the rest of it is just ... pretty X-rated. It turns out the other girl had a crush on the runaway girl this whole time, and they happen to be in a bedroom alone together, and her parents are conveniently gone for the weekend, and... Yeah.

I wonder what happened to that fic? it was like my magnum opus at age 18/19. I have no idea where it is or what name it would be under or if it even exists online anymore. I'm pretty sure I deleted it......... Ughhhhhhhhhhh........ Now I want to read it again.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 11 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I wonder what happened to that fic? it was like my magnum opus at age 18/19.

Honestly that sounds goddamn amazing. 😂

[–]strawberrysun 26 insightful - 2 fun26 insightful - 1 fun27 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I read and write fanfiction pretty often. Not trying to give myself away with too many details since I'm pretty well-known in a small fandom, but I once nope'd out of an otherwise decent series because the author had one of the main characters visit an agender doctor who used they/them pronouns. I wish I could say where this character lives because it would make that idea 10x funnier and even less realistic.

In another, the author had a character who explicitly describes herself as a lesbian in canon date a nonbinary OC.

I was once asked if I could make a background character trans. I did not respond.

[–]ChodeSandwichtender and moist 19 insightful - 16 fun19 insightful - 15 fun20 insightful - 16 fun -  (2 children)

It's not exactly fanfiction, but I was reading a group sex scene in a web serial and mid-coitus several characters start whining about how female reproductive health care is handled, with a necessary interjection by the trans character about how it's also full of assumptions that hurt his fee-fees. They didn't even stop having sex.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's utterly ridiculous, hahaha.

[–]deliciousdogfoodmy name isnt a puppyplay reference i swear 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

the line between satire and reality is no more

[–]just_lesbian_things 24 insightful - 1 fun24 insightful - 0 fun25 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The last one is the worst. The ones I see are the untagged ones that get past the filter. The characters are never canonically trans. I've dropped every work on the spot. Fuck that noise. Some authors have it as their "headcannon" and consider themselves above tagging. Those authors are blacklisted for me. If I ever get in a fandom again, I'm going to start leaving scathing reviews.

Another one I see is the super heavy handed monologue where a character suddenly starts giving a lecture on some social justice topic, like sexual consent, or slut shaming, or racism. I don't have to disagree with it to find it ridiculously over the top, ham-fisted, and out of character. If they can't handle these topics properly, I wish they don't touch it at all.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 20 insightful - 1 fun20 insightful - 0 fun21 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Another one I see is the super heavy handed monologue where a character suddenly starts giving a lecture on some social justice topic, like sexual consent, or slut shaming, or racism. I don't have to disagree with it to find it ridiculously over the top, ham-fisted, and out of character. If they can't handle these topics properly, I wish they don't touch it at all.

SAME I hate that. I also hate when the stories devolve into sending the character to therapy because 99/100 times the depiction of therapy is really inaccurate and involves points that would never actually fly in real life.. like the therapist being their friend outside of the office... wtf lol.

[–]sleepless-dreamer 23 insightful - 2 fun23 insightful - 1 fun24 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

My guilty pleasure is fanfiction, lol. I haven't written any in a long time, but I still occasionally read it, and I have indeed noticed TQ+ nonsense creeping in over the years. It's mostly prevalent in modern fandoms. Older properties are pretty safe because most of the fanfiction for them was written before the TQ+ trend started, younger people aren't interested in older fandoms, and the fanbase just tends to skew older.

For instance, I'm currently into Star Trek: Voyager, and I love me some Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine. I use Archive of Our Own, and though there are some recent fics, most of them are much older-- I have not seen any TQ+ crap, just purely bi/lesbian stuff that was clearly written by actual bi/lesbian women.

On the flip side, modern properties are a goddamn minefield. I've seen stories where they've turned female characters into MtF transwomen (Regina from Once Upon a Time, and Rizzoli from Rizzoli and Isles). That is just so insulting to me on a visceral level, that these strong, intelligent, confident women MUST ACTUALLY be men. And of course there's girldick involved. At least with AO3's tagging system, you usually get a heads-up for the content of the story, because the TRAs just can't help but announce how 'uwu inclusive' they are. I've noticed that if there's girldick, they tend to tag it "g!d" or something similar, so hopefully that helps you avoid some surprises.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 17 insightful - 2 fun17 insightful - 1 fun18 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I've seen stories where they've turned female characters into MtF transwomen (Regina from Once Upon a Time, and Rizzoli from Rizzoli and Isles). That is just so insulting to me on a visceral level, that these strong, intelligent, confident women MUST ACTUALLY be men.

Right?? Fuck that! It is so misogynistic and homophobic.

edit:

I've noticed that if there's girldick, they tend to tag it "g!d" or something similar, so hopefully that helps you avoid some surprises.

Ah thank you for the heads up!

[–][deleted] 20 insightful - 1 fun20 insightful - 0 fun21 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Mot exactly fanfic but in this one series I like, a gay pairing is canon. And then of course fangirls have to interject themselves in self-insert fanfic with a trans character. I was gonna barf.

[–]marmorsymphata 19 insightful - 1 fun19 insightful - 0 fun20 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Fandom is deeply, deeply homophobic. Idk why people still even bother trying. It's just that it's faux activism hiding fetishes is all. Just look at the way the Supernatural fandom is full of straight women that think Dean/Castiel is peak representation despite it being two straight men that constantly betray and blackmail each other, & then turn around and spend all day writing straight-to-gay corrective rape, pedophilia, and bestiality and telling everyone that getting the shit beaten out of you by a friend is evidence of subby gay love bc apparently gay men are literally porn tops and abusive or bottoms and loving abuse. Oh, and their campaigns to forcibly out actors they delusionally believe are gay are significant too.

I would love to live in a world where I was shocked by finding homophobic fetishism, chasing, etc in fanfiction.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I would love to live in a world where I was shocked by finding homophobic fetishism, chasing, etc in fanfiction.

I'm pretty new to reading fanfiction (apart from a couple classics like My Immortal, lol) so this is news to me, and I just wanted to vent about it. I think it is also worth observing because straight people have no idea how much same-sex relationships are fetishized...

The Supernatural fandom you described sounds super creepy.

[–]SkepticalHPSSuper Straight 16 insightful - 2 fun16 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I used to be involved on tumblr with a fandom for a popular video game series. The series had...a lot of homoerotic subtext, so I couldn’t fault people for reading into it. I mostly liked a particular character who the creator of the series outright said had a “pure love” for a main character, so again, no issues with shipping them. I followed an artist who was one of the few who did a lot of art of that character (not many people are into 60 year old men lol).

So the artist comes out as trans. Whatever, just continue drawing art and writing fics of hot old men, I don’t care what you are. Then the artist began exclusively drawing the character as obviously trans. Huge mastectomy scars and a vulva. It just seemed like a weird cope for their transition. I’ll also be selfish and say I’m attracted to bio men with dicks, so it got frustrating seeing a new pic and realizing he was drawn as trans again.

They ran off to Furaffinity after Tumblr got nuked and draw almost exclusively furry art now anyway.

[–]NonimeTired of Explaining Reality to Fuckwits (TERF) 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I didn't like the arrogant gender-swapping (girl?) that was thrown into the Alexandra Quick fanfiction series (an American version of Harry Potter), but I did appreciate that she was painted accurately as a narcissistic manipulator who tried to dose someone with a love potion, and only appeared for a brief moment.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 8 insightful - 3 fun8 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Well at least the portrayal was reasonable.

[–]starjellotext 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

"X character is pansexual because they are above being attracted to one sex vs. another! What a cool character!"

That always bugs me. Things went from "sexuality isn't a choice" to "sexuality is a choice and I know the right one!"

[–]PassionateIntensity 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Weird/funny propaganda I've seen in fanfic:

1) An untagged ode to the hotness of a transman's vagina by gay male characters. (I mention it was untagged because the fic had like 30 tags. Everything was tagged except surprise transman vagina).

2) A gay male character who was gang raped by neo-Nazis in prison in the story gave a speech about how much worse trans people had it than he had and that he was jealous of how "completely themselves" trans people were (???!!!)

Annoying because these stories were otherwise decently written fun trash with no political agenda. I just wanted to turn my brain off and relax but they won't let me.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I just wanted to turn my brain off and relax but they won't let me.

I so, so, so relate. I'm sorry you got surprised by that gross stuff, dude. I know how you feel.

[–]Rubyredpython 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is why I've started writing my own. I'd rather write a fic I want to read than sort through the dumpster fire I keep seeing on fanfic sites. It's now bleeding over into published same sex fiction books. It's so annoying.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Honestly I have been tempted to write my own as well just for that reason. It is annoying. Good luck with your writing endeavors!