214 50/50 Tropes

[mklutz]

Double up on your popcorn this week folks, because MK, Pru, and The Hoyden take a journey of terrible discovery in the depths of your favorite (and least favorite) fanfic tropes. We cover everything from soulbonding to soulbonding with a mind meld, and detour in the land of magical ass babies and high school AUs along the way. If that sounds like your cup of tea, or perhaps you are just a keen fan of listening to auditory train wrecks, crank up the volume and settle in, because /report is always happy to serve.

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Get ready to ruin yourself forever and go download or stream this week's episode!

Comments

Far too many words about boypussies.

[(Anonymous)]

I've been in the Glee fandom for a while and I seriously have no idea what brought about bp as it exists in that fandom.

I've NEVER seen someone label a Glee fic with bp and mean something to do with an asshole. I've only ever seen fic where either the bp is there instead of a cock (i.e. essentially a vagina, though the character otherwise remains male-bodied), or as an EXTRA organ (cock, bp, & asshole, and again otherwise entirely male-bodied), and I've seen universes that include female characters with the corresponding girlcock (or whatever the popular term is) and the same variance of total sexual organs.

I suspect this trope may have developed as a way to normalize Kurt's often unique gender presentation. Glee actively brings up issues of homophobia, transphobia, and gender policing, particularly around Kurt, so I can easily understand how unusual genderfucks like BPs would show up in a Kurt stan's kink list. It's essentially people saying fuck your gendered tropes and throwing fun stuff like vaginal sex, cunnilingus, pregnancy, etc, into a fic that is still 100% slash, no questions of gender asked or even posited. Which has a couple of interesting overarching consequences.

First of all, we're getting universes where every pairing, regardless of gender makeup, can be compatible in terms of sexual reproduction, eliminating the traditional biological imperative argument against same-sex coupling. BP AUs, like designated soulmate AUs (also HUGELY popular in Glee fandom), are one of the ways that authors can erase homophobia entirely from their fictional worlds.

And second of all, we're also getting worlds where someone's perception of their genitalia is wholly dependent on their gender identity, and not the other way around. Meaning they're essentially creating fic with intersex and/or trans* characters whose intersex and/or trans* bodies are perceived as normal and thus, neither gender-related bullying nor gender-related body dysphoria occur.

The extent to which this is naive and/or fetishizing is debatable (personally, I'm inclined to say "it's the kink meme, that's the point" and let it go), but I think the fact that this has developed as a trope at all is really interesting. The fact that it's found popularity in the Glee fandom makes a lot of sense to me, although I'd love to get more specifics of its origins and proliferation.

Re: Far too many words about boypussies.

[anatsuno]

Thank you for this! it is FAR from tl;dr. :))

Re: Far too many words about boypussies.

[luciazephyr]

I actually just went to a con.txt panel that had the best explanation for this kink, and I'd like to propose it as an alternative. It's really fascinating.

The panel mod pointed out that fact that in many ways Glee is a young fandom. Its writers seem to skew younger than in other fandoms. So you have a lot of young girls writing about Kurt's boy-pussy. But it's not about the trans* thing or the gender thing often.

Such fics have Kurt being ashamed or embarrassed by his body, but having another person being comforting and understanding. It's a way of coming to accept ones own genitalia.

Go back to the fact that we're talking about the vagina. And I can only speak for cisfemale people, but young girls are taught nothing about their own bodies, to the point they don't seem to belong to them in a way young boys and their penii don't have to deal with.

So. You have a lot of cisfemale girls writing about a character who doesn't understand their own genitalia but slowly coming to acceptance with some help from a loved on, and learning about one's own body.

Sound familiar?

Anyway. Just an alternate theory.

Re: Far too many words about boypussies.

[rageprufrock]

Oh! This is really interesting, and reads to me like a totally viable possibility. Plus, I think that slash has always had a bit of that role for women, so it makes sense younger women would be working out their hello-wtf-are-yous with their vaginas in this way.

Re: Far too many words about boypussies.

[rageprufrock]

Totally fascinating.