Pride often brings up plenty of arguments about who “counts” as queer. Every year, we debate whether kink communities “belong” at Pride. People argue that folks in heterosexual-presenting relationships don’t belong in queer spaces. (Ronê Ferreira / Pexels.com) Another argument often emerges alongside discussions about who “belongs” or “doesn’t” belong in the queer community. Every so often—and...
Is the Omegaverse Problematic?
By now, almost everyone and their mother has heard about the omegaverse. If you didn’t discover “wolf-kink porn” through the copyright debacle a few years ago, you might have heard of it when AIs seemed to devolve into writing a/b/o fics. That loaned support to the idea that AI had been trained on stolen fanfic—among other stories. (Ron Lach / Pexels.com) Whether you’re brand new to omegaverse or...
The Issue of Mr. Mom in Mpreg
I’ve argued before that omegaverse tends to play fast and loose with our notions of gender. Mpreg, generally, does the same thing. One of the curiousities of the genre is that characters who can get pregnant maintain a cisgender identity. Because sex and gender is always so very clear cut. That can cause some consternation when it comes to terminology—particularly when Baby arrives. Should we...
Mpreg and Transmisogyny
For International Women’s Day in the past, I’ve looked at topics like “what makes a woman” and other such topics. This year, I wanted to return to a topic I’ve written about before: mpreg and transphobia. Specifically, though, I wanted to look at how transmisogyny plays out in our mpreg stories. What Is Transmisogyny? Transmisogyny is the intersection between transphobia and misogyny. Transphobia...
Between Here and Eternity: The Age Gap Romance
The age gap romance gets more play than anyone gives it credit for. What does it look like when we put supernatural creatures into play too?
Can We Ever Get Identity “Right”?
When everyone demands authenticity in fiction, we fall all over ourselves to "prove" our identities. Maybe we're asking the wrong questions.
Is Polyamory Queer?
Is polyamory really queer? I think we should probably consider it to be queer praxis, at least in some sense.
Why Romance Novels Are the Latest Target of Book Bans
Nora Roberts is apparently too spicy for people -- and we need to be worried about that. Book bans are coming for romance novels -- even clean ones.
Bioessentialism in Omegaverse
Art is always political, which means even tropes like omegaverse take on political bents. We should be wary of bioessentialism in omegaverse.
Where Are All the Alpha Females in Omegaverse?
Look up omegaverse, and you're bound to trip over "omega male" characters. It's much harder to find their counterpart, the alpha females. Why?