What it says on the tin.
Some ranting, some advice, some archaic reference, and a lot of cussing. My take on how I think fanfiction should be written and some of the biggest problems with it right now. Because I may not be the best at writing, but...
Warning: This chapter will include a discussion of rape and rape fantasies. Please skip if any of that content is triggering for you.
Eh, I've hit enter enough times, I think we're good.
So let's talk about a thing that kinda is circulating OC fanfiction, and has been for a while now. Rape fantasies.
You've probably read a fic where the OC's love interest is super OOC (well, depending on the character, you could make an argument for some not being OOC but we'll get into it) and ends up raping the OC, and all that delightful abusive stuff happens.
And let's face it, you either love this kind of fic, or you hate it. But either way, you have no place to condemn it.
Are you still here? Good, let's talk then.
Look, rape fantasies are a thing. And they're not a thing you should feel bad about having. It's the simple truth of life that a lot of women have rape fantasies or fantasies of other extreme sexual things they can't or wouldn't actually do in real life. Some of these fantasies stem from actual sexual trauma and are used as coping mechanisms -which, once again is not something you should feel bad about if that's your case- to understand said trauma.
Life is complicated, and not everything people do and think is going to be safe for work. Humans are problematic. Get over it.
And we'd all be fucking lying if we said OC fanfiction isn't sometimes used as a self-insert coping mechanism for trauma. I get it, you're super insistent that your OC isn't based on you because you want them to be seen as "valid" and "professional". Maybe you're telling the truth, maybe you're not. It doesn't matter. The fact is that the majority of OC fic can be summed up as personal fantasies people have. You're telling me that you don't want to be a superhero with the Avengers? Get outta here with that nonsense, of course you fucking do. We all do. That's the point of superhero media. It's escapism.
So it's no surprise that when you combine these two things, you see a lot of OC fanfiction where the love interest rapes and/or abuses the OC. Is it OOC? Sometimes. You could maybe make an argument that Loki or other villain characters would rape someone, depending on where they are in their character arc. Complain all you want that Loki is just a soft and misunderstood uwu bean, but like, he tried to take over a planet and killed hundreds. He's morally grey at best and does shady shit on the daily. Is he a product of his raising with an abusive and absent father? Yes. But that only justifies his actions, it doesn't excuse them.
Anyway, enough of that tangent. Let villain characters be villains is all I'm saying. Yes, Loki has a redemption arc, but he was a villain and that's that on that.
And with characters who are made OOC, for example, Steve has a surprising amount of rapefic, it's all circumstantial anyways. Steve is canonically a Nazi in one timeline, so if you play around with those characters, you can get them to do anything. Tony is like, hella super evil in one timeline. (ngl tho, I fucking love Superior Iron Man so I don't blame him) You can make characters evil or morally ambiguous without compromising their character or making them OOC, especially with characters who've existed in a fuckton of alternate universes. So quit harping on that point, because it's moot.
The overall point here is, you can write OC rapefic. Hell, I encourage it if that's what you need as a coping mechanism. Do what you gotta do.
And if you don't like that kind of fic? Don't read it. I miss the days of YKINMKATO/Kinktomato days of fandom. (for you youngins, that stands for Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay and god I feel old that I have to explain that) Stop harping on people who are trying to find an outlet for feelings they probably don't understand. Let people use fanfiction to figure their shit out, because face it, we're all guilty of doing the same. Because what sounds safer to you, a minor writing bad fanfiction about Steve Rogers raping their self-insert OC or a minor talking about their rape fantasies in a space where creepy adults hear them and take advantage of it? You tell me.
And to the writers of this kind of fic, follow the fandom rule of tagging and warning. While yes, you certainly have the right to write whatever you want, your readers have the right to know what they're getting into. All it takes is a quick "Warning, this fic will contain rape and/or abusive material between the main love interests" in your A/N or description and bam, you've done your part.
Just, live and let live, and remember YKINMKATO.
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