Some Cliches About Potterverse Mpreg

May 23, 2005 11:53

This is expanded from a comment of mine over at fanficrants.

Rantage, cut for those who have dial-up )

wizarding customs, potentially nsfw

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divinereverie May 23 2005, 16:45:09 UTC
Ok, first off, MPreg is something left to the masters, like Lexin.

All this MPreg is fandom's way of unconciously or conciously, if you think about it, forcing the gay relationship into the stereotypical Butch/Femme heterosexual based roles. It's not about who tops being the "man" and it's not about who bottoms being the "woman." Stop trying to place people into those roles!

Another thing about MPreg. If two men want to have a baby, don't you think they do it like a couple of normal gay men in our world do it? HELLO -- Surrogate parents!

Or even magical wombs. You'd think that if magical child could grow in a man's stomach, one could concievably grow in a magical -- though artificial -- womb in a ward at St. Mungos.

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gehayi May 23 2005, 17:02:04 UTC
I agree. I could see two guys adopting, or hiring a surrogate mother, but...well, it's clear from the books that magic can't do everything. Ron gets stuck with lousy dress robes that even his parents can't transfigure into the latest wizarding fashion. Remus can't take a potion that gives him instant good health--he remains thin and sickly. St. Mungo's Healers can't restore Mad-Eye Moody's missing leg, and his artifical eye is very obviously artifical.

There is magic in the Potterverse, yes. But it's not a solution to everything. And there are obviously limitations.

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divinereverie May 23 2005, 17:17:18 UTC
Yes, you'd think that if they could grow a magically fertile womb, vagina, ovaries and etc, they'd be able to grow back a leg.

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tiferet May 23 2005, 17:53:14 UTC
I always figured Mad-Eye Moody's leg was damaged magickally in such a way that it would grow back, but not grow back right.

They grew back the bones in Harry's arm. Replacing limbs doesn't seem much harder.

But you know, if someone hit poor Alastor with a really nasty blast of Dark Magick, maybe they tried growing his leg back, and what grew wasn't really a leg any more. Or the "etheric" body (which is the occult explanation for phantom pain in missing limbs) was completely destroyed as well as the physical body, so that when they tried to grow the leg back, it wasn't alive any more. That's my theory.

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divinereverie May 23 2005, 18:01:03 UTC
True that. I've always wondered about it. I was more trying to negate the MPreg with that last statement, not the world of wizarding magic :)

I'm sure they're farther along than Muggles in any case.

One other thing to possibly think about -- Moody being eccentric, might have not allowed them to grow it back? Or maybe by the time he got to hospital it'd been gone too long for them to do anything. Harry's arm got grown back straight away, but if Moody was in the field, it could have been a long time before he got treatment.

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mamadeb May 23 2005, 18:36:08 UTC
One other thing to possibly think about -- Moody being eccentric, might have not allowed them to grow it back?

That's been my latest theory. This is a man who doesn't anyone or anything - he is exactly paranoid enough to refuse to have his leg or eye or nose regrown. That and he finds his magic eye to be very convenient.

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divinereverie May 23 2005, 18:50:37 UTC
Haha, yes! I always see him as a bit of a voyuer too XD

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zambonigirl May 23 2005, 17:51:35 UTC
omgsomuchiconlove!

Sorry. Topic. MPreg is, as charliesmum just said, a way to take two men and make one of them a woman. I think that's why I don't like Submissive!Remus so much. He turns into...well, not a woman, because I can't imagine a woman being that much of an idiot/pussy/cuckold, but just WRONG, so as to balance out the fact that there are no women.

I think it all goes back to the fact that virgins just should not write NC-17.

Oh-and I have never known a gay man, or gay pron to have one male lover lifting the other in his strong, virile arms. There's a lot of slapping, spanking, and dominance fighting, though.

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julian_black May 23 2005, 16:59:36 UTC
One thing that squicks me about a lot of mpreg is the way it fetishizes pregnancy. We get a lot of description of the growing pregnant belly and swelling breasts--with no mention of stretch marks, swollen legs, constipation, or any of a host of physical problems associated with pregnancy. The "father" still finds the "mother" beautiful and desireable throughout the pregnancy--in some cases, even more so.

My primary gripe with it is, as you've pointed out, the forcing of gay male relationships into stereotypically heterosexual ones. Not only must one man take on the "wifely" role, but as a loving, committed couple they are nonetheless incomplete if they do not produce a child of their own. Adoption or surrogates don't cut it; a "real" marriage demands childbearing.

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divinereverie May 23 2005, 17:24:29 UTC
And who even says they're married at all. *sigh* Most gay couples have been fighting for the right to ADOPT, not magically make their own babies. You'd think that would translate, but oh no, it wouldn't do for Harry to raise any children except his OWN.

So? Who says he can't have been in a heterosexual relationship beforehand and concieved? Who says they don't have a surrogate parent?

You'd think there would be more "Harry marries, has a child, gets older and then discovers he's gay." Not everyone finds out they are gay when they're 16. Many don't find out till later in life or even during their adulthood.

Really, just once, I'd like to see a Harry/Draco where they get someone else to carry the baby for them, like say, Hermione. Haha, now I can see Hermione/Ron fighting over it because Ron really doesn't want Hermione to carry Malfoy's child.

Which leads me to another cliche which I'm going to make a post about. :)

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julian_black May 23 2005, 17:50:37 UTC
And who even says they're married at all. *sigh*

Well, usually in mpregs there has been some sort of wedding/bonding ceremony. They seem to go hand-in-hand, at least in the minds of fangirls. And of course, there are no debates within the wizarding world about the status of gays and lesbians (another peeve, another rant, another day).

I'd like to see more of the "[character] gets married, has kids, comes out later"-type stories. Maybe we'll see that sort of thing, eventually, but it won't get written by a teenage fanbrat, that's for sure. In Potterverse fanon, there is an overwhelming tendency for love and relationships to be permanent, once established. I've seen couples separated by death, but I can't remember the last time I saw a couple divorce, or where one partner left the other after being married for a while.

As for relationships between gay men, I'd like to see more fics where both parties get to remain men, and where they can settle down and love each other without even having to bring kids into the picture. Hell, I'd ( ... )

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divinereverie May 23 2005, 17:53:32 UTC
Yes, what about Harry and Draco settling in a nice flat and then living out the rest of their lives comfortably, and occasionally visiting [insert character here]'s children and possibly giving gifts. And that's all!

[grumbles to herself]

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tiferet May 23 2005, 17:49:52 UTC
You are reading the wrong fics, ugh ugh ugh, I have seen a lot of fics for both genders that say WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much about that shit.

I don't want that much realism in my fantasy!

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julian_black May 23 2005, 17:53:04 UTC
[laughs] Oh, believe me--I've seen those, too.

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lexin May 23 2005, 17:09:49 UTC
MPreg is something left to the masters, like Lexin.

::Hides in embarrassment::

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