Sorry for the extreme late reply, but my computer had to be sent in for repairs and I just got it back (with this tab still open when I restarted Firefox). So, my belated response.
I agree that consent issues and world-building and realism can be problems in writing. I also agree that sometimes writers appear to be completely unaware that what they're writing even has consent issues. I wish very much that there was more awareness that rape is rape and that it's harmful and hurtful in fiction when a non-consensual situation is glossed over in the service of "true love."
What I disagree with is that every story has a responsibility to world-building and realism above and beyond the needs of that story. If the story doesn't need a treatise on the cultural history of that society, but instead just needs a sentence about how an alpha is expected to move in with their omega's family, then there's no need for the author to describe every metaphorical rifle over the fireplace.
I also strongly disagree that the above problems are in any way unique to A/B/O stories. Frankly, this type of argument is one I've seen many times before with tropes or genres a reader doesn't like; namely, you've assigned Horrible Flaws to the A/B/O trope and pretended that those flaws happen only in A/B/O stories in order to make A/B/O stories look bad.
The truth is that these are issues in each and every genre of fiction, including professional fiction, and I feel that you've singled out A/B/O stories to pick on because you don't like A/B/O stories, not because A/B/O stories are inherently more flawed than any other genre. It's fine to not like a genre. Goodness knows there are plenty of sub-genres that are auto-skips for me. But don't pretend that the A/B/O trope is the supervillain of fanfic when the problems you have with it are problems that cross over all the genres, including ones you probably like.
I agree that consent issues and world-building and realism can be problems in writing. I also agree that sometimes writers appear to be completely unaware that what they're writing even has consent issues. I wish very much that there was more awareness that rape is rape and that it's harmful and hurtful in fiction when a non-consensual situation is glossed over in the service of "true love."
What I disagree with is that every story has a responsibility to world-building and realism above and beyond the needs of that story. If the story doesn't need a treatise on the cultural history of that society, but instead just needs a sentence about how an alpha is expected to move in with their omega's family, then there's no need for the author to describe every metaphorical rifle over the fireplace.
I also strongly disagree that the above problems are in any way unique to A/B/O stories. Frankly, this type of argument is one I've seen many times before with tropes or genres a reader doesn't like; namely, you've assigned Horrible Flaws to the A/B/O trope and pretended that those flaws happen only in A/B/O stories in order to make A/B/O stories look bad.
The truth is that these are issues in each and every genre of fiction, including professional fiction, and I feel that you've singled out A/B/O stories to pick on because you don't like A/B/O stories, not because A/B/O stories are inherently more flawed than any other genre. It's fine to not like a genre. Goodness knows there are plenty of sub-genres that are auto-skips for me. But don't pretend that the A/B/O trope is the supervillain of fanfic when the problems you have with it are problems that cross over all the genres, including ones you probably like.
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