Entry tags:

fandom, fiction, misogyny

I used to write a bunch of fanfic, first (if you don't count juvenilia, and anyway those were... heavily derivative original fiction) Star Trek Voyager and then Due South. It was fun and good practice and ultimately I decided to put my effort into original fiction.

But from time to time, eg when I'm watching the entire first season of Criminal Minds while the end of season four plays out an hour at a time on NZ TV and Hotch is making me nervous in a way that hits all my kinks -- I get the urge to write out my theory of what'll happen to him in the form of fanfic.

In an effort to stave off this urge, I go searching for fanfic on the grounds that if someone else has already written it, I won't have to. Makes sense, right? Yeah, but no, that was a bad idea.

I only searched very cursorily but here's what I found:

1) A fic in which Hotch has turned serial killer and Reid has to help catch him except the two have fallen in love. The first scene was really really hot. But then the writer started writing actual erotic stuff and I got bored.

2) A fic in which Hotch and Prentiss develop a relationship. There was some really sweet stuff in here. However it also suffered from Fangirl Misogyny Syndrome, to wit, Hotch's ex-wife was portrayed as an evil controlling abusive bitch because she dared to divorce the poor martyr even though the show made it fairly clear that she divorced him because she couldn't cope anymore with him regularly abandoning his family to go chasing serial killers.

Fangirl Misogyny Syndrome is widespread in every fandom I've encountered. In Due South the clearest example is Ray Kowalski's ex-wife Stella. On-screen, we see him stalking her. In fanfic, she's frequently portrayed as an emotionally abusive bitch. Strong female characters like Thatcher in Due South or Nechayev in Star Trek TNG become absolute harpies in fanfic. Less assertive women like Francesca Vecchio (Due South) or Deanna Troi (ST:TNG) become in fanfic stupid, whiny and weak; and if they try to become more assertive (attending police academy; taking the exams for commander) that's a joke, at best, to the fangirls. To be fair, in ST:Voyager, Admiral Paris also suffers from the vilification of those who worship Tom Paris, by becoming anything from a neglectful father to a child molester, so it's not *just* women; but it's predominantly women. I gather from smallcaps that the misogyny is endemic to Supernatural show and fandom, and fangirl pressure has made things even worse on the show.

The creepy thing in Criminal Minds fandom, though, is that we've seen episodes about stalkers obsessing over their object of affection to the point of wanting to kill people who are a "threat" to them in any way, or a "threat" to the stalker; and I see in Fangirl Misogyny Syndrome echoes of the way obsessing over a character turns to vilifying any woman who in any way hurts him or conversely is too close to him for the fangirl's comfort.

3) A fic in which a (female, fwiw) scientist creates a love potion "for personal purposes" and it's stolen and released into a) Quantico, causing everyone there (though we focus on Hotch and Reid) to jump for the nearest body and have wild passionate sex, then, "if their biochemistry is compatible", to require sex with said partner every few days for the rest of their life on pain of death; and b) Congress, ditto, at a time when they're being live telecast. Hijinks ensue. Hotch and Reid bond for life. The public inexplicably thinks that an orgy of politicians is hot. Congress sees the error of its homophobic ways and enacts gay marriage so Hotch and Reid can live happily ever after.

No-one ever points out that this love potion is indistinguishable from a date rape pill. People whose "biochemistry" isn't "compatible" (and what the heck does that even mean?) barely even suffer embarrassment and pregnancy is just a "Eh, I always wanted a baby anyway. If you're the Dad you'll help support it, right?" We have no broken marriages. No STDs. No trauma. And no trauma. Also no trauma. Did I mention no trauma? I'm just saying here.

---

So now, not only do I want to write a fic about:

1) Hotch as serial killer;

but I also want to write fic about:

2) Hotch's ex-wife's painful decision to divorce him because, though she loved him, she couldn't cope with the stress of his job, and she knew that if she asked him to give up that job he'd be miserable; and

3) A random love potion infestation in which being under the influence is terrifying, the aftermath involves serious trauma, and those who have bonded long-term but don't actually *like* each other have to nevertheless find some way to stay alive.

This was not my original intention.