What are your H/D squicks?

[lomonaaeren]

I'm talking about squicks specific to Harry/Draco fic here (like a certain type of characterization), rather than to squicks that could apply across the board (like bad grammar or spelling).



1) Reading a fic in which the author portrays "bottom" as meaning "weak." Just ugh. So the minute Harry and Draco get into bed, even if the one bottoming has been strong, argumentative, complex, and equal to the other up until that point, now he must start crying and being scared of penetration and doing whatever the one topping tells him to do even if he's uncomfortable with it? I know there's a power dynamics to sexual relationships, but stripping it down to power and only power bores and disgustes me. In extreme cases where the one on the bottom is also very feminized, I think there's more than a hint of misogyny. Women can never be powerful unless they're the ones penetrating men? The penis is almighty? Please.

I don't mind stories where, say, Draco finds more pleasure in bottoming, or where Harry or Draco has a psychological quirk that inclines them to one or the other. Even there, though, I want it to fit in with previously established characterization. If Harry and Draco are perfect equals out of the bedroom and then suddenly have a D/s relationship inside it with no prior hint of that, simply because the author assumes the bottom is less powerful and under the control of the top, I'm clicking the back button.

2) This one is more nebulous. I can't really call it "one flawed character, one perfect character" because I've seen stories where both Harry and Draco were flawed that still hit this squick for me. Maybe I'll call it "one character hopelessly mistaken, the other always right." In any case, what happens is that the author sets one character on a pedestal and makes the other one into a hopeless mess as he chases the idolized one, dragging him relentlessly through past mistakes, making him apologize for the most minor things, cursing him with awkwardness at tasks he can do perfectly well, and treating mistakes as deadly and unforgivable until he's groveled and pleaded. It seems to happen more often that Draco is the perfect one, and Harry is the one who has to do something to "deserve" him, but I suspect that's not true and it's simply that I've run into more stories that do it; I've seen it the other way around, too, and it squicks me just as hard. Now, in canon they've both made mistakes, but saying that Harry must apologize and grovel and never be good enough for the author's perfect, beautiful, snarky, witty Draco because he used Sectumsempra on him, while it's just fine that Draco almost killed Harry's best friend (if you want to limit it to events in the same book), strikes me as deeply silly. The excuse I've seen offered is "Well, Draco didn't mean to kill Ron, he was trying to kill Dumbledore!" And Harry didn't know what that spell did; it's not like he lingered down the corridor rubbing his hands together, cackling gleefully, and imagining Draco all over blood. If you're going to focus heavily on the canon mistakes that will keep Harry and Draco from an easy relationship with each other, why in the world is it limited to one side?

I suspect that, in the end, this squick is largely the same as the other for me: I want to see Harry and Draco have an equal relationship, and the author weakening one or idolizing one prevents that from happening.



What are your H/D squicks?

Comments

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you talked about this; it's fascinating. I wonder if the very large proportion of female authors in slash fandom leads to an engagement with power dynamics that, while often interesting, sometimes overrides the portrayal of actual gay sex for a commentary on the way heterosexual roles work. If sex is power and only power, it's not exciting for women sleeping with men, but I don't think it's exciting for fictional men sleeping with men, either.

I love flawed characters. But what I seem to encounter a lot these days are character who have cosmetic flaws, like quick tempers, but never actually make mistakes. That's very annoying.

[scribblebits.livejournal.com]

I could see Draco replying to Dray or Draky. With a well placed sectumsempra or other painful hexes.

[nimue-8.livejournal.com]

Interesting!
I agree with you, but I have other squicks as well.

1. I don't enjoy mpreg. Even if it's a good writer (and I must say I read a good one, I get the feeling they wanted a girl. It borders on Mary Sue. For me, it 's just another way of over-feminizing Harry or Draco. But, that's in no way a judgement on the author's talent. Just not my kind of scenario.

2. What is not my cup of tea as weel are long sessions of torture, dehumanization, humiliation. Major Squick.
Now, I understand that in the context of a war or aftermath of war, dangerous and ugly things can happen. I enjoy hurt and comfort, I want the heroes to face adversity. Torture and horror happen in canon, too.
It's just that in some stories, some writers seem to revel in awful details for the sake of shock value, or even worse, kink value.
Sorry, Abu Graib as entertainment doesn't work for me. There is this good story that has some nasty flash backs; I just have to skip them.

As a corollary, I'm not strong on one of the protagonists tortures and humiliates the other as a part of their relationship. Not cool.
Yes, the Harry/Draco dynamcis are based on a power struggle and it's fascinating, but I don't beleive in one chracter or the other accepting to be treated this way. I get even more uncomfortable when the author seems to find it cool and sexy.
Mind you, I will accept a bit of S/M in slash-fic if it's mild and chracter-driven, not when it comes out of the blue.

3. The total demonization of the Weasley clan. It starts from the pertinent observation according to which, there is bad blood between the Malfoys and the Weasleys and that Harry being in love with Draco might prove awkward to say the least.
That's true!
But then, some writers who idealize Draco will decide that anybody who dislikes Draco is wrong and evil. Next thing we know, Draco was right that fateful day on the train when he said that some wizard family are better than others. Harry was wrong : the Weasleys are all demented bastards, which explains why they are wary of Draco. It's not because he and his father have been obnoxious in the past tried to killed different members of the family and so on.
I must say, I enjoy the angsty and uncomfortable situation that Harry's love for Draco creates with his surrogate family. But let's remain a bit in-character here.

4. Finally, since the Potter series are recent in the literary landscape and was first aimed at kids, we sometimes get teenage stuff I don't enjoy, but that's just me. I certainly don't want to smack of ageisme here. A lot teenagers are talented writers. I just tend to click on the return button, when Harry and Draco are transformed in - like OMG - caricatural teenage girls.

[nightlo.livejournal.com]

For Mine..

1) The author takes tortures, rape and other related dark issues lightly...for example, it is easy to 'cure' rape by just having a 'perfect' one time sex, or by treating the victim like glassy objects...those stories always seem naive to me, I will just totally ignore them...BTW, if the stories contain too many dark issues, but just wanting to write or include dark issues with no major plotting...again, the story is really unrealistic and I will drop it immediately!

2) Too OOC characters, esp. feminine Draco and Harry, or too devil Dumbledore and Hermione...tough I have definite preference for a top!Draco and bottom!Harry (just cannot explain, maybe I love Harry too much to want to cuddle and spoil him...)...however, they are guys, it is never easy to admit one sexuality (it takes time...) If suddenly they can admit they are gay and become very fussy, I will stop reading immediately! BTW, fussy, bossy and irate women are not popular either, then why would a fussy, bossy, irate feminie Draco or Harry would be popular?

3) Super powerful Harry - hey! Be rational, even superman has weakness, even saints can make mistakes (or you can say...merline)... then why would a TEENAGE 17 Harry suddenly inherite some hidden bloodlines, enable him to become a perfect super powerful always-know-it-all wizard? Even magic has its limit, it would be boring if everything can be solved by it...

4) Lastly, too many OCs or marysues...as this is not original fiction but fan fiction...

5) Just simply, bottom!Draco fic, as my cup of tea is bottom!Harry or at least equal relationship - no flame please, just my personal choice!

[saylee.livejournal.com]

I got here following a trail of links from somewhere. I hope you don't mind if I jump in with my two cents.

I can't stand fics where Draco suddenly has nothing to do with his old friends, or where all the other Slytherins are completely evil and threatening his life. On a related note, I don't understand why people feel the need to make Draco all chummy with Blaise, and ignore the existence of Crabbe and Goyle (well, the former existence of Crabbe). I realise Crabbe and Goyle aren't particularly smart, or perhaps more importantly in the eyes of certain authors, pretty, but all indications from canon point to them being more important to Draco than Blaise. Obviously, what happened in DH changes things, but there are plenty of ways to play it, while remaining true to the fact that the relationship existed and mattered before.

Another one is post-DH fics in which Lucius is still being written as powerful, abusive, Dark-Lord's-Right-Hand-Man, etc. I don't doubt he's still a bastard, or that he was probably a shitty father, whether he loves his son or not, but it is clear that he loves his son, that he wasn't particularly important to the Dark Lord (what with being in disgrace and all), and that he can be pretty pathetic. If he's going to be the villain of a story, more needs to be done to establish why.

I will never understand mpreg, and I hate feminized Harry (and also feminized Draco, though I have a little more tolerance for him), wedding fics, and eloquent Harry. Pet names often bother me, unless they are appropriate, and in character. I like pet names used the way they are in the webcomic Friendly Hostility, where Fox calls Collin "baby" (complete with a leer) and Collin calls Fox "fucktard".

One last one that bugs me is cool, calm, confidant, suave Draco. He may be putting forward that front, but to me it's ridiculously out of character, particularly when he's also the dangerous powerful top. I like to see Draco with some vulnerability. Not victim!Draco, but more prickly and defensive, to the point of being downright vicious depending on the circumstances. I'm sure that someone else considers that wildly ooc.

[yazzigazzi.livejournal.com]

hey, i don't mean to interrupt but i totally agree on everyting you've said. do you by any chance have a H/D reclist?
i'd be delighted to read that if you have one... i think we really have similar taste:)

[vwalk.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed the responses to this question and agree with some... not so bothered by others. But one thing that I really can't abide is "you raped me but now I love you" or "I love you so much I have to rape you." I was the victim of a sexual assault and can't imagine ever having 'love' type feelings for the man who assaulted me. (I tend to avoid any type of rape/ non-con anyway.) That whole "I was tortured and gang raped yesterday and today I need to have sex with you so I can feel clean" - I can't possibly take stories like this or the characters in them seriously.

I recently read a fic that I thought dealt somewhat 'realistically' with the issue of rape. Its a great fic called "Saving Draco Malfoy" by Dayspring. What was so creative and realistic about it to me was that the victim wasn't actually the one who was raped and yet the one who WAS raped had serious repercussions that he had to deal with. (So as to not spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, I won't say any more. But I HIGHLY recommend it - if you don't mind mpreg.)

I also don't like the super feminized or overly macho Harry or Draco. And when either character is too far from canon it turns me off. I've read fics where it felt like all the author did was take an original fic and change the main characters names to Harry and Draco, because they're nothing like the Harry and Draco that we've come to know through canon. Some departures from canon are okay - but not total personality makeovers.

The other thing that really irritates me is the supreme, all-knowing, never-wrong Hermione. I realize that she's very intelligent and cares a great deal about Harry and likes to know what's going on with him. However when she (at 13, 14, 15, 16 years old, after a couple of trips to the library) comes up with solutions that no one else in the history of the wizarding world has ever achieved, or can look at Harry and instantly 'know' everything that he has done or thought about doing, I am definitely turned off. I mean if she's so so smart, why is she still in school?

Also, I know that best friends sometimes tell each other everything, but we know that Harry tends to hold things inside, especially after fifth year and I can't reconcile that Harry with the "I can pry out all your secrets whether you want to tell me or not"/Mother!Hermione.

[(Anonymous)]

The best: "The emerald green eyes" followed the gorgeous slytherin...

Emerald green eyes... Even if they are that color... It's just so horrible to read ^^"

[asdjhk.livejournal.com]

This is such a late reply but I just had to say that I completely agree with you on the bottom/top sexual roles in the relationship. I have a very strong preference towards bottom!draco but I want him to be a male not a girl with a dick. That just defeats the purpose of 'slash' fiction.

There are so many other things that not really squick me but bother me quite a bit. I wont mention all of them else this comment would become a novel.

This was a good question to ask your flist. I enjoyed reading the replies, interesting to see that many are squicked by the same things.