What are your H/D squicks?
Jun. 4th, 2008 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lomonaaerenI'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?
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?
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Date: 2008-06-08 07:10 pm (UTC)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.