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BCTS hosts a *huge* variety of stories.
Horror. Science fiction. Fantasy. Real-world. Romance. Erotica. BCTS is home to them all.
But.
I've seen a bit of a disturbing trend popping up in story blurbs on the site, and it has me... concerned.
It's a very simple trend, and a tongue in cheek one. The author describes a potential direction they *could* take their plot, but then says something along the lines of "nah, this is trans fic" or "but this is BCTS," before going on to clarify that they're going to do something darker and more twisted, with the implication being that such things are an expected/required part of the fiction.
This bothers me, and drives me to want to know: how many people feel this way?
It's certainly not a hard and fast rule. The site has been getting more sissy and/or dommy erotica stuff lately, but mostly from, well, the kind of authors who throw these accusations into their descriptions. The site's also been getting a lot of fantasy and sci fi, and a lot of lesbian romance, and other genres that don't (necessarily) have anything to do with these things.
Am I somehow a bad BCTS author because I *don't* fill my stories with needless sex transformations or crossdressing expressly for the purpose of sex? Am I misreading what transfic is about because I try *not* to embrace the most misogynistic views of western society as givens or necessities in my writing?
I think not.
The BCTS I know and love is not an erotica site, any more than it's a romance site, or a fantasy site, or anything else. It's a home for stories of incredible variety in their characters, plots, and the elements used to construct them.
Yes, some of those stories strongly embrace genre tropes of transfic. Some of them are wish fulfillment, or erotica.
Other's aren't, though. Heck, there are stories hosted here that aren't even about trans characters, existing here and appropriately having a home because their authors are, themselves, trans.
I know that these comments in folks' blurbs are meant in fun. I know that they're intended to specifically appeal to a certain portion of the site's audience (which they undoubtedly do.) But I still can't help but feel a little hurt each time I see them, because of what they imply about what the author thinks of the rest of the content of the site, either in what it is or what it should be.
I don't write stories that fit what these authors seem to want to imply the site is supposed to be about.
But we both have an equally valid home here.
Melanie E.
Comments
Hear hear. <3 :-) Debs xxxx
Hear hear. <3 :-)
Debs xxxx
Reality Bytes
Whenever a fictional creation or a whole franchise is taken in a darker, grittier direction there's a certain segment of the fandom that lauds the change as making the stories more realistic and less hoaky. There's one television producer that specializes in taking franchises I've loved and making them all teen-angsty, dramatic and a bit more sexual. So Archie comics becomes the teen soap RIVERDALE, Archie's Sabrina the Teenage Witch gets her own show with malign forces threatening the world and zero laughter. This same cultural appropriator (whose name escapes me) has done the same with the silly Italian cartoon series about fairies THE WINX CLUB, and has filled their NANCY DREW series with nasty characters I wouldn't even want to know. Across the board familiar characters are being redrawn in uglier hues. Batman's JOKER isn't just a fun-loving psychotic murderer who fell into a vat of chemicals and has a great sense of style, in the recent movie exploring his origins he's now a very realistic representation of the way I imagine these mass-shooters who gun down people in supermarkets think and act and see the world. And nevermind that the movie almost seems like a justification for these infinitely selfish + self-pitying jerks lashing out at the world with bullets, this film's Joker was dull and tiresome and watching it was about as much fun as getting a root canal without novacaine. I absolutely fucking hated JOKER.
I'm not adverse to stories that take an unflinching look at how ugly and horrifying the world and the people in it can be. Films like Schindler's List or Hotel Rwanda are important. But when I'm watching cartoons or reading genre the last thing I want is ugliness for ugliness's sake. I already know that the world is a horrible place, and that (so sayeth the Buddha) life is suffering. What I need from my recreational reading most of the time is an ESCAPE from the world's horrors and my own dark thoughts. I like fantasy & comedy, and if that gives you cause to feel superior you can bite my shiny green mermaid ass.
And does making a story darker really make it more "real"? I've read posts deriding Disney's Tinkerbell and her Pixie Hollow gang as being unrealistic because they aren't cruel and dangerous like the Fae in certain old stories... HELLO?! They're fairies- I don't think there is a more realistic version. Like their aquatic cousins the merfolk they can be whatever we want them to be! To me there's something juvenile about the equating of grimness with reality. Most of these "darker" comics creations remind me of their stereotypical audience: 14 year old boys growing up in the suburbs with very little experience in the real world trying to imagine a fetid cesspool of a downtown area full of criminals and lowlifes, and not getting much about it right, but finding a perverse appeal in it because it's so unlike what they've known; and feeling oh-so-grownup about their newfound cynical worldview.
The grittier side of the world quickly loses its glamor when you've been exposed to the real thing for a while, living in fear, getting ripped off by other lowlifes; or the horror of looking into a cop's eyes as he's wailing on you with his plastic baton and not seeing any recognition of you as a fellow human being, just hatred, while his partner isn't joining in but is clearly willing to indulge him in this bit of recreational sadism. (I'll never put that one into a story, it's too personal to turn into fiction and the only time I bring it up is when someone expresses an unreasoning hatred of ALL police, as proof that I know what I'm talking about when I say they're not all bad. That some I met during my "lost years" when I was having frequent encounters with them were amazingly kind to me and most---like the rest of us---were a mixed bag, being only human after all.)
So yes, the world is a dark place. But paradoxically it's also a wonderful place, full of pretty things and belly rubs and people trying to be their best selves- which when they manage to it's beautiful. Yes there are fathers who react to their trans daughter coming out to them by flying into a rage and killing her, and there are also the cases where the dad overcomes all his learned prejudices because he loves his child, and through some miracle manages to see things in a new way, and he's willing to face the herd's opprobrium and their transphobic tirades + accusations by supporting her. That's no less reality, and I know which story I'd prefer to put into my brain and my heart.
But that's enough pedantic windbaggery from me. Read and post what you want. Your tastes aren't mine and they shouldn't be, life would get boring quick if we all liked the same thing, and our freedom to all be different and unique is also one of the great things about this world... while it lasts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_oqQ0evQ0U
~hugs, Veronica
"Government will only recognize 2 genders, male + female,
as assigned at birth-" (In his own words:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1lugbpMKDU
I have noticed a strong trend toward……
Forced feminization in a lot of stories - much more so than a few years ago anyway.
Is this what the readers here really want, or is it just a vocal minority cheering it on? Is it due to a changing of the guard where authors are concerned? What ever happened to the more realistic stories revolving around a main character dealing with their feelings and lives?
I must admit that I enjoy the more Sci-fi or magic based stories as much as the next person - who doesn’t need a little release from reality every once in a while; but my favorites have always been those stories which deal with characters that could have been ripped right off the street outside my house. Stories that deal with how those of us who actually live the reality of being transgender, and those of us who live through transitioning, deal with society and learn to cope with the changes and the losses dealt to us.
Stories the likes of which are not found here nearly as often as they used to be.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Wishful thinking
I suspect that some of the forced fem is wishful thinking. If they are an apparently regular male who wishes they were female, but don't have the nerve to proceed, don't have the cash or perhaps the opportunity because of personal circumstances, then they may daydream about being pushed over the border by someone else.
That means that the decision has been made for them, they don't have to justify themselves, they just have to go along for the ride. Now those doing the forcing may have good motives or bad ones, but everybody's daydreams are different because their circumstances are different. Whether the subject likes the outcome or not, it is the process that is important. Sometimes, if the writer's imaginations are good enough, they even begin writing stories about the process.
Many of those who begin writing TG stories start, as I did, with the product of our wishful thinking. Some never get beyond that stage. Once their thoughts are down on paper (or on BC's, or someone else's servers) then they have done what they need to and dry up. Others find other daydreams to write about and become actual authors. There may still be TG content but it is subsidiary to the main story.
I didn't begin by writing TG stories. I was writing adventure and science fiction for decades before I even knew TG fiction existed[1]. However, I soon realised that I could write adventure and science fiction with a TG twist, I didn't have to stick with the common tropes. To me, finding a new way to involve my characters in a situation is half the fun. (The other half is getting them out again.)
However, I understand why some authors write what they do, even if I have little desire to read what they offer. Maybe some of them will develop into mature writers, able to write stories that just by chance have a TG angle. Or maybe no TG angle at all.
I wouldn't concern yourself over current trends. I have been on this site long enough to see that things go in cycles. This, too, shall pass.
Penny
[1] Sadly, most of those tales are unpublishable, those that survive. Many have been lost through moves or disk crashes. There are still a few that may be rewritten or progressed, but don't hold your breath. I have been stuck on this other planet for some time now.
Fantasies
The forced transformation stories can definitely be 'wishful thinking'. Because even if someone possessed the budget for hormones and surgeries (SRS and all the available plastic/cosmetic), the results will almost never be as good as a magic spell or technological wizardry doing things 'right'. Especially if the girl or boy they 'see' their true selves as being is entirely different from the body and development they were handed at birth. And yes, the 'decision being made for them' aspect can be especially appealing as it meant they didn't have to make the awful choices between setting their spirit free as best as possible versus the perceived needs of their family/loved ones - or even their own needs for financial security.
Certainly for the books I've been trying to get out of my head and into text, the TG element falls into this kind of category - though the resolution/facing/full acceptance of the change for the main protagonist is still ongoing (even four+ books later!). It's just not the 'main' plot of all the storylines woven in, rather it's a piece of a (much) larger puzzle in the journey of self-discovery.
If it makes you feel better, I've got something in the works.
I'm 20-ish thousand words into what's likely to be an 80-ish thousand word story, that will premier on the patreon at some point in the future :)
*hugs*
Melanie E.
Very much looking forward to seeing it….
Honey - make sure you keep me in the loop!
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
I write whatever comes into my head
I rarely think about what genre a story belongs to, I just want to make as good a story as I can.
Content
Some folks are convinced that this genre is always fetish-oriented, and not merely the sub-genre's tropishly expected themes and situations depicted therein.
I try as much as possible to write and post thing which dovetail with my interests. And I try as much as possible to have the stories fit what might be expected in a sub-genre such as crime drama or Irish Folk lore, etc. If I do 'erotica', for example, it's always in the context of a situation nestled within a story of the relationship of the characters. Whatever I write I hope that it meets the expectations of my readers.
As a reader. whatever sub-genre or subject that I do not prefer to read, I steer clear of. I might be incliined to read them anyway if they are included in stories written by favorite auhors and/or friends; trusting that the inclusion of certain topics are germane to the over-all telling of the story.
I do get an occasional alaming surprise when very serious and caution-expected topics and situations either arise suddenly or are contrary to the overall tone of the story. That's not a complaint against the wtiers whatsoever, but rather my personal baggage suddenly being unlosaded onto the platform at my psychic train station.
A suggestion for anyone writing stories submitted here. A signficant number of readers and even authors are survivors of sexual assault and/or incest. Whatever might be needful regarding too-much-info for a published book does not necessarily fit with the readership here. Consequently, a strong caution is entirely appropriate, as the land mines of those topics are almost unavoiddable without warning.
If that is too much to expect given the need for suspense, perhap a compromise of a strong warning immediately after the break. Almost like the change from a major to a minor key in a film score. This way the reader at least knows enough to prepare. And anything I suggest is simply and merely a suggestion.
Having said all that, we who are transgender and auhors migh be all-too-well acauainted withthe occasional times where someone who is admittedly not transgender tries to explain just what being transgender is.
To paraphrase John Wayne," I only gave you one gal's opinion."
This comment is sponsored by Tangents R Us.
Love, Andrea Lena
Cyclical
This comes and goes over the years if you watch. The darker stuff tends to turn me off and if I have time, start writing my own stuff then. I'm sure some happier stuff will come out to fill the void as time goes on. (Also makes a great time to go back and read some of the older works that deserve another read!)
It has to be said.
If you don't like the content, don't read it, I don't myself.
The truly sad part is the darker stories are a close representation to what many of us experienced in life so of course we don't want to read it.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
And I don't.
As Tiffany said, stuff like the themes themselves are cyclical, and I recognize that.
My question was more about the several times I've seen authors recently making points in their intros that such things *had* to be present due to the nature of where the fiction was being posted or the general TG nature of it.
Melanie E.
Everyone has their own tastes
Everyone has their own tastes. I like SciFi, but won't write or rarely read magic stories. I like at least partial realism. I have never written a magic story as you can be very lazy with the plot. If something does not add up, well "wizard did it". That is not to say there are not some amazing magic stories on here.
Forced is a CD/TV go-to in many cases, as often some are trans and feel very bad that they are not "real men". Being forced takes the guilt away. I have used blackmail in a story before. That was one of my most popular stories on here.
My latest story was about the attempted rape of a trans woman. That got 100 kudos in just over 24 hours. I thought that was pretty dark.
My femdom stuff goes down like a lead balloon. I have only written a few of those.
It would be a shame to put "rails" on writers' creativity. As someone has said, just read the stuff you like.
Leeanna
Where are folks getting the idea I want folks to change stories?
My blog post isn't about the content of the stories themselves, merely the implication in the blurbs that appear on the front page that such content are what the site or TG fic are supposed to be about.
BCTS is a welcoming place for almost any and almost all kinds of transfic, and it should always remain such.
If I were to post a story and imply in the blurb on it that appears on the front of the site that all trans stories are or should be cutesy straight romances with only one trans character in the entire story, I'd be wrong, and I'm sure many people would call me out for trying to shame them for writing things that don't fit that.
Melanie E.
As I write different types of
As I write different types of stories. Many have no sex at all. I warn readers before that this is a sex story on here. Another site I have to warn when it isn't.
Leeanna
Not getting your point
Reading the comments, it seems nearly all are discussing the contents of the stories and not the blurbs which appear in the descriptions. I have noticed a few (apparently not as many as you seem to have noticed) blurbs which are as you described: "Of course, considering this site, it won't be that at all..." And I agree that it is off-putting. I know already where I am reading, and am aware of the great variety of story types published here. I would prefer a straight-forward description so I can determine if the story is one I want to invest my time in reading. Like many of the others, there are some genres I like and some I avoid. The introductory blurbs, along with the descriptions and cautions, allow me to choose what to read.
Thank you.
It probably feels like more than it's been, to be honest, just because they really stuck out as jarring to me, but yeah:
Content of the story? That's fair. I too prefer clear tags so I know what I'm getting into, but just because a story isn't my thing doesn't mean I'm gonna object to it being here (for the most part.)
But the blurb for the story itself making statements or assumptions about what content for the site should be just rubs me the wrong way, and I don't think sets a good tone vis a vis the expectations of visitors unfamiliar with the site or who haven't been by in a while.
Melanie E.
The Great Thing
About BCTS is that if you just stay with it all the tropes/genres go around and come around. There are fads and fashions that seem to dominate at times and maybe these are encouragement to some writers to emulate that particular trend at that particular time, but come back in a year and something else is the fashion du jour.
The main thing is that the good writers will always dominate and they don't necessarily follow the fashions. Their stories are the ones that will stick in your mind and bear rereading. I won't name names because I will forget someone but the reader will supply those names from their own memories and to their own tastes.
Some have been around for years and some have appeared more recently. You will always find stories here that appeal to you. Just be patient and explore.
Perversion and baggage
My concern along these lines is not what the authors or trans readers on this site think should be in TG stories to make them authentic TG. It's about the perception the cis world has of trans. If you follow the political arguments for say the bathroom bills a couple of years ago and more recently the medical care of trans children, you'll see that the vocal cis population sees being trans as some sort of perversion. Like if you're trans you are also a closet pedophile, or that the reason you want to use the women's restroom is voyeuristic or worse, you're looking for an opportunity to catch a cis woman with her pants down so you can rape her. Then there's the cis contingent that is sure that all trans are really homosexuals. Which they also paint with a broad brush.
My feeling is if as TG authors we include any elements that feed this perception we'll see that story used to show the "truth about trans people". They'll say, "See? That's what's really in their minds. That's why we have to keep those perverse degenerates away from or children and out of the women's room."
Then there's the perception that Amazon seems to be stuck on that all TG fiction is erotic in nature. That may be where the authors you're concerned about get their idea of what belongs in a TG fiction story.
Personally, as a trans individual, I have enough of my own baggage about being trans to deal with when interacting with the cis world. I don't need to take on the gay baggage, or pedophile or voyeur baggage. I'm careful in my writing and in the stories I choose to read that I steer clear of any such situations. I want my characters to be seen as average people who happen to be dealing with trans something in their life.
So when I look at the blurbs I always scan the cautions. Almost any caution except tissue alert will get me to give it a pass as will "mature audiences" as well as a host of others that I can't bring to mind right now.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Think about the pile
Aldous Huxley wrote a Hollywood novel called Ape and Essence. Two writers are crossing a studio lot, and see a truck so loaded with scripts that one falls off -- and that screenplay is the rest of the book. The details aren't important... what I want you to picture is that truckload of scripts, and the two guys who read the one that happens to literally fall at their feet.
BCTS is like that truck, loaded with stories, and the scripts that fall off the truck are like the stories that appear on the home page here.
Nobody talks about the pile and what trends are visible in there. We can't -- it's unknown territory.
Who knows how many books, chapters, episodes, are posted here?
You can search, but you can't really dig with either precision or randomness, the way you can at a library, for example.
There's a pile. Every time someone talks about trends at BCTS or "the majority of stories" at BCTS, I think about the pile.
- io
Blurbs? (shrug)
I can't speak to what is in the blurbs -- I (almost) never look at them. They don't tell me what I want to know anyway. I just look at the titles and the authors in the "Recent Content" section; based on that, I eliminate almost all the stories anyway. I then open the ones that look like they might be interesting, and based on the first few paragraphs I decide if I want to read the rest of the story.
I suspect I'm not the main target audience here, anyway, at least to judge by the stories that make it through my filters. I started reading here when I first realized I might be trans and wanted to figure out what that meant for me, so I'm mostly interested in the aspects that realistically show how a trans woman might feel, ideally one who is kind of like me. A lot of stories seem to be about some flavor of magic, or superpowers, or sex, which don't interest me. (They're okay if they are there to serve the protagonist's emotional development.) I've been living as a woman now for over 5 years, so the fantasy version of transgender-ness doesn't appeal to me. I mean, I make no secret that I'm trans -- trans and proud of it -- but it's not a big issue any more. My C-PTSD is a much bigger issue in my life, since it really impacts my daily life, and there are no clear paths through it.
As for what the cis world thinks trans people or TG fiction are about, I can't dig up any interest in worrying about it. For me, TG fiction is what we write for us, especially since most cis people will never get it anyway, so why should I care what they think? As for their impression of us: haters gonna hate, capitalism is going to exploit us (like they do everybody), and I can't change that. The only effective way to correct people's misapprehensions of trans people is for them to get to know some of us, preferably in person. It's up to each person as to whether they are willing -- or safe -- to be out, but it's the out trans people that will make the difference. (That's how gay and lesbian people got to be seen as normal.)
After cogitating on this for a bit
and after resetting the smoke alarms (thinking is hard!), I think I figured out, t least for myself, what I find about the whole brainwashing, forced fem, make 'e change their sexual preferences stuff: It glorifies the conversion therapy argument. If it is so easy to make them love men in a sexual way, then it should be super easy to make a gay man/lesbian woman change preferences, thus revoking the sanctity of God's gift to man of free will, right?
Still thinking...
Writers have many reasons
I’m not articulate enough to express this well, but one thought is this: we are all made at a young age to see conventional gender roles and their constraint on our aspirations. For some, forced-fem reflects, subverts even, what was distasteful as a child. For others, transformation stories may reflect the experience of puberty; I still remember decades ago seeing me in the mirror in ill-fitting clothes thinking, “this is the body I have now,” and realizing I was adaptable enough to accept it. Some of the “easily accepts a transformation” stories may be the author’s own way to a similar point.
My heart both aches for the pain of you who have it less easy, and celebrates the friendship shared here at BC.