By Kate Cutler
For my Introduction to Women and Gender Studies podcast, I’ve chosen to examine the Omegaverse, a subgenre of fan fiction that explores fictional secondary genders such as Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. While often associated with sexual themes—such as animalistic mating rituals, nesting behaviors, and mate-bonding through biting—the Omegaverse provides a unique lens for exploring deeper social issues. In this podcast, I will explore topics such as how the Omegaverse can open a new perspective about Reproductive Futurism and Queer and Trans expressionism.
Full Interview With @Spiderbedo
Q: Just a general question to start off, what inspired you to write Serendipity?
A: I will admit that I actually started because I liked the more explicit themes that are easy to find in omegaverse. However, I expanded on that and what it would mean to, but also how it would affect, an actual person. I’m very interested in psychology and so I wanted to expand on the different effects it could cause different characters. It snowballed from there into what it is now. I actually jotted down my initial thoughts/idea for Serendipity into a notepad when I first thought of the idea, since I can be very forgetful. It reads, and my apologies for the bad grammar, but I did really just jot down the very rough idea, Gojo (one of the two main characters) omega at basically slave fertility clinic and Geto (other main character name) buys him because finds out corrupt and already pregnant. Basically recovery plus building family. Gojo very broken from it all.
Q: When you first began writing Serendipity, did you have a certain research process? For example, did you seek information from other omegaverse authors?A: If I remember correctly, I first thought of the idea when I was halfway through a different writing project, so I had to wait until I could begin to actually write it. I try to only work on one project at a time. I’ve read a lot of omegaverse so I was already familiar with the genre. That being said, I kept a lookout for any takes on what omegaverse could entail if it was real and in a fully functioning society. I vaguely remember seeing a thread on Twitter about how betas could actually be above alphas when it came to working opportunities since they generally don’t have to deal with any secondary gender problems. All my other inspiration was from other fanfics that don’t have to do with omegaverse. To me, omegaverse was just another factor of the story that enabled certain plot devices and settings that no other fictional universe/system could.
Q: Is there a particular line or paragraph that you’re particularly proud of? Or a piece of your writing that really showcases the message of the story?
A: Yes, there is! I think I actually have two. The first, found near the end of Chapter 29, reads, “Would treasure the rot spreading beneath his skin and consuming him from the inside out, because Suguru had put it there. Because he thought it looked pretty on him.” I’m mainly proud of it because of the emotional weight it holds, but for context, this line is taken from Satoru’s inner thoughts after he believed that he’d been sexually assaulted by the man he loved. In reality, a life threatening heat had struck him. For those unfamiliar with omegaverse, heats and ruts happen to omegas and alphas as much of that universe is based upon more animalistic features. In some works, including mine, if they get bad enough then they become life threatening. That had been Satoru’s case, but he didn’t understand at the time. After being taken advantage of and tortured for years, he’d believed that abuse and being used was what love was, or at the very least, could let him “earn” his place with someone. After believing the worst had happened, he actually finally relaxed and found comfort in it because it felt familiar and made sense to him.
The next is found in chapter 38.
“Why not, Satoru?” he asked. He could tell him why he was a person, could insist on it day after day, but it would never truly sink in without Satoru coming to the conclusion on his own. “Why aren’t you a person?”
Again, I mainly like this due to its emotional impact, but this was the turning point in a conversation the two main characters were having about how Satoru doesn’t view himself as a person due to the abuse he faced for his secondary gender. These two quotes really help to paint the picture of how constant dehumanization can shape one’s view of themself in order for them to survive and function. It’s a way to romanticize or blame oneself for the abuse to rationalize it. These two quotes showcase the first major storyline about how Satoru slowly learns to heal from the abuse he’s been through.
Q: I noticed that in your story you include many heavy topics regarding Omega’s rights in this a/b/o fiction such as unsanctioned fertility clinics and even childhood trauma towards one’s secondary gender. Was this a hard topic to capture in your story? By hard, this can be interpreted as emotionally distressing OR hard to write itself.A:This was mainly hard for me to write in the sense that I tried to show the discrimination instead of simply saying it. I write about heavy topics in most of my longer writing projects, so there’s very little that will be emotionally distressing for me to write, even if it’s something I hold close to my heart. That being said, I wanted to show the two opposite sides of the spectrum in my story: the abuse of an omega and the abuse of an alpha. I wanted to show how different yet similar they could really be. I also wanted to subtly highlight how discrimination can happen even if society itself favors you and will help you. It can still happen on an individual level. The other trouble I had was to write it in a way where it wouldn’t feel as though I was in the reader’s face about it. I try to write fiction where I encourage people to think, even about the taboo things, in a safe fictional space where one can do so without any real guilt. I want things to feel as though readers can gain a peek into the life of a character and then draw their own conclusions. While I do have a message and take away that I believe to be obvious, as most biases are, I value the different conclusions that people draw from my work.
Q: What do you want your audience to gain from reading your story?
A: I deal with a lot of themes, but in the end, it boils down to two things that are present in most of my works: Treat others with empathy. You never know their circumstances or why they do something. It isn’t your place to judge them, especially when you can only see the surface. The next is that no matter how horrible or dark things become, that there’s always hope and maybe even some happy ending to such a sad circumstance or story. Whether it be a certain someone, found family, or even just you and your own hard work, there’s hope no matter how slim. There’s always something beautiful in life to cling to.
Q: How has your experience been writing about MPreg so far? Do you think omegaverse stories that incorporate male pregnancies can open people’s eyes more about reproductive rights in general?
A: Mpreg… My thoughts on that and writing it are conflicted. I’m pretty sure that google thinks I’m expecting now with all the research I’ve done on pregnancies for what I wrote. In that sense, I have a love-hate relationship for it due to all the hassle I’ve had to put into writing it just because it’s pregnancy. If it’s about Mpreg in the sense that a guy is pregnant, I don’t really care. Due to my gender queer personal identity, I do like omegaverse in the way that it can separate what we perceive to be a “female experience” and give it to a man. To me, some aspects of it have helped me decouple sexual attributes from gender. To others, it may seem to make light or even fetishize such issues. I think that depends on not only the way the story was written, but also the personal lens that one might read a story with. One person’s affirming story may be another’s triggering one and that’s okay. It doesn’t invalidate either person’s view of it. I didn’t set off with this story to tackle reproductive rights, but it ended up happening as the story branched out to tackle societal issues within it that can closely mirror that of the real world’s. While I think omegaverse stories can be thought provoking, I also know that many write them off immediately due to them being seen as “absurd”. It’s hard to be taken seriously within the genre and sometimes I even poke fun at myself about it and how in depth I’ve gone into it. There’s many reasons why it isn’t treated seriously, but I’d say the main ones are that mainly women and queer people enjoy omegaverse, pregnancy and anything related to it is seen as demeaning and emasculating, and that it does carry very inherent queer themes. By the time people get past that list, they’re probably already within the demographic that has thought about reproductive rights in more nuanced terms.
Q: Finally, when thinking about Trans and Queer expressionism and inclusivity in media, there isn’t a lot of representation. However, when viewing a sub genre such as omegaverse, Queer and Transgender people can often find it to be comforting to read due to a character’s secondary gender overshadowing the character’s own sexuality and gender identity. Do you agree with this statement? Feel free to elaborate your own thoughts!
A: I’ve said this before when I got a little off track in the earlier question, but it really depends on the person. To me, I can often find it affirming. To others, it may come across as a sexualized mockery. It all boils down to both perspective and each handling of the topic story to story. In my own story, I do hope the gender queer and trans similarities were easy to see and taken well. I identify as agender so while I am trans in that sense, I also have limited perspective on what it is to “switch” from one end of the gender spectrum to the other. While it’s subtle, the main character, Satoru, does mention his gender dysphoria throughout the story. He doesn’t think a lot of it because he’s had to live with it for a very long time, so the dysphoria and disconnect with his own body is such a constant that he’s put it in the background of his mind. One theme in the omegaverse that can often happen is the idea of presenting as your secondary gender. This can be different or not even happen depending on the story, but in mine, it acts similar to puberty. Your body changes and you’re forced to deal with it. For most people, it either fits their identity or they’re neutral with it. But for others, it clashes with both their personalities and what they want to do in life. For Satoru, he hated it not just due to how society treated him, but on a personal level as well. He didn’t feel like his body was his anymore. In addition to that, I wanted to toy with the idea of how secondary gender would affect how society would view gender. Alphas are more stereotypically male to us while omegas are stereotypically female in our perspective. I wondered how that could influence and interact with being primarily male or female in the story. Would they rely on secondary gender or primary gender? Would they have a whole new type of gender spectrum? Would sexism as we see it even exist, but be more directed by secondary gender? While I wasn’t able to delve into that aspect as much as I wanted to, I did try to show two ends of the spectrum through characters as well. Satoru is a male omega and a side character, Yuki, is a female alpha. I had them mirror each other in that aspect, but also as different trans experiences. Some trans people, showcased by Satoru, feel disconnected from their body to the point of dysphoria. Their best option may actually be surgery and hormones, which are both options Satoru wants to do once he isn’t pregnant anymore. I think this is the side we most often hear about and see, but I wanted Yuki to have a different experience. For her, her primary and secondary gender clash as well, so she’s not seen as fully alpha or fully a woman. However, she adores what people see as a contradiction and thinks it just makes her extra special. Both experiences are valid and very real. Even if some of the trans themes in my story are a little more subtle, I hope they’re validating to some and help people think about it in ways they might have never been prompted to before.
Full Podcast Transcript
So I sent out a survey in preparation for this podcast regarding one of the most fascinating sub genres of fanfiction out there. That’s right, the Omegaverse. Many respondents who anonymously filled out my survey indicated that they were familiar with the subgenre and even referenced specific Omegaverse fanfiction they had read. However, the Omegaverse often carries a negative connotation and receives strong reactions. A significant portion of survey participants described how “gross” and “uncomfortable” the worldbuilding can be. One participant even said: “I’ve felt a bit negatively towards world building. I often feel it creates strange power imbalances and puts a bad feeling in my tummy.” Despite the Omegaverse being rejected by many and often dismissed due to the absurd and erotic concepts, I want to offer a different perspective. Indeed, the Omegaverse, when analyzed critically, can provide insight into concepts like reproductive futurism and potentially serve as an affirming space for the queer and trans community. In this podcast, I’ll be exploring these ideas with two special guests: Omegaverse writer, Spiderbedo on Ao3 and Maisie, a past reader from Sarah Lawerence College.
The Omegaverse originated in 2011, thanks to the popular TV show Supernatural, A fanfiction writer created a story featuring two of the show’s characters, Dean and Sam in a fictional, erotic, animalistic world. This story gained significant attention and marked the beginning of the widespread, A/B/O (Alpha/Beta/Omega) subgenre.
The Omegaverse is quite oligarchy. In these worlds, Alpha’s are portrayed as superior to others, often controlling key aspects of life, institutions, and individuals through their dominance and strong pheromones. They are frequently depicted as sexually dominant, claiming, biting, and marking their Omega partners, which symbolizes possession. Omegas in contrast, are seen as the opposite of Alphas— submissive, weak, and often oppressed. They are frequently reduced to their reproductive roles, existing primarily to mate and bear children. Within these stories, Alpha’s experience“ruts,” periods of intense sexual desire, while Omega’s endure extended “heats.”
In order to understand the Omegaverse to the full extent, we have to analyze the troubling aspects of the worldbuilding, such as the lack of women in A/B/O fiction and the prevalence of sexual violence. In her essay Just Go and Find Yourself A Nice Alpha, Tessa Barone critiques how women are often entirely eliminated from these narratives, with most pairings centering on male Alphas and male Omegas. The author makes a good critique. After all, men are often more well written than women in all forms of media. This aspect alone makes them an easy target for Omegaverse writers to tackle. As a result, writers on platforms like Ao3 and Wattpad are almost inevitably featuring two men together in a relationship, creating dynamics that mimic heteronormative structures that exclude women entirely.
The separation of characters and general humanity is also a commonality, as of course, the societies are governed by animalistic code of ethics. Barone argues, Omegaverse stories are “enabling audiences to indulge in problematic narratives, without necessarily indulging in rape culture itself.” For example, in Spiderbedo’s story Serendipity, themes such as unsanctioned Omega fertility clinics and childhood abuse related to secondary genders are explored. When asked about writing such heavy topics, the author explains: “I wanted to show the two opposite sides of the spectrum in my story: the abuse of an omega and the abuse of an alpha. I wanted to show how different yet similar they could really be. I also wanted to subtly highlight how discrimination can happen even if society itself favors you and will help you. It can still happen on an individual level.” They further elaborate: “I want things to feel as though readers can gain a peek into the life of a character and then draw their own conclusions.”
This raises an important question: Can a story that feels negative or problematic to one person be affirming and meaningful to another?
Reproductive futurism can be defined as a concept centered on future-oriented narratives that prioritizes women’s reproductive experiences. Women, of course, are not the central focus point in the Omegaverse, and rather, Male Omegas take on a maternal role. Male pregnancy, or Mpreg, is a prevalent theme in the Omegaverse. Male Omega’s are typically endowed with a uterus for reproductive purposes upon reaching puberty. During intercourse, when an Alpha and an Omega aim to conceive, the Alpha “knots” the Omega. This process involves the base of the Alpha’s member swelling and becoming engorged, locking inside the Omega to ensure fertilization.
As Spiderbedo explains: “There’s many reasons why it [Omegaverse] isn’t treated seriously, but I’d say the main ones are that mainly women and queer people enjoy omegaverse, pregnancy and anything related to it is seen as demeaning and emasculating, and that it does carry very inherent queer themes.” The Omegaverse is, of course, fictional. Yet, a concept such as Mpreg can surprisingly be of comfort to people. The reader sees that someone’s secondary gender overshadows a character’s primary gender, gender embedded stereotypes, and sexuality. This itself breaks a societal barrier, as the “female experience” of carrying a child is given to a man.
Spiderbedo expresses mixed feelings about Mpreg, but acknowledges its value in decoupling sexual attributes from gender. Similarly, feminist activist and professor Loretta Ross notes that women’s fertility has historically been a focal point of male control and obsession, dating back to the Greek and Roman empires. In the Omegaverse, the dynamics are reversed, Male Omegas experience pregnancy, subverting long-standing notions of gendered fertility. While Mpreg may seem absurd to some, it invites deeper conversations about bodily autonomy, control over reproductive decisions, and the ways queerness can redefine family structures that eliminate the idea of the so-called “nuclear family.
The Omegaverse is unique; it doesn’t really align with either male-centered pornography or female-centered erotica. It truly exists as its own universe, offering a space where writers like Spiderbedo can delve deeply into intricate worldbuilding. At its core, A/B/O fiction is profoundly driven by emotions. One of the central themes in Spiderbedo’s ongoing story Serendipity is the importance of treating one with empathy. Maisie, a past reader of Omegaverse fiction whom I interviewed, shared insightful thoughts about the subgenre (inserted audio clip). Science fiction and fantasy are said to intrinsically represent homosexuality, as it questions morality, humanity and gender.. When I was younger, I watched Star Trek with my father. I got to witness a world where characters embodied both masculine and feminine qualities. This was deeply comforting to me, and the show almost acted like a “safe haven” for when I was feeling down. Although the Omegaverse stands apart as its own subgenre, it remains rooted in the fantastical, with stories that challenge societal norms and conventions. Some elements of these narratives might resonate deeply with readers, offering affirmation and connection. Other ideas can feel unsettling and uncomfortable— and that’s perfectly okay. The beauty in the Omegaverse lies in its ability to evoke such a wide range of responses.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode, and I encourage you to check out the full interview with Spiderbedo below and their ongoing story Serendipity on Ao3!
References
Matthews, Hannah. 2023. “Fanfiction and the Omegaverse.” Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 30 (4): 17–18. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=441ef08b-65e0-34bb-aa23-ac41f1f11556.
Entrikin, Kelsey. 2023. “Dubcon: Fanfiction, Power, and Sexual Consent, by Milena Popova [book review].” Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 40. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2023.2311.
Barone , Tessa . 2019. “Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fanfiction’s Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe.” Oregon State University : Tessa Barone .
Spiderbedo . 2024b. “Q&A for Spiderbedo” Interview by Kate Cutler. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kt_oh6ueyKFLDv79BZ0rHdsmQPhBkMU2ZMR8wD2IcL8/edit?tab=t.0.
Maisie . 2024. “Q&A for Maisie” Interview by Kate Cutler.
Loretta J. Ross (2017) Reproductive Justice as Intersectional Feminist Activism, Souls, 19:3, 286-314, DOI: 10.1080/10999949.2017.1389634
