Omegaverse

Works in the Omegaverse genre typically depict characters as possessing two sexes: a primary sex (male or female) determined by their external sexual organs, and a secondary sex that manifests during puberty, determined by their internal reproductive system. The secondary sex is typically one of the following, each of which also corresponds to certain distinctive character traits: penises with knots (used to "knot", or tie, the partner to an Alpha during copulation, an action known as "knotting"), imprinting, and potentially permanent psychic bonds with a mate. and Alphas can impregnate regardless of their main gender. To make penetration and impregnation easier, male Omegas often have self-lubricating anuses. In darker stories, this results in non-consensual or dubiously consensual intercourse, forced pregnancies, kidnapping of Omegas and sexual slavery. Omegaverse works are most frequently focused on male-male couples composed of an Alpha and an Omega, or dominant Omegas and submissive Alphas. While the terms "A/B/O" and "Omegaverse" can be used interchangeably, the first one often refers only to the sexual dynamics, while the second one is preferred when the story is set in a new ideological world. == History ==

Tropes origins The tropes commonly associated with the genre are not exclusive to it: they can be found across fandoms of various media, but came together in the Omegaverse in what Professor Kristina Busse has described as "a seemingly perfect storm". Ursula K. Le Guin also wrote, in her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, about an extraterrestrial androgynous world with hermaphroditic characters and mating cycles named kemmer. Another source of inspiration could have been the science fiction drama Dark Angel, in which Supernatural actor Jensen Ackles plays twin supersoldiers with feline DNA, and female characters of their species go into heat. In 2012, the notion of "fated mates" was introduced. In 2014, Omegaverse gained strong traction in Japan, acquiring market value with the publication of the first A/B/O manga in 2015. In 2016 the discrimination and power dynamics between Alphas, Betas and Omegas began to be outlined, and the idea of the mark or bite that chemically and biologically links couples together was created, while in 2018 the concept of the "inner wolf", an animal instinct guiding Alphas and Omegas, arose. Through her work Kanraku Alpha Enigma, manga artist Shinshi Nakai subsequently tried to add the "Enigma", a new type of character who can mutate their secondary gender, but the novelty was resisted by Omegaverse fans and had no impact or continuity. == Reception and analysis ==

Omegaverse has become both extremely popular and controversial in fandom circles. Some condemn it, claiming that it reinforces patriarchal values and a rape culture, objecting to its roots in bestiality fiction and the power imbalances between genders. Academic opinions are equally divided between those who believe Omegaverse shows a new type of gender essentialism combined with homophobic and heteronormative elements, and those who give it a transgender reading. and it is used by writers and readers "as a tool to articulate and think through consent issues in unequal relationships". Similarly, Laura Campillo Arnaiz argues that dark Omegaverse works serve to gain control over the feelings of helplessness and humiliation that characterize it, creating a cathartic experience. Academic Paige Hartenburg has suggested that the Omegaverse is connected to LGBTQ+ trauma and corrective narratives, saying that it "writes queerness through the impact it leaves on the body, with its violence and heteronormic tendencies responding to larger structures that attempt to confine narrative authority to a single group" and "in all its intricacies, both problematic in its highly patriarchal and emblematic of considerable community trauma, [the Omegaverse] is a genre representative of the dissolving relationship between queer fandom spaces and mainstream creatives". Angie Fazekas wrote that "[i]n the omegaverse, fans use traditional tropes of gender and sexuality to imagine a universe where queer sexuality is the norm and normative gender roles are often skewed and upended", ==Impact==

The Omegaverse exploded in popularity in 2017, quickly becoming a frequent subject of fan fiction writers. , over 39,000 Omegaverse fan works had been published on AO3, In addition to these derivative works, Omegaverse has emerged as its own genre of original commercial erotic fiction: roughly 200 Omegaverse novels were published on Amazon from January to June 2020. Given the positive reception in Japan, South Korea started its own production of Omegaverse manhwas, as well as China, although the censorship applied in this latter country has limited the genre popularity. Beginning in 2017, the "Dom/Sub Universe" subgenre gained popularity, particularly in yaoi works in Japan; it uses BDSM elements, positing dominant and submissive as secondary genders, and draws inspirations from Omegaverse in its depiction of caste systems. In the "Cakeverse", a small part of the human population is divided into "forks", who have no sense of taste, and "cakes", people with a particular flavor that makes them irresistible to "forks". ==See also==