I want you safe.... vamphile and I were on the phone last night until 3 AM and we were talking about some of the fic written for the various bj_action challenges. By which I mean of course we were endlessly obsessing over our own fic.
But while we were talking, we both noticed how much raw fic is being written lately by a lot of writers including, you know... us.
When I write Brian and Justin having unprotected sex, it's always in a story set in my "Only Time" series, and it's in the context of them having made the decision to do this, become monogamous, gotten tested, waited, etc. And most of you who write raw fic -- and honestly, as far as I know, ALL of you -- have also created similar worlds with similar contexts for that decision.
But when you just read these stories by themselves, that's not always absolutely clear. And from the point of view of a good story, it doesn't have to be, because I hate exposition like woah and wouldn't like to constantly be re-stating the reason why the fact that they're doing it raw is in character and as safe as any such decision can ever be -- which is to say, not 100 percent safe, but what is?
But I wonder about the effect of this body of fiction on people just casually reading in our fandom, or on new writers, or on younger fans in general, who might not remember the dawn of AIDS and just why this is so important.
And then I thought about one of my very favorite things about QAF, which was the brilliant way they not only made safer sex normal, they made it hot. And then they didn't just make it hot, they made it THE LOVE -- I want to fall down and worship 207, when Justin asks Brian to fuck him raw and Brian refuses, and tells Justin, "You stupid twat... Don't EVER let anyone fuck you without a condom."
And Justin points out that Brian isn't just anybody, and Brian tells him he's sure that's what Ben thought about the guy who infected him. Which we later learn is true.
And then Brian makes Justin put the condom on him, and then, when he's inside him, whispers at his ear, "I want you safe. I want you around for a long time."
I mean seriously, babe, did Brian ever love Justin more than at that moment, when he used his powers of mind control to break that romantic notion of raw fucking and try to imbue what could have been an easily-forgotten PSA about disease prevention with its own erotic power?
As Brian says later, it's all about sex... except when it's about death.
Anyway, I guess I don't really have a point. I'm just wishing for a way to tap everyone on the shoulder when they read my fic, especially my standalones and PWP, and make them understand that this is something that I've thought about, and care about... and so do my Brian and Justin. And having them fuck raw needs a little more thought than just OMG that would be hot let's do it.
Because canon tells us, it's not that simple for them, and shouldn't be.
Also, while it's easy to eroticize raw fucking -- just ask me, I know -- protected sex is also very hot and very loving. QAF managed to make using a condom a natural and erotic part of sex, and I would hate to lose that, because I think it's very valuable.
When I wrote the QAF Fan Fic Writers' Guide to HIV, I said that I felt it was disrespectful to the seriousness of AIDS, its historical impact on the queer community in which QAF is set, and the personal impact on those of us who have lost loved ones to HIV or who might be struggling with it now, to not do our homework and be realistic about the use of HIV in fiction. I felt that the romanticization of AIDS as a disease is offensive, as is an erotic "will they, won't they" dynamic if it's done without care and accuracy.
I guess this is just an extension of that, to not carelessly say okay, now we want them to fuck raw so YAY! They're fucking raw! But to make sure, at least in our minds as authors, we've given it more respect than that.
That when we sit down to write fic, or read it, we're 207 Brian, and not 207 Justin with stars in his eyes and no blood going to his brain.