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dangermousieThis post arises mainly out of a joking discussion I've been having with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lesbiassparrow. But joking or not, it IMO hit on something very interesting to me.
It is the prevalence of hurt/comfort in fanfic and love for hurt/comfort in canon, among fandom. And (at least where I hang out), this fandom, from Harry Potter to dramas to various scifi, is predominantly female.
Why do so many women (myself among them) are such suckers for hurt-comfort scenario? I've liked h/c ever since I remember. When I was a kid. Before I knew what h/c was. We write fic about it, we enjoy reading fic about it, we enthuse when we have h/c in canon. Why? I can't say it's necessarily sexualized, not in the crudest sense of the word. I imagine most h/c fans aren't people who are literally getting excited by a man who is all battered.
But still, most subjects of h/c in fanon are male. Most squeeing over canon h/c is when the 'hurtee' is male. There has to be a sexualized aspect to it. Is it that a man with issues/pain is actually more complicated and interesting? Is it some sort of nurturing instinct which wants someone helpless so he could be helped (presumably by a character the reader/viewer either identifies and projects onto, or just likes). Is it a mere distancing because female pain is too 'close to home' for a female audience member, or (provided, of course, the audience member is not only female but straight) the fact that men are someone the viewer/reader attracted to, so there is something attractive about bloody cheekbones or weepy eyes, while with a female character there is no veneer of attractiveness to viewer over it, so there is just pain.
Does making a strong man helpless makes him more 'equal' and 'approacheable.' Does it just show that someone is really necessary to him, to help him heal, thus helping the view of love as crucial to life. What?
I am honestly curious about this. (And for once, don't mind if metafandom comes over :P)
There is also side question. if any of people replying are lesbian and/or bisexual women. Is there an interest in creating h/c scenarios with women as subjects?
Btw, this quote oflesbiassparrow on the topic (with which I utterly agree btw) is made of awesomeness: "I am deeply disturbed by how much better I feel that 'Time of Dog and Wolf' got once they started beating the living daylights out of the hero at least once an episode. I refuse to interrogate what this says about me but I am sure it is nothing good. (And the hero getting beat up is not a spoiler because I feel this is the sort of show where they will whack the living daylights out of him on regular basis because they can.)"
lesbiassparrow. But joking or not, it IMO hit on something very interesting to me.It is the prevalence of hurt/comfort in fanfic and love for hurt/comfort in canon, among fandom. And (at least where I hang out), this fandom, from Harry Potter to dramas to various scifi, is predominantly female.
Why do so many women (myself among them) are such suckers for hurt-comfort scenario? I've liked h/c ever since I remember. When I was a kid. Before I knew what h/c was. We write fic about it, we enjoy reading fic about it, we enthuse when we have h/c in canon. Why? I can't say it's necessarily sexualized, not in the crudest sense of the word. I imagine most h/c fans aren't people who are literally getting excited by a man who is all battered.
But still, most subjects of h/c in fanon are male. Most squeeing over canon h/c is when the 'hurtee' is male. There has to be a sexualized aspect to it. Is it that a man with issues/pain is actually more complicated and interesting? Is it some sort of nurturing instinct which wants someone helpless so he could be helped (presumably by a character the reader/viewer either identifies and projects onto, or just likes). Is it a mere distancing because female pain is too 'close to home' for a female audience member, or (provided, of course, the audience member is not only female but straight) the fact that men are someone the viewer/reader attracted to, so there is something attractive about bloody cheekbones or weepy eyes, while with a female character there is no veneer of attractiveness to viewer over it, so there is just pain.
Does making a strong man helpless makes him more 'equal' and 'approacheable.' Does it just show that someone is really necessary to him, to help him heal, thus helping the view of love as crucial to life. What?
I am honestly curious about this. (And for once, don't mind if metafandom comes over :P)
There is also side question. if any of people replying are lesbian and/or bisexual women. Is there an interest in creating h/c scenarios with women as subjects?
Btw, this quote of
lesbiassparrow on the topic (with which I utterly agree btw) is made of awesomeness: "I am deeply disturbed by how much better I feel that 'Time of Dog and Wolf' got once they started beating the living daylights out of the hero at least once an episode. I refuse to interrogate what this says about me but I am sure it is nothing good. (And the hero getting beat up is not a spoiler because I feel this is the sort of show where they will whack the living daylights out of him on regular basis because they can.)"
