When I wrote my first omegaverse story, Omega Reclaimed, my intention was just to write some hot alpha/omega knotting scenes. I didn’t know I was starting a series (I’m often surprised by this), so I didn’t put a lot of thought into the world I was constructing. It was loosely based on every other omegaverse I’d read. There was heat and knotting (without the MPREG because I’m not a fan), alphas were feral and studly and couldn’t resist the smell of an omega in heat, omegas were homemakers, sex-hungry when in heat. They were also oppressed—sexual objects without autonomy.
By the end of the first book, I knew I’d created a world I wouldn’t want to live in, and I’m wondering why we do that. As an author, I can write a utopian universe. I can give everyone social justice—no racism, no sexism, no hate against any group. I can ensure that everyone is taken care of and given an opportunity to fulfill themselves.
Omegaverses are largely created by women, and I think we all know that omegas are stand-ins for women in these stories. So why do we so frequently treat these stand-ins for ourselves exactly the way we don’t want to be treated? Why do we set them backwards in time, undoing all the progress society has made towards equality?
Much as some victims of sexual assault enjoy dubcon/noncon because it gives them control over an experience they didn’t have control over, perhaps we like being the ones to inflict this status of “lesser” on people other than ourselves. But for me, it was less intentional than that. I love the heat-induced desperation of alpha/omega sex. My biggest turn-on is “people who are turned on,” and omegaverse is rife with people who are seriously turned on. And then I just … accepted the rest of it.
Without questioning whether those who were physically smaller must be sexually oppressed, whether someone who enjoyed sex must be treated like a sex object, whether being born into a certain role must be an unavoidable destiny, whether a certain set of physical characteristics ought to define role at all—I perpetuated all those things.
I was just trying to write about wolves boning. I never meant to oppress anyone.
That’s why I now have a series, the third book of which will be out soon. I’m slowly setting the world to rights. And let me tell you, it’s satisfying. One reason authors write more utopias than dystopias is because heaven gets boring. If everything is great and everyone is happy, there’s not a lot of conflict to resolve. But I can start with a dystopia and fix it. Because in my omegaverse, I have that power.
Too bad I can’t fix the real world.
As for why we’ve created such dystopian omegaverses and why we (largely) enjoy them: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who can ever say why we enjoy the things we do. Sex is weird. But part of it may be that we’re so accustomed to discrimination, we have a hard time imagining a world without it. That’s why I’m fighting for freedom, one omega at a time.