same anon but I just realized that in that context "trans omega couple steve and bucky" can easily be read in many ways and many directions (transdesignation, transgender, etc/some or all of these?) but that just lends itself further that the worldbuilding of abo has the possibility to go in many directions and ask questions of what is normative and what are the analogues of IRL experiences and how'd they might coexist with each other, but it's woefully underexplored by that genre
Anon I'm so sorry but I have lost the first ask about this because I wrote out a whole long answer and queued it up without knowing that my post-limit had just run out... so tumblr deleted it.
So for the second time ... *from memory*
You were decrying the lack of A/A, B/B, O/O etc fics (possibly in ref to this old post of mine??) and how great it would be if there were, eg. big beefy trans O Steve and Bucky.
ITA! It is a shame that more people don't go all-in with the super broad potential of worldbuilding in A/B/O fics.
But, on the other hand, that genre was invented merely to speed along horny werewolf PWPs... so you can't say it's defeating its original purpose! 😅
A thing that occured to me, recently:
If you think about it, in a world where no one gives a crap about gender, there really ought to be way more they/thems, because the societal pressure to be binary wouldn't exist, since it's the designation (the designation trinary?) that gets enforced, instead.
But you never see that in A/B/O fics, not even in bg/npc characters, despite it being the logical conclusion to make about such a world!
Maybe that's because it's rare- or has been rare in the fandoms I've known- to see a canon character characterised as being anything but their original gender, even in fics dealing with trans experience.
But I think it would be a neat thing to incorporate into A/B/O fics, just a small background detail to lampshade the massive impact upon gender expression that designations would (should?) have.
[under cut for length]
The most original A/B/O I've read was that clownfish A/B/O one where people can transform into any designation at will, everyone is expected to be poly, and IIRC no one has any preconceived notions of what an A/B/O should look like or act like because everyone is everything. So creative!
Speaking of A/B/O Steve/Bucky, IMO Steve in particular is very easy to read as trans, in canon, because of the way he's treated by cis men, both before and after serum (read: before transition).
He's seen as inferior to them and needing to 'prove' his right to exist in their cis spaces (eg. the army, the social group of 'men whom women ask to dance'). He's relegated to women-centered show business, he's called tinkerbell, sweetheart, an "experiment", "not enough", and ofc Tony Stark famously says to his face that "everything special" (ie: masculine) about him came out of a bottle.
All while looking like Chris Evans!? (Can't help but think there's some jealous over-compensation going on in that writers room.) 💅
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So for a while now I've been daydreaming of an A/B/O Au (I think I've rambled about this before) where Erskine was working at the Hirschfeld Institute before the Nazis took him, and the serum was invented to help trans A/B/Os physically transition, not to create super soldiers.
In that AU, I see Steve as a trans OtB (omega to beta!), who Mulan'd his way into the Army by living and passing as a beta, before the serum. He'd be successfully avoiding omega attention, pre-serum, because of anti-beta prejudice, and because his lack of interest would go unremarked since betas aren't susceptible to pheromones the way alphas are.
(And after serum, when he looks like a stereotypical alpha, but isn't one, people would mischaracterise his disdain for dating omegas for Manly Stoicism and an ascetic devotion to Duty... When the real reason is he's gay af (meaning, in this 'verse, only attracted to betas and alphas, with a preference for men) and, again, betas aren't susceptible to, eg. scent-bombing, in the way alphas are, even when they are attracted to omegas.)
For variety's sake, Bucky would be a BtA (beta to alpha) trans alpha, and would not be the 'I knew I was X from birth' kind of trans person, but more of an 'I didn't hate being beta, I just slowly began to realise that I wasn't one,' later on in life. His transness would be a crucial component of his defiance of Hydra, since they thought he was beta, and wanted him kept beta (subservient to alphas). But deep down Bucky would've known he wasn't, and this knowledge would armour his memory and allow his inner identity to survive, deep down, despite brain-damage.
His physical transition would only happen once he gets free of Hydra's preventative medical interference -- the serum would only begin to physically transition him once he has his identity back and confirmed for him Steve. Mental and physical transition would coincide with true freedom and a renaissance of mental clarity and health, for him.
Both of them would confound what people expect their identity to be, both before and after transition. Eg. Steve is the hero, so he must be an alpha, right?? whaddaya mean Captain America isn't an alpha?! (but he has a deep voice!! he drives a pick-up truck??) oh he was disabled before, so he must have had no omegas! he had no omegas so he must be a virgin! whaddaya mean this big beefy alpha WS is a victim?! this big beefy alpha does crafts for a hobby?! and so on.
sidenote: Steve finding it hilarious when handsy omegas, assuming he's an alpha, try to hit on him by complimenting his alpha scent... but he doesn't have one, it's Bucky's residual scent left on him... 😏 (and Bucky nearby, within earshot of all this, turning bright red the more the omega rhapsodizes about how amazing 'Steve's' scent is.)
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Completely off-topic, but I also love the smaller, grittier details of worldbuilding in A/B/O Aus.
Like when people factor in the vomeronasal traits, and mention eg. scent-blocking air fresheners, scent-blocking body sprays, perfume being a huge industry, ditto heat-supplies, how heat/ruts affect domestic architecture, heat/rut being a huge component of the sex work industry, etc. etc.
(Although writers often give away their class background by never, ever talking about, eg. people who can't afford or don't work in industries offering heat/rut leave, or a home with special nest rooms, etc. It's always white collar people!)
Another aspect I don't think I've ever seen addressed in fic:
how A/B/O biology would affect beauty standards.
Noses!! Necks!!!
These are both big deals in our world (when have you ever seen a model with a short wide neck? look how common nose jobs are!)
But in a universe where everyone smells and everyone has scent-glands on their necks (in a lot of A/B/O Aus), why aren't nose and neck shape a huge component of attractiveness?
Characters' inner monologues should be talking about them!
*lol, imagine someone starting an Onlyfans just to post sexy neck and nose pics. Or Hays Code era films being censored for having a racy up-nostril shot.*
Is a long neck better for longer scent-glands, or worse because the scent is dispersed and diluted over a wider area?
Does a short neck have stronger scent concentrated in a smaller area, or less scent altogether? Does it depend on the person? Is a short neck seen as prudeish?? (eg. harder to stick ur big old alpha schnozz into?) Do omegas deliberately try to make their necks look shorter to appear more modest? Or try to make their necks longer to seem sexier? Is the pose of tilting your head back (both lengthening the neck and flashing those nostrils!) seen as raunchy?!
And how does this intersect with racism?
Example: if flared nostrils in a thin caucasian nose are a sign of someone scenting, and drawing in scent is part of a/b/o sexuality, how does that affect people who just naturally have flared nostrils, by dint of their genes or ethnicity?
(Black men in America have been seriously endangered by their stereotyping as hypersexual, especially around white women, so imagine how much worse this would've been if their very noses were treated as provocative, and merely sighing deeply could be taken as a sign of hitting on someone? 😬)
Conversely, would white men and women be praised for having, eg. sexy broad-bridged noses? (*cough* big-nose-having wish fulfilment honestly*cough*) Would white omegas be contouring their noses to look more flare-nostril'd, and black omegas be pissed off about it?
I read a study once which said that people regard men with longer noses (as oppose to a shorter mid-face) as inherently more trustworthy (like Steve!!) So would that be true of long-nosed alphas too (who can't suck in scent so quickly? Is that, like, a chivalrous-lookig physical trait to have)?
And again, how does this work with racism, since longer/thinner noses are an adaptation for cold dry climes (including 'Eurocentric beauty standard ground zero' Scandinavia), and short/wide noses originate in hot humid climates around the equator / sub-sahara, where the people are most likely to be black?
Just imagine the racist field day that eugenicists and phrenologists would've had with this, throughout history...
How do sniffing and sneezing and colds fit in with perceptions of beauty?
Are people squicked when pets sniff them?
Would mankind have discovered a cure for the common cold, purely because nose-related illness is a huge turn off?
Or would it be the other way round? Would the sinuses be so sensitive, in everyone, that a drippy nose would be like an exaggerated sign of attraction, like when a cartoon character drools over a hot person?
If scent is part of attractiveness, is blowing your nose a snub, tantamount to loudly saying 'omg everyone here is soo ugly.' 🤣
What about people with broken noses?
If noses are an erogenous zone, wouldn't a broken nose read as a sign of someone who's been punched for sex-related reasons? Would a broken nose be seen as a sign of an overstepping creep, a homewrecking Casanova, or someone who's rough in bed? Would alphas be going out of their way to try and get the 'broken nose' look, just to seem more passionate and dangerous?
And what about nose jewellery? 😱 Phew, talk about racy!
Instead of being dress-coded, would young omegas be sent home from school for having septum piercings?
Same deal with necklaces! Are long and dangly ones sexier, because they leave the neck itself exposed? Are chokers sexy in a 'completely covered up erogenous zone' kind of way, like a long slinky dress? GASP: what about turtlenecks?!
And hands! If hands/wrists carry scent too, did handshaking still become a thing? Is air-kissing (air-scenting) more the standard method of greeting? Are gloves more commonly worn?
Yeah never mind just gender, gimme the weird neck/nose/Fashion class-and-racism worldbuilding! All of it!
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