Omegaverse

Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (an abbreviation for "alpha/beta/omega"), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Stories in the genre are premised on societies wherein humans are divided into a dominance hierarchy of dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas". These terms are derived from those used in ethology to describe social hierarchies in animals.^[1]

Genre characteristics[]

Omegaverse fiction typically focuses on wolf or other canid-like behavior in humans, especially as it pertains to sexual intercourse. This includes rutting and heat cycles, pheromonal attraction between alphas and omegas, penises with knots ("knotting"),^[1] scent marking,^[2] breeding, and pack structures.^[3] Male omegas are often envisaged as being able to become pregnant. The genre often features other fantasy elements, such as the presence of werewolves or other fantastical creatures.^[1] Some works introduce a caste system, where Alphas are depicted as the upper class elites while Omegas are at the bottom tier and face discrimination.^[4] Omegaverse works are most frequently focused on male-male couples, a subgenre of fan fiction known as slash fiction, though heterosexual Omegaverse works have been produced.^[2]

History[]

Genre tropes associated with Omegaverse emerged in the late 1960s in fan fiction based on the American television series Star Trek. The 1967 episode "Amok Time" introduces the concept of pon farr, the Vulcan mating cycle wherein Vulcan males must mate or die. Pon farr became a popular plot conceit for fan works in the Star Trek fandom, particularly fan fiction focused on the Kirk/Spock pairing. The concept of mating and heat cycles among humans was subsequently adopted by other fandoms, and became a staple of the Omegaverse subgenre.^[5]

The origin of the contemporary Omegaverse subgenre is typically attributed to the fandom surrounding the American television series Supernatural, as an offshoot of the male pregnancy subgenre of erotic fan fiction.^[1] A 2010 real person fiction work focused on Supernatural actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles mentions "alpha" males having knots on their penises, and those men without the knots being the "bitch males".^{[citation needed]} In November, 2010, a similar work was posted in a Supernatural fan fiction community and used the now-commonly used terminology of alphas, betas, and omegas, along with their basic traits. The genre subsequently expanded in popularity to other fan communities, particularly those focused around the 2013 television series Hannibal, and the 2011 television series Teen Wolf.^[1]

Impact[]

As of 2020, over 70,000 Omegaverse fan works have been published on the fan fiction website Archive of Our Own.^[1] In addition to these derivative works, Omegaverse has emerged as its own genre of original commercial erotic fiction: the 2007 novel by J.L. Langley is noted as the first commercially published novel with Omegaverse tropes.^[6] Moreover, roughly 200 Omegaverse novels were published on Amazon from January to June 2020.^[1] Omegaverse has also emerged as a subgenre of both commercial and non-commercial yaoi (manga featuring male-male couples).^[7]

Copyright lawsuit[]

In 2016, author Addison Cain released Born to be Bound, a novel that features Omegaverse genre tropes. In April 2018, Cain and her publisher Blushing Books filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice against author Zoey Ellis for her 2018 novel Crave to Conquer.^[2][8] Cain accused Ellis of plagiarism and copyright infringement, arguing that both Born to be Bound and Crave to Conquer focus on a central couple that is an Omega female and Alpha male, and include the concepts of Omegas hiding their secondary sex by use of suppressants, and Omegas being rare and valued mates. Ellis' books were removed from online sellers (with the exception of Amazon) for several months as a result of the DMCA claim.^[9]

Ellis and her publisher Quill Ink Books subsequently brought a lawsuit against Cain and Blushing Books for damages due to lost revenue and reputational harm, with representation from Quill Ink contending that Cain had no legitimate claim of ownership over the Omegaverse genre. Blushing Books settled in 2019, and paid an undisclosed monetary amount in damages to both Quill Ink and Ellis. In September 2019, Ellis and Quill Ink filed a separate civil lawsuit against Cain, arguing that the DMCA copyright claim was false and malicious; the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice by a Virginia court in 2019.^[10] The lawsuits were covered by The New York Times, which noted that a decision in Cain's favor could have set a significant legal precedent for commercial works based on fan-generated material; the Times further noted the case as an example of "how easily intellectual property law can be weaponized by authors seeking to take down their rivals."^[1]

References[]