Mpreg

[wildestranger]

So. Mpreg. Do you love it? Hate it? Can't be bothered to think about it?

I find myself curious about the phenomenon of mpreg in fandom. Some people seem to hate it with an unholy passion. Some perceive it as OMG the cutest thing eva. A plot device, a source of crackfic, an embodiment of patriarchal control system, an embodiment of feminist subversion, mostly an embodiment of bad writing?

I want to know what you think about mpreg, and most importantly, why. If you dislike it, what do you dislike about it? If you enjoy it, what do you think is good/interesting/sexy about it?

Is it the association with bad writing, silly teenagers who cannot imagine romance without babies and marriage? I used to be wary of such things until I read eutychides's Things That Change (which is not only a devastatingly well written mpreg, but a fic so moving and memorable that after finishing reading it at three in the morning, I had to go back the next day and reread the whole thing).

Also, if I were to write an mpreg fic, would you read it? That said, I am writing one so you shall be put to the test in a few weeks. ;)

Comments

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

There was a movie years ago in the 90s with Arnold Schwarzenegger - Junior - where he was impregnated, and I'm pretty sure that it was all done in a lab and it was a test-tube baby like you described - (not "I had anal sex and Oops!) I wonder if that's what really fueled the Mpreg craze in fanfic. I know I saw the movie on cable TV (not in the theater) but I really don't remember it much.

It's not so much that I think MPreg feminizes the men, per se (which is the argument I see a lot from women who don't like it) - after all I know plenty of wonderful caring fathers - as much as it simply feminizes their bodies, (and gives them feminine hormonal reactions in most stories) and well, sorry - I like my men with cocks and testosterone. Sue me.

Yay sperm! (And of course, the bouncing egg)