i feel like something that’s missing from some people’s understanding of kink fiction and fantasy is, like… in fiction and fantasy, everything is in-scene.
when real people do kink in real life, you gotta do all that good out-of-scene stuff like discuss boundaries, set limits and expectations, check in with each other, do aftercare, et cetera et cetera et cetera… but in fiction, everything can be in-scene!
the people in that fanfic don’t exist any more than, like, the make-believe sexy football star and make-believe sexy cheerleader in a couple’s roleplay exist. that couple doesn’t need to get into character and then pretend to be a sexy football star having an important consent conversation with a sexy cheerleader, because that’s a conversation that’s already happened out-of-scene and out-of-character. (i mean, if you’re into in-character negotiations, chase your bliss.) when they’re in that scene, they can just pretend to be a sexy football star having sex with a sexy cheerleader. that’s okay.
so like. when fiction does kink in a way that would be unsafe or harmful irl… just keep in mind that you’re not watching actual people neglecting check-ins or ignoring their set contract or genuinely harming each other. you’re watching a scene without the behind-the-scenes bits, and that’s okay.
this has gotten a couple replies along the lines of “yeah, you can just assume the characters worked all the important consent stuff out when you weren’t looking!” which is true in some cases, but not the point i was trying to make, so please bear with me while i try to rephrase myself.
when i say in fiction, everything is in-scene, i mean that the fiction IS the scene.
if someone went up to their partner and said “hey, wouldn’t it be sexy if we pretended you were manipulating and controlling me in an unethical way for sex reasons?”, and then they talked through all the good and necessary consent and risk-awareness things, and then they played that scene out - that’s a made-up scenario where pretend bad things happen, but no real-world people come to real-world harm, right?
now, if someone writes a story where one character manipulates and controls another in an unethical way for sex reasons… that, too, is a made-up scenario where pretend bad things happen, but no real-world people come to real-world harm.
kink fiction doesn’t have to be about characters consciously and conscientiously Doing Kink. kink fiction can be stories where the kinky things people fantasize about or roleplay (but wouldn’t want to happen in real life) do happen in the universe of that story. because the story is a scene.
