Alien Sex

[trinityofone]

So, I've been watching a little Farscape, mostly because siriaeve MADE me (or, all right, suggested that I should). There are two things that I have concluded:

1. Aeryn wins at awesome.
2. I wish the aliens on SGA were, well, more alien. Because this would lead to more stories with bizarre alien sex.

I am deeply, deeply disappointed that we don't have more of these. I mean, sure, there's some tentacle fic, but personally I could do with a lot more stories where the people of Pegasus do not have quite so compatible physiologies. This is not something that the Stargate universe seems compelled to explore—which is why we should explore it! With porn.

I would love to see stories where, say, Ronon or Teyla have equipment, or even just practices, that are not what our Earthers expect. Or, stories where what our boys (or girls) are packing is surprising or horrifying to the people of Pegasus. Or...and here I have to trace this back to Farscape and the episode that pushed all this muck to the forefront of my brain. Anyway, in this episode, 'The Flax,' they all encounter this species they aren't particularly familiar with—this scavenger guy who they kind of coerce into helping them out. And blah blah plot, he does, and then as D'Argo is leaving, scavenger dude suddenly hits on him. He reveals that he is actually the female of his species. So. I want the fics where Ronon is female of his species or Teyla the male of hers. C'mon! You know you do, too!

I would also love more "John-or-Rodney-or-whoever-is-actually-an-alien" stories, à la eliade's fabulous An Aesthetic Solitary Thing. *delighted shiver*

So...would anyone else be interested in a fic challenge of this sort, or am I just being a kinky bitch? And if you are interested, how would you like to see it run? Casual/structured, flashfic quick or with a longer lead time? Brainstorm with me! Or I may have to satisfy my needs by rushing off and writing the tender story of Ronon and his alien vagina.*

*I think I have discovered my new favorite threat. Imagine, at work: "Well, BossMan, if you can't make up your mind about these captions, I'll just have to rush off and write the tender story of Ronon's alien vagina!" BossMan: *cowers in fear* *acquiesces to my every whim*

Comments

[wychwood]

The Ancients meddled, yeah, but who's to say they always used the same design? Or that after the initial meddling, the process of evolution didn't go differently on different worlds?

Yes; I think you could argue that, on both counts. But given that, at least visually, Ronon and Teyla are indistinguishable from Earth humans (and Carson's never mentioned anything from his scans), I would find it less plausible. All the modern human groups and the Ancients show the same patterns of sexual dimorphism, and the chances of exactly those patterns evolving independently on multiple occasions but with the sexes involved being reversed? Not so convincing to me.

If you wanted to claim that the Ancients had specifically retroengineered a group (or several) so that, say, the men had child-bearing pouches, or whatever, I suppose I could buy that (ahah, now I'm having some terrible idea where this is true, and one of the Pegasus natives meet an Earth man with a pot belly and think he must be pregnant, and hijinks ensue, or something). But that they evolved without interference into something that looked exactly like a standard-pattern female with male genitalia, or vice versa, just stretches my credulity.

I actually think that, like the language thing, there's so little canon that you can basically dream up whatever wacky shit you want.

Well, what I was meaning there wasn't so much the logic behind the idea, as that you can do what you want with languages, but you can't claim that it's standard for populations on other worlds to communicate verbally in ways which visitors through the stargate cannot understand - because that manifestly contradicts canon.

*stops being cranky and argumentative*

I really hate trying to extrapolate SG-universe biological stuff, though, anyway, because it just doesn't make any sense. Fact is, there's very little doubt that we descended from the same sources as everything else on this planet - and we have plenty of evidence for ancestry going back - so I've never understood how the whole "Children of the Ancients" thing is supposed to make sense. Not to mention that the various timescales (for things like the emergence of the Wraith) make my *brain* hurt.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Carson's never mentioned anything from his scans

That would be a stumbling block for me. Um. Doctor-patient confidentiality?

and the chances of exactly those patterns evolving independently on multiple occasions but with the sexes involved being reversed? Not so convincing to me.

It wouldn't have to be as black and white as "the same but with the sexes reversed." There could just be things that are...different.

you can't claim that it's standard for populations on other worlds to communicate verbally in ways which visitors through the stargate cannot understand - because that manifestly contradicts canon.

It's not standard, but SG-1 visited several worlds where the populations speak in another language that doesn't translate. It's a holdover from the movie that first they utilized, then slowly began to disappear until it doesn't turn up at all anymore. So it doesn't actually contradict.

it just doesn't make any sense

Truer words were never spoken!

[wychwood]

That would be a stumbling block for me. Um. Doctor-patient confidentiality?

I did try to hypothesise that to myself, but the problem there was that I would imagine Carson would do the scan, say, huh, "these people aren't human" or "Teyla is male" or whatever and tell Elizabeth for purely practical reasons. And then Elizabeth would at the very least enquire what pronouns Teyla wanted to use, or something. I mean, he's not going to keep something like that a secret! It just... wouldn't work. Blabbing to strangers: perhaps not. Reporting to Elizabeth: different situation.

[wychwood]

PS Part of my problem with this whole concept (after the whole Sucky SGC Biology thing) may be that although I dearly love genderfuck, I very often have problems with the way it's handled, the use of gender roles and categories, and the ease with which people frequently switch their entire mindset to match their biology (in contrast to, say, RL gender dysphorics). So it's a topic I'm a bit edgy on anyway.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Well, Carson and Elizabeth could know and just not anybody else?

Dammit! These straws, they're so slippery!

[wychwood]

I think that could work if Teyla were actually intersex / transgendered, if she were biologically male but socially female; if she wanted them to treat her as female, then they would, and I think it would be confidential (although then I'd have questions to ask about her overwhelmingly female physique / shape / appearance), but if she were male and that's just what males of her people looked like, once Elizabeth and Carson knew, surely they would address her as a male? I mean, you're not going to call a man "she" and "her" just because they look effeminate to you! That would be the height of discourtesy.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Maybe their pronouns aren't our pronouns? Though in the case of Ronon being female, I could see him shrugging and just being like, "Didn't see the point in correcting you."

(I can't believe y'all have tricked me into putting this much thought into this! Because (not so?) secretly, this post was really, "Gimme porn!")

[wychwood]

I'm sorry! It's just - gender issues! They're, like, a big giant DO NOT PRESS button with me. Sorry. Hi! You may remember me from such occasions as "the big vocations discussion on your priest!porn fic".

[seratonation.livejournal.com]

OMG I thought it was only me! I mean, I could stretch my mind a little and buy the Ancient second evolution stuff, but I don't get the wraith evolutions at all! At first 38 minutes kind of made sence (I don't know about time scale so I waved my hand over that) coz yes the Wraith had to have evolved from something but then there was all that stuff with Instinct/conversion that just messed my head. If John is completely human, and the retro virus stops human DNA he would die. Full stop. I can't see how repressing human DNA would turn John in to a bug. Was I missing something? thats what the retro virus did right? It went wrong and instead of repressing the bug DNA it would repress human DNA in the wraith and therefore turned her to mostly-bug, but John is completely human. grr.

(*koff sorry to butt in*)

[wychwood]

Yes! See how thinking about it makes your head hurt! *g* I have no answers for you; it is merely another example of how the biology doesn't make sense.

(Also, uh, affecting DNA in an adult organism? Notoriously not easy, let alone quick)