Warnings?

[siegeofangels]

I've started uploading my fic to AO3. I am siegeofangels over there too.

My only question is this: If you have read If you want to kiss the sky: should I use the official noncon warning?

My initial thought is to use the official CHOOSE NOT TO USE ARCHIVE WARNINGS warning and then tag it dubcon, because it's a creepy societal situation but John's choosing to consent.

Looking over the delicious tags, I see one person tagged it noncon (although with a note that they weren't sure whether to) and a couple for dubcon (and one for "thinky," which tickles me pink). But I don't know if that is more of a reflection of the audience. Do you think that people who want a noncon warning would like one on this story?

(My other quandry is whether to tag it asexuality, because in my mind that universe doesn't really allow for an asexual identity--I don't think anybody in that universe is identifying as straight or gay either--but people *are* tagging it asexuality on delicious, which leads me to think that people looking for ace fics on AO3 would like to find it. Hm.)

I'm leaving this post unlocked because I would like to hear from anyone who has thoughts on this. I'll even put in a text-box poll so you don't even have to click Reply.

Poll #6655

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Should I use the official noncon warning?

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Comments

[stellar_dust]

Ok I just reread it. I think "choose not to use warnings" is the best option, with a dubcon tag. And I think an "asexuality" tag would be perfectly appropriate; John-as-ace is definitely a valid reading of the story, I think, even if it might not be quite what you had in mind writing it, and even if his society doesn't have a word for the concept.

[stellar_dust]

(Oh, almost forgot: rereading it I noticed that the sentence starting "And it would have been a really nice moment .." should probably be in present tense?)

[siegeofangels]

Thank you for your thoughts! Yeah, I think I am going to go with both of those, the "choose not to use warning" and dubcon tag, and the asexuality tag. That seems to make the most sense.

I'm kind of balking on tags, though, beyond say, one seriously obvious one for each story, because I'm not quite sure what level of tagging needs to happen, and I'm sure that I will miss tags that other people wish were there. I kind of wish there was a way people could suggest tags for a story.

the sentence starting "And it would have been a really nice moment .." should probably be in present tense

*stares* You know, I have read that story so damn many times and never saw that. Thank you for catching it. I fixed the second half of the sentence, but is there a a way to put "it would have been" into present tense or is it already?

[stellar_dust]

You use a similar construction a few lines earlier (should have been), so i think that part works as it is!

[synecdochic]

I would definitely call it dubcon, not noncon: John consents, but there's question as to whether or not his consent is meaningful. (And he would punch you in the face if you said that to him, which often is my dubcon vs noncon test.)

I had the same problem with Howling, really.

[siegeofangels]

Exactly, yeah, it's not really *meaningful* consent and it's hard to know where that falls for other people on the consent continuum. But it looks like "choose not to warn" and tagging it dubcon will work.

Oh my gosh, Howling. [I have seriously had this comment box open for an hour trying to find something to say other than OMGHOWLING but . . . yeah. THAT.]

[synecdochic]

*g* You know a story is good when it makes you break your no-warnings position, seriously. I struggled so hard to figure out how to phrase the warnings for Howling, because Jesus, there's no way that JD sleeping with Ba'al wasn't dubcon at the very least, but JD would bite your face off if you told him that, because to his way of thinking, he consented the minute he said he'd take the mission since he damn fucking well knew Ba'al would want to fuck him again and he says that calling it rape or even dubcon is taking away his agency since he walked into it with his eyes wide open. (I HAPPEN TO DISAGREE, but he's a pushy little fuck like that.)

(and then there was the whole thing with the eyes. auuuugh eyes.)