I’m Sorry, but the Omegaverse Cannot be Stopped
Blog Writer // Madelynn Graham
TW: discussions of sex, minor mention of sexual assault
Dystopian science-fiction is a relatively new genre in the literary sphere, first being seen within the last 130 years with H.G Wells’s The Time Machine. Some of the most influential works of literature within those 130 years have been dystopian sci-fi, like 1984 and Brave New World. Seen as a serious and fascinating form of literature, dystopian fiction has allowed authors to explore some of the darker aspects of humanity and invite their readers to reflect on dynamics of power, oppression, and dehumanization.
But when anonymous writers are publishing wolf hierarchy-themed fanfiction, no one seems to think so!
The omegaverse is a genre of alternate universe where humans exist within the hierarchy of alphas, betas, and omegas, hence the common abbreviation of A/B/O. Alphas are typically physically larger, dominant, and aggressive, while omegas are smaller, submissive, and gentle. Betas can occasionally be negligible, depending on the author’s preferences, but they typically exist as the “superior type,” seeing as they are not bound by such primal instincts.
These types are referred to as “second sexes,” since they are revealed later in life when a character “presents,” and those who never present are classified as betas.
Alphas and omegas tend to be held to “mating cycles,” with alphas going into “ruts” and omegas “heats” that cannot be sated until the alpha has “knotted” their omega. As in, their penis swells at the base to the point that it cannot be dislodged from the omega to increase the chances of pregnancy, like wolves.
The allure of the omegaverse for most is the versatility of the genre. With no established, necessary rules, it offers loose guidelines for authors to use for their own worldbuilding. It also allows for pairings to reproduce regardless of gender, usually two men.
The omegaverse itself began in the early 2010s with the Supernatural fandom on the fanfiction website LiveJournal. One user posted a prompt of an alternate universe they would like to read about in which they “shipped,” or paired, the two main actors, Jared Paledecki and Jensen Ackles. Describing the AU as a world “just like ours…except…in their world there are two types of men. One is the alpha male, the other is the bitch male.”
In response to the prompt, LiveJournal user tehdirtiestsock posted “I ain’t no lady, but you’d be the tramp” on July 24, 2010, which is now widely regarded as the very first omegaverse fanfiction. Shortly after that, more A/B/O works were published with the same pairing, and soon after that, the concept moved into other fandoms and new tropes and dynamics began.
The immediate popularity of the genre in the Supernatural fandom may be explained by the overlap of themes in Supernatural and another sci-fi series that also featured Jensen Ackles, Dark Angel—namely werewolves, heat cycles, and knotting. There is also the aspect of being able to take as many liberties as they would like in terms of plot and worldbuilding, seeing as they were actively participating in the creation of a new genre. The first non-Supernatural omegaverse work was also the first work featuring two female leads, which allowed for even further expansion of guidelines to this alternate universe i.e. scents that reflect the traits of characters, marking, and bonded pairs.
Once LiveJournal lost popularity as a fanfiction site, Archive of Our Own and Tumblr became the primary hosts for new installments of Omegaverse works across even more fandoms, as authors typically read and wrote for multiple. With that came the growth of more thorough structure in worldbuilding, like prejudice against male omegas, or “heat suppressants,” which is a medication to prevent alphas and omegas from going into heat and allow them to go about their lives without the incessant desire to breed. In 2017, there was a dramatic growth in the number of fanfics under the A/B/O tags without any exact reason, however the sizable shift garnered more interest outside of the fanfic realm.
The first time A/B/O dynamics were made marketable is difficult to pin down. Small presses and self-published novels are hard to sift through, especially because the ones with a werewolf backdrop aren’t exactly considered true Omegaverse fiction, and others use the term “alpha” very loosely to describe any dominant male character. To include werewolf based stories would lead to the Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs and With Caution by J.L. Langley, both published in 2007, and both cited as evidence in a 2018 plagiarism lawsuit between two erotica authors who both used the alpha-omega hierarchy and tropes. News of the suit moved quickly through each author’s fan bases and was eventually the subject of a New York Times article. Written in May of 2020 by Alexandra Alter, this brought the phenomenon of the Omegaverse to a new level of notoriety amongst readers who were infinitely removed from fanfiction circles. The article also included an interview of several individuals involved in the case, namely the YouTuber Lindsey Ellis, whose own video essay on the suit has reached 4.1 million views.
The final possible reason for the rise of the Omegaverse is arguably TikTok, despite the word “Omegaverse” being banned since 2022. The original videos on the subject were made by the typical consumers of the genre for other viewers who were already in the know, but since the For You Page disseminated those from their intended audiences, many viewers were perplexed by what they were watching. In comes @icaruspendragon with her series of TikToks “Into the Omegaverse,” which explains the ins and outs of the genre and all its anomalies. Her most popular video explaining knotting—admittedly for the second time since the first post was removed—has amassed 2.1 million views and welcomed more viewers into the strange world of the Omegaverse.
There is no doubt that the adoration for the genre, whether ironic or in earnest, exists entirely in a vacuum of people just enjoying lupine-inspired smut or the idea of being mated for life. Given the sheer amount of material to analyze and work through, the Omegaverse has been the subject of multiple academic journal articles, including “‘Dogfuck rapeworld’: Omegaverse fanfiction as a critical tool in analyzing the impact of social power structures on intimate relationships and sexual consent” by Milena Popova, “Fanfiction and the Author” by Judith May Fathallah, and “Romancing the beast : intersections of power, gender, and sexuality in Omegaverse fan fiction” by Kelsey Entrikin. The Omegaverse, like any other dystopian genre, gives its readers and writers the opportunity to work through the dynamics of power and its imbalances, gender, sexuality, consent, queerness, heteronormativity, and so much more.
As it stands now, there are currently 197,151 works published under the “Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics” tag on AO3, which is 7,578 more than when research for this article began a month ago. With no signs of fatigue, the Omegaverse cannot be stopped.
Sources:
https://www.dreamscapepublishing.com/blog/a-newbies-guide-to-the-omegaverse
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/business/omegaverse-erotica-copyright.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/entertainment/article/best-dystopian-books
https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alpha*s*Beta*s*Omega%20Dynamics/works
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23268743.2017.1394215