I don't get genderswap, really. If you want to write a girl in Dean's or Sam's situation, then do that, and don't try to map boobs and a vagina onto an existing character.

Poisontaster's A Kept Boy is an absolutely beautifully done slave fic. It's a long, multi-chap WIP that has spawned a whole community, called What We Keep, devoted to the AU where government regulated slavery has been instituted to resolve personal bankruptcies. As different authors contribute, the reader gets different takes on slavery, those who support and benefit from it, those who oppose and work to abolish it, and those who are victims of the system.

Nilchance's That Middle Road features Misha as a slave to Jeremy Sisto. Much of the What We Keep 'verse is intertwined, with authors using characters and situations from each other's stories as background for their own.

I get messed up just reading those descriptions, and it's even more so with RPF. I grew up on horror stories of slavery. I just can't read scenarios of people actually justifying and endorsing the system.

Well of course it's anti-. A cautionary tale for how things can get fucked up an increment at a time, and you're not really sure how they got that bad without anybody noticing and putting a stop to it.

As for the RPF, I've made my peace with the concept of "characters who look like, and possibly share mannerisms with," the public personas of real people. Not actually those people.

Well of course it's anti-

All the stuff that traumatised me as a child was anti- too. That's not the point. To this day, I can't tell you if Amistad was a good movie, for instance. I spent the whole thing crying. I just couldn't deal. I was a wreck. It's not entertainment for me. No matter how critical.

"characters who look like, and possibly share mannerisms with,"

I like it when the mannerisms etc change, so there's no appeal in RPF for me. I'd rather a contorted AU of the show verse. The idea of associating any of Jeremy Sisto's mannerisms much less his name to a slave owner (I have no idea if he's a conflicted one or not--just using him because you mentioned it) plays into two areas of discomfort for me.

I can sympathize with your point of view. Won't be bringing it up again.

A lot of the adjustments to being female fics leave me wondering if I'm a real woman.

I think some of the changes wouldn't necessarily originate *with* Dean or Sam, though, but more likely from John. If Dean is his young teenage daughter with those eyes and that mouth? There's bound to be less leaving her on her own, for one. Just as an example.

I think like I was saying with Dead Language and Sam's character there, the core building blocks of both Dean and Sam's personality would be in place, but does that manifest differently if you're a girl? And even if it doesn't, do those choices get judged differently?

Say girl!Dean is just as sexual a creature as her male counterpart. Now is she just a healthy, really frigging attractive young person letting off steam after a hunt? Or is she a slut?

This is why it's strictly an intellectual exercise for me, though. The fic that would result doesn't seem at all fun, really.

I think some of the changes wouldn't necessarily originate *with* Dean or Sam, though, but more likely from John.

Oh, most of the adjustment trope is in the cursed-to-female genre. The things presumably female writers put in as the difference between male and female make me wonder.

Would John be perceptive enough to not leave Deanna alone? Dean was painfully pretty. Deanna would have a gun. I'm not sure how much I'd attribute to him on that front. But I would imagine that Deanna would be...well, there's a reason I've seen Katee Sackhoff cast as female!Dean. Early BSG Starbuck, for sure. Really quite aggressive and combative and not conventionally feminine--but gorgeous. More combative than Dean, because the chip would be bigger, and the training would have been more hard core.

And I'd also see Sam as more exaggerated too, in his direction. Capable, sure, but perhaps exacerbated cravings towards gender norms.

Or is she a slut?

Well, I call Dean a slut, so I'd call Deanna one too. But it doesn't mean she's a tramp. It's quite possible these semantics are personal.

It's hard to know! But I think part of it for me is, I already saw that story played out with Buffy -- girl saves world. So I like that Dean and Sam are boys.

And I'd also see Sam as more exaggerated too, in his direction. Capable, sure, but perhaps exacerbated cravings towards gender norms.

Oh, that's interesting. Hmmm.

Well, I call Dean a slut, so I'd call Deanna one too.

Yeah, I guess a lot of people do. It's hard to know what to call it when you don't think a little casual consensual sex is a bad thing, though, because "slut" sounds so negative.

because "slut" sounds so negative.

I'm on a mission to reclaim the term. And, honestly, applying it to guys seems to be the only way. In my head you can slut around and not have any self-esteem issues, or even be trying to fill any emotional holes in your life. You like sex! You're not doing anything shady or manipulative to get it.

Other terms like tramp, etc (which still have gender connotations I'd like to remove) I think of as more damaged or malevolent.

I think historically slut probably has plenty of gender connotations, but I get what you mean.

And yeah, Dean is hardly shady about sex. I think one of my favorite exchanges was in Wendigo, when Haley said, "Must you cheapen the moment?" and he said, "Yeah!" His honesty is pretty refreshing.

Ailleann and I concocted the funniest scenario with him and Bones. Because even as direct as Dean could be, it would still probably confuse Bones at first.

Bones: "Oh, you mean we should have sex!"

Dean, smirking: "Uh, yeah. You're something else, lady."