sasha_feather (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sasha_feather) wrote2016-02-16 01:19 pm
sasha_feather) wrote2016-02-16 01:19 pm
Sex Criminals, vol 1 and 2
I read the first two volumes of "Sex Criminals" by Fraction and Zdarksy. I was annoyed because it has a great concept but could have been so much better than it is.
The premise is great: Suzie is a rare individual who, whenever she has an orgasm, time stops. The first issue is cool because she thinks maybe this happens for everyone and she tries to figure it out, asking her doctor and depressed mom and "the dirty girls" at school. She has no success there, but she does keep some track of her observations about "the Quiet", her experiences of frozen time. When she's about 25 she finds another person with this ability, Jon, a hapless bank assistant. The begin a relationship and the book goes downhill as we learn more about Jon, who is an insufferable man child. The library is in financial trouble, and Jon convinces Suzie to use their abilities to rob banks.
I thought, well, maybe this book will be about when you find someone who you are sexually compatible with, and it's great for a little while, but then you realize they are a bad fit for your life and aren't making you happy. That seemed to be the way it was going for Suzie. (Suzie's best friend Rach actually calls the cops on her because she figures out what is going on! But instead of reaching the cops Rach (strangely) gets ahold of an antagonist, a sort of mystical sex police woman.) Suzie even leaves Jon for a little while and contemplates starting a new relationship, but ends up going back to Jon. Meanwhile Jon goes to therapy and and we have to read about how he-- literally-- takes a regular shit in his boss' potted plant in the office. Instead of saying "The Quiet", Jon calls his experience of frozen time "Cumworld" and uses it to shit in a plant.
Another thing that annoyed me was that there were two instances of "no homo" in these two volume; fuck you Fraction. (A cool sex worker character with the same power, who has trouble having orgasms, states that she has them more often with women. But she's not a W4W sort of person. Uh huh). It made me feel like this book was by and for straight people.
Talking about this with some fannish friends, we realized that the concept could be so, so interesting, especially when mapped onto fan fic tropes.
Imagine instead of robbing banks, someone decided to use this power to help people. Imagine hostage situations or natural disasters or military operations. Which are, of course, inherently unsexy! So the characters are perhaps recruited into units where they learn to get off very efficiently in order to get the work done. And, astoft pointed out, perhaps they develop a sort of Pavlovian response to disasters! With time frozen you could disarm dangerous people; push or carry people out of the way of bullets and explosions and cars; attach bungee cords to people falling off bridges. You could save people and animals from fires. And yeah, you could rob banks too, or you could steal documents and expose white collar corporate criminals.
What if a character who relied on having orgasms in order to save people, started having trouble with their ability, due to taking anti-depressants, for example? Now there is an interesting concept, because the character would feel guilty prioritizing their own mental well being over that of people they are saving. (h/twere_duck) But if you have a team of such individuals, maybe it would be ok to be "benched" for a while-- maybe the team would even require it. Collective action!
One thing I liked about these books is the matter-of-fact approach to sex. I liked the inclusion of the sex worker's perspective in particular.
So, I think fandom should take this concept and do something more interesting with it!
The premise is great: Suzie is a rare individual who, whenever she has an orgasm, time stops. The first issue is cool because she thinks maybe this happens for everyone and she tries to figure it out, asking her doctor and depressed mom and "the dirty girls" at school. She has no success there, but she does keep some track of her observations about "the Quiet", her experiences of frozen time. When she's about 25 she finds another person with this ability, Jon, a hapless bank assistant. The begin a relationship and the book goes downhill as we learn more about Jon, who is an insufferable man child. The library is in financial trouble, and Jon convinces Suzie to use their abilities to rob banks.
I thought, well, maybe this book will be about when you find someone who you are sexually compatible with, and it's great for a little while, but then you realize they are a bad fit for your life and aren't making you happy. That seemed to be the way it was going for Suzie. (Suzie's best friend Rach actually calls the cops on her because she figures out what is going on! But instead of reaching the cops Rach (strangely) gets ahold of an antagonist, a sort of mystical sex police woman.) Suzie even leaves Jon for a little while and contemplates starting a new relationship, but ends up going back to Jon. Meanwhile Jon goes to therapy and and we have to read about how he-- literally-- takes a regular shit in his boss' potted plant in the office. Instead of saying "The Quiet", Jon calls his experience of frozen time "Cumworld" and uses it to shit in a plant.
Another thing that annoyed me was that there were two instances of "no homo" in these two volume; fuck you Fraction. (A cool sex worker character with the same power, who has trouble having orgasms, states that she has them more often with women. But she's not a W4W sort of person. Uh huh). It made me feel like this book was by and for straight people.
Talking about this with some fannish friends, we realized that the concept could be so, so interesting, especially when mapped onto fan fic tropes.
Imagine instead of robbing banks, someone decided to use this power to help people. Imagine hostage situations or natural disasters or military operations. Which are, of course, inherently unsexy! So the characters are perhaps recruited into units where they learn to get off very efficiently in order to get the work done. And, as
toft pointed out, perhaps they develop a sort of Pavlovian response to disasters! With time frozen you could disarm dangerous people; push or carry people out of the way of bullets and explosions and cars; attach bungee cords to people falling off bridges. You could save people and animals from fires. And yeah, you could rob banks too, or you could steal documents and expose white collar corporate criminals. What if a character who relied on having orgasms in order to save people, started having trouble with their ability, due to taking anti-depressants, for example? Now there is an interesting concept, because the character would feel guilty prioritizing their own mental well being over that of people they are saving. (h/t
were_duck) But if you have a team of such individuals, maybe it would be ok to be "benched" for a while-- maybe the team would even require it. Collective action! One thing I liked about these books is the matter-of-fact approach to sex. I liked the inclusion of the sex worker's perspective in particular.
So, I think fandom should take this concept and do something more interesting with it!
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I could understand discovering you have the power to freeze time and using it to take a petty revenge once, but being stuck on it? When you have the power to freeze time? Nope, I don't want to get to know you.
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I did like that it was somewhat sex positive, like you said. I wonder if the fans of the series like it just for that. Geez, we need more sex-positive stuff!
Yesterday I had a revelation about regrets: if I had a time machine, would I go back and do something different? OK, then regrets are okay. Couldn't be bothered to use the time machine? Well never mind. So yeah, robbing banks for the thrill of it, or as a Robin Hood thing, but to save a library? Really, that's the only way to save the library? WHY NOT FOMENT REVOLUTION, DAMMIT?! Make a REAL difference. (Don't get me started about the petty shitting.)
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