The *other* reason we don't see as many condoms in fanfic as we should ...

[andraste]

You know, sometimes the characters are (in the past/in the future/on the astral plane/having interspecies tentacle sex/evil giant robots/omnipotent) and condoms just don't seem relevant to the situation. And other times, the characters are idiots.

I mean I care deeply about whether the characters in the story I'm writing practice safe sex, but I'm not entirely sure that they do. It's the mid-eighties, so they definitely should use protection. But given that they walk around with nuclear accelerators strapped to their backs, unsafe sex is probably not high on the list of stupid things that are likely to get them killed.

Probably I will solve this dilemma by putting this argument into the story, but it occurred to me that this has cross-fandom applications. Maybe one of the reasons condom use isn't universal in fanfiction is that many of the characters we write about take ludicrous risks of other kinds.

Now, I think it's entirely in character for Buffy Summers to endanger her life fighting vampires every night but demand that her lovers (well, the human ones) use condoms. Taking risks in one area of life doesn't necessarily mean that you'll take them in another. But if you're stuck on a desert island with invisible monsters, is not catching an STD really that much of a priority? If you're with the brain-eating serial killer who murdered your father, are you actually going to try to discuss safer sex?

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Buffy does canonically use condoms if you look at Where the Wild Things Are. I really hope she did with Angel and Spike given that both of them could probably give her Darla's syphilis.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

She also uses condoms in The I in Team (someone was really trying to be responsible in the production crew, I guess), the first time she has sex with Riley.

Syphilis: would a virus survive that long? (I always thought the reason why Darla still has it is because the spell that brought her back resurrected her original human body, not her vampire one.)

Otoh, poor Cordelia is also an advertisment on why one should use condoms, given both her one night stand in s1 and her Jasmine-dictated night with Connor results in immediate conception. I don't rewatch much of s3 due to my issues with some, but didn't she use some sort of magical security stuff before sleeping with Groo?

[andraste]

Otoh, poor Cordelia is also an advertisment on why one should use condoms, given both her one night stand in s1 and her Jasmine-dictated night with Connor results in immediate conception.

You would think she'd have learned her lesson the first time! I do wonder if she was using some other form of contraception that magic was able to work around on those occasions.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Could be, considering the first occasion involved a demon pimp and the second a fallen Power That Was, but then again, on the second occasion, she was already half controlled by someone else, and what was left of Cordelia didn't expect to survive, so I doubt she would have bothered with birth control. Poor Cordy.

[qodarkness.livejournal.com]

Just a random note from Montreal: Cordelia specifically states that her sex with surname-guy (her first experience) was safe sex. Which was part of the reason she was so distressed by her condition.

I'd love to explore more of this topic but have hostel internet time, so not going to happen yet . . .

A

[andraste]

I really hope she did with Angel and Spike given that both of them could probably give her Darla's syphilis.

Do we have any canon evidence one way or the other one whether vampires can carry diseases? Darla has syphilis when she comes back in her human body, but I'm not sure if Vampire!Darla would have still had it.

I think we can rule out condoms in Smashed, at least, since I can't think of a reason either party would have been carrying any at the time.