Cheating Bastard fic is one of my massive pet peeves in any fandom, not just RPS. Why would I want to read about people being assholes? It makes no sense to me.
The Wives Know And Don't Mind At All on the other hand, is something I really like if it's done well. Part of that comes, I think, from the fact that reading too many The Wives/Girlfriends Don't Exist stories in a row sometimes makes me feel like I've suddenly been transplanted to the weird Planet Without Women. (Which is not to say I don't like a lot of The Wives/Girlfriends Don't Exist stories, just that I have to be careful not to overdose on them or it starts to really creep me out). Mostly, though, I think it's just a consequence of being poly. I'm in a long-term relationship with a married woman, so The Wives Know And Don't Mind scenarios feel more comforting and familiar than wildly implausible.
That said, when they're done badly (as is the often, but not always the case when written by bad authors) they make me want to tear my hair out and that's because they treat the women really kind of crappily, diminishing and dismissing their relationships so as to elevate the slash relationships as OMG Special And One True Love.
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Cheating Bastard fic is one of my massive pet peeves in any fandom, not just RPS. Why would I want to read about people being assholes? It makes no sense to me.
The Wives Know And Don't Mind At All on the other hand, is something I really like if it's done well. Part of that comes, I think, from the fact that reading too many The Wives/Girlfriends Don't Exist stories in a row sometimes makes me feel like I've suddenly been transplanted to the weird Planet Without Women. (Which is not to say I don't like a lot of The Wives/Girlfriends Don't Exist stories, just that I have to be careful not to overdose on them or it starts to really creep me out). Mostly, though, I think it's just a consequence of being poly. I'm in a long-term relationship with a married woman, so The Wives Know And Don't Mind scenarios feel more comforting and familiar than wildly implausible.
That said, when they're done badly (as is the often, but not always the case when written by bad authors) they make me want to tear my hair out and that's because they treat the women really kind of crappily, diminishing and dismissing their relationships so as to elevate the slash relationships as OMG Special And One True Love.