Stepford Stray
Added 2021-04-28 13:09:33 +0000 UTCGosh, it feels like such a long time since I've uploaded anything! I do hope to get out more art for $10 Patrons soon, but in the meantime, I hope a short story will suffice.
This one does take us a bit outside of Stepford, but I am keeping the town involved in as many stories as I can this year, and I've been enjoying how that limitation has made me think more creatively. For example, this story's premise of "what if a woman in the process of Stepfordization did manage to escape Stepford?"
This story also features another perspective on what it's like for a nonbinary person to be Stepfordized. As it is now, I've started to settle on the idea that while men default to patriarchs and women default to housewives (though those aren't universal), nonbinary people who get Stepfordized are sort of random? They may end up more submissive, being a homemaker, or they may end up being dominant and act as the breadwinner, or even somewhere between the two, or outside of those roles, but still fulfilling some sort of Stepford life. Delivering milk to thirsty housewives, for example. Ultimately, the idea that being nonbinary in Stepford leads to a more varied set of options for what you're brainwashed into doing, though often with more agency than is allowed to cis and trans women.
I have another oneshot coming in two weeks, The Specialist, but I also hope to put out some art of the Fitting In cast before then! Hope you enjoy!
Comments
Thank you! Lou-Ann’s past as a scientist was something I came up with mostly to explain how she would be able to stepfordize Ash, but I’m glad I made that call! I generally try not to stress too much about the realism of these stories, but for both this and Bet On Black, I thought it made sense to bring up just how big Stepford has to be, considering all the stories relating to it. There’s no exact timeline for the stories, in terms of what happens in what order, but both with acknowledging the size of Stepford and by having characters make little cameos now and again, I think it makes Stepford feel a bit more like a real place. Thank you again!
Smokey
2021-04-29 14:15:31 +0000 UTCOmg this story is so fun and different! Here are some specific things I love about it: —I love that, even tho the focus character getting Stepfordized is non-binary, we still get a taste of Lou-Ann’s own feminine transformation. The line about how she was so foolish to think she could be a scientist and professor is probably my fav line in the story —I love that Lou-Ann uses her science expertise from her old life not to escape her new life but to solidify it and then also brainwash someone else. I’ve been toying for awhile with the idea of Stepfordizing a media figure or politician who would then use their platform to legitimize and spread the Stepford lifestyle. Weaponizing women’s hard-won skills in service of their and others’ subjugation is just very exciting! —I love that Ash’s desire to save Lou-Ann is the very thing that completes her transformation bc she realizes how much she loves being protected and ordered around! There is no way to escape mwahaha —I love the thing about hundreds of people going missing around Stepford. Similar to the nods in Bet on Black to Stepford being incredibly huge with a massive population, I love the allusions to scale given how often transformations seem to be happening in stories. I agree with you that even tho it’s fun to see housewife transformations happen out and about in the world (or cross over to a semi “real life” setting like Fitting In) there’s just something special about Stepford itself
vasily26
2021-04-29 00:53:12 +0000 UTC
