Identity Porn
From Fanlore
| Trope · Genre | ||
|---|---|---|
| Synonyms: | persona porn | |
| Related: | ||
| See Also: | Batman | |
| Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom | ||
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | ||
| ||
Identity porn is a narrative kink that may or may not involve actual porn, involving "people who have secret identities which focus on the consequences of using multiple personas"[1].
The term was probably coined in DC Comics fandom before or around 2005[2].
It is commonly used in Marvel Comics and related fandoms as well, due to the plethora of multi-identitied superheroes, but has spread to many other fandoms.
Definition(s)
- "Identity porn is easiest to explain in the DCU (and the term probably originated there). Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Superman. The two body love triangle. Because there's three people there, three identities. Both Clark Kent and Superman are independently real to different social circles. But in order to get the kink I think they also have to be real to overlapping social circles. If someone is one self with one person and a different self with a different person then there's no clash, crunch, tension, just these seperate pieces. If they are, or want to be, real in both personas, then you can get identity porn."[3]
- "it has to approach it from a particular direction, that I have been thinking of to myself as being about "role-playing as yourself", where the various identities start escaping from the boxes the characters try to keep them in, overlapping and blending. It is generally heavy on the dramatic irony, interesting combinations of denial and self-awareness, compartmentalization taken to extremes, and grand reveals."[4]
- "...I wonder if the striving for wholeness, for the truth behind the masks, is what other people kink on emotionally. For me, the point of identity porn has to do with the ways it shows the whole person who's pretending to be only part of themselves. The climax, then, is when all those masks collide and fall apart, leaving the whole person exposed to someone else who knows them better than they ever would have without the playing with masks."[5]
Meta
- identity porn, post by Melannen. Livejournal post with many comments discussing identity porn and offering recs.
- Identity Porn, post by beccaelizabeth. Dreamwidth meta post.
- DCU meta question by Petra. DW post, main discussion in comments.
- Five Things Meme, post by mithen. DW post discussing identity porn, see also comments.
- request for identity porn fic on Kink_finders.
Fanworks
- Identity Porn tag at Archive of Our Own.
- Cliche: Identity Porn category at more than friends Superman/Batman archive.
Example Fanworks
- A Clarification of Range by Te, possibly fandom's most idporntastic writer. DC Comics, Tim/Kon slash. Kon fucks a lot of people. Most of them are Tim.
- Jeffrey Nullier's "Man With Fedora" by Sam Starbuck. A White Collar gen story in which Neal pretends to be himself.
- Hypotenuse by derryderrydown, Marvel Comics. Steve Rogers breaks up with Tony Stark because he is in love with Iron Man, without knowing that they're the same person.
- How to Marry a Millionaire series by Petra & Jamjar, DC Comics, Bruce/Dick slash. Early use of term identity porn (an in-progress title was "Identity Porn story"[6].)
- 5U175 by Closer - Suits, Mike/Harvey slash. BNF fic-writer Mike tries never to think of his boss Harvey that way, but is falling hard for a Star Trek GNF. Who turns out to be Harvey. Oops.
- The Hound by Mitsuhachi. A Naruto KakaIru story, in which Iruka is visited by a mysterious ANBU while his lover is away.
- Fall Stories by thingswithwings. Leverage. Parker (Alice)/Peggy, Parker/Sophie. Parker likes being Alice, but she likes being Parker too.
- Off Page Six by glossing. DC Comics, Bruce Wayne/Superboy. Bruce is not Batman, Superboy is not Superman.
- That Old Schizophrenic Jealousy by Lenore. Smallville, Clark/Lex/Superman. Lex and Superman are sleeping together. Clark is jealous.
References
- ↑ Melannen in a post on Kink Finders 18 July 2011 (accessed 6 December 2011).
- ↑ Comment thread in a post by Melannen 23 July 2011 (accessed 6 December 2011).
- ↑ Identity Porn, post by beccaelizabeth, 23 July 2011 (accessed 6 December 2011).
- ↑ identity porn, post by melannen, 7 July 2011 (accessed 6 December 2011).
- ↑ Petra in comments of post by Melannen, 23 July 2011 (accessed 7 December 2011).
- ↑ Petra in comments of post by Melannen, 23 July 2011: "In the chatlog searching, I found instances where I referred to the How to Marry a Millionaire 'verse while I was writing it as "The Identity Porn story," so for me at the time they seem to have been more or less synonymous."
