Magical Healing Cock
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Related tropes/genres | rapefic, Hurt/Comfort, whump |
| See also | slash |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Magical Healing Cock is a story element where a physically and/or psychologically battered character finds physical or psychological healing in sex.
Some fans use the term only as a pejorative, and consider the use of the trope a sign of badfic. One derided instance is when a story features a character who requires receptive penetrative sex as part of their rape recovery. Another is ICU!sex, or any other setting where one character is gravely injured and seems to improve after sex.
Other fans embrace the trope as a fantasy device or a kind of wish-fulfillment and use it knowingly, or seek it out as a fic kink.
Origin of the Term
Note: the trope itself is far older than the term.
The term may have come from the title of a 2001 article making fun of the cliché in The Onion: Come Bathe in the Healing Light of my Cock. A fan cites it 2001:
"Lonely? Depressed? Come bask in the healing light of my cock..." -- me, at fanfic panel. (With apologies to The Onion.) There aren't too many conventions where you can stand up in front of a room full of people and offer to let them enjoy the healing light of your cock. Or at least no when you're sober. But there I was, right in the middle of the fanfiction panel, offering to allow my fellow anime fans to bask in the glory of an organ that I don't actually possess. [1]
The term was in wide enough use in 2005 for "healing cock" to be included on a fandom glossary posted January 6, 2006 [2], as well as in fannish discussion. [3]
Examples
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- In the Supernatural Hurt/Comfort story, The Bright Lights of Disturbia, Sam can be seen as embodying the healing cock trope, as he sets out to fix his brother Dean, who has been traumatized by sexual assaults, in part by maintaining a sexual relationship. He gradually comes to realize the naïveté of his plan and embarks on a slightly more realistic approach. In this way the story manages to use the trope for its emotional resonances with readers, while at the same time, exposes it as a fantasy.[4]
- In Stargate Atlantis fandom, authors have at least twice subverted the genre by writing stories in which one of the characters' cocks quite literally becomes a tool for medical healing.
- In the 2008 SGA story The Adventures of Rodney McKay's Magical Healing Cock by sardonicsmiley, Rodney McKay's cock temporarily becomes a healing device when it comes near (but not does not have to touch) an injury.
- In the 2011 SGA story The One with the Healing Cock by trophic (originally anonymous), John Sheppard's semen (which must be directly applied to any mucous membrane of the injured person to be effective) has medical healing powers.
- While the term "healing cock" is never used, an author pokes fun at the trope in The Sentinel story Recompense by Adoratrice (1999?)
- In the 2014 Sherlock story The Midas Touch by flawedamythyst, John Watson has a rare medical condition that allows him to cure illness and injury with his penis, leading him to systematically have sex with terminally ill and seriously infirm people.
- Cori Falls's Pokemon fic "The Thrill of Defeat" skirts the line by having Jessie ask James to make love to her for the first time after he's comforted her over their failure to compete in the Pokemon League. Her fic "A Warm Place" plays it straight, by having them make love after Jessie is traumatized by a nightmare about James dying.
Links & Resources
- Magical Healing Cock works on AO3
- magical healing cocl tag on Tumblr
- Magical Healing Cock on Supernatural Wiki
- healing cock on Urban Dictionary
- Intimate Psychotherapy on TV Tropes
References
- ^ Yaoi Con 2001: Oh give me a home, where the bishounen roam..., Archived version
- ^ THE LANGUAGE OF FANDOM (fandomvocab.htm 03-Jan-2006 17:13 99K)
- ^ "I was thinking more of the idea that every dramatic story needs a dramatic climax and for slashers, the easiest and the most obvious is sex, even if it combines a h/c element (the good old "healing cock" story, wherein semen apparently has magical healing powers, LOL)." - Black Hole Fanon: Fanon and conspiracy theories, comment by ginalin at Fanthropology (June 14, 2005)
- ^ Leonidaslion, The Bright Lights of Disturbia Master Post, accessed March 28, 2010