Losin Ma Religion

So recently, amongst my stumblings, I stumbled across a relatively new story on FictionMania with the incredibly promising title of "The Cheerleader Transformation Machine", by new author Caitlin Arabesque, and with a name like that, it's hard not to click, and I was not disappointed.

Okay, it's an amalgamation of everything hot: cheerleaders, bimbofication, age regression from above 18 to below 18 (which is actually rather rare) along with potential for more, and yeah, cheerleaders.

The only reason I watch this show. Plus that Kurt guy. He's pretty hot.

It's like the Pirate Ninja Zombie Robot of sexiness: Teenage Bimbo Cheerleader, uh... Cheerleaders. So I clicked on the reviews, (this was before I read the story, actually. I like to guage the general reaction before reading, since my time is valuable, dammit! I can't waste my time reading bad stories when I could be complaining about them on here!) and, something that surprised me after reading the story itself, most people (well, like, four of them, but for the sake of my self esteem, I like to think I'm talking about something significant) devoted their comments to pointing out flaws in the story rather than talking about how great it was. Goddamn random internet people have no appreciation for genius. Prepare to be added to the list.

Ya don't like it? Go read Paul Jutras!

Anyway, of the two things most of them were complaining about, one was the excessive length of the story. I, for one, find the long, tense buildup to the transformation helps to build the atmosphere, and the payoff of a 20-year-old, laid back college guy becoming a 15-year-old bubbly high school cheerleader to be more than sufficient. But, admittedly, in this particular story, picking up the pace probably would have helped, though the random internet people are missing out by focusing on this fault instead of appreciating the true GENIUS of Caitlin Arabesque.

Now that I've killed your libido, let's move on.

Another point that seemed to knot up a lot of readers' cheer spankies was an event in which, via the mentality-altering machine, the character changes religion, becoming a Christian where he was once an Atheist. As said by random internet erotica reviewer number 1: "I also REALLY didn't get why they had to become christian, using magic to switch someones deepest religious conviction into the opposite just strikes me as just about the worst thing you could do to anyone", and a few others said similar things, most without capitalization of proper nouns.

As explained by Arabesque, this was something that appealed to her personally. Her experience with cheerleaders caused her to equate them with Christianity, therefore the forced conversion to said religion of someone very much opposed to it is parallel to the forced conversion of an adult male into a teenage female cheerleader. That's what transformation fiction is all about, becoming what you're not.

Now, I'm no stranger to forced religious conversion as a part of transformation. Hell, I have a whole blog devoted to it. I've never recieved any complaints, but I was expecting them. I took great care to craft my disclaimer at the top (no feelings were harmed in the making of this pr0n) and even to separate the religion-change captions from the others I do, because God forbid people get nasty religion based TF's in their nonconsensual body transformation and brainwashing! Oh, sorry, I meant to say Generic-Non-Denominational-Deity-who-may-or-may-not-exist-depending-on-your-religious-and/or-philosophical-convictions forbid.

I suppose, on the other hand, that to some religions, forced conversion would involve forcing someone into damnation, and it's pretty hard to get aroused when you can't stop thinking about Hellfire (unless you're really kinky), so it's something some people would rather stray from, and that's fine.

Frollo saw some pretty hot stuff in that fire.

To each his own. (though I can't really imagine why conversion from Atheism would be such a big deal. It's not like it's converting is going to affect what happens to you in the Atheist afterlife, which, according to Dane Cook, involves becoming a beautiful tree).

For a while, the lack of whiners on my Muslim TG Caption blog had me thinking that maybe people had come to terms with this? But I guess not. Religious TF's remain controversial, and we can't have controversy, now, can we! Not on the internet of all places!

Pictured: The Internet (Not)

I guess what I'm getting at here is, whenever you find a fetish that disturbs you, remember this little thing that I call Red Ochre's Rule (I hope this makes it into TVTropes one day. Not so it'll be a widely acknowledged wisdom that bring the world closer together, but because if it does everyone will know my name, and my ego will be validated). That is, never criticize someone for their fetishes, because they can't control them. As long as no real-life acts of depravity are commited, the darkest fantasies have the right to be explored just as much as the most innocent.

The author handles this with a lot of tact. She never makes open criticism or praise toward either Aitheism or Christianity, keeps her own ideas and politics out of it, restraining herself to the aspects she finds hawtt. The disdainful view the protagonist expresses towards Christianity in the beginning is only to outline the strife between the two viewpoints to make the change more significant, not to reflect her own views (if she was trying to convey a pro-Atheist message in a story that involves conversion from Atheism to Christianity, I think she fell rather short of succeeding).

I seem to recall one of Babs Yerunkel's Jade stories (I don't remember which one) involving brainwashing people, in all seriousness, to "at the very least seek more tolerant variants of their faiths", and considering this a triumph of the good guys. THAT'S something you can complain about, random internet people!

Now, I should be clear about a few things here. Firstly, every kinkster needs to be able to separate their fantasies from their realities. This is actually something that's almost universal, naturally. A woman who enjoys being subjugated, objectified, dressed as a French Maid and ordered around during roleplaying probably won't appreciate hearing, in their normal, waking lives "go make me a sammich, woman!" and getting smacked on the ass. That being said, forcibly doing something like changing one's religion in real life, whether it be sexual or not, is definitely a no-no, and I'm sure Caitlin Arabesque would not like to have her religion forcibly changed, or would consider doing so to someone else.

This is smut! It doesn't have to be politically correct! Some people in the TG community like to become submissive women in worlds of female subjugation, shallow teenage cock-teases, unrealistic standards of beauty, potentially offensive ethnic stereotypes...

I'm just kiding, Mr. DNA! I love you!

The point is, there is no fetish political party. If someone wants to keep their fantasies amongst themselves and their fellow fantasy...-izers..., don't complain about how 'offensive' or 'eeevul!' they would potentially be if their fetishes were, somehow, applied to the real world. And if it's not your cup of tea, don't go mentioning that, either! It doesn't involve you!

In other words: Fap or GTFO

RO's Rule Simplified

Ultimately, the only real complaint I have about this story is... TO BE CONTINUED???? ARGH!! WTF!!!??? ARE YOU SERIOUS???!!?!?111 This is the most unnacceptable instance of Fappus Interruptus since That Ghost is Our Host!

Anyway, in closing, a message to Caitlin A.: Don't worry about what other people think of your- ah, fuck it, I just want MOAR!