I totally forgot to ask after the first Death to the Angel chapter. Why are heats and heat supplies so taboo? Like why does Hunk and friends have to secretly sell padding and perfumes like contraband? Assuming you guys are approaching heats like periods, were period supplies a bad thing during that time period?
Oh, didnāt you hear? Women didnāt start having periods until 1880.
Obviously, Iām kidding, but yeah, it was so taboo, at least in the Victorian Era, that it went virtually unacknowledged in (Western, English) society. Napkins andĀ ābeltsā were not readily available, and women had to use a) cloths calledĀ āguardsā tied between the legs to pretty much just sop up as much as possible and which they had to change pretty frequently, or b) woreĀ āred petticoats,ā which were thicker petticoats, often red in color to disguise the, uh....bloodstains. And tampons were sometimes used for medical reasons to stopĀ āabnormalā bleeding...theyād fill little bags with sawdust, ashes, or tanbark (mulch) and just shove em up there. Toxic shock syndrome, whatās that?? Itās a whole lotta yikes. Source
So, in answer to your question, yes we are approaching the societal treatment of heats like periods, since they are similar in that theyāre both mammalian reproductive cycles which interfere to differing but still significant extents with daily female/omega life, and yet there werenāt really any great solutions posed to make them easier, and we still have things like the tampon tax and that bullshit.Ā āLuxury itemsā my ass -_-
Anyway. Clearly, as someone who has periods, Iām pretty passionate about this. Heats and heat supplies in Death to the Angel/this Victorian AU are quite taboo. In this AU, heats are not only considered very vulgar to discuss in polite society, bc I mean...ālegsā was considered a bad word back then, theyāre absolutely not going to be talking about uteruses. Suppressants do not exist yet, and those that do are herbal in nature and could be potentially dangerous, like many abortifacient herbs.Ā
Omegas are then forced to a) wait out their heats in solitude if theyāre unmated and feel deep shame for pleasuring themselves bc masturbation also VERY BAD in this era :| or b) just let their alpha mate do what theyāre supposed to do and get their omega pregnant bc omegas can only get pregnant in heat so pretty much, omegas are led to believe that any heat in which they donāt get knocked up by an alpha, as is their God-given Purpose In Life (SOUND FAMILIAR LOL), is a heat wasted. And thatās always the omegaās fault. Not societyās, obviously......
Keith is, unsurprisingly, not down with this. Neither are the Holts. No solutions were presented to them by their society, so theyāre forced to solve it themselves as best they can given their class/dynamic/resources. Thankfully they have some good friends who are more open about all this than most folks in this AU, including Shiro...for now. Shiro will learn >:D
The Victorian Era was pretty conservative and also very religious, which factored into how sex/sexuality/gender/etc were treated and viewed. Death to the Angel will reflect that!Ā