Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40224
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## Deviant in reproduction

One of the better uses of a _deviant monster_ is in **Alien**. [A male crew member is "impregnated" orally](http://reel3.com/reassessing-alien-sexuality-and-the-anxieties-of-men/). The resulting baby is described as something that "shouldn't exist", grows full-sized in hours, has acid for blood, etc. The monster is deviant from conception and defies all of nature's laws.

The sexual violation is all metaphor – if you don't recognize the rape subtext you can still empathize with the body anxiety and Kane's vulnerability. If you _do_ recognize the subtext your sense of dread is elevated and the setup pays off.

## Deviant in pleasure

The [Cenobites from **Hellraiser**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenobite_(Hellraiser)) are expected to be beautiful women who are skilled in the sexy arts, but turn out to be sadomasochistic flesh monsters that want to peal off your skin. Their sexual deviancy is a _promise_ that is taken to the unwelcome extreme.

Both blur sexual imagery and _universal_ body anxiety. The first victims are male, making them instantly scarier and stronger. Arguably, the body violation would not have the same impact if the monsters were selectively hetero-normalized.

## Actually just sex, but unpleasant and one-sided

As Kirk so wonderfully said in his answer _"If you write without reason, it will show."_

I'll paraphrase: **if your monsters are just a thinly disguised _sexploitation fantasy_, no one will be fooled into thinking it is something dark and angsty.**

Monsters of the flesh have to be monsters of the mind too. If the idea scares/threatens/violates _you_ personally it is worth exploring. If it is there just to shock and titillate with power fantasies against "empty skirts", it will deservingly get eyerolls from anyone who doesn't share that fantasy, and sees it as a [**Mars Needs Women** trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarsNeedsWomen).

Worst case scenario [the rape-y space slug scene backfires and becomes a legendary bad joke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_of_Terror#Taaffe_O'Connell_and_%22the_worm_sex_scene%22).

Original score: 6