Alphas and Dominance as you know them are a myth

Maya; It's all good! I've spent a lot of time annoying people in the wolfdog community/wolfdog owners, so it's sort of the understanding I've come to have of it. It's sad when people mismanage or mistreat a wolfdog because they don't really understand them :/ You've also got to be very aware of laws where you are, it can change even in a single city, which is frustrating to figure out. 

Vague; I understand that, I just am hesitant to use another, less used inadequate term when attempting to educate people, as I don't want to have them leave and say it that way, and have someone explain why the new term isn't right, so just go back to the old term. I'd prefer to either expand on the understanding of the word, or fully hash into what is actually going on, but that's really just preference. I don't think either way is necessarily wrong.

Yeah, that's the irony of the words. People think a snarl or growl = aggressive and dominant, but really it most often means fear, discomfort, etc. I've been noticing it lately a lot in "protection" dogs, be it for property or people, as well. While the display is still equally scary, that's it's job, it's a misunderstanding of what the core feelings are, and thus leads to mishandling and misinformation. 

I love that this thread was made! I felt weird seeing the "Alpha" title, I don't like when people perpetuate that long disproven theory.

That said...

Omegaverse is just a fantasy trope. I don't think there's anything wrong with people writing it, so long as they're not claiming it represents real wolves. Usually it's just used as an interesting dynamic between existing characters, a new way to explore them. I don't think Omegaverse existing is doing any harm to the general public opinion of wolves. ;w;

Now, movies like "Alpha & Omega"? That might be doing a little harm. it's mainstream media centered on a wolf pack, so it may have painted views... Then again, it didn't do very well. 

@tagora

My problem is how its written half the time

cause a character having any weakness makes them a weak nobody who only lives for an alpha

how every fic has omegas as lesser and obedient and written into roles that are often considered tradition housewifes. I'm really uncomfortable seeing things considered feminine considered weak and thats all I see in every omegaverse fic I dared to check out in curiosity. 'Omegas wear dresses, take care of pups. Can't do things by themselves, need an alpha. arent complete without an alpha'

you can swap alpha and omega with man and women and.... you see what I'm saying? the fact is you can easily swap them and thats just.. hng.. because thast what they almost always are. Ways to write two characters in traditionally male/female roles without wanting to genderbend em.... and add some wolf traits.

omgeaverse is often a universe where every harmful stereotype about women are true only you swap women for omegas... but that doesn't change the issues.. more so when you write characters that are in canon having softer moments as these.. you're giving the message soft = omega = weak

'writing a character to overcome how society treats omegas' except... often the world itself makes omegas these weak dependent characters. I read a fix once where the omega couldnt even open double doors by themselves! And this is more than commen when it comes to things ....  in the end these omegas are written in the end to end up having a mate and being happier this way.  Its like your classic dollar bin old romance novel..

Fifty shades of grey can easily be turned into an omegaverse fic and we all know how awful that book is when it comes to writing realtionships. Of the ones I've read, most had the alphas be controlling, possessive, and such. Why? Aren't we trying to have equal realtionships? The very name 'alpha and omega' implies a huge power imbalance.

it also has lot of people thinking its how real wolf packs work (hence writing werewolves like it)

im so sick and tired of seeing my favourite characters written as omegas because the fandom has deemed them soft tm.

Having a male character being punished for being soft is.... really bad.  Thats what being an omega is, a punishment.

oh man i ranted a bit there

sorry xD

I have known this for a while now and its good to inform ppl. Some ppl still dont believe it however :/

Me on the other hand is going to use it for my pack. And that's becuse of my childhood. 
I have a whole pack i my head that had the titles and stories to them. lol

@Tagora: I agree completely! Omegaverse is purely fantasy and I think most people who read it (at least I hope) understand the differences between fiction and reality enough. Considering what, exactly, omegaverse involves, I don't think anyone is using it as educational material in any way, and that includes for real-life wolves. I'm pretty positive most people know that werewolves and real wolves are two entirely different creatures.

@Sneeps: Your feelings are valid and I'm sorry to hear that your fandom(s) treats the subject so poorly. However, I feel that you're making some pretty broad sweeping statements about the genre as a whole that are kind of uncomfortable, speaking as someone who sometimes likes the genre and firmly believes that people can write what they want - so long as it's legal and properly tagged if posted on a site like ao3 or otherwise properly warned outside of it.

Again, your feelings are valid though, and I'm sorry that the genre brings you so much hurt :-( You can exclude tags from searches on ao3, as well as use some search operators to hide creators that don't tag, who's works you simply don't like, and all other manner of things! I sincerely hope this helps you because everyone deserves to be able to curate their own internet experience!

@maya

yeah I edited it a bit as i also believe people can write whatever as long as tagged and let my personal taste sweep in a bit (i would lvoe to never see it again but that doesnt stop people from writing it and posting it, as they should. writing is hard work) .... but I have read around 15 different works and each one fell into the issues minus like one....

maybe its just im really unlucky with the works ive read

@Sneeps: Oh I'm glad to hear it! I hope I didn't come off as attacking you or anything, I get really sensitive to things like that sometimes aha.

Maybe you are unlucky, I'm sorry to hear it :( I hope you can find better works soon! I know the feeling though, there's a character in my main fandom that always gets pretty forcibly feminized, and though I don't mind when some people do it, others seem to clearly think it's canon when it's not, and as a result don't tag it, cause to them they're completely in-character! It's annoying, and I avoid his most popular ship like the plague LOL

Although, this is a bit off topic now, maybe we should cut it out x3

@maya

all good, sorry if i come across as aggressive too.. I just get a bit too heated about these sorts of things (sad I know)

yea, a huge pet peeve of mine is when fandom rules something as canon when its not xD and same with the ship thing too.

I'm aware that the A/B/G/O dynamics are disproven in nature. Canine packs are more like human families in real life.

That being said, I do actually like the option of giving my lead the alpha title. While it is disproven (and it was explained during testing), it's a nice thing to have for at least role-playing/fantasy pack lore purposes. These dynamics, while inaccurate in nature, has it's very own genre in writing and stories. The writing involving these dynamics are very interesting to me because they are fictitious and I could make my own interpretation of it without being necessarily wrong or right. I like the creators giving me that option to go that fictional route. It allows me to exercise my fantasy writing, and develop things such as a werewolf pack, etc. It doesn't pigeon-hole you into perfect realism or accuracy.