I consider myself quite a recent convert to the world of omegaverse works. I didn’t used to see the appeal but then something clicked for me. I presume that is the classic way it goes.
Whilst pondering whether to reread one to my favourite omegaverse manhwas, Beta Off Not Dating, I did wonder about the logistics of living in the omegaverse. In Beta Off Not Dating and a few other stories, Betas are almost totally removed from the dynamics, no different to humans in this world. But omegaverse is more than heats and ruts.
Surely Betas should be able to sense pheromones. If Betas, the majority population, cannot sense pheromones, the conceit of the entire society falls apart. If alphas are throwing their weight around, who else is there to understand that this big beast is above them in the pecking order? If omegas are being useless, who else is there to pick on such an easy target? It must be Betas.
It feels almost bioessentialist to think this way, but surely that’s what omegaverse is. You’re assigned boss/normie/loser status at birth.
We’ve all heard that the alpha wolf thing is based off nothing but junk science, yet I think that junk science in itself is distinctly human. Human beings love to subjugate others and put everyone into boxes. The Alpha/Beta/Omega classifications of omegaverse show exactly that.
The majority of society should be Betas, but they should still be able to sense pheromones in order for the social structure of the omegaverse to have any actual consequences. If only alphas and omegas evolved to detect those pheromones, they would surely be treated as mutants and freaks, locked away in industrial scale sex dungeons to leave the rest of the normal people alone. The allure of omegaverse is surely the societal implications of biology (if a secondary gender is biological unlike a the first genders we currently live with) locking people into positions in society.
I haven’t explored the entire corpus of omegaverse works but so often, presenting as an omega seems to mostly be a matter of hurt pride. Omegas are weak, at the bottom rung of society, so rather than being assigned a bottom, the issue of presenting as an omega should be bad because they’re not respected. Or am I thinking of this too strangely?
With alphas there are a baffling number of them. Maybe it seems cool that omegas are so special and rare but there should be more omegas than alphas (maintaining a scarcity of both) rather than a minimum of 3 alphas battling it out for the super special omega.
Whilst I haven’t read so many of them, I am seeing different body types such as super buff omegas. I think that is fun and interesting but I’m not sure that it should be such a surprise to everyone once it is discovered.
Secondary gender, much like gender as we know it, much like wealth and whether or not someone has a disability, is something that should permeate society. Pheromones are used to convey more than just sexual arousal or whatever by animals (surely!), so why not have them relevant in every aspect of life?
Use pheromones to detect changes in mood and health consistently (like those people who claim they can smell when other people have colds). Could pheromones not indicate interpersonal relationships and their issues, or who to pay attention to in times of crisis? In this sort of world, I think not being aware of the pheromones of the people around a character should at the very least be analogous to neurodiversity. It has come up as an issue for the super special main character omega in stories, but it feels like something that should have more impact than it does considering how long these characters spend lamenting their defective nature.
Sometimes, I will read an omegaverse story and totally forget that is the premise because everybody’s lives are functionally the same as if that backdrop didn’t exist.
Funnily enough, though Beta Off Not Dating features the aspect of betas not being able to sense pheromones, I do like the sense that the main character does seem somewhat removed from the world. A beta who can’t sense pheromones isn’t going to understand a lot of context. It is a really nice exploration.
Accidental Baby is another manhwa I got hooked on. At some point the main character looks as dumb as a sack of bricks because he is really not getting the situation but he’s one of those defective omegas who can’t sense or give off pheromones at first. That being said, he also has prospagnosia so cannot recognise anybody by face either. It is a really fun exploration of an omegaverse.
Transmigrated as an Omega Who Snags His Alpha is one of those stories that is just slightly lacking in the fact that it could do more to explore being a transplant in an omegaverse — what would a tough guy gangster really be thinking if he was transported to a world where he was assigned bottom at puberty? He did have something of an adjustment period and I can see that the storyline itself is tipping the balance from the world building. That is just something I must accept if I want to happily enjoy my weekly dose of Quinton.
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