Can any human domestication guide fans confirm whether this is accurate?
this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2025
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I haven't read any HDG yet. I was planning to at some point, but after hearing they try to avoid writing about politics, I've lost interest. Science fiction has always been political, and it needs to be taken seriously. We can't be treating slavery uncritically, even in kink, or we become accustomed to destructive ways of thinking. We should use science fiction as a tool to look within ourselves from a new perspective, and develop our ideas of right and wrong. If we're into bondage and pet play, then we should use science fiction to examine what that kink means to us and come to understand ourselves better.
I like The Culture. Culture Minds keep humans as pets, but more like free range cats than like dogs. The humans have absolute freedom to stay or go as they please, and are treated like small and weak equals, not property. It's definitely not slavery, it's anarcho-communism.
The problem with a political interpretation of HDG is that it's at odds with the fantasy escapism of being tamed by a plant monster that wants what's best for you.
Fundamentally, the Affini are bad. Their ideology is rotten and hypocritical and in real life it would not work out the way it does on the page. If you try to think about the political implications of HDG at all you will inevitably run into that. "Benevolent slavery" simply isn't a thing.
But there's plenty of fiction that explores evil empires, the point of HDG is to have fun with the kinky idea of "what if a hot plant turned me into a pet?" Exploring the politics of the situation inevitably detracts from the fantasy of it being benevolent.
I have more fun having sex with a person than a doll. Well, except for dollgirls, but that's another conversation. People are political creatures. Take the politics out of a person, and a doll is what you get. How can a plant be hot if she isn't a nuanced individual? If a plant is turning me into a pet, she better exist as an individual (or a hivemind, I'll admit) situated within a cultural context, with an internal world and life experiences. Otherwise what's the point? You might as well tie yourself up for all the masturbatory character of the act!
The HDG fandom somehow found a way to take the doms out of domination, and it's as soulless as AI art
Also I personally like politics, thought, and implications in my kink. ABO has managed to create deeply political stories within their porn to the point that one of their fundamental plots is political. They created a secondary sex system to write porn without the specter of misogyny and then wrote in a new misogyny which enabled them to analyze it from distance. That's cool
Like yeah give some fluffy cozy kink. But also tell stories about the agony of being forced to make the correct choices or about how sometimes they will make the wrong choices. Show me conflict between humans who are gratefully subjugated vs those who choose freedom even at pain. Use it as an opportunity to talk about the stuff we do to our pets because it's more convenient for us and they can't say no. Have humans who aren't domesticated and show a plant bring her pet human onto the equivalent of a federation starship and show the complicated emotions of everyone involved (ok tempted to actually write something like that).
Have a no politics tag if you must, but I find this deeply ironic that they write porn of domesticating humans and reject the freedom to use it as anything more than the thoughtless fetishization of docility.
Scathing but true
Thanks, I'm just mad. They take a perfectly good premise for science-smut exploring the ethical ramifications of slavery under novel circumstances, and then they ruin it by giving it the JK Rowling treatment! Admit the ladies you're wanking off to are fascists, you cowards! I jerk off to 40k porn and don't feel bad about it, because I'm a fucking adult who can separate ethical from hot.
There's a certain kind of queer person I despise, because they respond to the horrors of the world by creating a "perfect" bubble world which is just as fucked up as the real one, it's just horrific in a way that plays into their trauma reactions and only hurts people in ways they feel are deserved. And their smut sucks ass. Anyway, that's the plot of WandaVision.
I don't think HDG can be both serious science fiction and kink. Kink can indulge in portrayals of sexual assault or abuse that would never be ok in science fiction. That does not mean it is uncritically exploring those topics, but allowing readers to sublimate their own experiences into the story. People can explore fears like threats of genocide or loss of autonomy in a safe and controlled manner.
I don't know much about The Culture, but calling it anarcho-communism doesn't follow from what you describe. The humans might be able to come and go as they please, but do they have any say in the order that affects them? A pet in the real world might live a post scarcity life while their humans live in a capitalist dystopia. Is there dangerous infrastructure that can accidentally kill the pet or roaming threats? Is it just one upper class area where the pets are treated well, or is are they safe throughout the entire society? Are there bad owners, or is every alien just magically good to their pet?
Long rant about domestication:
Also, the idea of dogs not being able to live free range like cats is a myth. The majority of dogs on earth are not domesticated, while I've personally met domesticated dogs who roamed freely. Dingos were brought to Australia by people and became more independent with time, but for a real chunk of time they were more village dogs rather than wild animals. I currently know a dog that was given to a group of people as a puppy by her wild mother so she could live a better life.The line between a pet and a wild animal is permeable rather than a clear cut distinction. The animals we are closest to did not get plucked up by people and made into pets, but gradually grew closer to humans through a process of natural selection that favored those who could better survive beside us. We coexist so well through natural processes, not eugenics or mind control.
The plant mommies came to earth and forced people to be their pets rather than give them the choice to be pets. A more grounded version would see humans gradually becoming pets because it was the best option rather than by the aliens turning those that fight them the hardest into slaves.
The more fundamental problem with HDG is how its entire understanding of domestication is based on an outdated worldview that assumes humans have more control than they do. The very idea is rooted in eugenics and imperialism. I doubt it's even possible to detangle HDG from authoritarianism.
Calling the Culture anarchocommunism is somewhat accurate. Humans do have say in what goes on in the Culture, there are humans in high ranking roles in the Culture making decisions. Humans aren't pets in the Culture, and Minds don't own humans. Humans are only pets in the sense that Minds are superintelligent AI that largely do all the work to run society while humans live post-scarcity easy lives, but they are ostensibly equals.
Here's some background from the author: http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm
HDG is kind of like what anti-Culture propaganda portrays the Culture as, but more rapey.
That makes more sense. I just wasn't familiar with The Culture or the story they're a part of.
Sometimes someone will ask a Rapid Offensive Unit why it, a fully automated warship, keeps a human crew. Many ROUs don't, but those who do say that having humans around is nice. They're good company on long voyages, and fun at parties. Fellow Minds contacted over hyperspace comm channels may make for faster and more erudite conversational partners, but there's just something nice about having a bunch of little guys inside you. Humans are always up to something interesting.
That's what I thought HDG was before today! That's what I wanted, not apolitical subslop. I've been seriously misled by my friend who's into this fandom!
Also, the name sucks. A human domestication guide would be a resource for affini. The name implies an affini point of view. I was so shocked when I learned florets are almost always the point of view character and there's nothing in this setting for people who want to keep humans as pets. What's the point of the name then!