the conflation of "dead dove" into a genre of fic when it's intended to mean "there are warnings here, take them seriously because you get exactly what's on the tin" is probably one of the worst things to happrn to fandom because you get people who tag "dead dove" and no other type of warning. like. cool. this is worthless
and you get people saying "anyone who writes dead dove is morally awful" or whatever. which is like. hello. this is a label you slap on the front of something to say what it is not a type of story
for context it comes from this. it means "this has what i said it has, if you click on this and complain about it that's on you because i literally told you what to expect". it's not a vague catch all for "dark and fucked up". honestly, it doesn't even have to be a dark fic at all.
like. if someone tags a fic "mpreg" and "dead dove", without any additional warning tags, that's typically not supposed to mean there's some unwarned for fucked up shit lurking inside, but that. hey. there's mpreg. do not click and complain about there being mpreg. it's right there on the tin.
but people have begun using it as just. there's some fucked up content here but i don't want to say what. which is literally just. the opposite of what the tag means 😭
I feel like a lot of it is just the preexisting symbolism of Doves as pure and virtuous, so people who don't know or understand the context are like, "ah, yes. Dead Dove. Like a Swan Song, or a Dark Horse or a Black Sheep. It's its own thing with its own meaning. Death of something good, so instead something dark and twisted." But no. The full thing is, "dead dove, do not eat". Read the bag. Know what to expect. There will be a dead dove in the dead dove bag. Meaning, you need to write on the bag first.
Linguistically its fascinating but as a Fandom enjoyer I am aggravated
