Identity Porn

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Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)persona porn
Related tropes/genresSuperheroes, Identity Reveal, Love Triangle, Secret identity
See alsoFinding Out
Related articles on Fanlore.

Identity porn is a trope or narrative kink, that may or may not involve actual porn, involving "people who have secret identities which focus on the consequences of using multiple personas"[1] or those "[…] know who the other person is but they're determined to pretend they don't know for the sake of having sex"[2]

The term is believed to originate in DC Comics fandom.[3] It is speculated that the term may have been coined separately around early 2005 by Petra[4][3] and jamjar or Thete1 aka Te, but the exact origins are unknown.[5] Inevitably, works dated in previous years later appeared on ao3 some time later, further increasing doubts about their origin. As well as DC fandoms, identity porn is commonly used in Marvel Comics and related fandoms, due to the plethora of multi-identitied superheroes. It has also spread to many other fandoms. The term has been applied to scenarios where characters interacting online do not realize they know one of their online friends in real life.

Definition(s)

[beccaelizabeth]
Identity porn is easiest to explain in the DCU (and the term probably originated there). Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Superman. The two body love triangle. Because there's three people there, three identities. Both Clark Kent and Superman are independently real to different social circles. But in order to get the kink I think they also have to be real to overlapping social circles. If someone is one self with one person and a different self with a different person then there's no clash, crunch, tension, just these seperate pieces. If they are, or want to be, real in both personas, then you can get identity porn.[6]
[melannen]
it has to approach it from a particular direction, that I have been thinking of to myself as being about "role-playing as yourself", where the various identities start escaping from the boxes the characters try to keep them in, overlapping and blending. It is generally heavy on the dramatic irony, interesting combinations of denial and self-awareness, compartmentalization taken to extremes, and grand reveals.[7]
[petra]
[...] I wonder if the striving for wholeness, for the truth behind the masks, is what other people kink on emotionally. For me, the point of identity porn has to do with the ways it shows the whole person who's pretending to be only part of themselves. The climax, then, is when all those masks collide and fall apart, leaving the whole person exposed to someone else who knows them better than they ever would have without the playing with masks.[3]
[another_athena]
Actual porn not required, that’s just the trope name. Basically I’m looking for fics that play around with the superhero secret identity thing. The “god you’re terrible” about one identity, not knowing they’re the person they’re crushing on. The “oh no I like them both” but they’re the same person. The “uh oh I accidentally brought up something you said to the other me, yes I’m friends with that hero and we talked about you!”[8]

Overview

Identity Porn stories focus heavily on the dual personas of particular characters, and in fandoms with superhero elements they often focus on the difficulty of maintaining a secret identity. An ID porn story may examine how a character behaves in different situations, when using different personas. These stories often rely on the fact the reader is aware of this person's dual personas to build tension or create humour.

Identity porn fics include stories where at least one character isn’t aware of another character’s second identity. For example, a character might not be aware that Bruce Wayne is Batman. These fics may also involve a secret identity reveal but this is not a necessity.

Identity porn stories don't necessarily include smut, but there are stories that do. One of the first stories to reference the term identity porn, How To Marry A Millionaire, features a Bruce Wayne that is (seemingly) unaware Nightwing is his ward Dick Grayson and this leads to a sexual encounter.

This trope has also been applied to fics with no superhero elements. In stories with modern settings, online identities provide a second persona for characters.

In other stories a character going undercover or having a fake identity can lead to scenarios where their identities overlap.

Elements of this trope can also appear in Time Travel stories, where a character may take on a fake identity and interact with family, friends or people they know from their original time.

Terminology confusion

Terms like "food porn" and "scenery porn" are more commonly used, and evidently defined as any instance of indulgently good food or indulgently good scenery; the "identity porn" fic genre has a more specified definition. The term identity porn can be especially confusing for newbie fans.[9][10]

Special mention to IDENTITY PORN! Also known as "2-persons love triangle", or also occasionally "fic very much focussed on the interactions and consequences of a person's civilian identity vs their secret identity". It's got nothing to do with masturbation or having sex with your own clone or an alternate version of yourself.[11]

The term identity porn can cause some issues with sharing fan works.

Also tossing my hat in for Identity Porn. It's a very specific flavor of the "Secret Identity" tag that focuses on the emotions before/during/after reveals, but it feels like a lot of people think that either A. Secret Identity is already tagged so that's good enough, or B. it has to include literal porn in it, and that makes me sad.[12]

Although identity porn is not necessarily pornography, it is currently covered by the Porn metatag on Archive of Our Own; therefore, when users include or exclude the Porn tag in search filters, they may find the need to account for accidentally including or excluding non-pornographic identity porn fan works in search results.[13]

Due to confusion and preferences, some AO3 users propose that the main AO3 tag ought to be changed to a new metatag or synned tag. Other AO3 users are content with the current tag.

Slightly off-topic but I don't like the phrase "identity porn" and I'm amazed that there isn't something like Dual Identity or Double Identity as a canonical tag when so many superheroes and other famous characters have that situation.[14]

Meta

Example Fanworks

Superhero Fandoms

DC Comics and Related Fandoms

Marvel Comics and Related Fandoms

Other

Resources

References

  1. ^ melannen (2011-07-18). "Identity Porn". kink_finders at Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  2. ^ Petra (2024-05-31). "Identity porn - the prescriptivist definition; A BOFM Post". Archived from the original on 2025-01-06.
  3. ^ a b c d Petra (2011-07-23). "I think I may have originated "identity porn" as a term and then popularized it, going by my chatlogs from the period. The evidence suggests that I used it as though my audience knew what I meant in part because the people I thought of as my core DCU audience had heard it the time I put the term in the headers. I'd used it via IM with most of the people I was depending on to read the story". Archived from the original on 2025-01-06. Retrieved 2011-12-07.
  4. ^ Petra (2011-07-23). "DCU meta question". Archived from the original on 2013-11-13.
  5. ^ mithen (2009-03-03). "Five Things Meme". Archived from the original on 2025-01-06.
  6. ^ beccaelizabeth (2011-07-23). "Identity Porn". Archived from the original on 2025-01-06.
  7. ^ melannen (2011-07-22). "identity porn". Archived from the original on 2013-06-21.
  8. ^ another_athena (2020). "Identity porn fics". r/FanFiction subreddit at Reddit. Archived from the original on 2025-01-06.
  9. ^ I mean, why does a tag that (usually) has nothing to do with explicit content have to contain the word porn? I used to think it had to do with some kink, but after a while I realised that most fics with this tag had a G or T rating, so I started reading one and then got the meaning, though TvTropes was also a big help.
  10. ^ [https://www.tumblr.com/itsallavengers/173556946266/hi-what-does-identity-porn-mean-thought-it-meant hi what does identity porn mean thought it meant they fuckin in their super suits but now I don't think so please explain am I right w the fuckin in the super suits or am I just a dumbass
  11. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1jshtim/comment/mlmxqxh/
  12. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/1cpvvoc/what_trope_is_common_in_fics_that_you_wish_was/l3ohww4/
  13. ^ 0 results
  14. ^ [1]
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