I do credit "Gift" for showing that a woman (albeit a nonhuman woman) taking advantage of teenage boys is as creepy as a man taking advantage of teenage girls, and not the teenage boys "scoring."
Oh, agreed, absolutely. Re: the Mab story in general, yes and no, in that the man she takes is usually an adult and originally says yes. (Unless she's Titania and arguing with Oberon about an Indian boy in A Midsummer Night's Dream, of course.) The fairies (of either gender) snatching children is another myth and probably echoes the many rl deaths of infants in past centuries when the medical situation was worse. It's interesting, though, that if it comes to male and female supernatural creatures with great power (or even rulers and mortals whom they take as their lover, the three most archetypical situations I can think if are:
Male god/powerful supernatural entity/ human female - the Eros and Psyche tale in its many variations across cultures, i.e.she might not originally have agreed to the union/been given as a sacrifice, but comes to love her supernatural bridegroom, is happy with him for a while, then she's tricked by outside interference into breaking a taboo he's given her, she loses him, and must go on a quest to regain him.
Female supernatural creature of the shapeshifting variety/human male: he traps her somehow (if she's a mermaid or swan, usually by taking her fur/feathers/otherwise supernatural clothing), marries her, they have children, then when she finds her supernatural clothing again, she leaves (the Selkies, the wife of Wieland the Smith, and in French tales, Melusine are prominent examples)
Female supernatural ruler/human male: she seduces him, usually with some trickery involved, but not always, he must be freed by a human female as he's unable to escape on his own (and to this Mab and Tam Lin are the most famous examples)
There's always an element of coercion involved, whether or not romance follows or precedes. The most explicit rape metaphor seems to be the taking away of the shapeshifting ability by taking skin/fur/feathers. And the first variation is the only type of story where the human/supernatural person combination is together at the end of the tale.
no subject
Oh, agreed, absolutely. Re: the Mab story in general, yes and no, in that the man she takes is usually an adult and originally says yes. (Unless she's Titania and arguing with Oberon about an Indian boy in A Midsummer Night's Dream, of course.) The fairies (of either gender) snatching children is another myth and probably echoes the many rl deaths of infants in past centuries when the medical situation was worse. It's interesting, though, that if it comes to male and female supernatural creatures with great power (or even rulers and mortals whom they take as their lover, the three most archetypical situations I can think if are:
Male god/powerful supernatural entity/ human female - the Eros and Psyche tale in its many variations across cultures, i.e.she might not originally have agreed to the union/been given as a sacrifice, but comes to love her supernatural bridegroom, is happy with him for a while, then she's tricked by outside interference into breaking a taboo he's given her, she loses him, and must go on a quest to regain him.
Female supernatural creature of the shapeshifting variety/human male: he traps her somehow (if she's a mermaid or swan, usually by taking her fur/feathers/otherwise supernatural clothing), marries her, they have children, then when she finds her supernatural clothing again, she leaves (the Selkies, the wife of Wieland the Smith, and in French tales, Melusine are prominent examples)
Female supernatural ruler/human male: she seduces him, usually with some trickery involved, but not always, he must be freed by a human female as he's unable to escape on his own (and to this Mab and Tam Lin are the most famous examples)
There's always an element of coercion involved, whether or not romance follows or precedes. The most explicit rape metaphor seems to be the taking away of the shapeshifting ability by taking skin/fur/feathers. And the first variation is the only type of story where the human/supernatural person combination is together at the end of the tale.