Monster Fucking

Monster Fucking is a subgenre of Xeno, which refers to characters or pairings involving decidedly non-humans, including aliens and science fiction as well as supernatural creatures. 
It is most often used for interspecies mating between a human and sentient (or sometimes not sentient) non-human. These relationships are sometimes imagined as rough and/or dangerous for kink purposes. 
Monster/human works can also be nonsexual and focus on emotional connection. Such works may be known as Monster Romance, which has its own following that is distinct from monster fucking but still mixes. 
Many fandoms revolve around a fanbase who has an affinity for non-human/human romance, though the community also stands on its own outside of fandom.
==Overview==
Kinks involving non-humans have existed for a long time, but the "Monster Fucker" community seems to have grown in the late 2010s. Other common names for it, especially on Tumblr, are Teratophilia (shortened to terato) and Exophilia. 
Exophilia is not a complete synonym of teratophilia. Exophilia is a more broad phrase that the community adopted on Tumblr after some debate about the meaning of the word teratophilia. It is the only phrase in the fandom that is also able to contain attraction to robots, as teratophilia, monster fucking, and monster romance are generally monster-centric. Someone only attracted to robots could call themselves an exophile, but would not be a teratophile.
Just like with any niche kink, a community has been built around the creation of its art. There are Patreons dedicated exclusively to teratophilia, both in visual and written form. The monster fucking community has a high saturation of written work in comparison to a lot of non-media based content, the majority of it being based out of Tumblr. 
After the Tumblr Purge the teratophilia tag was all but wiped clean, leaving only 2-3 images left. Immediately after the purge some fans used misspelt tags to get around the bots, but now most users use the tags terato or exophilia. While visual NSFW art on Tumblr has since outlawed, NSFW written work is still accepted by the site's rules and can be found easily.
===In Other Fandom===
While the monster romance community is its own thing, it also bleeds into several fandoms as a trope. These are usually AUs where one character is turned into a monster, if they are not a monster already. For example, the mothman Dib AU from Invader Zim in which the character Dib is turned into mothman. Another one is an AU in which characters from Riverdale are made into monsters. Fanart by an artist called Decydoodles on Tumblr draws art of characters like Jughead Jones being a shadow monster or a werewolf, and frequently tags the art as terato.Not quitting the Pen fever just yet with this little comic., Tumblr. May 20, 2021 (Accessed 5/30/2021)
Some fandoms are naturally leant towards the monster romance communities, but not every person who enjoys or ships non-human characters with humans is necessarily in the terato/exo community. So, a Portal fandom member who ships GLaDOS/Chell doesn't have to consider themself a part of the terato community, even though the ship may align with the community. There are some media sources designed specifically with the monster fucker community in mind. The Shape of Water, an Academy Award-winning movie by Guillermo del Toro, had always intended for the human main character to have sex with the fishman, Axiom's End is a purposeful alien/human romance by a YouTuber who had made videos on monster fucking in the past, and Subnautica Below Zero concluded with implications between the relationship of the human and alien. Thus, the fandoms formed around these works lean heavily into the terato communities, and one can find fanart and fanfiction of them tagged with things like "monster fucker," "monster romance," "teratophilia," and "exophilia."
===Tropes===
*Second person stories are the most common for original works.
*Large monsters and small humans.
*Mostly created by women, but not always (similar to fanfiction).
*Most stories written about a human woman and a monster man, but not always.
*Large, sharp teeth are frequently a favorite.
*Strong monsters that are able to protect their human while still being soft.
*Monsters that appear big and scary, but are actually very kind.
*In visual art with monster/human, the monster is more often the top.
*On the contrary, some enjoy a big scary monster who is actually a bottom.
*If not sexual, then very romantic and cuddly.
==Meta and Discussion==
Lindsay Ellis in March 2018, made a video dedicated to teratophilia in media. In the video she analysis and contextualizes monster films, from their roots up until The Shape of Water. Her video essay tracks the change from monsters being fearful villains to empathetic creatures deserving of love, using Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and Megamind as modern examples of monsters made empathetic. Near the end of the video when content creator La'Ron Readus asks if she's into the fish man from Shape of Water, Ellis jokes about her yet to be published novel (her "Starscream fanfic"), Axiom's End, which would contain elements of alien/human romance.My Monster Boyfriend, Mar 2, 2018 (Accessed 5/28/2021)
The usage of Teratophilia is sometimes argued against, as the original meaning of teratophilia is an "attraction to deformed people." However, due to the modern usage of the phrase in reference to actual monsters, many of the definitions for teratophilia (such as on Wikipedia) have been been changed rather recently. Now the official definition conclusively includes monsters and is a perfect example of how new usage creates new meaning. 
===Gatekeeping===
There are ideas passed around the terato community pertaining to the type of monsters community members like, that are sometimes jokes and sometimes serious. Some members of the community have more vanilla tastes. Other members with less vanilla tastes may poke fun at the vanilla members, suggesting that "monsters" who look more akin to re-colored humans are lesser. Other members of the community call this gatekeeping.
==Fandoms with Monster Fucking as a Common Trope==
* Cryptids
* The Shape of Water
* Venom
* Prototype
* Dungeons & Dragons
* Bendy and the Ink Machine
* Undertale
* SCP Foundation
* Devil May Cry
* Axiom's End
* Swamp Thing
* Invader Zim
* The Ancient Magus' Bride
* Subnautica
* Portal
* Minecraft / MCYT (specifically Mobfucking)
* Elden Ring (particularly Morgott)
==Example Works==
===Original Fiction===
*Werewolf/Human by Monster-Bait
*Orc/Human by Orc-Lady-Unabi
*Forest Goddess x Reader by Lesbianmonsterlover
*Robot Butler/Reader Chapter 1 by Nsfwgenuflect
*DemonxReader by Enigma-Im
*Eldritch Monster/Pretty Boy by Monsterstbh
*What a Horrible Night to have a Curse -- An anthology with themes of monster fucking.
===Fanfiction===
*Dichotomy of the Obsession- Axiom's End fanfic
*New Blueprint Acquired- Subnautica fanfic
*taking everyone for a ride- Venom fanfic
*Club Teratophilia- Blue Exorcist fanfic
*Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart.- Villainous fanfic
*Between Flesh & Bone- Undertale fanfic
===Meta===
* , November 7, 2018. On Venom and the rise in public acknowledgement of interest in "monsterfucking."
*What is it About Monster Romance, Nov 21, 2019
* anonymous ask on tumblr, July 1, 2024
* by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, May 21, 2021
==Fan Comments==
From Gentlemonst3r:
From Rywin:
From Taule:
From Nsfwgenuflect:
From Swampsolaice:
==Links & Resources==
*Nightmare Fetishist on All The Tropes Wiki: Lists some tropes monster fuckers may be attracted to.
*Terato Film List: A list of movies rated by a teratophile.
*Monster Fucker AO3 tag
*Exophilia tag on Tumblr
*
=== Events ===
* MONSTERFCKINGMARCH (March 2023)
==References==
Category:Sexual Tropes & Kinks