omegaverse-anthropologist

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

Do omegas get periods? AKA an attempt at a biologically feasible omegaverse

I have a lot of thoughts about omegaverse and i'm not ashamed of it. The concept is fascinating! Plus, @twenty-orange-balloons in this post raised some interesting questions.

I love biology and my goal here is to keep everything as realistic as possible. I went too deep, and this is only about reproductive cycles, so this is a long post warning. I might address anatomy later, maybe.

Simplest, most realistic answer: omegaverse is inspired by (now disproven) ideas about how wolfs' packs operate. Heats and ruts are both phenomena borrowed from their reproduction cycle - called estrus. Estrus differs from menstrual cycle in the way the body gets rid of the endometrium (lining of the uterus): mammals with estrus reabsorb the endometrium (no bleeding :) ), mammals with menstrual cycles shed it out (so much bleeding :( bc human endometrium has quite a lot of small blood vessels, that are ruptured during menses).

If we strictly model omegaverse human biology by the irl wolves' biology, menstruation wouldn't exist, everyone would have estrous cycles.

But let's say you don't like (or know about) estrous cycles - this is fanfic, we can do anything. Combining menstruation cycles with heats would be interesting - heats don't mirror menstruation, but ovulation, i.e the part of the cycle when one is most fertile (in humans, day 14 of textbook cycle, so right in the middle).

In this case, omegas would have both heats and menstruations. Talk about exhausting, huh? Well, not so fast. Combining estrous cycles with menstruation leaves us with a big choice: what length of cycle do we keep? Because while human cycles are 28 days all year long, many animals have seasonal cycles where they are in heat only in spring and/or summer and their cycles are sometimes months long. So fanfic author that wants to cause a lot of suffering to their blorbos could give them human monthly cycles (dear god), or the author could be merciful and give their omegas heats only 2-3 times a year (what a dream, huh?... tho with the low fertility rate of humans, irl this wouldn't work out well for us). Taking nature for inspiration, authors can basically pick any length and frequency of a cycle.

(side note: if you as an author really want to get it biologically/evolutionary realistic, then please consider that there must be some balance between cycle frequency, fertility rate, pregnancy duration, offspring mortality rate corresponding with the species survival strategy)

Another cool thing to consider is how many children can the omega carry in one pregnancy. In humans, it's usually just one. Wolves have about 4-5, with around >50% post-birth mortality. Any fanfic author might change this, play around with this, especially if they like hardcore angst.

The most interesting scenario I can think of is giving some individuals estrus and some individuals menses. Both types of cycle are actually caused by the same hormones, following the same signaling pathways. The difference is in how the cells in the uterus react to those hormones. This means that from the genetics POV, it would actually be quite feasible for some people to have estrus, and some to have menses, and this could now all be tied to their, you guessed it, a/b/o dynamic.* Who should get which? I'll get to that later.

Now, in evolutionary biology, we often think what advantage would something offer so that the trait didn't get lost in the history, but would persevere in the species' genome. Why even have different dynamics?

Omegaverse offers us 6 types of individuals: alpha male, alpha female, beta male, beta female, omega male, omega female. Out of these, up to four could have female genitalia and the ability to conceive. This depends on the author, though I'd argue that making betas infertile, or giving alpha females and omega males only one set of genitalia, kind of defeats the purpose of omegaverse. Why get rid of the diversity in this universe?

Presuming that omega males and alpha females have both types of genitalia (making them functionally hermaphrodites) and that betas are fertile, what advantages could this system have to make it worth keeping, in the eyes of evolution?**

The advantages of female omegas and male alphas are pretty clear - high compatibility, good fertility, regular cycles. Male omegas and female alphas, being hermaphroditic, are useful in balancing out the genders (here dynamics) of population and ensuring that no matter the others around them, they could always make offspring with them.

But what use are betas? If they are infertile, they are evolutionarily useless, since they don't have any specific role in society that other dynamics/sexes can't fulfill without them. I can think of two ways to have betas make sense (besides being an evolutionary relict that will vanish in several millenia):

Make them like bee drones, or give them menses.

Bees have very interesting biology: only the queen lays eggs. If the eggs have been fertilized by a drone, it results in a worker bee. If a fertilized egg has been pampered by the worker bees, it will be a new queen. If the egg isn't fertilized, it results in a drone. (Yes, that means drones have just one set of chromosomes, instead of having a pair of each. Cool, right?). If the queen only laid fertilized eggs, there would soon be no drones to fertilize them. If she laid only unfertilized eggs, there would be no workers to take care of them. All three 'sexes' are needed.

If betas in omegaverse were always the child of alpha/omega pairing, and only beta/omega and alpha/beta pairings could give you omega/alpha offspring respectively, having betas around would make a lot of sense. (Plus, imagine how this would change the society! The arranged marriages and forbidden romances!)

The other option with betas is to give them menses, and give omegas estrus. 99% of mammals have estrus. Only primates, some bats, elephant shrews and spiny mice have menstruation cycles. Why? We're not really sure. It costs us a lot of blood, and losing blood means losing iron, which is sometimes hard to come by in the nature. A good argument for menstruation is the fact that regularly letting blood through might be another defence mechanism against infections there, which is crucial for humans that depend on only birthing one child at the time + 9 months long pregnancy. Another somewhat acceptable advantage is that only a somewhat healthy egg can properly settle into the thickened lining of the uterus, so this way, many unhealthy fertilized eggs will be miscarried in a matter of days after fertilization. (I myself am not fully convinced by the second argument, i'd need to read up on it more, but whatever).

By having beta females with periods (and even alpha females, why not), and omegas with estrus, we could argue that maybe the betas are prone to having healthier children, or being more fertile, or having better chances of successfully delivering. We really have no irl data to support this, all of this really, since no species ever has both cycles, so we can't compare their efficiency, but for the fanfic purposes this would work nicely.

Omegaverse has always been a great tool to play around with interesting new gender dynamics and fictional societies with different values. It is a way for your favourite male blorbo to experience oppresion normally directed at irl women, without any genderbending. It could be used for your favourite female blorbo to enjoy some male priviledge, but i am yet to see such fanfic.

Here I tried to play around with the biology of it, keeping it as realistic as possible. In biology, we learn that the shape determines the function - it's true for everything from proteins/enzymes, to cells, to tissues, to organs. And it's to a degree true for us, in society. What our bodies can and cannot do may greatly affect our function in a society. It's not completely determining our fate, but it's giving us options. Guiding us. I tried to describe the biologic 'shapes' of alphas/betas/omegas, so that maybe someone here could think what that means for their role in a society and maybe use it in a fic.

Go forth, armed with this knowledge, and make your OTP fuck nasty with no regrets.

*: this would also mean that your dynamic could be determined by genetic testing. I'd imagine, with a good healthcare, this could easily be done in the hospital immediately after the delivery, just like they check their bilirubin and other stuff.

**: yes, i know, this type of thinking is very simplistic in terms of evolution. Not all 'useless' traits are lost, not all 'useful' ones are kept. I'm not going more in depth here, i'm keeping this simple.

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

Top 100 American Baby Names of 2025 Sorted by A/B/O Dynamic

Something I've seen under-discussed is the fact that in an Omegaverse setting, names would probably be sorted not just as male/female but as alpha/beta/omega as well. Names would be more dynamic, as names commonly go from masculine/feminine to neutral in our world, but they would stay generally consistent.

Here's what gender I think each of the top 100 American baby names of 2025 would be, sorted by vibes and vibes alone. The names in bold are names that I 100% think would be used only for that dynamic, and would seem weird on any of the others.

Alphas:

Female: Emma, Charlotte, Ava, Harper, Nova, Camila, Gianna, Scarlett, Eleanor, Elena, Elizabeth, Isla, Emilia, Maya, Naomi, Athena, Iris, Victoria, Madison, Valentina, Aaliyah, Addison, Emery, Amara, Ruby, Josie, Skylar, Maria, Leah, Kennedy, Ember, Audrey, Cora Male: Liam, Mateo, Lucas, Asher, Leo, Hudson, Muhammad, Maverick, Theodore, Jack, Benjamin, Sebastian, Samuel, Alexander, William, Josiah, Luke, Julian, Ezekiel, Isaac, Caleb, Jayden, Joseph, Adam, Amir, Atlas, Jaxon, Xavier, Andrew, Zion, Axel, Adriel Gender-Neutral: Avery, Riley, Carter, Hunter, Adriel

Betas:

Female: Olivia, Amelia, Sophia/Sofia, Evelyn, Violet, Hazel, Ivy, Willow, Layla, Chloe, Nora, Delilah, Lainey, Paisley, Lucy, Grace, Ayla, Emily, Kinsley, Sophie, Alice, Autumn, Sadie, Adeline, Eden, Hannah, Serenity, Nevaeh, Natalie, Clara, Savannah, Oakley Male: Noah, Elijah, Levi, James, Henry, Ethan, Michael, Elias, Wyatt, Mason, Owen, David, Aiden, Isaiah, Waylon, John, Matthew, Jacob, Nathan, Anthony, Cooper, Weston, Thomas, Lincoln, Wesley, Jeremiah, Walker, Christopher, Miles/Myles, Ryan, Easton, Everett, Parker, Christian

Omegas:

Female: Isabella, Mia, Elli, Luna, Aurora, Eliana, Aria, Lily, Mila, Ella, Penelope, Stella, Leilani, Zoey/Zoe, Brooklyn, Bella, Melody, Everly, Gabriella, Millie, Raelynn, Daisy, Lyla, Madelyn, Hailey, Jade, Anna, Lillian, Brielle, Liliana

Male: Oliver, Ezra, Luca/Luka, Grayson/Greyson, Daniel, Theo, Gabriel, Jackson, Santiago, Roman, Enzo, Nolan, Silas, Joshia, Rowan, Beau, Cameron, Colton, Bennett, Brooks, Jace,

Gender-Neutral: Kai, Logan, Eli, Micah, Charlie, River

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

When someone in omegaverse says shit like "they called to my inner alpha" or "it pleased my omega instincts," it's just the equivalent of someone saying "activated my lizard brain" or "it's the Capricorn in me."

Like it's not uncommon, but if you ask like 70% of people it's kinda cringy (especially when said seriously and not as a joke)

"Sorry, my omega instincts are not having it" is just two steps from "sorry, my adhd says no, the executives are dysfunctioning."

Or as @the-lunar-system put it:

someone starts talking about their omega nesting instincts and their friends start mercilessly blasting them for acting like a tradwife

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

i keep thinking ur url is omegaverse-apologist whenever i see u in my reblogs

lmfao

my controversial (?) take is that it’s absolute nonsense but its nonsense that i adore, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

what's your favorite omegaverse headcanon you've gotten from someone else? what's your favorite omegaverse headcanon you've come up with?

i don’t remember where i got it from, but i remember seeing someone say that the reason alphas are seen as more aggressive is because they tend to have a strong ‘protect’ drive without anything to direct it to. omegas, on the other hand, have a strong ‘protect nest’ drive, so their aggression becomes specific and pointed. society treats it as well-warranted when an omega attacks someone for endangering their nest (or home). alphas tend to attach strongly to their mates/pups/pack, and they tend to mellow out with something to focus their strong ‘protect’ drive on.

i’m not sure about my favorite omegaverse headcanon tbh. i feel like a lot of what i post on here is pretty standard stuff, just in more detail or with bullshit human anthropology attached lol. i guess i really like the idea of early humans differing: early betas having enlarged scent glands and stronger scents so that they could function as scouts for nomadic packs; and omegas having larger VNOs (the organ that detects scent) compared to betas and alphas, so that they could both pick up beta scents and locate pups more easily. i think betas have the smallest VNOs but the most densely packed scent glands.

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

crawling out of my nest after…four months to write pt 2 of the scent post

scents and pheromones

pt. 1: physiology and function

pt. 2: scent messages

along with reproductive cycles and mating bonds, a heightened sense for interpreting scents and pheromones is a pillar of the omegaverse. this series uses language that describes scents in a way we can understand, but the effort to describe scents is in reality much like the effort to describe color to someone who may never have seen it. scents are intangible, and the descriptors used in this series are abstractions and metaphors rather than direct concrete descriptions.

review

to briefly summarize the first entry in this series, humans have scent glands present all over the body, with higher concentrations in certain areas (e.g. the palms, neck, and groin, among others). the scent carries pheromones which are interpreted by the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and decoded as basic information about approximate age, dynamic and phenotypic sexes, mating status, and pack health.

individual scent

individual scents function exactly as they sound. they are unique markers that help distinguish one person from another. they are the core of a person’s whole scent, and they contextualize all the sensations and underpinnings that carry the broader information about age, sex, etc. these scents are most frequently described with comprehensible reference points: honeysuckle, burning wood, vanilla. there are dynamic sex stereotypes—dark and earthy for alphas; light and floral for betas; warm and soft for omegas. in reality, individual scent is not influenced by a person’s dynamic sex. an alpha is just as likely to smell like chocolate cupcakes as they are to smell like petrichor or citrus.

what does dynamic sex smell like?

this is difficult to describe. dynamic sex can be described almost as a sensation more than a scent, the way that spice and sourness are sensations that can be carried by flavors without imparting flavor on their own. with that in mind, consider the following descriptions.

alpha: heavy, blunt, magnetic

beta: electric, sharp, vibrant

omega: bright, round, slow

the sensation of a dynamic sex underpins an individual’s scent. a warm, woodsy scent might be underpinned with vibrance, which would communicate that it likely belongs to a beta.

the scent of age

it may be more accurate to say that scent carries an approximation of an individual’s life stage. upon birth, infants of all dynamic sexes carry a primarily watery, milky, or powdery scent underpinned by the scent of the parent who carried them. the older a child becomes, the more their baby scent gives way to their individual scent. by five or six years old, a child may carry a watery floral scent.

at the onset of the first soft cycle, the dynamic scent sensation begins to emerge. here, a pup may have a bright, powdery, honeyed scent. the presence of the first two sensations communicates that (1) the pup is likely an omega, (2) the pup is young, and (3) the brightness and powdery scent combined mean that the pup likely has not reached their first hard cycle.

the closer a pup becomes to reaching their hard cycle, the more their pup scent fades. a strongly milky scent combined with the dynamic scent indicates that a pup is very near to their first soft cycle, while a scent that is strongly individual with only traces of milkiness suggests that the individual is approaching their hard cycle.

mating status and pack health

this information is strongly inference-based, as mating only slightly changes an individual’s scent and pack health does not directly affect it at all. bite-bonded mates’ scents will carry traces of their mates’ individual scents. on their own, those scents are not enough to communicate who someone is mated to, how strong the relationship is, or any information about their mate’s sex. they only communicate that a mate exists. more detailed understanding of both mate and pack health comes form scent marking.

in healthy packs, members are regularly marked with each other’s scent, creating a ‘pack scent’ shared by all members. bite-bonded mates’ scents tend to appear stronger or more intrinsic to their mates because they are emphasized by the ‘mate’ scent marker the bite imparts.

most people infer from a person’s lack of pack scent that their pack is unhealthy or distant, or that they have been shunned. pack scents that are tinged with anger, frustration, or other strong emotions aid in inferences drawn on relationship health.

emotional scents

much like dynamic sex, emotions add a sort of sensation or undertone to a person’s scent. in general, emotions like contentment, joy, and relaxation tend to add warmth, brightness, or softness to a person’s scent; while emotions like sadness, loneliness, or frustration tend to darken, sour, or muddy it. because emotions are complex, however, it would be dishonest to say that ‘joy brightens the scent,’ for example.

there are some universal markers—fear and pain are distinct and consistent scents that can be identified by infants in their first month of life. but while broad emotional strokes can be inferred by near strangers, more nuanced and complex reading of a scent’s emotion requires familiarity. just as you may be able to distinguish your partner’s polite laugh, surprised laugh, and delighted laugh easily, close relations tend to have an easier time distinguishing the scents of frustrated determination, frustrated confusion, and frustrated resignation.

how can any of that information be decoded?

scents carry massive amounts of information that the brain decodes in fractions of a second, providing understanding. to describe how that information might be decoded, consider music.

most people can determine whether a singular note was played by a stringed instrument, a keyboard instrument, or a wind instrument. a skilled violinist may be able to determine whether that note came from a violin, viola, cello, or bass due to their familiarity with and repeated exposure to those instruments.

musicians hearing a singular phrase can determine which mode and key is being played, and they may be able to describe oft-used chord progressions in that mode or genre.

repeated exposure to a stimulus, when that stimulus is important, creates ease in its decoding. while newborns’ vision is blurry and limited in its color perception, a seeing adult parses a myriad of visual stimulus each second, creates connections, and draws inferences, all without conscious thought. we can pick out a close relation’s voice in a crowd because we know that voice intimately. parsing and decoding scents functions much the same way.

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

it’s time to remind you all of Him

the boss

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

I got a legit question I been wondering a while now, how do you feel the different dynamics in ABO would deal with personality disorders like BPD? How is their relationship with their mates? How does it affect their behavior? Like of course everyone is different but there must be certain overlap in behaviors

unfortunately i really don’t know enough about bpd to answer this :( i have to assume it would be much like the real world—requires a lot of communication and support from loved ones, respect for boundaries, and compassionate care.

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

okay so like maybe ive missed the post and you’ve covered it but like. we know “bitching” or like alpha to omega but is there a term and a way an omega can become an alpha??

warning: i ramble lmao

this has become very interesting to me recently. tbc, any dynamic sex transition is normal and chill. in (my) omegaverse, bitching specifically refers to an abusive practice forcing an alpha to physically transition against their will. so while i don’t have a name in mind for forcing an omega to physically transition against their will, i’m sure it happens.

regular transition without any abusive factor would work pretty similarly regardless of what dynamic sex someone is assigned and transitioning to. as a refresher, i referred to regular transition to omega as ‘delta-omega (d-omega) transition’ (with uppercase delta in mathematics representing the concept of change*). the parallel transitions would be delta-alpha (d-alpha) and delta-beta (d-beta).

the process is pretty similar regardless of the person’s dynamic sex: medication would be used to influence hormone production toward a beta or alpha balance. that person’s scent would change to reflect the new hormonal balance, but it would still be recognizable as their scent, if that makes sense.

in (my) omegaverse, betas aren’t just the sort of stand-in for ‘regular people,’ so simply blocking reproductive cycles and scent production wouldn’t really be effective (or, in the case of scent production, even possible). everyone experiences reproductive cycles and produces scents that contain chemical messages that can’t really be reproduced or effectively altered.

someone blocking their scent would be equivalent to like…covering their entire face (for non-religious reasons) in terms of its effect on communication. sure, you wouldn’t be able to see that person’s expression anymore, but you’d also likely be thinking ‘wow that person has suddenly covered their whole face. i wonder why they did that.’ in the same way, if someone blocked their scent you would maybe be unable to tell their dynamic sex, but you’d also be thinking ‘they sure did cut off an entire stream of very important information. i hope they’re okay and i don’t mess up this social interaction because of information i’m missing.’

*i didn’t take much math in college and i learned the delta thing in high school (more than 12 years ago!) so might be remembering that wrong, but like. just go with it lmao

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

musk is going to die in a Tesla explosion in 6 months after sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and we will never get a conclusive answer on whether it was a CIA car bomb or just a normal Tesla malfunction

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

musk is going to die in a Tesla explosion in 6 months after sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and we will never get a conclusive answer on whether it was a CIA car bomb or just a normal Tesla malfunction

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

musk is going to die in a Tesla explosion in 6 months after sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and we will never get a conclusive answer on whether it was a CIA car bomb or just a normal Tesla malfunction

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

Healthcare issues reflected in yaoi ✊😔

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

I’d love to hear your explanation of mating bonds if you’d care to share an in-depth take✌🏼

(this is more fantasy omegaverse than i usually get (not a complaint!! im gonna have fun lmao). for the super grounded omegaverse i usually write about, the answer is very boring: ‘mating bond’ is the name given to the strong emotional relationship between two (or more) partners. mates are somewhat more receptive to their partner’s pheromone signals, alpha voice, instinctive cries, etc. it’s the same as how we are more reactive to our partners’ voices, laughter, tears, etc. BORING!!! so the fun fantasy omegaverse answer is below)

a mating bond is a little bit like an infection, strangely enough. the mating gland is the name given to the large scent glands located just posterior to the supraclavicular fossa. when someone is bite-mated, the mating gland is damaged and infected with the other person’s saliva. the mating gland takes copies of certain chemicals in the saliva and sends signals to the brain, essentially telling it ‘hey! these bits are a part of us now!’

in rare cases (fewer than 65 out of 100,000 people, per the world health organization), a pair may (1) be born within the same lifetime (usually the same generation) with those chemicals already copied into the brain, (2) meet in their lifetime, and (3) be exceptionally compatible. this extremely rare phenomenon is called ‘fated mates,’ and no one can explain it. it is a rare set of improbable coincidences. some give religious significance to fated mates, calling the phenomenon a gift from a higher power. some christian communities only allow fated alpha/omega pairs into the highest positions of leadership, and some assert that fated a/o pairs are a call to remember influential a/o pairs from the bible.

fated mates have described their first meetings as ‘something slotting into place,’ ‘a light flipping on,’ ‘the world brightening,’ and many other revelatory euphemisms. in each case, they describe their meeting as if they have found something lost to them. while all mates require time spent together and scent sharing for their health, fated mates have a much lower threshold for the time they can spend apart before experiencing negative effects.

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

finally getting to my ask box after……months…. sorry lmao my brain slow and omegaverse posts require brain power bc i always end up both saying and thinking Tew Much

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

hey! just discovered your blog, and holy shit its so so so goooood, so many talking points helping me devolp my own personal canon

ooooo yay im happy to help! there are so many brilliant omegaverse blogs on tumblr with really cool creative world building :3

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

do you think it’d be hard for a new parent with the Alpha status to adhere/accommodate enough to an omega pup’s rearing?

As in, would a distressed pup ever take the scent of their sire over a dam naturally or would it have to take some time to adjust? Stuff like that

hi! thank you for your question. for the sake of others, dam = birthing parent and sire = non-birthing (biological) parent. so with a/o parents, the alpha is the sire and the omega is the dam.

i think just like all parents, there is definitely an adjustment period— but it isn’t made more difficult by being an alpha. when a pup is born, their first interaction with their sire is being scent marked and claimed into the pack. (between alphas and omegas, this interaction of ‘present the pup, claim the pup’ is an instinctive drive. with betas, the interaction is reproduced as a cultural norm and/or to support their alpha/omega partner).

alphas’ strong protective drive is a boon to their families. they form a strong emotional bond with their desired pup(s) before birth and display protective behavior to ensure the safety of both their mates and their unborn pups. just like all parents, alphas can be doting, overly indulgent, and permissive at times.

in the case of alpha step-parents (and all step-parents, really) when they are joining a dam and their pup, there is an adjustment period. ideally, the step-parent and pup would be comfortable together before marriage. it is essential for the step-parent and pup to form strong emotional bonds. a pack’s strength, happiness, and health all depend on firm emotional connections between its members.

and yes, sometimes a distressed pup will choose their sire’s (or step-parent’s!) scent over their dam’s. all children sometimes prefer one parent to another at times, whether we understand why or not. perhaps one parent makes them feel safe from storms, while another makes them feel safe from strangers, so they seek that scent over the other. the rejection of one parent’s scent is almost never due simply to that parent’s dynamic sex in a healthy pup.

this situational scent preference has been observed in pups as young as two to three months old. some scientists theorize that scent preference may occur because a pup instinctively seeks to be covered in their parents’ scent. and scent preference extends to pack, with non-parental scent preference beginning most frequently around 12 to 15 months of age. sometimes nothing will soothe a young pup but being scented by that one specific pack auntie or pack sibling.