cw for descriptions of specific scenarios and whether they qualify as dubcon or noncon in fiction

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yeah it IS hard to pinpoint lol. i think obviously the first thing is making clear any discussion of dubcon in fiction is in the realm of fiction only, and there is no such thing irl. it would be fucked up if we applied these rules to rl and i never want anyone to get that inkling from anything i say.

but to actually answer the question, i'd say my basic description of it is "a scenario in fiction where consent may not be 100% freely given and informed, but no tangible force is applied and no party actually says no."

on the noncon scale, where 1 is "enthusiastic continuous consent" and 10 is "physical force applied despite repeated refusals" then dubcon is like #4-7.

so for examples...
- undernegotiated kink between an established couple to me is a 2, and not dubcon, though i've definitely seen it tagged that way once or twice laksjdalsdkf.

- when specific situations are sprung onto someone without warning or they're lured or persuaded into it (but they do consent to the sex once it happens), i often consider that mild dubious consent.
- identity porn where one person knows the other person's true identity but the other person doesn't is also dubcon imo. (this is a personal squick for me and irl it would be rape by deception, but in fiction when we're talking about like superheroes and stuff, that's dubcon).
- power dynamics that are able to be more complicated in fiction could fall under dubcon as well (say, a student blackmailing a teacher into sex).
- any kind of coercion in general usually falls under dubcon.
- sometimes stuff that starts with "soft" refusal that turns into consent/both parties written to be enjoying it could be classed as more dubcon.

there's definitely some where it's kinda just depending on the specifics and how it's written. like is "locked in a room until they have sex" dubcon? or sex pollen? if the consequences are mild and both parties know that, and the locking/pollen is just a an inconvenience, i don't think it is. if there's more of a threat (fuck or die) then yeah that's dubcon.

what some people do or don't class as it can be so crazy though. i will NEVER, ever forget the time i read a hybrid au that had no warnings at all, and then it turned out that all the hybrids were kept in farm pens, had no idea what sex was beyond "feels nice," and had no idea how they were getting pregnant or where the babies were coming from. HELLO... THAT NEEDS DUBCON AT THE LEAST. like i would probably term that extremely dubious consent since as far as i remember they "consented" to the sex but it was in no way with any understanding.

but also i think it's rly helpful when people give tags that clue in to what kind of dubcon it is too. i feel like if you tag "kuya is his own warning" in nucarnival along with dubcon then it's probably obvious lol. sex pollen, fuck or die, etc. will also give you hints and those are more useful than mild vs. extreme.