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Definition 2024


hurt_comfort

hurt/comfort

English

Noun

hurt/comfort (uncountable)

  1. (fandom slang) A genre of fan fiction in which a character receives comfort from another after or while suffering injury, illness, or a traumatic experience.
    • 1993, Cynthia Jenkins, "Menage a Deux", SBF 3, November 1993 (quoted in Henry Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture, New York University Press (2006), ISBN 9780814742846, page 84):
      Hurt/comfort stories often contain enough gore to send shivers down the back of activists concerned with the conflation of sex and violence.
    • 2002, Will Brooker, Using the Force: Creativity, Community and Star Wars Fans, Continuum (2002), ISBN 0826452876, page 137:
      She proposes that writing slash — specifically the hurt/comfort genre, which involves assault, abuse and recovery — provides a therapeutic outlet for genuine, deep feelings of emotional pain.
    • 2012, Anissa M. Graham & Jennifer C. Garlen, "Sex and the Single Sleuth", Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century: Essays on New Adaptations (ed. Lynnette Porter), McFarland & Company (2012), ISBN 9780786468409, page 30:
      While genres for these stories range from drama to mystery, many stories are classified by their authors as romances or as “hurt/comfort” stories.
    • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:hurt/comfort.

Synonyms

See also