So, Tumblr is full of Jess/Becker shippers.* Not knocking it, mind, just not my thing.
But a post on this new Primeval Confessions thing got me to thinking about exactly why it's not my thing, and I think I got it: Jess is just way too young, IMHO. And not just young, but really immature, especially where relationships/sex are concerned. In canon, she's supposedly just 19, but she even seems younger than that because of how girly and... flibbertygibbit she is.
Becker, on the other hand, may not be in touch with his emotions much and probably hasn't really done relationships, but as far as sexuality is concerned? Yeah. He's plenty experienced. And therefore, him hitting on her is sort of creepy.
It's not the raw numbers of their age difference, FWIW. Seven years isn't remotely a big deal when it's between adults of similar maturity. Me dating a 33 year old? Not even slightly weird. But when the younger party is still that young and immature, those years make a much, much bigger difference.
FWIW, this isn't a shipper-bias thing on my part. Yes, I love him with Abby and Connor, and they fit together nicely because they're all similar ages/maturity (Connor's the oldest, yet the least mature.) But I can plausibly see Becker with just about anyone, really. That's our Mr. HB Sauce, yeah? But the Jess thing just... feels wrong to me somehow. I just feel like Becker's way too honorable and duty-bound to go muscling in on her innocence like that, and I'd actually lose respect for him if he did. She's at the holding-hands-and-making-out stage. He's at the let's-try-piss-play stage.
Interestingly enough, however, I've been working on a fic that has her hooking up with Emily and Matt, and somehow, even though Matt's much older, it doesn't seem as creepy to me. And I think that's because neither one of them is all that experienced, either. Emily was married, yes, but she grew up in a repressed-sexuality culture. And Matt was kept away from dating by his dad, because he was supposed to focus only on his mission. So they're both probably just as clueless about this stuff as Jess is, and therefore it wouldn't be as icky. Or something.
*I think I know why: Most Tumblrites are very young girls themselves, and, like Jess, have schoolgirl crushes on men that are way too old/sexually experienced for them. They readily identify with her, in other words, and want her to get the dashing hero. Nevermind that a dashing hero of this age/experience level is inappropriate for both her and them.
But a post on this new Primeval Confessions thing got me to thinking about exactly why it's not my thing, and I think I got it: Jess is just way too young, IMHO. And not just young, but really immature, especially where relationships/sex are concerned. In canon, she's supposedly just 19, but she even seems younger than that because of how girly and... flibbertygibbit she is.
Becker, on the other hand, may not be in touch with his emotions much and probably hasn't really done relationships, but as far as sexuality is concerned? Yeah. He's plenty experienced. And therefore, him hitting on her is sort of creepy.
It's not the raw numbers of their age difference, FWIW. Seven years isn't remotely a big deal when it's between adults of similar maturity. Me dating a 33 year old? Not even slightly weird. But when the younger party is still that young and immature, those years make a much, much bigger difference.
FWIW, this isn't a shipper-bias thing on my part. Yes, I love him with Abby and Connor, and they fit together nicely because they're all similar ages/maturity (Connor's the oldest, yet the least mature.) But I can plausibly see Becker with just about anyone, really. That's our Mr. HB Sauce, yeah? But the Jess thing just... feels wrong to me somehow. I just feel like Becker's way too honorable and duty-bound to go muscling in on her innocence like that, and I'd actually lose respect for him if he did. She's at the holding-hands-and-making-out stage. He's at the let's-try-piss-play stage.
Interestingly enough, however, I've been working on a fic that has her hooking up with Emily and Matt, and somehow, even though Matt's much older, it doesn't seem as creepy to me. And I think that's because neither one of them is all that experienced, either. Emily was married, yes, but she grew up in a repressed-sexuality culture. And Matt was kept away from dating by his dad, because he was supposed to focus only on his mission. So they're both probably just as clueless about this stuff as Jess is, and therefore it wouldn't be as icky. Or something.
*I think I know why: Most Tumblrites are very young girls themselves, and, like Jess, have schoolgirl crushes on men that are way too old/sexually experienced for them. They readily identify with her, in other words, and want her to get the dashing hero. Nevermind that a dashing hero of this age/experience level is inappropriate for both her and them.