It’s like that’s Fantasy Rape up there, greeting me – and I’ve had ENOUGH. It’s depressing reading almost two books in a row using it (actually, make that THREE! This makes three this week alone, craaaaaap…).
This just seems to be my week for reading about rape in fantasy. The joy – it overfloweths. I’m not going to get too deep into how I feel about it. I’ve done so before and you can probably guess by now. I might again another day, but today is just for a poll. As always, though, feel free to comment below. If you really want to discuss it, I wouldn’t turn you away.
Where do you stand on reading about rape, especially in fantasy and urban fantasy books? Do you feel that, because it happens in real life, that it’s, well, natural for it to be in books, and therefore no one should be surprised it’s there? Does it turn you off so much you can’t go on with the book? I realize that this is an extremely subjective topic, and that reactions might even differ every time we read a book with a rape scene in it. At this point in the week, I’m very much reacting still, in part, because of already reading one rape scene two other rape scenes this past week. I feel like enough is enough already. Am I making too big a deal about this? I mean, really, three books this week. C’mon, fantasy authors.
There could be all kinds of answers to the poll, but I’m keeping it short and sweet for now. Feel free to vote, poll’s in the right sidebar.
February 21, 2012
January 3, 2012
January 11, 2012
February 28, 2012
April 3, 2012
April 3, 2012
May 8, 2012
March 6, 2012
February 28,2012
Hm. Well, I don’t read a ton of fantasy, but I do read Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series, and I thought she dealt with Mercy’s situation very well.
Overall, if the rape moves the story ahead, and elucidates some aspect of a character (I’m assuming in most cases, the heroine), I don’t have an issue with it. It’s when they’re raped on Monday and banging the next guy on Wednesday that I begin to have issues.
I can definitely agree with that scenario causing issues, the quick-into-the sack deal!
But I’ve also read real victims speaking up that this scenario can also be realistic.
Oh gosh, the entire subject just makes my head pound lately.
Noooooooooooo!
If I do read something like this, I think the author has no idea what rape is really like -_- and the emotional turmoil that comes with it, for them it is a dramatic device, see: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RapeIsTheNewDeadParents
As a writer of Gothic fantasy, i’ve often come close to the subject (a stable of Gothic, is the younger woman seduced by the older man) but I would never write a scene where my heroine wasn’t willing, suspicious maybe, but still willing :P.
I almost always get the impression that a rape scene is being used to add drama, be emotionally manipulative, shortcut to development, etc. The book I’m reading currently, the rape scene was about three or so pages long, and it was pretty detailed. Was that really necessary? I tend to think not.I once complained a bit about the vagueness in a Sookie Stackhouse book byHarris being too inconclusive, but now I wonder if it isn’t better, that vagueness.
At least vagueness means that both you and the author are spared the imaginative process of seeing that happen.
As someone who has met people (both men and women) who have been raped, I think that rape in books is in no way the same as it is in real life. Post Dramatic Stress is a horrible horrible thing and often comes hand in hand with rape, people can’t live normal lives after such a thing has happened, some can’t even sleep because of the nightmares. It doesn’t just go away when you meet the right person, nor does it fade away with time. Korean women who were used as “comfort women” during wwII are still campaigning for Japan to recognise their role in the mass rape of women and to apologise.
It is something that is truly horrible, and I would not use it as a dramatic device ever, ever.
Ugh. Next the bad guys will be drowning the UF’s heroine in the bathtub and boiling her pet bunnies.
Eek, I meant drowning the heroine’s puppy. Need more coffee…
Totally got the gist of your thought. ;) And some bad guys have probably already done that in books.
Rape, as a plot device, seems to be used one of two ways. It is either important to the plot and drives the characters development, or it is used purely for shock value. Like Kati, I found the use of rape in Iron Kissed to be extremely well done. This was a character I had come to love, and reading about the rape felt like being punched in the gut. Reading about her recovery and the reactions of her friends made me even more emotionally involved.
After Iron Kissed, it seemed like every new fantasy book was including rape, seemingly just to hook the reader. Using rape for shock value seems disresepectful to those who have actually been victims, and then having the heroine move on as if nothing happened is downright insulting. I feel that if it is an important part of your character’s development use it carefully and honestly. If your adding it as an after thought, or because you saw someone else draw in readers using it, think about what you are doing.
See, I don’t see why it’s a good idea for advancing character development. I’ve just run into yet another UF where the heroine doesn’t realize she has powers that she can use for defense until after she’s raped. The rape pages themselves were very detailed and stomach-turning. Doesn’t the author think readers will get it after a while? What is with yet another author using rape in this same old way…
I think LesleyW below makes an excellent point in reminding us that there are far more creative ways in this fictional day and age to bring a character low so that they might build back up again and maybe come to colossal self-realizations. When Toby is changed back to her half human, half changeling self after being a fish for 14 years, there were plenty of dire consequences to that happening. It was a really heart wrenching read. And no one had to be sexually debased to engage the reader emotionally.
I’ve also posted about this before. Not just rape but murder and assault. I think the problem seems to be that one author will do something well and then 6 months later a load of similar books are published. You know, a heroine can only receive powers or become powerful if at first she is brought as low as possible. And I do agree that I think too often rape is used as a short-cut.
In a way I feel this is lazy. 1 – Why does a heroine have to be brought low before she can gain her power anyway? 2 – There are other ways to bring somebody down. A brilliant example is Toby Daye in Rosemary and Rue who was turned into a fish.
There’s a particular author I stopped reading (not fantasy but sf) because it seem in every book I picked up someone got raped – not just the female characters. When the third book in a row featured someone being raped, even though I enjoyed other aspects of the authors writing I decided I wouldn’t read them any more.
2 – There are other ways to bring somebody down. A brilliant example is Toby Daye in Rosemary and Rue who was turned into a fish.*
Yes yes yes! You are 100% right and that is a fantastic example. God I love that series.
Three books in a row – in same series – with the rape? At that point I couldn’t help but wonder what the author’s logic was.
I think that there is a difference between using rape in a story as a “good idea”, and using it critically, which is what it seems as though Kyle is referring to. If an author is using rape merely to advance a story, then it’s likely that the inclusion of rape is entirely unnecessary. However, if an author uses rape to explore the very real consequences of it, and what it does to a person, I actually do think it can be effective.
I don’t know if you’ve ever read Iron Kissed, the book Kyle mentions (I’m going to assume that you haven’t, since you said you go out of your way to avoid books with rape, and this one in particular has been talked about a lot, but I’m also not going to tell you to read it, because I understand triggers all too well), but Mercy’s rape was handled in a realistic light, not used as a throwaway plot device.
If I am emotionally invested in the book, I can sometimes read a passage that contains rape, even though it can make me physically sick, and emotionally drained. However, if I know ahead of time that a book or series I have not yet read contains rape, it will generally put me off the series completely. On the more specific topic at hand, with UF being one of my favorite genres (though not my ultimate favorite), I have not come across many instances of authors using rape as a plot device. It could be because I’m very choosy about what I read in UF, or that I’ve just gotten lucky with my selections.
I do agree that the scene in Iron Kissed was well done. It wasn’t overly graphic and the repercussions of it have carried through into Mercy’s life. It also had a lot to do with the weakness of the male character involved. He wanted to take Mercy’s power from her. If you look at the male character that is the way his mind would work.
But there is a fair bit of violence to female characters in UF often connected to them coming into their power. I do find it a little odd when so much UF is written by women.
Some examples specific to the female character gaining her power.
Greywalker – beating/attempted murder
Wraith – rape/attempted murder
Scent of Shadows – rape/attempted murder
The Turning – murder
The Becoming – sexual assault/attempted murder
And I know there are UF books on my TBR pile (reviewed here by KMont) which feature rape scenes. I think The Thorn Queen series and The Fever Series both have rape scenes.
I apologize if I made it seem like violence against women and rape doesn’t exist in UF (because I know it does). I was just noting that I happen to be fairly lucky in that it’s generally not prominent in the books I read form the genre (though I am nowhere near a prolific UF reader, since it is not the dominant genre I read from).
Lindsey, I see what you’re saying, and I see how anyone could genuinely understand why it could be used in a story to explore how it affects the victim and others around them (well, I say that with a big ‘ole subjective reading grain of salt, really). A lot of people feel that the scene in Iron Kissed felt well-handled. But just the idea of rape being able to be “well-written” or well-handled in a book feels in itself squicky to me. I don’t know if I can explain that, because it really boils down to being a very personal reaction on my part. I suppose, in some ways, I pretty much find any rape scene, no matter if well-handled or not, to be a bit emotionally manipulative.
One reason, I suppose, is because the author chooses for this to be the path their character is taken down. We here a lot about how some authors feel they can’t control their characters…well, if no one in real life asks to be raped, then why would a fictional character choose that to be their route to character development? Out of all the other countless things they could’ve chosen – why is rape the answer? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a reason other than something like, oh, well, if you pay attention to the series, it was always headed towards this. It’s the way it had to be, or some such. I haven’t heard of a good reason why, really.
And I honestly haven’t come across one example yet of rape in a book where I understood why it was necessary. If people can say rape can be well-written, or well-handled, then there has to be a reason why it was necessary. Can there be such a reason when there isn’t any such reason for it in real life? Other than, that’s life, it sucks, it happens, etc. Is something that horrifying really boiled down to that, especially as an excuse to have it in a book as character growth?
Again, this is all a pretty personal thing to me, when I read it in a book. Tends to bring out the rebel in me, and I can’t help but question it. ;)
I understand hot button issues, and I certainly agree that you have a right to avoid books that portray events you would not like to read (I avoid a lot of books that devote too much time to describing sex). However, I feel you could use your arguement against any tragic event. Is it necessary for a character to have a loved one die? No, but the unexpected is an inexcapable fact of life. Rape is tragically common in today’s world (http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims) and I feel that expecting it not to be mentioned at all is unrealistic. Is it featured in books too much? Yes. Should it never be mentioned in books at all? I would have to say no.
Kyle, I didn’t say it shouldn’t be shown in books at all – what the root of the problem is, sometimes, is how it’s handled. As many keep mentioning, the scene in Iron Kissed was well-handled. Even if I didn’t like it, I can agree that of all the ones I’ve read so far, yes, it was well-handled. And I’m sorry, because I don’t want to seem as if I’m just blowing off the opinion that “that’s life” and “it happens”, I just do not count that as a *reason* to have rape in a book. Nor is the fact that it’s common in today’s world a good excuse to have it in a book – that’s a surface reason, IMO, that actually treats the idea of rape even more as a plot device, and meant to manipulate.
Some feel fiction should always and sometimes only mirror real life. That’s fine, but if it’s going too, hopefully it is handled with a little more depth and meaning than, it happens in real life, because life’s not pretty.
I’m familiar with the org you link to. I’ve talked with a passionate volunteer about this issue in books as well.
The questions I was asking aren’t meant to be threatening or stifling, or imply that it can’t be shown in a book – I simply question the need authors have for rape in their books, and I probably will whenever I see it used.
I’d also like to agree with LesleyW again in that a good bit of this kind of violence DOES come into play when the heroine’s own supernatural powers need to manifest. Why is this? Good example – Mac in Moning’s Fever series. She BENEFITS from her rape in the form of new and better powers.
Or it’s used as means to suppress a woman already IN power or trying to establish a firm hold on said power – good example is Eugenie in Mead’s Dark Swan series, in Thorn Queen. Just as she is beginning to gain some hold on her power as a queen, she is raped, her own boyfriend argues to not punish her rapist due to political ties, and then Eugenie’s other love interest kills her rapist – leaving Eugenie once again dependent on a powerful man to save her and the situation rather than Eugenie being allowed to simply BE powerful and do it herself at least.
Why these common themes – and why so much?
I’d have to agree about the dark swan series, I did not like how the author chose to handle rape and the characters’ reactions in the book. Getting back to the violence against women being used to manifest powers, I feel that in any book, especially fantasy, there is a formula where the protagonist begins with a simple life, has something tragic occur, rises to the challenge, and emerges more powerful or more wise than at the beginning.
In Magic Bites, Kate sets out to find who murdered her guardian, Greg. In Blood engine Marla is trying to escape a death curse. Is this somehow better than Grimspace where the main character is almost mentally broken by her own employers or Sunshine, where the main character is kidnapped?
I DO agree with Lesley, lately violence against women is used by new authors or new series FAR to often, piggybacking off of other authors success. However, I do not see how violence is more objectionable than having a character watch their best friend die in a firefight, or having your girlfriends memories of you erased (Dresden). Were these Necessary events? No. But if only good things happened to the characters there would not be much of a story. I doubt Dresden would have chosen that outcome, the story drives the plot, the character can only control his reactions to it.
Kyle, I think it’s because some readers take some things more personally than others. That probably sounds condescending or as I’m saying something that should be obvious (I assure you, I’m not trying to be), but the subject came up in some review thread not long ago, can’t remember where, about a beloved pet of a main character dying. People voiced that they couldn’t bear to read the book because of this. We all have our hot buttons – that’s why they’re hot buttons. I didn’t personally see the issue as intensely as these people obviously did, about the poor pet that died.
And I obviously don’t have a problem with bad things happening to characters in general – I am so aware that things like that DO happen, all kinds of bad things, and I read a lot of dark fiction, it’s here for anyone to see. What I’ve been trying to make clear is that rape happens to be my personal stopping point. Stop, think about why it’s happening, how it’s handled, etc. I don’t think it’s enough to sit back and think, oh, this happens – happened in the news today in fact! Different topics just speak more forcefully to some than they do others. *shrug*
I definitely agree with you. Everyone has a different issue they have strong feelings about. In the end, its the reader’s choice whether or not to keep reading. I have my own pile of books I had to put down for one reason or another :) I apolgize if I made it sound like I was trying to shape your opinion, I was just trying to explain my personal feelings on the topic.
Kyle, no need to apologize! But I’ll go ahead and say sorry, too, if I seemed over-the-top. ;)
I see I’m in the minority. Well, I don’t usually have a problem with it. Even if it makes me feel kind of ill, I usually consider that a hallmark of a good author, if they manage to elicit those kinds of emotions. Even if I’m squicked out at the start, I’ll still probably be curious enough to continue.
I know what you mean, I too consider it a hallmark of a good author to really engage me emotionally – I just don’t want to get quite that engaged. ;) So that’s interesting, there are readers that want to be squicked out – do you read horror, then, too? That’s one genre that’s also outside my comfort zone. Although I’d love to sit myself down and read something like The Stand one day.
Ah, the squick topic to end all squick topics.
Coming at it as someone who is trying to be a writer…I can say that, to a certain extent, an author does not choose for a character to be raped.
Well…that depends. If a writer is a pantser, which means they don’t plot or anything, they are more prone to going where the story takes them. Which would make rape scene more of a natural occurrence, and less of a choice. As a pantser, I rarely find myself choosing a scene. If they plot…then I think there is definite choice in having the rape scene. But, we can’t analyze an author’s writing process in a bookstore, so that’s kind of pointless.
Personally, I do find rape scenes kind of squick. I can read through them and not be emotionally traumatized, but they definitely do not leave me for a while. Especially if they are creepy. Like the scene from V.C.Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic (which itself is a whole mess of crack squick) where the brother and sister…ew….and it’s kind of like…ew.
There are scenes like that, where I feel like it’s definitely the storyline’s shock factor versus character development. Granted, the characters also were built up to the point of emotional damage where that kind of thing would happen. I think it’s a matter of realism. Rape is a squicky topic in real life as well as in books. I think there is a difference in the ‘squick’, though.
The purposeful, I-Am-Going-To-Write-Rape-To-Sell-Books, squick is squicky because not only is it a rape scene, but it’s one where the reader just goes WTF? and sees that there was no reason the characters had to go there. They had no emotional problems. The rapist, if a known character, did not show any signs of being a rapist and does not regret this afterwords. The emotional pain and the writing do not reflect any attempt at understanding of how traumatic this kind of event is.
Then, to me, there is the second kind of squick. The It-Happened-For-A-Reason squick. This kind of squick…is just what happens. It’s hard to say, because the author may choose not to have a rape scene, but in this instance it IS important. It may not be nice, but important. Rape does happen, and as in real life, it will happen in books. In real life, rape just so happens to have consequences to all parties and changes the tone of someone’s life. In the second type of squick, readers see that. And it’s more of an emotional investment in the character.
As to rape in fantasy and UF…UF I haven’t read much of, but fantasy…I think it’s more common because of a lot of the fantasy cliches. You know, the ones that are conservative in view and the women are treated like crap. Those ones are very rape-friendly, which I find immensely squicky.
Ultimatley, I CAN read it, but I will only approve of what I am reading under certain circumstances and exactly what happens because of this squicky event. I can see why some people, such as yourself, have such an aversion to it. It’s definitely not something people want to read about on a regular basis….or, in your case, at all.
Hi KMont!
Well, it usually doesn’t bother me reading about it, but I believe I’ve been lucky because the rape scenes I’ve read about (not that many) were always taken care of in a extremely sensitive way and I, as a reader – and a woman, for that matter, felt that it wasn’t an attempt to increase the drama in the story, it was well done. So, I can’t say I was disturbed by it.
However, I think it also depends on the writer. If he/she can’t create a good enough reason why or if the author fails to show that scene in a balanced way, then it’s his/her fault.
I’ve read a book where the protagonist wasn’t raped but other characters talked about it in such a detailed and punishing way I really felt that scene was way worse than if the thing had actually happened. That author to me isn’t a good one and I stopped reading her work.
To me, I guess it depends more on how it’s done than on it happening in the first place.
Sonia, I wish I’d had your experiences lol! Someone might feel differently of course, but the last couple of rape scenes or so I’ve read have stepped over the sensitivity line and were much too graphic. All of them reached a point where I was like, I get it. Enough. I’m horrified. But the scenes just weren’t done yet.
I read all the way through the rape scene that Mercy endured in Patricia Briggs’ book. If we have to choose one to hold up an example, well, there’s a reason it’s been that one so much, so far. It was just vague enough to get the point across. The scenes I’ve read lately had a few too many details.
I have read the discussion on Book Smugglers of the red riding hood book and yours here about the young girl with great interest, along with the comments. I felt like I wanted your poll to have a third option where I answered yes to both questions because if rape makes sense in the story then I can read it but my experience is most often it does not so I don’t want too.
I think what the Book Smugglers had to say about rape culture is of great importance and am with you in being concerned that that rape is used by authors as an obstacle to the heroine that must be overcome. I agree that Patty Briggs handled Mercy’s rape and the consequences realistically and well in the text but I am concerned that I can think of three heroines in different Brigg’s books who have been raped. That to me makes it a tool that the author is using – not an exploration of rape and it’s consequences for a woman that then takes a story with it. If the story about the young girl and the ongoing rape with multiple men had been about human trafficking (the events you described in your review are often used to break women into their role as sex slaves) then I would have felt that the scene had a justification but as it stands I think it is exploitative. Now the author may not have intended this but I think it is an example of failing to reflect. Yes these are the risks a young girl out in a patriarchal world without protection risks but the author’s intention plays a huge role in what the heroine experiences and I am concerned not just by the scene and the consequences but by that intention which takes me back to ‘rape culture’ and the sense that this gives of a use that women’s bodies can be put to again. The authors are users of women in the same way the aptriarchy is and maybe because of the patriarchy these scenes occur.
I also think the issue lies in the cover and the synopsis provided, not just that as a reader we become ambushed by the turn that the story takes but in our expectations of the stories we are reading because these are fantasies. The commenter up thread who talked about some authors almost appearing to jump onto a bandwagon in an effort to be edgy seems to me to be accurate and scary.
Merrian, do you mind saying which other books besides the Mercy Thompson one had rape scenes? I didn’t realize she’s included them more than with the Mercy book. If you’d rather not say, I totally understand.
*I also think the issue lies in the cover and the synopsis provided…*
The more I thought about Passion Play and its blurb, the more I wished it had actually alluded, somehow, to what the book was actually about. I felt it was actually a little misleading after getting through the rape scene. Because the 15 yo girl’s rape happened so early in the book, of course it would pretty much shape the rest of the story. From what I glanced over after the rape, it did. And it should. It would be worse if it didn’t feature much in the story afterward. There was an author talking on a thread about my Passion Play post, and she’d read the book. She said it was about that rape, and what the girl went through to get through it and all. I’m guessing that blurbing that somehow wouldn’t sell many books, though.
Hi Kmont,
I’ve used rape, not fully described, but on the page, to show how a character can overcome the trauma and have a healthy sexual relationship. I’ve used it as back story to help the reader understand an emotionally withdrawn character, and in an unrecovered character as a reason behind her growing drug addiction. A history of assault is so, so prevalent in women, especially female addicts.
To call this kind of characterization “lazy” is unfair, I think. Is it original? No. Rape is sadly very common, even more so in real life than in fiction.
I think it’s important to show that girls and women who are raped CAN live happily ever after. They aren’t at fault, they didn’t invite it, and they didn’t deserve it. If authors never adressed the issue, wouldn’t girls who’ve experienced it feel even more left out and ashamed?
Lastly, I think we sometimes write about rape because it helps *us* recover. Haven’t we all been touched by this epidemic, through close female friends and relatives, if not experienced it ourselves?
I agree that the topic shouldn’t be treated carelessly, or thrown in without deep consideration. Thanks for opening up the discussion.
Jill, I realize that authors will probably feel that my calling it a lazy way to engage a reader is unfair – but this is a personal reaction I’ve had to specific instances in some books. I know others have felt this way, too. I’m not saying it can’t ever be well-done in a book or handled well. But I stand by the opinion that it has felt that way to me before.
In general, I’d like to debunk some assumptions about this issue overall, for anyone reading:
Readers who don’t want to read about rape in books or question why it’s in a specific book DO know this kind of thing happens in real life. Just as the folks I mentioned above who can’t bear to read about pets dying in books – I’m pretty sure they’re aware this happens in real life. Unfortunately it doesn’t make the ordeal itself any easier to read about. Maybe it’s that some are more desensitized? Maybe not? Something else? I would love to be able to detach myself from my reactions to rape scenes sometimes, but overall feel it’s best to question it.
No, we are not saying we only want rosy good things to happen to characters, and realize the general consensus is that this would be boring reading. I tend to agree with that, actually. Again, I just question the “necessity” of it when I come across a specific instance.
If I feel I’m being manipulated emotionally in a way that makes the rape seem inorganic to the story – I will call it out.
There isn’t a call here for banning of the rape scene in books. No stifling of what authors have a right to write about, ever. Promise.
It’s a little frustrating when the conversation can’t get past these all-too-common misconceptions.
And I’ve got to get ready to take kidlet to a birthday party, so I doubt I’ll be able to get back to this today.
Thank you very much to everyone that’s joined in! It’s certainly a difficult issue to discuss, so I really appreciate the efforts from everyone. I wish I could do better in articulating why this issue deserves to be looked at past the issues above, and where I’m coming from with it all. Maybe I’ll find a way to do that one day!
Oh, forgot to say – I will come back and answer everyone else ASAP. :)
I was responding to this:
“Out of all the other countless things they could’ve chosen – why is rape the answer? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a reason other than something like, oh, well, if you pay attention to the series, it was always headed towards this. It’s the way it had to be, or some such. I haven’t heard of a good reason why, really.
I honestly haven’t come across one example yet of rape in a book where I understood why it was necessary.”
In sharing my reasons for tackling the topic, I was trying to explain why I felt it was important and necessary for my characters and for me personally.
I don’t feel stifled or censured in the least. You have every right to your reading preferences and to your opinions. But I also think I have the right to speak up if I feel a blanket statement is unfair.
*But I also think I have the right to speak up if I feel a blanket statement is unfair.*
Jill, you certainly do. I appreciate you citing what you thought was unfair (although I hadn’t read your book you speak of, so I wouldn’t even be able to comment on it or know what to think of it – it’s starting to get a little confusing on what people would like a response to, or what they just want to convey as their personal take…). Personally, I feel the way rape is used in books sometimes to be unfair. I mentioned a couple of scenes in books here in comments, so I didn’t think I was making a blanket statement, but I do apologize that it came out that way. Trust me, I don’t think ALL instances of rape in books are a lazy, easy way to engage the reader. Some, not all.
Oh no! Please don’t think I was trying to force one of my books on you. I only used myself as an example because I know my reasons. My disagreement was with the idea that authors, in general, don’t have good reasons for including rape, or that most or all assault scenes are unnecessary.
I thought your question (“why is rape the answer?”) was posed to authors but maybe I shouldn’t have responded. I get confused, too. Sometimes I feel like an author butting in to a nice reader discussion and I hate that! Sorry if that’s what came across.
Ack! I’m not making myself clear! I’m not surprised at myself lol. I worry about starting these topics and then not being able to be clear. *sigh*
No need to apologize at all. And you are always welcome to answer the question from an author perspective. Maybe if I read your book you spoke of (I didn’t think you were forcing it on me, honestly!), I’d get a different take on rape in fiction that I’ve been getting lately. Maybe that elusive good reason would get through to me! I do think it’s possible to be handled well – I’m just a really tough sell when it comes to it and I fully admit that I’m probably tougher on it than people would expect. ;)
Re the Briggs books – Anna in Alpha and Omega (novella in the anthology On the Prowl) is a repeatedly raped by her pack in Chicago, it her meeting with Charles that takes her away from this. The rapes aren’t shown except in her description of the first one; having said that, Anna and Charles’ relationship in the light of this history is well handled. There is a fantasy novel which I read back in the 1990’s – I think is the first in the Sianim Series in which the heroine has sex which she doesn’t want to have, my memory of it is one of those power-over situations.
My issue is that taken all together, I am concerned that rape in all its possible variations becomes almost a default setting for when a character needs trauma in her life experience to put her in a particular place or to shape the life story she brings to the narrative. At that point it becomes just another way women’s lives can be used by others .
Rape is seriously under reported in Australia because of the shame and trauma that goes with no only the event but the judicial process so in some ways I agree with Jill that rape has consequences like addiction as women turn on themselves and that we need to stories that help see women as survivors. All that is true at the same time as we want stories that don’t exploit the reality of rape. As I type this I am wondering if our concerns are also about being made complicit when we read stories like Passion Play (and is that not a ‘play’ on Christ’s crucifixion?). Are we talking here about stories that leave us feeling guilty in some way after we have read them versus those that don’t?
I just feel like, well, couldn’t we just find some OTHER way to motivate women (and, to a lesser extent, men) in UF? And fiction in general? It’s overused, not to mention overdone in real life and not always the most well-treated subject in fiction.
Rape UF is common, but so is the murder of entire families or some other terrifyingly awful catalyst towards character development. The common advice given to writers is to do awful things to your characters to see how they react. I’m sure for a LOT of people rape ranks right up there with the top awful things they can think of. So, IMO I think rape is a valid catalyst to use, especially (as has been pointed out here several times) because it is tragically so prevalent in our culture. I don’t think it’s a lazy choice at all. I also think our culture hyper-sensitizes us to all sorts of threats be it rape, mugging, murder, burglary; basically anything that produces fear. I find myself struggling with this issue a lot trying to ascertain what’s valid fear and what’s panic.
There’s an interesting post I read once that keeps coming to mind whenever this topic comes out titled “Schrodinger’s Rapist”. Here’s a link:
http://kateharding.net/2009/10/08/guest-blogger-starling-schrodinger%E2%80%99s-rapist-or-a-guy%E2%80%99s-guide-to-approaching-strange-women-without-being-maced/
Wow, that is a fascinating article. Holy gigantic comment thread too.
KMont, thanks again for the discussion. This is a topic I care about and I’m always interested in reader opinions.
I try and try to do research on books before I read them just to avoid books like this. I REALLY do not like reading about rape. I think it is a cheap writing technique that authors can use when they want more drama. I was about to say easy, but I couldn’t. Its not always carelessly thrown in, but does happen way all to frequently.
Books for me are an escape. I try as hard as I can to make them pleasant, enjoyable, exciting, adventurous, or thrilling. I don’t enjoy being tortured, crushed, stomped on, angered… Its hard for me to imagine the type of person who would enjoy reading about rape all the time. I’d like nothing more than these type of books having a big red stamp somewhere on them labeling them with their content; rape, cheating, … amazon “tags” don’t cover these. This would help me avoid purchasing these books. I really hate spending 7-20 bucks on a new book that I get only half way through before giving it away to a used book store. I do tend to stop reading after finding out the author happy to destroy the character they made us sympathize with.
While I do like mystery in my reading, but these hot pokers to my eyes are not enjoyable. Sorry for the rant…but this rant gets my rant going. :)
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