Fic-issues

[eretria]

eta: Unlocked for discussion.

Seriously, what is it with the load of non-con fic lately?

Why do authors write about rape in order to have hurt/comfort? What is so appealing about it? I bet that if any of them ever had actually experienced rape, they wouldn't even consider writing it for fun.
This is ... it's a violation. Why would you want to do that to a character you care about?

Worst of all are the fics in which a character is raped and then the other character tries to make it better with sex of all things, and then, at the end of the fic, everything is dandy and happy again and the character experiencing the non-con doesn't suffer ANY aftereffects.

Well, sorry, but life doesn't work that way. Trauma. That ring a bell?

It makes me especially mad to see people salivating over it in reviews (To quote: I love "(character A) being raped" stories -- The things we writers put you through in the name of h/c fic. *grins over his shoulder* LOVED this. Oh wow. So much pain! More! More! Gods, I can't wait to see whatcha do with this. *nod nod* ), or even demanding hard non-con (I'm not talking dodgy-con here, even though I have issues there as well) in challenges. What the fuck is WRONG with those people?

This isn't a joking matter. Rape is nothing to drool about or anticipate.

I feel disgusted with this part of fandom. Same thing goes with the torture-device far too many stories use - and this has happened in all fandoms I've been in now. Character A being tortured mercilessly, only to have Character B comforting Character A and consequently making him/her forget all about the torture / rape and everything is happy and dandy again at the end and they profess undying love to eachother and have the best sex ever. No consequences. Because the characters had sex, everything is all right again.

I'm joking, you think? Well, seen in a prompt lately: "Non-con, rape or torture are okay as long as there is some hope and some kind of happy ending lurking somewhere
Do those writers/prompters really think everything will be pretty and happy again after your character has gone through something like that? To me, it just constitutes a limited horizon, a scary amount of loss of reality and an even more frightening amount of small-mindedness.
(Adding here that I don't object to the subject being dealt with in an adult, respectful way. But examples as the ones above are doing anything but.)

I may be the narrow-minded one here, however, so if anyone could explain to me where the appeal of non-con stories lies, I'd be glad to broaden my horizon. I realise that this is a touchy subject and this is only my opinion, by no means am I laying claim to being right. I doubt I'll ever understand, but I'd like to hear explanations.

Comments

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, and this is what I meant and maybe what didn't come across: What angers me is not the genre so much as the fact that most writers don't take the subject serious and just use it as a device to get the character hurt severely to get them to have sex with the next character ASAP.
(as for not seeing examples in SGA, I tell you to go to Wraithbait and do a quick search there. You'd be surprised.)
It just seems like an insult to both the characters and rape-victims. While authors who respect the happenings can make it work - and yes, I remember the story you're talking about, and it does exactly that - without being spectators by simply respecting the issue.
Rape for kicks is what makes me want to run screaming. And the "it's only fantasy" approach doesn't work for me, because if the thought is there in fantasy, it means that it's right there in those people's mind.
I realise that this is a touchy subject and this is only my opinion, by no means am I laying claim to being right and on the highest moral horse. It just ... No. Better stop right here.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

What angers me is not the genre so much as the fact that most writers don't take the subject serious and just use it as a device to get the character hurt severely to get them to have sex with the next character ASAP.

I gathered as much; just went off on my little tangent there.

I tell you to go to Wraithbait and do a quick search there. You'd be surprised.

I usually use LJ only and check out all sorts of recommendation lists and sites; they, with the exception noted above, don't seem to be into that sort of thing.

It just seems like an insult to both the characters and rape-victims. While authors who respect the happenings can make it work - and yes, I remember the story you're talking about, and it does exactly that - without being spectators by simply respecting the issue.

Yes, I understand.

Rape for kicks is what makes me want to run screaming.

Got it.

Lines are blurry here, of course, and seems safest to just step back and say Thanks, But No Thanks...but it's a complex issue, singular, mainly because it touches upon people's issues, plural. At least one writer I know writes rape-fic because it's of therapeutic value to her. Can't really discuss that, but it made me wonder about reality and fantasy and psychological developments, even if it doesn't change the fact that others read it for kicks.

And the "it's only fantasy" approach doesn't work for me, because if the thought is there in fantasy, it means that it's right there in those people's mind.

Not really, though -- yes, it's there, but it's hardly a conscious thought. Not to defend schmoopy rape-ficcers, of all people, but I -- sorry about generalisations, ill-fitting comparisons, and simplifications -- don't run around thinking "How can I dominate this or that person today? How could he or she control me? My, wouldn't that be hot?" Some of the kinks we carry around with us -- most of them, in fact -- do not colour our everyday thoughts and actions. I remember reading that "rape fantasies" is a dangerously misleading term -- many women have them with regards to themselves, but that does most emphatically not mean they actually want to be raped, or want any other woman to be raped (or any other man, I'm sure); instead, freedom from facing one's own lust and guilt or any sort of personal responsibility play the main role. Some man sharply attack women for having these, but it makes no sense to me to blame them for desires from the very depths of their minds.

It might make more sense to question the way they *deal* with such fantasies, of course, but as long as other human beings aren't involved, it just seems too closely connected to emotional/sexual/subconscious parts of yourself that aren't fully under your control (I am totally using up my quota of that word today).

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Lines are blurry here, of course, and seems safest to just step back and say Thanks, But No Thanks...

Just in case this came across wrong: I do steer clear of those stories. I've only been reading the summary on the most recent page of Wraithbait and then clicked on the reviews (yes, because I was wondering if anyone else objected to this kind of plot-device) and was instantly repelled by the reviews.
Just in case this whole arguing above came across as: Well, why does she read it when it angers her so.

At least one writer I know writes rape-fic because it's of therapeutic value to her.

And this, as contradictory as it seems, is what I can understand and relate to.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Just in case this came across wrong: I do steer clear of those stories.

No, didn't come across wrong at all; I didn't even have you in mind when I wrote the line you quote -- I was talking about actual readers and writers of rape-fic, which you clearly aren't.

Just in case this whole arguing above came across as: Well, why does she read it when it angers her so.

I know you better than that, sweetie, and it really didn't cross my mind until you brought it up here.

And this, as contradictory as it seems, is what I can understand and relate to.

Not contradictory at all! You belong to the school of writers who demand value and/or substance in fiction, and if the one who creates a rape-fic derives a measure of...a cure, some relief, a coping mechanism from it, that'll be fine.