Dear, the thing about this fiction is that even though it deals with the subject of rape, it actually fails to actually include any due to the ways you have 'perverted' not a nice fluffy relationship into a 'darker' one, but any pretence of realism you may have had. Allow me to clarify: obviously, as the writer of a fantasy-based piece of fanfiction in a fantasy-dictated world, you are not attempting to recreate ordinary life. As an author, however, you seek to suspend the disbelief of the audience for long enough that they are able to follow and believe in the relative plausibility of a situation/character interaction: this is the key goal of any writer that wants to bring a reader into their own world. At many points during this 'fic, however, you are unable (and in fact don't really attempt) to reconcile the inherent contradictions in your characterisation of Kagome, and it is in this disregard for this key tenant of writing that you fail to include 'rape' and instead put forward an unsupported glorification of it, succeeding in this way to trivialise what I'm sure you know is a traumatic, painful experience for all too many women across the globe.
I'd like to approach this in two ways. First of all, I want to clarify why the topic of rape is considered 'taboo', as you've referred to it (surprisingly caustically) at several points in your authors notes. Secondly, I will highlight the manner in which you have forgone realism in your fiction in order to allow a glorified image of it to emerge, both cheapening the actual experience and in such a manner supporting the devaluation and objectifying of women it entails.
The problem people generally have with authors skirting the subject of rape, from including it in fiction to making jokes associating more minor issues, is hinged around the fact that all too commonly such authors trivialise it. The act of rape is a horrific experience when a woman (or man!)'s right to their very bodies, their flesh and blood, is torn from them, their ability to control the way their body is used taken without their consent. This experience of losing control of their own body, of being forced into doing otherwise very intimate, private things, is a traumatising experience, no matter the degree, and many victims never fully recover. It is painful and often seriously damages the victim, no matter what sensitive areas are being touched - I believe you misunderstand the nature of the erogenous zones when you assume that any touch, desired or not, will be automatically erotic. That is simply not the case, as millions of first hand accounts describe. The attractiveness of the rapists do not impact this in the slightest. Presenting it as such, therefore, in no simple matter glorifies it, cheapening the perception of what is still an overwhelmingly common (to present the results of a randomly chosen study of many, taken in 1991, that details how 1 in 4 women surveyed in the UK testified to being the victims of rape or attempted rape - women alone) event. Nevertheless, your character, despite being taken by force as a slave and then sold into prostitution against her will, therefore robbing her of all rights to her very body, is characterised as nevertheless enjoying the acts performed on her. To take the case of women alone, due to the gender of your protagonist - in justifying her rapists' actions and their robbing her of all power and rights through your presentation of how she enjoys 'despite herself' this treatment, you are supporting their treatment of her as merely an object, a thing to be used - you are eroticising this misogynistic representation of women through justifying their repeated rapes, and I find this disturbing. These are the reasons rape is considered 'taboo', because in presenting it in the way you have you are trivialising and glorifying it, therefore undermining and effectively delegitimising the real pain and trauma of actual victims.
Furthermore, the lack of actual rape or even the pretence of trying to distend belief in your fiction: I will be brief, as I really would rather not spend longer on this review than I need to. First of all, as seen in chapter one, the her reaction to her imprisonment is just... unrealistic, given the trauma she'd have already experienced, and the unknowability of the future that awaits her. This characterisation goes unexplained, and cheapens the gravity and horror of the scenario. This is seen in even though she has just been forced into slavery and prostitution she still feels happy (given as she's in a more 'favourable' situation', from being with a demented slaver to an unknown owner) enough to be curious about her surroundings when she is placed in Aimaru's bedroom in nothing more than boredom, given a brief pause in her getting dragged about. Of course, more important worries of what her future is like (prevalent but trivialised) are not enough to prevent her from amicably, shyly greeting the first of her slave owners - does acceptance really come that quickly, and in that form? But I thought her defining characteristic was defiance? Furthermore, deary, even though you introduce both the fact that she both 'really doesn't like being there' (as she had no choice in the matter and is getting forced into prostitution) alongside the fact that she likes what they do to her, if you fail to actually reconcile these two elements (ignoring the conflict is not a solution~) you get bad characterisation. The scene when they are fondling her breasts in chapter two encapsulates my point nicely. Previous chapter, she is feeling apprehension, unwillingness, force. This chapter, a change of perspective allows you to ignore why she might feel in anyway inclined to arousal by their treatment of her, presenting a pretty large hole, m'dear, that you fail to patch in later chapters. It is in this way you get away with glorifying rape, in presenting a nonrealistic situation in which a woman would enjoy being molested against her will by strangers she has never met before. You are combining two distinctly separate sexual acts: the act of rape, and the act of simulated, fetish 'rape' (that is done, overall, with consent of the woman, with guidelines and safety words dictated before hand), mishandling your characterisation to allow their haphazard mishmash. This is not a 'rape' 'fic - this is a badly handled rape fantasy with multifarious and disturbing allusions of misogyny and rape glorification.
For yes, m'dear, I know fully well that there is such a thing as a rape fantasy, and that that is what this in its essence is. However, as delineated above, the manner in which you've handled this I find worrying. You 'roll your eyes' at the seriousness is placed upon rape - but rape is actually a serious contemporary problem that has painful and traumatic consequences. Do you truly feel that this seriousness is misplaced? Is rape something that should be considered trivial, not worth the fuss, when it dramatically transforms and frequently destroys the lives of millions of men and women world wide each year? Not to mention the sexist connotations that follow alongside it? Rape is a serious issue- rape is not something that should be trivialised, much less glorified, and that is what so unsettles me about your work. I am all for rape fantasies, and writing about them - I think it's a wonderful thing to delve into and dispute social preconceptions about sexual deviancy and reveal it for what it is: just like all other acts of love, passion, desire and pleasure, perfectly natural. I am a sexual liberal, I think cultural hangups over homosexuality, cross-dressing, fetishes and sadomasochism etcetera are ignorant and unfounded: as long as the participants are consensual, they can do whatever they like. What you have written, however, is not a 'perverted little dark fantasy', but a glorified, trivialised account of sexual slavery and rape. You are not 'breaking taboos', you do not have a fantastically perverted mind - There are many, better ways you could've handled your characters' situations if you'd actually made an attempt, ways that do delve into darkness - such as the twisting of a victim through frequent, specific (and often psychological) abuse into a willing participant - cases have been recorded of such events, and they truly are twisted, if that's what you're in to writing. This, however, in its blatant avoidance of the inherent contradictions in your characterisation, is just another unrealistic wet dream, to be unsympathetically frank.
One final thing I would like to clarify, mainly for my own sake:
Yes, sexism triumphed in the past, and a piece set especially in the feudal era would reflect this. However, there is a key, important difference between objectively acknowledging the existence of such view and abjectly supporting it in your work. The misogynistic tones that runs through this story would prevent it from being published, or at least I hope it would. I know that it isn't something you'd likely send to a publisher, however, as its something much more private, and yes the internet provides a medium in which we can express our private desires uninhibited. It offers us the opportunity to write what we like and say what we like, to visualise and act out whatever fantasy we desire. While there are no restrictions imposed, and shouldn't be, in my opinion, nevertheless, though each of us who engage with it hold a personal responsibility for what we post. Fanfiction in many ways is just another facet of popular culture, and a consideration of the different perceptions and social mores you are feeding into it (passively through your audience's reading and absorbing of the material, I'm not certain many would physically stop and analyse just what messages you are sending as I have here), I believe, is crucial from a perspective of self-perception. I certainly wouldn't want to be part of a misogynistic trend justifying rape in my literature.
EBK out.
A few links you could probably use reading:
http://www.takeninhand.com/when.rape.is.a.gift
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/21/political-impotence-rape-opportunistic-crime
http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/Statistics2.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/abigail-pesta/diary-of-an-escaped-sex-s_b_323888.html
Finally, another chapter!!! I was about to worry... phew lol!!!
I love it, but what the hell are you talking about Kagome!!! He said that it was going to hurt!!! It's not going to feel good, but then again, your into that kinda thing...
O_o
I'm SOOO happy that you updated!!! I was checking like everyday for something!!!
Now... It only a certain, 'Waking Up In Vegas' was updated!!! Or, 'This Sesshomaru Burns' I actually might die...
I can't wait for more of ANYTHING that you write to come out again!!!
-Dying inside for another hit...
~_~^-^~_~ - Ditto Princess
Page 6 of 11
| | 