blamebrampton: 15th century woodcut of a hound (Default)
blamebrampton ([personal profile] blamebrampton) wrote2008-08-08 11:14 pm

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!

Two HP questions, one polite, one ranty.

To begin with the polite:
Do HP werewolves keep their clothes when they transform, as animagi do? I can't for the life of me recall and the bookshelves are all mid-shift, with PoA under a stack of YA fiction.

To move onto the ranty:
What the HELL are some writers thinking when they write sexual assault as a consequence-free piece of erotic interaction? I can't read this shit. Because I sit there wanting to slap the author.

Note that this is not the same as saying I can't read stories that contain sexual violence. I can, and have, both novels and fic, and some have been excellent. But there is a cost for sexual violence. Hell, even Margaret Mitchell has Rhett Butler consumed with guilt in Gone With the Wind after he drags Scarlett upstairs for a right good rogering while she punches him. There is always a cost.

Why do I rant thusly? Because I have been listening to Shiv and reading the odd spot of het. But, idiotically, not Shiv's own witty and urbane stories. Here's a tip, kids. Have one more Hermione being 'put in her place' with someone's penis and it's very likely you'll find me on your doorstep holding the shattered remains of your letterbox and using them to wedge the door open while I lecture you on why this is not now and never will be a valid authorial gambit.

I am trying to work out some way of addressing this with the writer that doesn't begin with: FEMINISM, it's not just a course at university! HUMAN RIGHTS, not just a T-shirt!

I'm going to stay safely here in the happy little slightly angsty but with authorial acknowledgement that there are prices to be paid gay part of fandom, thanks. Because I will probably be arrested otherwise.

ETA: I should clarify that I am not talking about BD/SM stories, which I am actually fine with. I can even kind of live with the rape fantasy stories where she wants to be dominated (while secretly whispering "It's okay to want to have sex! And it's also okay if you want to be tied up!" at the screen). I am talking about stories where characters are intentionally sexually degraded for no narrative purpose other some alleged titilation.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I needed that laugh! XXXXX

[identity profile] bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, come now Brammers - OF COURSE strong women need to be humiliated into their place. What is a penis for if not for smacking smart, opinionated girls in the face until they accept their proper role in relationships/society?

Sometimes, it is hard to reconcile feminism and the fandom. I've been trying recently. It's actually much easier to do it with slash - I have a whole Foucault-inspired theory on why women like slash beyond the whole "two men fucking is hot" part. I have enough issues with how JKR writes girls and women, I think it's have to gauge my eyes out if I start reading the het and have to deal with the stuff you're talking about.

I've said it before, I'll say it again - there's nothing wrong with rape fantasies but there's a difference between a pure fantasy and stories that reflect oppressive cultural discourses about women's sexuality. It becomes even more confused by the fact that our own thoughts and feelings are so shaped by our culture that as authors, we might not even know we are reinforcing dangerous ideas, that our fantasies have been given to us by a culture that doesn't WANT powerful women who own their own sexuality and desires. And that's not even addressing the differences in readers' interpretations of the actual intent/meaning behind things.

Honestly, this is why I just avoid non-con and dub-con - my threshold is lower than many people's AND I tend to think it actually matters. But, as I have proven in the past, I am a humourless feminist. Grrr.

[identity profile] sassy-cissa.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm a bit late to the rant, but must tell you that I might just love you a bit for this post.

*smishes*

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
She might not, but I will, and I'll read it through my fingers.

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Erm, but whilst I like Aresnic Jade, the one you were linked to is where Hermione has been raped by Draco and the consequences aren't really addressed.

These are the ones that I adore

http://tasteofpoison.inkubation.net/viewseries.php?seriesid=1

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry dear, would you like a new chapter of Miserable Bastards to take the taste away.

You should know that if it made me hide under a rock for a week it was going to be baaaad.

And lo, it was beyond bad and seriously fucked up, and the next person who tells me she's not that bad a writer... gets the defriend button.

[identity profile] pingrid.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Ha! "She's not that bad a writer" - what glowing endorsements people do give. ;) I read the chapter Brammers sent me but figured life is too short to read more. Is this standard fare from this author, or was it just an unlucky day, do you think? I'm kind of intrigued about the obvious lack of reflection, and it has me wondering if maybe it was a case of posting drunk ...?

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Par for the course in terms of quality, but also plumbing the depths in terms of that particular act. Usually it's huge cock Severus punishing Hermione for not doing what he wants but she likes it because she wants to be dominated.

~shrugs~

I think she's shit. And say so loudly. Last night portions of my flist were squeeing that fic to the rafters - largely the newbies - the rest of us watch in horror.

I reviwed her before, on affnet, and raised the ickiness of her gender politics, but it's only a bit of fun apparently.

[identity profile] inamac.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I've just read Ch 17 of PoA and it's possible to imagine Sirius naked right up to the point where Crookshanks sank his claws into Black's robes. Pity, I was quite enjoying the images up to then. Though given that Sirius grabbed Ron's wand at the first opportunity perhaps he just magicked himself some robes?

Which leaves the question of what wizard werewolves (and animagi) do with their wands when they transform...

Goes back to writing Hermione grinding Lucius under her stiletto heel...

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I was yanking her chain, but that said it is full of very damaged behaviour so far, and is definitely sexually abusive.

Oh well. Gotta shock the readers somehow!

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
You know what I think would shock them most, romance based on mutual respect.

Fandom would come to a grinding halt.

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Different subject altogether, but do you like Anna Scholtz's stuff? There's a sale at her website. I've got my eye on a pink lace baby doll top and a floor length black lace skirt.

http://shop.annascholz.com/index.php?&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh that is good news...

[identity profile] beatnikspinster.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)
:) *hugs*

Ooo! Book rec! Thanks!

Sorry it took so long to reply. I actually had to calm down a bit. Then I got interrupted with work, at work. The nerve.

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
That is a nice skirt.

Why are so many tops short sleeved though? It plays merry hob with my wanker's wrist if they get in a draft

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps she's on a one-woman 'free the bingo wings' crusade?

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah could be.

Anyway, wot are you doing out and abaht? I thought you were going into ospickal to be anally probed?

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw my consultant yesterday over in Rugby at one of his other clinics. He says the reason I'm in pain is because the knot on one of the stitches has migrated to just inside my sphincter, and what I can feel is the lump of the knot and the end of the chords pulling. He said he could give it a yank to sort it out but I declined. Next op 19th.

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Ouch

And wimp on the not yanking.

Does this mean more sick leave?

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Good lord, yes. Loads more sick leave.

No idea how much.

And you try having the damn knot there and then tell me to take more pain. It's eye watering.

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
This is one of these BDSm things isn't it? Offering me pain.

No thanks.

Is it god's punishment on you for writing so much bumsex?

I just burned my hand on the cauliflower. Presumably this is for being an uppity woman?

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Someone should write some Shiv!porn in which you get rogered at both ends to shut you up.

:D

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I've never yet met a mighty cock mighty enough to silence me.

[identity profile] calanthe-fics.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
*ponders the truth of that statement*

Go and enjoy your cauliflower cheese. I'm written enoughn sexual abuse for today and need my sleep.

9pm. What a wuss.

[identity profile] shiv5468.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
How did you know it was cauliflower cheese? It could have been naked cauliflower, opening itself up to me, all hot and steamy.


You need your sleep. You've got illness to subdue.

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