AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!

[blamebrampton]

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.

Comments

[raitala.livejournal.com]

A fairly large proportion of fan-fic is porn. Consequence free rape is something of a porn fantasy staple - I don't think there's much chance of that changing any time soon. It's pretty prevalent in most cross-gen fandoms, whether they are het or slash.

It makes me feel damn uncomfortable, but what can you do. It seems to be fairly deeply ingrained in the collective erotic psyche.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

That disturbs me enough. But I can almost live with it in the same way that I am sure there's a place for pony porn and erotic plushies.

But the whole 'This woman is uppity so we must sexually humilate her' thing unleashes my inner axe-wielding ranter. And she is very very ranty.

Rape fantasies just reek of 'you can't own your sexuality, Miss, you'll need to find a man who can sign for it' to me. Though it must be said that I toddled through Women's Lib marches and still own a purple and green T-shirt with a white raised fist inside a Mirror of Venus. Just call me unreconstructed.

[raitala.livejournal.com]

I find the whole 'you want it, you slut' school of eroticized rape very uncomfortable. I haven't read any het for ages. I imagine if it were a female character subjected by a male there would be a good chance I would be even more distressed by the whole thing.

There just isn't a warning for 'ill-considered sexual viciousness' as a rule I don't read cross-gen by anyone except writers I completely trust. But then I'm not so much one for marches as one for putting my hands over my ears and eyes and humming when confronted by anything unpleasant.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yes! She wants it if her response to that comment is "You ghastly little man, all right, I'm still going to shag you, but for that comment get down there and give me twenty minutes."

I think that would be an EXCELLENT warning. Alas, too few writers would make use of it. If only LJ allowed you to tag others' entries ...

Normally I just slap that back button, but now and then the need to rant bubbles over. I've improved, though. In the 80s I'd have T-shirts and badges made by now, and be organising a sit-in.

[mabonwitch.livejournal.com]

Noncon in stories comes in so many different flavors, *sigh*...and my reaction varies depending on mood and pairing. I mean there's "Vernon rapes Harry and Harry has unrealistically uncomplicated and healing sex with Snape shortly thereafter". And then there's "We don't like each other, but we must have sex to save the world!", and the fairly rare "I was raped and now have serious, long-lasting consequences", not to mention consensual fantasies. And dub con, which in my mind is basically what in the real world would still be considered rape, but from our secret reader's viewpoint, we know the victim wants it, really....

And then it's even harder to remember, sometimes, that fanfic is not, in fact, real- that is, the story isn't about Hermione's fantasy, though better writing might make us think so, but rather about the writer's fantasy. And as far as I'm concerned, it's legit to fantasize about whatever makes you hot.