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] inamac.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, having just written an essay on HP werewolves you'd think I'd know the answer, but it hadn't occurred to me to check. It also doesn't appear to have occurred to Rowling - she's very cagey about the three transformations at the beginning of Ch 20 of PoA. Remus and Sirius just get covered in fur - no mention of clothes. The only hint is "Harry saw [Pettigrew's] bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm."

Take your choice...

As for 'healing/titillating rape fic - you would think that anyone with the imagination to write fanfic (or any fic) would think this stuff through. But, alas, apparently not.

I suspect there are a (miniscule number) of rape-fics which are written from experience, and possibly as a catharsis, but that's no excuse for people with no imagination jumping on the bandwaggon.

And now you've made me rant too.

Goes and re-reads Miserable Bastards.

[identity profile] blamebrampton.livejournal.com 2008-08-08 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
But those would be rape fics With Consequences. Sigh.

Thank you for the werewolf help, it's helpful! And yes, Miserable Bastards is tea and cake in fic form.