The interwebz blew up this afternoon with reaction to this article: In Defense of Rape. The author make some reasonable points and says a few spurious things as well.
To paraphrase where he was reasonable: Rape, like other forms of violence and physical dominance can be an inciting element for character and plot development. I have no beef with this; it is true inciting elements do help us further our stories.
Where the argument is spurious:
He sexualizes rape: 1) The author starts off the post with a picture that shows a naked woman, head thrown back in ecstasy, legs voluntarily lifted, hands reaching to embrace her attacker (the God Zeus in swan form). This is a masculine idealization of rape as deliverance of a gift. It has been discredited by many writers far more astute than I. 2) He asks “…can we use it {rape} as a springboard to examine the sexual culture in the story?” 3) He writes… somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of women have rape fantasies. Hello Grimachu, but until you are clear on the power dynamics at play in rape, until you can tell the difference between sex and violence, and until you understand that rape fantasies have no bearing on ‘real’ rape because a fantasy is voluntary and can be stopped at any point, I do not find you qualified to write on the topic of rape as a plot device.
He equates the discussion of Rape Culture with Censorship: For this I will need the whole quote:
The ‘sexism/misogny/rape culture/all men are bastards’ argument has been raging in ever increasing intensity over most of the things that I enjoy and like. Cinema, comics, fantasy art, role-playing games and computer games. I’m pretty much done taking the abuse and the offensive presumptions that go into these arguments without arguing back at this point, because I don’t want the argument to be entirely in the hands of censorious bullies.
So – basically – if you see a rape culture, or if you disagree with the author you are censorious bullies.
As I told Grimchu on twitter – you have failed to uphold your argument sir, and the good things you have to say are overbalanced by the lack of understanding you demonstrate both towards the subject and towards the readers it touches. There is an identifiable rape culture, in literature, in music, in film, and certainly in games. The extent of that culture is up for an argument, but the use of the aforementioned picture by this author proves that point. Still doubting rape culture? Search Google images for rape and see how many of the top responses use rape as a joke, a put-down or an incitement to sexual acts. Pointing this fact out does not make one a bully any more than writing an article in defense of rape makes one a rapist.
As far as using rape in fiction? Of course it can be used. It is a part of life, a part of history and a valid topic for exploration. SHOULD you use it? I think you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Can the power dynamics at play in my plot be served by any other means?
- Would I play this scene differently if my character were bigger/stronger/differently gendered
- Am I using the rape as sexual titillation in a non-sexual fantasy scenario?
- Are the visuals correctly describing rape as about power and control, not sex?
- Am I dealing with the aftermath of rape for the victim where appropriate?
Another article with a rebuttal can be found here.
What do you think? Can the use of rape be defended?
