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Spoiler Alert for anyone who is reading Feral Saga and hasn’t gotten to the latest chapter, I'm gonna mention some stuff.
So I just wrote a rape scene. Probably the most unrealistic rape scene ever (there’s a drug involved that has basically magical properties), but still clearly rape. It was a long struggle deciding whether or not to include it. I decided maybe I could write something about it here. I’m not looking for validation, but there’s a lot of incredible people here and maybe someone else has had a similar issue in their writing.
So here’s why I hesitated:
First, I really think many people will misunderstand why I have it in there. For me, it was part of the original story idea. Take one of the most masculine heroes out there, transform him into a girl and what would happen? With the amount of aggression and hatred some of these characters have towards each other, it seems like a pretty likely outcome that at least some of the male characters would go so far as to rape some of the female characters. Comics and movies kinda bypass this and, more or less, pretend it wouldn’t happen.
So, as crazy as it sounds in a superhero fantasy story, I thought it was an important bit of realism to inject. I just hope no one reads it as some kind of fetish-fulfillment. I don't think they will, but who knows?
Also, even though the rapist (Saabretooth) clearly doesn’t care that Logan was once a guy, it seems so cliche’ that the TG character gets raped. It’s almost like she’s being punished for being happy about the transformation. You know, like somehow that’s wrong and society / fate / whatever has to punish her.
Same thing for being a strong woman. She demonstrates her strength and her “reward” is to be raped.
It’s definitely not a realistic rape. I mean, it’s a magic drug. Some might think it could almost seem to be consensual, especially a second part (because it wasn’t complicated enough) - while still under the effects of the drug she has sex with someone that she would, under certain circumstances, want to have sex with. Although for me, that’s kinda like saying rohypnol or too much alcohol eliminates any objections. Without any possibility of consent, it’s rape. And the rapist used a threat against someone she loves before he even shot her with the drug. (Have I made it clear what I think of the people who see any part of it as consensual?)
Due to the effects of the “magic” drug, the rapist took away both Lolo’s humanity and her choice. The fact that she ends up enjoying sex (with her rescuer) isn’t pertinent. In fact, as it will be portrayed in the story, essentially both of them were raped.
I’m going to deal with the aftermath and the effect on both of them and try to keep it realistic (you know, in the context of mutants and superheroes). And the rapist has been portrayed all along as someone not only capable of this, but actively looking to do it. So having him go through with it pays off all that build-up and makes the consequences for him seem justified, even satisfying.
So I ended up tying myself in knots about it. I know what it means and why it is in there and I know I can’t control how others see it. But knowing something is true doesn’t always make it easy to accept.
Anyway, thanks for giving this a read. I feel a little better for having expressed my thoughts, even if it’s really just for me.
Goodness, this is a narcissistic post...
Comments
At least one
I wrote at least one scene of rape, a brutal one. After showing the story to a friend at the wrong time of year -- trigger issue -- I decided to isolate it by dividing my story into three parts. It would normally be a solo, but instead I put the scene in the second part and offered the choice to skip that and continue the story after.
Sometimes when I'm in a bad mood due to something, it helps to write about it (or simply something grizzly) and publish or post it. A couple times, I've begun something out of fury, and then managed to work it into something coherent, and post it. One story was finished and posted after eight or nine years.
Also, your post has some relevant connection with another blog post about explicit content. One commenter urged the poster to burst forth and do it. It wasn't about rape, though, IIRC.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
I was IN a rape scene when I was 14 years old!
I still can not remember it save for the fact that I hurt and there was blood the next day, I think. It was almost 60 years ago, so no doubt that my memory is fuzzy. Now if I talk about it there is a panic attack.
Sooo, I'd ask you to clearly label your story. I've written explicit stories but can't think if I actually published them. I am not sure if there is intellectual value to them in a story.
Thanks Gwen
I did make sure I labeled it clearly. In fact, I warned my readers in every chapter leading up to it as well (12 of them plus the intro), so no one was surprised. But I still respect your sentiment about it a great deal and I do know other people who would probably share your opinion. Thank you for sharing something so painful.
(also, sorry about my avatar, kinda inappropriate for this discussion)
As a matter of Fact...
A story that I am fiddling with right now, and hoping it is time to put chapter 2 out soon, contains a primitive, harsh intercourse scene between Cats, and I struggled with it a lot. Didn't want anyone to think that I'm trying to be miss prim and proper.
I totally get it
I didn't feel like you were preaching or speaking from a prim and proper high horse. You were just sharing and I appreciated that. It's hard enough feeling like anything one writes has intellectual value but when it might cause someone else pain? I guess you just have to do the best you can to express your truth and hope that it's a truth that someone needs to see, even when you're the someone who actually needs it.
For me, it depends...
I myself have written a story where the central theme is rape (I don't think I did very eell in relation to the context of the story all that well, I won't deny that the story is my least favorite of the stories I've written)
In my opinion, you must consider these when writing a scene that contains rape.
First (and you can ignore this one since you already answered it) is it for the sake of fetishism, if so, then it doesn't matter what the situation is so long as the scene happens.
Second: if it's not fetishism, then does the scene fit within the narrative of the story? Can the audience, within reason, see this scene happen realistically and have emotions tied to it whether they feel the victim deserves it or not?
And lastly: does the victim face the situation and learn from it? What I mean is, the scene happens and are the victims thought about it: well that was unpleasant, well back to my life, la la la. In other words, it should have a lasting effect on the character, for obvious reasons.
Simply put, the scene needs to fit and the characters affected by it need to be affected by it in a fashion that works with how those characters are portrayed. If it's a scene that just shows up and goes away when it's over. Then it leaves the reader asking why it was there in the first place.
It's a hard thing to explain, let alone write about, as it's easy to bounce between extremes where it barely affects the character at all to where the character wallows to the point where the story grinds to a halt.
I've only reread my story that contained the rape scene once since I posted it, and I don't thing I did that well writing it either. This is a touchy subject, for obvious reasons, and I've probably more than muddled the point I was trying to make but the only thing else I can say is ask yourself this: "Does this scene have a reason to exist in my story?"
I think we're on the same page
I think I get what you're saying; it didn't seem muddled to me. I like the basic idea, although I would phrase it a little differently. The gist I got was that you need to be thoughtful about it and not just throw it in there. I would say that the reasons for including it would be:
1) Genre - if it is a story set in a genre where rape is expected (some BDSM [I think], torture, revenge [where it may be the trigger], prison drama, etc.), then it would make sense. It still should be labelled and not trivialized, but at least that would be one way a rape scene might be expected.
2) Story/theme - does it advance the story or the plot in a meaningful way or is it just to provide drama or emotional impact? If you could take it out and have pretty much the same story, especially if you replaced it with another type of violence or peril, then it probably isn't justified.
3) Character - is it a part of who the character is, or who they become, or how they transform/change? If it's just a dramatic obstacle to overcome or, as you say, has no real impact on them, then why is it in there except to manipulate the reader?
So, thanks. I think that's a nice thought exercise. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I like it. I think I did most of it anyway and I don't know that it would have saved me from tying myself up in knots, but it seems like it could have helped.