Just Saying (Two Letters)
Jan. 26th, 2013 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadedmusingsDear Authors Everywhere,
If you want me to have sympathy for your protagonist and/or narrator, DON'T HAVE THEM RAPE SOMEONE!
If you do this anyway, don't spend the rest of the book trying to make me feel sympathetic toward them because his victim doesn't love him and would never love him (and likely would never have loved them even without the rape because--OH TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES--she's gay and prefers women over men). And don't even get me started on the fact both the narrator and victim go on to have sexual relations with the same woman despite the fact both narrator and victim have JUST ENTERED PUBERTY (ergo, they are BELOW THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN) and never address how fucked up this is.
Seriously, every time after that you bring up how, woe is he, the woman he raped will never forgive him or love him like he wants, I just want to hurl your book across the room, but I can't because it's on my Kindle Fire and I don't think that's covered under my warranty.
If your protagonist rapes someone and their only punishment is navel gazing and "Woe, but I love her!" THEY ARE NOT A HERO OR EVEN A REMOTELY NICE PERSON! I don't care if they save the world, they're still and will always be a rapist.
Signed,
A Very Disappointed Reader
(Brought to you by me reading a book I saw advertised on John Scalzi's blog, falling in love with the world and the premise only to, roughly halfway through the book, encounter the above bullshit.)
Dear Person on Twitter,
Oh, I'm sorry did my statement observing this book was "definitely written by a man" offend you and hurt your precious fee-fees? I never said it was rape, but I pointed out it's a subject matter that the vast majority of male authors I encounter handle poorly, and in this case considering I'm spending the book inside the rapist's head, I get to hear how much it affected him and how sorry he is and am expected to feel sympathy...just as I would expect to hear from a man who has never been assaulted or raped or known anyone who has been.
Terribly sorry I don't worship at the altar of "it's only gender equality if you don't point out men's flaws" or "women are bad too!"
Signed,
It says I'm a feminist right there on the tin.
If you want me to have sympathy for your protagonist and/or narrator, DON'T HAVE THEM RAPE SOMEONE!
If you do this anyway, don't spend the rest of the book trying to make me feel sympathetic toward them because his victim doesn't love him and would never love him (and likely would never have loved them even without the rape because--OH TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES--she's gay and prefers women over men). And don't even get me started on the fact both the narrator and victim go on to have sexual relations with the same woman despite the fact both narrator and victim have JUST ENTERED PUBERTY (ergo, they are BELOW THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN) and never address how fucked up this is.
Seriously, every time after that you bring up how, woe is he, the woman he raped will never forgive him or love him like he wants, I just want to hurl your book across the room, but I can't because it's on my Kindle Fire and I don't think that's covered under my warranty.
If your protagonist rapes someone and their only punishment is navel gazing and "Woe, but I love her!" THEY ARE NOT A HERO OR EVEN A REMOTELY NICE PERSON! I don't care if they save the world, they're still and will always be a rapist.
Signed,
A Very Disappointed Reader
(Brought to you by me reading a book I saw advertised on John Scalzi's blog, falling in love with the world and the premise only to, roughly halfway through the book, encounter the above bullshit.)
Dear Person on Twitter,
Oh, I'm sorry did my statement observing this book was "definitely written by a man" offend you and hurt your precious fee-fees? I never said it was rape, but I pointed out it's a subject matter that the vast majority of male authors I encounter handle poorly, and in this case considering I'm spending the book inside the rapist's head, I get to hear how much it affected him and how sorry he is and am expected to feel sympathy...just as I would expect to hear from a man who has never been assaulted or raped or known anyone who has been.
Terribly sorry I don't worship at the altar of "it's only gender equality if you don't point out men's flaws" or "women are bad too!"
Signed,
It says I'm a feminist right there on the tin.
