Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: disappointed
  • Music: Garbage, "Celebrity Skin."

Things I will not do to my characters. Ever.

Tags: cranky blonde is cranky, don't be dumb
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JessopCJ

May 3 2013, 12:50:41 UTC 4 years ago

Thanks for writing this. It has actually given me the courage to make sure I never use rape as a threat against any of my female characters. Women and girls can be in danger without that danger having to mean rape, absolutely. Just because it happens all too often in real life, doesn't mean I have to go there as a fantasy writer, and I'd rather not. You rock. :)

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2013, 16:38:58 UTC 4 years ago

This makes me very happy.

Thank you.

alexvdl

June 2 2013, 21:50:30 UTC 4 years ago

I feel like I need to be reading these books.

seanan_mcguire

July 29 2013, 16:22:36 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

July 29 2013, 16:23:12 UTC 3 years ago

I think not going there is the wise choice.

Misti Wolanski

June 20 2013, 14:40:57 UTC 4 years ago

I agree with you. There's no reason characters must necessarily be raped. How would that be any better than the people who insist that rapes aren't underreported, that a lot of rape accusations are made up?

And for rape to be the "realistic" punishment that a character has somehow "earned"? O.O What kind of message is that giving to people who've been raped? (Okay, I know the message: "You must've earned it." Which is hogwash.

seanan_mcguire

July 29 2013, 16:23:33 UTC 3 years ago

I don't even. I mean I really...it just makes my head hurt.

tanac

June 20 2013, 18:09:16 UTC 4 years ago

You've just shot to the top of my 'always read this person's stuff' list.

I generally wait to hear from friends, my 'is there rape in this?' advanced warning network, before I read things. And I'd consumed a lot of urban fantasy lately and I was like, ugh, zombies? again? FAE? aaaa. But then I needed something to read at the airport, and there was Feed in my Hugo voter packet. Before the end of the trip I'd bought the next two in ebook. And that gave me enough reason to trust you despite the fae thing, so I read the Daye books.

And now I have both literary and emotional trust in you, so I will read whatever it is you choose to write. And that's such a relieving thing. It's so nice. Thank you.

seanan_mcguire

July 29 2013, 16:23:58 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you.

I will do my best to continue earning your trust.

Donna Belle Chizewsky

August 11 2013, 07:23:44 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you very much! I think it is a sad comment on society that said person felt the need to make such a query. I always hurt so much when that happens in a book. I know one author who I couldn't even continue reading simply because I just couldn't get past that. I know it happens. I spent 28 years in the military and I know it happens, but I read to escape at times and to explore other worlds and venues, I don't want to feel that much pain and hurt that much. So thank you..

seanan_mcguire

October 10 2013, 23:14:18 UTC 3 years ago

You are so welcome.

Starr Griggs

August 11 2013, 15:03:31 UTC 3 years ago

I have a t-shirt that says everything. It says " Some people just need a high five in the face." That is all.

seanan_mcguire

October 10 2013, 23:14:29 UTC 3 years ago

Best shirt is best.

On Politics Being Personal

livejournal

October 26 2013, 15:03:22 UTC 3 years ago

User browngirl referenced to your post from On Politics Being Personal saying: [...] 's declaration that she will not have her character Toby Daye raped [...]

FogCon 4: Day One

livejournal

March 8 2014, 08:56:45 UTC 3 years ago

User owlmoose referenced to your post from FogCon 4: Day One saying: [...] question she received from a fan about when one of her female characters was going to be raped [...]

micheinnz

March 25 2014, 19:05:17 UTC 3 years ago

Permission to link on the #rapecultureiswhen hashtag?

seanan_mcguire

March 26 2014, 17:05:20 UTC 3 years ago

Yes, absolutely.

quietchildae

May 28 2014, 00:56:37 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you for this. So, so, deeply, so much. It's nice to know that I can feel safe from this in your worlds. On a day where I'm tired, and exhausted and fed up with so many people telling me that men have a right to sex, and that women shouldn't be angry, it is....heartbreakingly relieving to know that at least one thing is safe. Thank you.

seanan_mcguire

July 5 2014, 22:33:33 UTC 3 years ago

You are always, always, so very welcome.

No title

livejournal

May 28 2014, 03:03:29 UTC 3 years ago

User kdsorceress referenced to your post from No title saying: [...] know. There's that. Seanan McGuire, writing here on why her books explicitly do not include rape [...]

Adrian Pepperdine

August 19 2014, 19:17:46 UTC 2 years ago

Everything said here is great. Even so, I have my own personal reason to have my head explode when it is said that not having a character be raped is unrealistic.
You know what else is unrealistic about so many characters in so many fantastical situations? Not dying.

These heroes and heroines in stories just have this strange tendency to live through a whole lot more crap and "odds are against them" situations than they have any right to. Fancy that.

So, consider that if these characters ARE overpowered in the wrong situation, the odds are overwhelmingly stacked in favor of DEATH...and you're complaining that nobody gets raped? Arg, the last part of that sentence was hard to even type. This kind of thing just makes me feel dumbfounded and a whole lot less coherent than this article was. So, Seanan McGuire, thanks for writing. :)

seanan_mcguire

September 12 2014, 07:53:57 UTC 2 years ago

You are very welcome.

stormfairy

September 4 2014, 00:00:07 UTC 2 years ago

*applause*

As if rape was a must-have ingredient for a female character. Disgusting.

seanan_mcguire

September 12 2014, 07:54:05 UTC 2 years ago

Agreed.

marziek

January 27 2015, 22:42:32 UTC 2 years ago

I just shared this post (again) in a FB book group and I'm about to cross post it in the SMcG/MG fan group, for further dissemination. I was posting in the book group that I am sick of the rape trope and can't believe we can even have to consider rape as a kind of trope, in science fiction or fantasy, or especially and most paradoxically, paranormal romance. Rape is never going to be okay and it's never something I want to read in fictional anything. So this post is one of the things that will FOREVER make me love you, your work and your writing raison d'être.

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2015, 18:24:57 UTC 2 years ago

Awesome.

thnidu

February 7 2015, 01:41:00 UTC 2 years ago

At the risk With the certainty of being repetitive, BRAVO!

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2015, 18:25:04 UTC 2 years ago

Yay!

Eva Schiffer

May 19 2015, 13:56:24 UTC 2 years ago

I come back to this post every so often when I'm thinking about narrative choices in the media we consume. Your thoughts really highlighted for me how lazy rape is as a plot device and how often people who haven't ever dealt with sexual violence or a fear of sexual violence fall back on it. There are probably good, interesting stories that we could be telling that include rape... instead we're telling the same old garbage over and over because that's easy.

seanan_mcguire

July 7 2015, 18:25:22 UTC 2 years ago

I am hoping we can be better.

wasureneba

July 28 2015, 23:36:51 UTC 1 year ago

I'm reading this ages later after your link from Twitter, and I'm so glad that you wrote this. It heartens me to know that your books are a safe space for me and mine, and it heartens me every time someone stands up and says that rape does not have to be inevitable. Thank you.

seanan_mcguire

August 1 2015, 16:19:44 UTC 1 year ago

You are welcome.

nicosian

February 15 2016, 18:23:37 UTC 1 year ago

i had the joy of reading 100 pages of manuscript to "beta read" that was a novel in progress.

It was largely this character in a cave, (female) being raped over and over and over and over. I was so pissed off. It was pointlessness.

I don't use the trope. I really don't see a need to. None of my books involve sexual assault. I still see writers (men and women) fall back on it.

I haven't read any more of this person's work. I won't do it. If that's the best plot she can sum up, then I'm out.

pikku_gen

February 15 2016, 20:47:07 UTC 1 year ago

Thank you. THANK YOU. Thank you.

A female main character getting raped because of reasons is such a disgustingly tired cliché that I'd like to see it dead and buried. Thank you for making the world a better place.

fabricdragon

February 16 2016, 00:37:51 UTC 1 year ago

dunno how i missed this the first time around... anyway it got shared on FB again and i saw it this time.
yeah, while rape is sadly a non uncommon risk for women, its not a universal. EVEN if you have target spray painted on your forhead, and no self defense skills... but conisiderably less likely in the case of someone who has serious self defense chops.
um.. thos specific characters enemies are also way less likely to be thinking "rape" than some other stuff....

mathochist

February 16 2016, 05:31:47 UTC 1 year ago

I would be surprised if any of your lead women were successfully raped. Attempts could happen. Might even be appropriate to a story line or two, at some point. But your bad-ass women would not be so easily taken down. I would expect them to utterly wipe the floor with any would-be rapists.

faeriefiles

September 18 2016, 02:10:30 UTC 9 months ago

I find it odd that rape would be expected of any author. Write what you choose to write anything else is unrealistic.

Francis Bourdages

January 27 2017, 21:40:44 UTC 5 months ago

Great text. If i know there's rape in a book, movie, etc there's about 95% chances i won't read/watch it. It doesn't have it's place in entertainment. It's so depressing and disgusting that no matter how good the rest is, i won't be able to enjoy it.

Cut tag

nsumstine

May 2 2017, 05:20:33 UTC 2 months ago Edited:  May 2 2017, 05:28:26 UTC

Thank you for the warning. And thank you sincerely for the respect to us readers (as well as yourself and your heroines). I do not know anything, anything, that disturbs me more than a rape scene, including violent stabbing, which is my absolute worst murder freak out.
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