disappointedThere are a lot of ways to reach me; I try to be accessible and responsive whenever possible. Sometimes, this leads to my being asked questions I would never dream of asking an author who wasn't a) a personal friend, and b) in the process of getting drunk with me. I try to answer them nicely, for the most part, assuming I can answer them at all (I can't, always; some questions simply can't be answered).
Last night, I was asked—in so many words—when either Toby or one of the Price girls was finally going to be raped.
Not "if." Not "do you think." But "when," and "finally." Because it is a foregone conclusion, you see, that all women must be raped, especially when they have the gall to run around being protagonists all the damn time. I responded with confusion. The questioner provided a list of scenarios wherein these characters were "more than likely" to encounter sexual violence. These included Verity forgetting to change out of her tango uniform before going on patrol, Toby being cocky, and Sarah walking home from class alone. Yes, even the ambush predator telepath with a "don't notice me" field is inevitably getting raped.
When. Finally. Inevitably.
My response: "None of my protagonists are getting raped. I do not want to write that."
Their response: "I thought you had respect for your work. That's just unrealistic."
Verity is the bastard daughter of Dazzler and Batman. Toby is what happens when Tinker Bell embraces her inner bitch and starts wearing pants. Velveteen brings toys to life and uses them to fight the powers of darkness. Sarah is a hot mathematician who looks like Zooey Deschanel but is actually a hyper-evolved parasitic wasp. The unrealistic part about all these characters? Is that they haven't been raped.
Needless to say, I was a little bit annoyed, and I still am.
Statistically speaking, one in six women will be raped in her lifetime. This is just the statistic we know; it doesn't account for the fact that right now, reporting rape is a minefield all of its own, and many women choose not to subject themselves to that process. I do not know how many of my friends have been raped. I know that five of them are safe because of me, if you trust statistics. So you know. There's that.
Rape in fiction can be a powerful and important thing. It can be used to make important statements, it can be used to drive important stories. I love Robin McKinley's Deerskin as much because of the discomfort it causes me as for the beauty it contains. There are authors I will always trust, or try to trust, and it's important to show uncomfortable things through fiction. I am not saying that no one should write about rape, ever.
But rape in fiction can also be a problematic and belittling thing, used to put cocky heroines in their places. When Janet goes to Caughterha despite being told not to, her punishment is rape by the eponymous Tam Lin. When a superheroine needs a deeper, edgier backstory, there's always some previously third-tier villain with a de-powering ray and an agenda waiting in the wings. I read a lot of horror, a lot of comics, and a lot of urban fantasy, and the one thing these three things have in common is rape. Lots and lots and lots of rape.
And I don't wanna write that.
I do not understand—I will not understand, I refuse to understand—why rape has to be on the table for every story with a female protagonist, or even a strong female supporting cast. Why it's so assumed that I'm being "unrealistic" when I say that none of my female characters are going to be raped. Why this "takes the tension out of the story." There is plenty of tension without me having to write about something that upsets both me and many of my readers, thanks.
Toby will not be getting raped. Verity, Alice, Sarah, Antimony, and the rest of the InCryptid girls will not be getting raped. Velveteen will not be getting raped. Rose will not be getting raped. If this makes my work unrealistic, then fine. There's a reason I write science fiction and fantasy.
But I do not write rape. And the fact that this somehow makes me "unrealistic," rather than making me an author who makes choices about what she wants to write...that's the part I find upsetting.
You know. In addition to everything else.
September 28 2012, 16:32:08 UTC 4 years ago
Putting aside that you're THE AUTHOR and things that you don't want to write about won't happen in your worlds....
Unrealistic?
That one in six statistic, such as it is, is a cross-section of women. Certainly any woman could be raped, but the odds are not equal for all women.
Running through your heroines.
Toby? Mildly superpowered, healing factor and she's not afraid to use it by getting hurt, has a habit of defeating powerful enemies, being courted by a King of Cats, daughter of a Firstborn, friend of another, assorted tough allies. A pure human's unlikely to be able to rape her for a variety of reasons, and anyone in fey circles would know at least some of how STUPID doing so would be. Also, I don't recall much reference to rape among the fey, and there's no reason to assume that fey rape each other as often as humans do. The long lives and smaller social circles make a difference.
George? Journalist in a world where that means combat training. Has a good sense of danger and is rarely separated from her lover for long. Also, in hiding.
Verity? Trained to handle danger from the time she was old enough to walk, if not before. Rather more formidable than your average male human.
Sarah? TELEPATH.
Antimony I haven't seen, but like Verity she's been trained from a young age.
Rose? Ghost with a knack for travel and decades of experience in a dangerous world.
Velveteen? Superhero who animates toys, carries around animated toys, and whose animations persist while she's unconscious. Also, the many sins of the Evil "Superhero" Corporation do not seem to include poor training.
Running through his examples now.
Toby? Sure she's cocky and she may get herself killed one of these days. She can handle a human mugger. Of the many dangers she can't handle, for whom is rape on the menu?
Verity forgetting / not bothering to change? So? Most of the Incrypid aren't likely to rape a human, especially not a Price, and she can handle your average human rapist.
Sarah walking around alone? TELEPATH? With a don't notice me field on by default??? WTF again?
You're the author and can set the plots up so that anything makes sense, but of all your heroines I can think of offhand, Rose is the only one who hangs out in places and situations where the likely dangers include rape, and by now she's been dealing with those situations for decades. That is to say, if your heroines existed in a continuum of alternate universes where the basic reality you portrayed had changed in classic alternate universe fashion, and we read the entire life story of two dozen versions of all your heroines, I would expect to see some version of young Rose got raped somewhere, but I wouldn't expect that of any of the others, including current Rose.
And this putting aside you being THE AUTHOR?
I lied.
Even if he were correct that it was realistic, you've stated that you don't want to write it. Therefore it's not going to happen.
That's what has me most flabbergasted about this, actually. You have a limited quantity of time available. Why would you write something you don't want to, even if it WERE something that would likely happen to one of your characters naturally?
If he wants to read about your characters getting abused in ways you don't want them to be or don't want to write them being, he can write his own d*mn fanfic and not tell you about it. The author's obligation to the reader is to write good stories, not to let the reader choose plot elements.
But obviously, his desire to read your characters being raped is more important than your desire not to write that.
September 28 2012, 21:31:44 UTC 4 years ago
Which combines squickfully with someone who goes to an author and insists that their version of reality is more important than the author's version of fiction.