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.
October 2 2012, 00:37:51 UTC 4 years ago
It is a huge relief to know I won't have to avoid any other of your books for triggering reasons (I say 'other' because I do, sadly, avoid An Artificial Night as Blind Michael hits quite a few of my buttons in the bad way, but I still do not think that's a bad book). Really huge. A lot of people in the comments before mine have said a lot of the things I'd like to say, if I weren't still so enraged that this person asked you this question at all, let alone in this way. I can understand why you haven't disclosed who it was, because I'm pretty sure he'd have a mob heading his virtual way by now.
That you haven't chosen to have any of your characters sexually assaulted does not mean your work is not realistic in the emotions, characters and many of the situations between people that you portray, fantasy or not. Anyone who thinks it does is a stupid jackass, and worse.
He sounds to me like the sort of person who is not only a rape apologist but who might skirt the boundaries of consent himself and think it's not necessarily a bad thing, and that makes me nauseous. The only, only thing I can see of all he said that I might agree with a little bit is the whole "more than likely they'd get attacked in [x] situations" thing--but the best thing about all your women is that they can all take care of and defend themselves perfectly well if anyone did ever attack them, so that wouldn't happen. It's not "realistic", to quote this idiot, that they would ever be raped.
Plus, it is an incredibly, disgustingly lazy plot device when used the way your questioner appears to have wanted you to use it. I'm also fucking tired of female characters being reduced to what can be done with their reproductive systems in any way, good grief.
I am and will be eternally grateful to you for choosing not to ask those of us who have been through this shit to emotionally relive it with characters we love, Seanan. I read fantasy to escape, not to relive the darkest parts of my past. This is why you are one of my favourite authors and I refuse to read GRRM's works at all. Again, thank you. And I'm bookmarking and sharing this post extensively.
*big hug*
October 2 2012, 15:40:24 UTC 4 years ago
I adore you.