a heavy fandom-related rant that has been brewing for a while

[floatingleaf]

Since I seem to be on a roll, posting-wise, let's do another installment of the never-ending 30 day meme...



Hmmm... there are a lot of things that upset me, no doubt about it. But here's something I've sort of wanted to get off my chest for a while. Like, for the past decade or so. Ever since I started reading fanfic. Namely, I've never been able to understand the seemingly immense popularity of fics wherein the main character gets raped. Yes, it is a disturbing subject, and a complicated one, and it's going to be tough writing about it without causing offense. But when I first saw that topic - "something that upsets you" - this is what sprang to mind. And it's not a topic I could very well discuss with anyone in "real life" who's unfamiliar with the online fanfiction realm. So, I'm going to discuss it here.

I first became aware of it in the LOTR slash fandom. Since my pairing of choice was Aragorn/Legolas, I couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a whole genre of Legolas rape fic.:/ Yes, it was always Legolas, never Aragorn or another human male character who got raped - despite the fact that elves are much stronger, more agile and generally better at defending themselves. Somehow, some human thugs always managed to overpower the pretty elf and have their wicked way with him (unless Aragorn saved him at the last minute - but, far too often, that was too much to hope for). Needless to say, this was replicated in the "real person slash" fandom through an unbelievable amount of "Orlando angst" fic, wherein the unfortunate young man was subjected to all imaginable kinds of trauma and abuse, with rape featuring prominently. Now, I am not making judgements on the quality of said stories. Some of them were well-written and captivating enough to make them a worthwhile read, despite the constant emotional and/or physical discomfort they caused me. I am merely wondering at the sheer AMOUNT of this type of fanfic, as well as the fact that Orlando seemed to be the favorite victim of the fandom (along with, possibly, Elijah Wood, who was also very young and pretty at the time). And btw, when I was doing my Google searches for Vampire Chronicles fanfic sometime last year, I did come across a bunch of non-con stories - and the usual rape victim in them seemed to be Louis. Yes, Louis. The "pretty" one. The "passive" one. The "effeminate" one. Again. See why I find this upsetting?...

I can't speak for other fandoms, but I'm afraid this is a universal phenomenon. And when I consider the fact that the overwhelming majority of m/m slash writers are women, I just... CAN'T. FATHOM. THIS. It's like taking the hateful message of the dominant, blatantly misogynistic culture around us and bringing it right into the one area of your life where you thought it had no place. At first, I used to think that online slash fandom was this wonderful sanctuary where misogyny and homophobia did not exist. But seeing so many stories like that around - even if I tried to avoid reading them, for the most part - has really made me wonder if that was the case.

Now, I want to point out that I do realize some fanfic authors may be working through their own trauma, and that writing of such stomach-turning tales may be therapeutic for them. I do respect that - but I find it really hard to believe that this is the reason behind ALL of the abovementioned stories. There are simply too many of them. And if not; if nothing so horrible ever happened to you, dear author, WHY would you want to visit it upon a character you claim to love?... And I am not talking about fics where rape is mentioned as a past event, and the actual narrative focuses on the healing process; I usually don't have a problem with those (just like I don't have a problem with fanfics about a character recovering from, say, a car accident). I am talking about the ones where the rape is described in excruciating detail. I only read a few of those; but if you do any sort of category search on any of the popular LOTR slash archives, endless lists come up (for example, if you search by warnings, so you know which stories contain stuff you want to avoid). And then there's the comm lotrips_finders, where people post queries about some fic that they want to re-read, but can't remember where to find it - and every once in a while there is a post that looks somewhat like this: "Hey, help me find the story where so-and-so gets raped by so-and-so, and then this and that happens and they fall in love". Eeeee... what? Yes, apparently someone had written that too. And, apparently, a reader liked it, since they want to revisit. And I just sit there, blinking in helpless disconnection. With my stomach turning slowly.

But then again, I know that some people enjoy violent/gruesome horror movies, for example, even though in "real life" they wouldn't hurt a fly. Or so they claim.:P That is another thing I don't understand - but it doesn't upset me quite as much. And I don't know if one has anything to do with the other. I just keep thinking that those rape fic authors (at least the ones I know about) are women, and that if they wanted to write about male characters getting raped as a sort of "let's get back at them" (which might be more understandable, perhaps), then they wouldn't always be picking the most androgynous or "feminine-looking" ones. They would be doing the exact opposite. And they would have it happen to the villain, not the hero. So it's not a deliberate statement. It seems to be an unintentional one - like internalized self-hatred or something. Or is it just me who always identifies with those traumatized characters?... Are there women out there who read those fics and identify with the rapist?... That's even more disturbing, to be honest. I guess I'm trying too hard to understand, because really, in this case, I don't want to know.

Comments

[kuukiventomu.livejournal.com]

I've never read a rape-fic even if I know they exist. Maybe not so many in the fandoms I belong to but I know it is a genre. I've wondered about it as well because the idea is so hideous. I wonder if it has something to do with some kind of rape fantasy? I remember reading at some point that in Japan rape was very high in the sexual fantasies (which in itself really spooks me). I really don't know but I really do wonder why people do that? Is it a collective trauma some people try to deal with by writing those stories?

[clytemenstra.livejournal.com]

Theres a shocking amount of rape slash in the inception/darm knight fandoms. Central victim is generally either arthur from inception or john blake from TDKR. Both characters are played by joseph gordon levitt, so the idea of the "helpless pretty boy" is there. It does make me wonder how the actors would feel if they saw any of that stuff, mainly bscause i wonder if its a outlet for sexual fantasies as well as trauma.

[surreysmum.livejournal.com]

I don't read het romance with any regularity, but I have noted there's a fairly heavy element of dubious or even non-con situations, turning into tru luv as the heroine decides that her spunky independent mindset is less important than her feelings for the dominating male (makes me a bit sick, actually). I have the feeling that the attractiveness of this rather bizarre convention is that it caters to the notion that you can experience the delights of unbridled lust without losing your "good girl" status because, after all, he forced (or semi-forced) you...

Since most slash is het romance fiction transposed into a m/m setting anyway, it makes sense that this particular trope would become part of slash, and it's probably the more attractive because the female reader/writer who has even the slightest tinge of feminism and can't tolerate the man/top, woman/bottom dynamic of het romance can stop worrying about gender roles because they're, after all, both guys. (Of course, as you point out, often one of the guys is pretty blatantly coded 'female' anyway).

I've only ever written one story where rape was a plot element, and I got past the intrinsic ickiness of the thing by putting my rapist (Aragorn) under compulsion by a force he couldn't fight, and then actually having him refuse to carry out the act as a plot turning point. I don't have a big problem, actually, with identifying with the victim (I'm quite happy to play along with 'I can get really wicked because I have no choice!', but I really hate what it does to the characterization of the rapist figure, especially if he's supposed to be a hero!

My 2c, probably not worth that much...

[vamp-ress.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, this has troubled me as well (together with the fact that while slash fandom as a whole seems to be a rather well-educated bunch, sometimes it tends to turn a blind eye to things that should be rather obvious). I'm probably not entitled to complain, though, because I've written a story in which Legolas gets raped (by Aragorn no less). My only excuse is that it was an integral part of the story (and that I've always worked hard to stay clear of the "Leggy the helpless elf" trope).

Also, there should be a Fanlore page on this. I don't remember what it was called, but you can probably get there either via h/c or slash. I think I remember reading pretty enlightening stuff there.

[goddessofchaos.livejournal.com]

That would disturb me as well :( I can't understand someone enjoying writing or reading about a character they love being raped. I can't think of anything more horrible than reading about a character I liked being raped. In fact, I've often stopped reading a book or watching a film / TV show if that happens to any character, especially if it seems more done for titillation or shock value than as a genuine part of the story.