Reply to post #576
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I've been ignoring the BBA and much happier for that.
So, first of all, if they want to see me talking to someone who requested I read Sheehan, they can do so. No, it's not my job to make that easier for them, and I'm not inclined to, but the proof is out there that it had nothing to do with Angie. Whether or not they believe that doesn't actually change facts. I'm not concerned.
Dub-con? Different cultures? Fine.
By human standards, it's still goblin rape, and okay because people enjoyed it. It's still adding to the rape culture
which is what I really take issue with. I have no problem with taboo subjects. (I've read books that included cannibalism, for example, and had no issues with this because it wasn't presented as something that's just okay. I have issues with books that present arguments, either explicitly stated, or through actions, that rape or racism, say, are okay. I've encountered both in fiction, and both make me feel icky.) By saying, 'oh, it's just another culture,' you can excuse any behavior, can't you? Child brides? Guess that's okay, because it's just another culture!
The human being able to consent to sex is a huge, huge issue for me. And it's not so much the reader being deliberately obtuse, as, surprise, surprise, author fail. The rape scenes - I'm still coming at from the human side here, people - aren't explained as in, 'oh, this is a cultural thing', but rather thrown in, and it's to be expected that the reader figure out 'surprise sex while I'm super drunk'+'loving the orgasm'='different culture'. While it could have been explained more explicitly, and even without the second part, nope... it just comes off as if you love the orgasm, sex is okay whether or not you consent to it.
That hasn't even touched upon the fact that Anton is only bisexual when drunk, as far as you see. So, whether or not he would have chosen to sleep with a male or female might be influenced by how drunk he is, but it's okay
because it's a different culture! That's okay, guys, if you come from a land far away, and as long as you make the guy/girl orgasm, you can do stuff to them when they're drunk that they might not have consented to when not drunk! Awesome, right?
Yeah, but there aren't any issues with the messages about rape and rape culture that this book sends. Good job, though, Jaq. There are so many holes in your logic about rape, and the rape culture that you present, that I could write a whole friggin' paper about it. Except I'm not that invested in it, except when I'm informed of crap like this. But, please, continue. I still have the book in my archives, so I can go back, and reread the scenes, and analyze the rape culture in your novel with actual quotes. I actually think a couple people might be highly amused if I did so.
She also presents a problem. If you know enough about goblin culture, you can accept that, hey, you might be drugged and sexed up. But what happens if you don't know, and you, say, accept a drink? Seeing as goblins were vilified for god knows how long, she also presents another issue - if this happens to someone who, because they are human, claim rape... then the goblins would be vilified once more and hunted down. The humans would try to kill them off.
So, in the end, Anton was likely to sleep with the goblins, with or without drinks, or venom. (Yeah, he's drunk once, poisoned the other time.) The 'yay, go rape culture' scenes were unneeded; she had enough about the differences of culture - and by this I mean what raging hippies the goblins were, and enough conflict without these two brief scenes. She didn't explore what this meant when related to rape culture today, she didn't explain why she wrote it in a way that appears to support rape culture, and she didn't fully explore the societal and cultural differences - so why add them?
In conclusion, the more she makes me think about this, the more confused I am as to what the whole point in goading me is. I just see more and more fail. First is was her applauding rape culture, and now it's just doing it for funsies, apparently, because there was no real point to those scenes.
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