Comments on: Strong words of advice from K. Tempest Bradford

By: looloof

looloof — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:19:09 +0000

I suppose she has a point, but rape is used in the real world to humiliate and break an enemy. And if you think this only applies to women I would remind you of the Abu Ghraib story – it may not have been rape but they definitely used sexuality to humiliate and break the prisoners and raping the women is used to disempower the men (and if you think that example is rare I suggest you check your history books). Sex and power are intertwined. I, however, do think that in genre fiction the issue is oversimplified.

By: Nathaniel Lee

Nathaniel Lee — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:02:21 +0000

I think that “if a man etc.” bit was simply because generally it is a male antagonist who rapes a female protagonist, and the blog-author was simply pointing out that a male antagonist doesn’t always have to interact with the female protagonist in a sexual-aggressor way, but could simply treat her as he would treat an enemy in whom he doesn’t have a sexual interest (i.e. not raping them.) The issue is that poor writers tend to jump on the rape-bus when they have a male enemy and a female hero and they want to show just how bad-nasty the male enemy is.

By: Michelle M Welch

Michelle M Welch — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:45:04 +0000

While I agree with the point of the post – writers shouldn’t lean on overused devices like rape and racism as shortcuts for character development – I don’t agree with her presentation. “If a man gets pissed off at another man, he doesn’t beat him up and rape him, he just beats him up.” This very statement implies that women experience something different than men do in the same situation, and that says more about society than it does about any given writer’s skill.

By: Philippa Ballantine

Philippa Ballantine — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:08:17 +0000

Yeah, it is often used as a crutch for character motivation and to move the plot forward. Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be written about- just that it shouldn’t be the one note that defines the character. People are more than the events that happen to them.