(no subject)

[nicevenn]

Why do people like rape fics? I'll admit, I'm always on the lookout for a good H/D hurt/comfort fic (thanks for recommending Schwarzer Spiegel, Claudia--it's awesome), though I don't write them often. As it is, I feel extremely guilty for actually enjoying reading about something that causes suffering in the real world. I'm sure most of the people who read write these kinds of stories wouldn't wish anyone harm.

... so why do we like it? It's often said that fiction helps people deal with their own RL problems. That's understandable. But there are those of us who haven't been touched by rape/violence, and yet for some disturbing reason we like to read about it. What is it about these angsty hurt/comfort fics that draws so many good people to them? (and I am talking about hurt/comfort here. I only read such stories provided that they end happily)

It's the same with incest, for me. In real life I think it's disgusting, but I enjoy it in fanfic. I guess it might be a subconscious fascination with the forbidden, in this case. Dunno.

What are your thoughts?

Comments

[jemalfoy.livejournal.com]

This is hard to explain personally, not for lack of words, but because it hits so close to home. I obviously can't answer for everyone, but I've had...experience...with the RL situation and I can only answer your question from my personal experience. I am currently in the middle of a WIP, Unspoken, and the most recent chapter was a rape scene. Now, this obviously isn't for everyone and I agree with previous comments that rape isn't about the sex. It's about power. It's about possession. At least that's been my experience and the aftermath, for the rapist, was a sense of ownership. For me, well, let's just say I still deal with that particular demon everytime I get intimate with someone. Rape isn't a pretty thing and it's not a sexy thing, but it's a REAL thing and in RL it makes me physically ill.

I am also a writer and I use my writing as an outlet. It's my therapy. Some people may find this odd or even deranged, as I have been called that before. Everyone deals with the situation differently. Me, for my character, who has long since gone off the deep end and is utterly obsessed with making the object of his desire "HIS", the rape scene is how my mind translates that particular possession. It's not so they can get off, though for some people it is stimulating and to each his own. I'm in no position to judge anyone about their particular fetishes.

My best friend came to me one day and made a confession. She told me that she ran across a fic one night and it had a rather descriptive rape scene in it and it turned her on. It disturbed her that reading about someone being violated in that way would arouse her and she felt as though something were wrong with her. She didn't want to confide in me at first because of my history, but in the end, there was no one else she felt comfortable going to. My response to her was this, "It doesn't make you a bad person to read something like that and enjoy it. It doesn't make you sick or depraved or awful. It simply makes you human. Your mind takes something awful and detestful and turns it into something that you can deal with and comprehend in its own way. Reading about it and having a reaction and actually going out and commiting the action are two different things. As long as you know the difference then you know where the line is."

I've been there, I've experienced it, I write about it, it doesn't make me a bad person and it doesn't make you any less of a person for reading about it and perhaps having some type of response to it other than disgust. Everyone else can believe what they want. I hope I've made some kind of sense here and that it answers your question in some way.