lkh_lashouts | (no subject)

x-trickster-x.livejournal.com posting in

We're all agreed that the ardeur is essentially mystic date-rape, right? I mean, the men can't really consent to it and to make matters worse they can become addicted to it. But... I recently whilst watching Law and Order: SVU I wondered, what would actually happen if one of Anita's harem actually realised it was rape?

This is assuming, of course, they're not blindly in love with the Doom Crotch. Or even what would happen if someone grew a spine and actually pointed out that it was rape? I know that LKH wouldn't dare put Anita in a situation like that because she evidently doesn't think it's rape and besides, Anita's a blatent self-insert.

But supposing Anita's world was real or that LKH had half a brain, what would the consequences be for Anita if someone actually spoke up and said that she had raped them and how would she react? How would you deal with something like the ardeur in the real world?

Threaded | Flat

From:

tehuti.livejournal.com

I imagine that in a world where magic is open and somewhat understood, the penalties for using magic to force someone to do something against their will would be severe.

I'm going to make a leap here, and stop me if you think I'm wrong. The ardeur is a vamp power, and vamps that feed of someone with their powers without consent are subject to execution. So, I don't think it would take much for a DA to convince a judge that someone using a vamp power irresponsibly and indiscriminately should be subject to the same rules.

From:

pith

Was it in an Anita book or a Jim Butcher book where it was briefly mentioned that "magical crimes" were punished quite harshly? Probably Anita, because magicy stuff isn't that outed in Dresden-land, I don't think.

I know there was a L&O:SVU episode with the subplot of the guy who raped his girlfriend's sister in his sleep (the Another Youniverse ep?), and since his was a medical condition, there wasn't much that the law could do, I believe. But in the case of the ardeur, where Anita is "aware" when she's doing things and can plan ahead... yeah, I'd like to see some legal ramifications.

Cue Dolph on his anti-monster crusade!

From:

kerame.livejournal.com

Richard DID realize it was rape in NIC, even if he didn't call it that.

He screamed, pushed her hands away, and tried to leave the room. She felt his fear through the mind link and ENJOYED it, the way a bully of a man would enjoy raping a woman he couldn't control.

Afterwards, he clearly feels violated, and instead of apologizing, or even asking if he was all right, she essentially blames the victim by telling him he never said no.

When he leaves her after the ardeur-rape, she manages to turn the situation around (as always), and blame him for hurting HER, and as usual all her idiot fan-girls buy into this interperetaiton. In ID he even has to apologize for leaving her.

Sorry LKH. When an abused person leaves their abuser, it's not considered to be hurting the abuser in the mind of a sane person.

It's interesting that LKH will recognize a situation is wrong beforehand, but once it happens she always finds a way to justify herself.

She knew having sex with Nate would be like child-molesting and that he had a pattern of having sex with those in power over him in order to gain their protection. The ardeur "forces" her to have sex with him, and instead of making sure it doesn't happen again, she makes him her pds, and has his "therapist" condone the relationship.

She knew London was a recovering ardeur addict, she readdicted him, and instead of trying to help him recover his sobriety, he becomes another slave on the feeding cycle, but that's okay because he tells her she won't be cruel the way Belle Morte was.

The lion king spoke up and told her she was behaving like a slaver, and was condemned to near-certain death along with his family, but that's okay because it's all his fault for trying to live like a family instead of a gang.

If Anita had a conscience, and a brain, she should have hated JC for infecting her in the first place, instead of Richard for refusing to be her victim. She should be trying anything she could to break the tri. All she'd have to do is find another vampire to give her 4 marks, which would break JC's. If the ardeur were actually the horror it should be, instead of a wish-fulfillment device it would be worth it.

According to human law, Anita should face execution. Even if the preternaturals don't want to involve them, all it would take is one death to end the enslavement of all the weres. Anita makes all their lives worse not better. The only reason the council keeps dropping by is because of her. They know where she lives, she supposedly still has a job, half the time she's on her back, how hard could it be? If I were any supernatural in the city (aside from JC, Micah or nate) my top priority would be to take the psycho-bitch out!

I honestly don't think a publisher would be able to publish this series if it featured a male character who behaved this abusively towards women. The fact that Anita is constantly called "strong and independent" by her admirers, many of whom call themselves feminists, never ceases to amaze me.

From:

fangedsekhmet.livejournal.com

Maybe LKH has decided it only counts against humans and not other magical monsters.

Unless of course she has used it against a human and I've forgotten/not read that far?

From:

longtail.livejournal.com

Well, honestly I can't see the human police having much ability to prosecute something like this. For a world who has ALWAYS had monsters, they're pretty damned clueless on it all (my major pet peeve with the universe, the police would NOT be this inept at their jobs even if the law did previously just say point a gun and shoot it if it has fangs or fur.) So I can't see her being humanely prosecuted.

Honestly, I'd see the vampires and weres fighting to prosecute her with their own societal justice and likely executing her.

If I were to go back to the old Anita who actually dealt with problems instead of wangsting to death and she was confronted with it being rape, she'd likely hate herself terribly for it, realize that what's done is done, and try to fix the problem and try to make amends.

Honestly though, the ardeur should have just died after NiC. JC can obviously live just fine with it without it taking over his life, so why is uber-powerful Anita totally unable to do so still? It might have been a good plot shaking point if it blossomed and died with NiC, but it's gone past being useful to the plot a long time ago except as an E-ticket to killing off the main character for exactly the reasons you sited.

Nobody would have tolerated an a real inept and uncontrollable succubus in their midst this long.

From:

kd-lalala.livejournal.com

Reading this brought to mind something that really bothered me for a long time, you know Anita is not only a member of a squad connected to the police force, she's also a Federal Marshall. In the earlier books, she was the official executioner for the tri state area. She's not exactly a politician and not even in the earlier books did Anita really care how what she did reflected on the offices she was supposed to uphold but if anything, she should have EVERYONE looking at her sideways for her behavior.

I mean, she's not only supposed to uphold the moral values she believed in personally, which she's failed to do several times over. She was a person who ENFORCED preternatural laws and human ones. She officially executed vampires who were condemned for abusing their powers, she was called in by the police to investigate crimes specifically caused by non human entities. You would think that if anything, she would be held up to an even higher set of standards in the eye of the law.

I know none of this is brought up in the stories anymore, but geeze, LKH, look at how Anita acts now. Even if the institutions she worked for before only saw a fraction of what she's up to, there's no way in the world they'd want her representing them, and by all accounts Jean Claude should've had a warrant for his execution put out long ago.