Rape in fiction

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

Given the use of rape within this genre, and specifically LKH, to the point that threats of rape against the heroine are cliche, what do you think about its use/portrayal?

LKH frequently gives us large men threatening to overpower Anita, and Anita several times seems to escape and be given chances a man might not have been given just because someone has an interest in raping her.

And then we have the ardeur, which is a psychological compulsion outside of Anita which has been used to force her to have sex with multiple partners against her will. Is it rape?

Is Anita a rapist or a victim for what the ardeur makes her do to men? Should we be concerned about the men as her victims?

What about some other series?

Carrie Vaughn's Kitty starts out as a rape victim twice over, so that the physical attack that transforms a human to a werewolf could be a metaphor for it, as well as what happens in the rest of book one.

Kim Harrison's Ivy has the threat of rape hanging over her through the first several books (and her solitary short story) as it's her fate as part of her vampire family to eventually belong to the head vampire whether she likes it or not.

Charlaine Harris's Sookie is raped by Bill after a harrowing rescue gone wrong in book three. She offers him her body only to save her life, but it certainly isn't pleasant for her, and she breaks up with him after that point.

Vicki Petterssen's Johanna was raped as a teenager, sometime before the first book in an effort to corrupt or kill her.

Is it some kind of ultimate threat used against the heroine since she can't be killed or the series ends? Does it bring attention to the problem of rape, or does its use cheapen it, so that the real thing seems less horrific?

I've been mulling the issue over since the flog of the lastest comic issue that was posted here, and pointed out what a cliche it really is.

ETA: It seems the consensus is that rape can be well-written (which I won't disagree with), but that it's rarely done well, and LKH in particular is not doing it well at all.

Comments

[pandaemonaeum.livejournal.com]

I can't find the crime statistics easily, but it's estimated that one woman in three will suffer rape or sexual abuse at some point in her life.

Even those who aren't subjected to rape or sexual abuse are likely to find themselves threatened with it.

If you are looking at male-dominated societies which reflect our own, then the threat of rape will feature. You only have to look at recent conflicts to see how some societies view rape as a tool of war.

It may be a cliche, but people are talking about it as a result.

I thought that LKH was going to do an incredibly brave thing and have her character directly deal with rape (the infamous shower scene). I think I've even posted here about viewing the ardeur as a method of 'acting out' the trauma. But instead, LKH chose not to deal with the shower scene as rape but has built a denial fantasy for her character, which I think few of us here accept.

I can't decide if it's a cheap way for an author to gain sympathy for her heroine, or if it's highlighting an issue that's often skirted around, or even ignored, in most literature.

[ladymina.livejournal.com]

LKH dealt with Rape and other sexual issues in a way that makes people who have anything to do with the topic cringe ...

I think the adeur is used to fallicate rape and it is all shrugged off as a 'can't control it' or 'needed the power' sitution to make it allright again - both not valid points in any discussion about that

I liked the way the subtle threads in the 'bigger-balls-than-you' environment in Obsidian Butterfly were dealt with - well mainly, not all but it had some pretty good starts with the topic that didn't go that far out of context as anything after the adeur was brought in

Though there is a scene in Blue Moon that makes me cringe badly too

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

To make it worse, she retracted the shower scene. It's apparently written differently in later printings.

I think in the early books the rape was merely a threat. It's not until Blue Moon where at least one of the werewolves MUST sleep with her, willing or no, that we get something that might actually be rape of Anita (by Raina, no less).

So I can see how it might have started out as a brave and edgy idea to show the special kind of violence against women.

[anycah.livejournal.com]

It REALLY depends on how the author uses and handles it in their work, imho.

If it is used as a way to threaten the character constantly since it's dramatic and non-fatal, then it sucks, especially in the "zomg saved in the last minute way." (i.e. if it is used in AB as trashy dramatic fluff, the "near rape so the hero can save her" threat in Twilight, etc). It's not something to throw around lightly and constantly, even if it is just the threat of, you know? Especially if it becomes "every big bad wants to do this to the heroine," unless your goal is to make a point about the brutality of the worldscope by making it something constant (which I doubt is a point that LKH would be trying to make).

If it is part of a character backstory, it needs to be done well, not just "she was raped and is now a lesbian" or just thrown in as drama fluff. Not to say that an assault should define a person's life per se, but if it is presented as an important event in the life of the character, it should be treated as such, not just a way to make the character more tragic.

If it is part of a character relationship or undertone or a thematic statement, or a one time, life-changing occurrence sort of deal, that's okay as long as it's done well. It is something women have to deal with in the real world, and I can see fiction as a place to discuss the effects of it, as long as it is appropriate and handled well, not just thrown in as cheap, unrealistic drama. I haven't read your examples, but depending on how she wrote it, the Ivy example sounds very unpleasant to read, but if done well, it is part of a statement on character relationships and the worldscope as a whole, not just cheap drama (though it COULD be cheap drama in the actual novel, I don't know).

I've never been assaulted, so I can't speak to it from that perspective, but I believe there is a way to use it in fiction and not cheapen the horror of it. It's just not the common, cliche trope way. It's like having a character that's been a victim of abuse. Immature writers often have an abused character that needs to be SAVED because it's dramatic and romantic, but some actually think about the abuse and what it did to the character and why (and what purpose having an abused character in the narrative serves). Serious things can be handled in fiction, but they need to be treated like serious things.

[ever-obsessed.livejournal.com]

but I believe there is a way to use it in fiction and not cheapen the horror of it. It's just not the common, cliche trope way. It's like having a character that's been a victim of abuse. Immature writers often have an abused character that needs to be SAVED because it's dramatic and romantic, but some actually think about the abuse and what it did to the character and why (and what purpose having an abused character in the narrative serves). Serious things can be handled in fiction, but they need to be treated like serious things.
EXACTLY.

Thank you, god, I could not explain this because it gets me upset but YES, THIS, WORD, you brought out my little bit of HTML knowledge, that's how perfect this response is.

/uses her 'i am in awe of your brain' icon

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

In the Kim Harrison series, the Ivy/rape plotline is used as part of showing how damaged vampires are, as they go from "living" to "dead," which is also equated with being souless. The dead vampires have all the power, due to their age. So it fits in with Ivy's struggles to free herself from that society and how difficult it is to escape from that life. Vampires are inherently sexual predators.

And it does take Ivy several books to recover, if she really has recovered at all. There has so far been no magical fix to her family situation, and if she doesn't give in, it's been threatened that her younger sister will be made to take her place.

Ivy looks at Rachel (the point-of-view protagonist) as the one person who can rush in and save her from her fate. It is yet to be seen if she can.

[ladymina.livejournal.com]

I think the topic can be done well
The Sookie Stackhouse thing could have just stayed a blood instead of a sex issue as it didn't fill any other purpose ...

I have not read the other books beside AB and AB mainly uses sex in general as the big bad thing in everyones closet.
Nathanial was abused, pimped out and made to do brutal movies - trauma on top of trauma, and apart from the movie scene and the hospital scene where he is so badly injured, it doesn't really play a role, doesn't change the world, is just seen as a fact of really painfull history, but not dealt with or plot
Gregory and Stephen, abused and pimped out by their father, Jason has Raina and Gabriel trauma to deal with from the 'movies' same with most other weres
Vivian well the beastmaster, Sylvie, beastmaster and Raina/Gabriel, Richards brother fills criteria since Blue Moon, hell even Edwards ward Peter enters the contest of most fucked up sexually involved
trauma.

It is so overdone and only mentioned in passing most of the time, that it is more likely to mock the real issue going on than being daring or anything

[maiskorn.livejournal.com]

This is very likely a result of me reading a lot of bad fantasy during my teenage years and the getting turned off the genre by a hole for a while, but I want to find a supernatural book that does not cover the topic of rape or constant threat of rape. Not because I don't think the subject can't or shouldn't be covered in literature, but, and this will sound horrible, it bores me. I have seen a few cases where it was done really well and apropriately disturbing, but usually, it's just... going through the motions.

Inexperienced or bad authors use rape much like the murder of the family or somesuch, in a way to manipulate the emotions of the reader; you can't not feel bad rape victim. You can also not like the rapist, thus, the author does not have to characterize her/his villain any further. It's lazy writing, instead of a device to illustrate a certain social order or set up the character's personality or view of the world.

(Still, in defense of the authors, I don't think this is done because they themselves do not take the topic of rape serious. They just fail to give it the appropriate weight in their works, but most of the time, these authors don't just stumble over that particular problem.)

*reposted for several errors and unfinished thoughts; my English skillz flee me at this late hour

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

"I want to find a supernatural book that does not cover the topic of rape or constant threat of rape."

I don't believe C.E. Murphy has used it in the Walker Papers. The first one is Urban Shaman. It's only 4 books long so far. I'm also not remembering any in Illonia Andrews's Kate Daniels books (3 books) or Kat Richardson's Greywalker books (4 books). This could always change.

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

Caitlin Kittredge's Black London series. The main character is not only never threatened with rape in the books published thus far, but she also isn't the fulcrum of a love triangle and doesn't have any sex-related porn powers. Plus, in book #1, she saves the major male character rather than the other way around.

[eldestmuse.livejournal.com]

I've seen it done well and I've seen it done poorly. I think Patricia Briggs in the Mercy Thompson books handles it masterfully.

[genchaos.livejournal.com]

Yup. There's real consequences, there's real mental damage, there's no quick fix, and the character wonders why she still freezes up and panics even after managing to be sexually active again. She can heal from it, but it'll always be there and it will take a LOT of time to.

Rape is NOT a good way to move the plot

[cherose228.livejournal.com]

Hello, all:

Patricia Briggs has handled the topic of a real, actual physical rape and its' aftermath in the best fashion that I've seen. Mercy doesn't get more magical powers, she doesn't glow in the dark and she recognizes and acknowledges that she is damaged psychologically by it and is not going to be able to get over it any time soon. Her character's reactions to them are normal, natural and well-expressed. Ben's explanation of rape/molestation in IRON KISSED is well-presented as well. NOT a pretty topic, not sugar-coated, NOT treated as fluff - and gut-wrenching regardless of whether you the reader have been raped or not.

Carrie Vaughn does the same thing, and Kitty had the additional trauma being attacked by a werewolf, which was just as much rape as the act that put her in harm's way to begin with. Both of them handle the sexual and physical violence as exactly what it is: a complete and total violation of a person's psyche and physical body.

Rape is NOT about anything other than the most degrading and sickening kind of violence against a person. It doesn't matter if it's male on female rape, or female on male rape, or male on male rape, or female on female rape. It's NOT about sex. It's about violence and it's about control.

That's what has truly sickened me about what lkh writes. First, JC raped her by forcing the marks on her. That's what really started this entire thing. Next, it was all the crap about Raina, then it was BLUE MOON, then it was Nathaniel, and then it was Sylvie in BURNT OFFERINGS, and THEN it was Micah and Chimera and his victims. Then, she becomes the rapist herself with the rape of the wererats and the swans. Next on the platter is the siren wanting her sons brought into their powers with sex, and THEN there's the issue of the 16 year old in SKIN TRADE. No matter what excuse is given, even if it's supposedly plausible - like "his parents were OK with it" - it is still inexcusable.

Brutal, beastial sexxing and rape have pretty much basically become the main focus of what's going on with lkh's universe. That's why I quit reading her books.

-,'-,'-,'--@

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I'm actually concerned about the obsession with sexual assault in the AB:VH books (and to a degree with the MG ones). Simply because, the worst thing that could possibly happen to someone is sexual assault; all damaged characters have some kind of sexual abuse in their past (Stephen and Gregory were pimped out by their paedophile father, Richard was raped by Gabriel, Nathaniel was a prostitute, etc.), and it's like...no other trauma can possibly exist. Their pasts have to be darkity dark and horrible so Anita can swoop in with her love and understanding and show them the light and the healing can finally begin.

I would say that Jean-Claude is the only one that escapes this and only had to deal with physical abuse (at least when he was alive) but even he gets roped into this when it comes to all the years he spent at the mercy of Belle Morte.

As a writer, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's lazy characterisation. A character needs to be damaged? Easy; let's have them sexually abused. There, Anita/Merry can fix this with the goodness of their heart and a hearty shag to show them that orgasms can be fun again. Romanticising abuse to make your protagonist shine that little bit brighter as she gets to play the saviour is not cool. Having a bad guy be a sexual sadist that's pro-rape (and how!) loses its shock value after the third or fourth one turns up and tries to out-do the others.

And I hate it when writers decide to do that sort of thing to try and create characterisation. I'll admit that I'm guilty of this, but I was young and ignorant and I like to think that I've learned and grown since then.

Not to mention, there's a double-standard where Anita will do exactly the same things as Belle Morte, but it's okay when Anita does it because she genuinely loves her victims. No, it's not okay, that's fucked up. If there was an admission that it's fucked up, I might be able to buy into it more. But no, Anita is clearly in the right and she's given a free pass while everyone else is condemned and may die horribly.

But seems the done thing that in trashy romance novels that if it's True Love, then it's okay! My favourite worst thing in reading is when you have the cruel and sadistic bad guy that's secretly got the heart of gold, so after subjecting the heroine to many a horrible ordeal, only she manages to win him over with her logic/kindness and he suddenly melts and they get to cuddle/marry/~~~~make tender sweet love, because it's True Love! It's totally okay! It's really not. >:(

I think that maiskorn is onto something when authors fail to give the topic of rape appropriate weight in their works.

[mystoflare.livejournal.com]

I agree completely about the overuse of Rape as Backstory. It's not characterization, it's lazy writing, and horribly offensive to anyone who has actually experienced rape firsthand, because few writers have the skill or willingness to treat it with appropriate sensitivity. I know several rape survivors, and even if they eventually have a significant other who is supportive of them and doing what they can to help them overcome the trauma, it's complete fail on the writer's part to give people the idea that True Love and a good shagging can heal physical/psychological/sexual scars that remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Like you, I'm a writer, and rape/sexual abuse is NOT something I use as character backstory. Hell, only one major character in my stories so far (out of maybe a dozen alternating mains) has rape in his history, at the very tail-end of a history of abuse, and he's messed up because of the accumulation of it all. He's got no magical fix-it for the scars those years left on him, and he suffers, because it's made sex a scary thing to him, on top of the assorted issues of trust (the rapists being people who were supposed to take care of him, and I'd never yet come across date-rape/acquaintance-rape in stories aside from the Mercy Thompson books), control, power, and generally how he looks at people as food or animals, not as people.
Hell, even when he has people he still trusts tell him they love him and wouldn't do anything to hurt him, that freaks him out, and understandably so. It's worse when you consider he's a teenager, like some of Anita's latest victims. He wasn't asking for it, he just wanted to be left alone, and his caretakers essentially forced it on him, like how Anita has forced sex on some of her victims. Said rapist even says she loves him, like Anita does to her men. No, I'm sorry, the rapist saying they "love" their victim doesn't magically make it the most awesome, wonderful, wanted True Love sex ever, it just horrifies people and shows the rapist doesn't actually care about their victim, if nothing else. Love is consensual, rape is not.

I apologize if I ranted, but this topic reminded me of why I hate some of the AB/MG genre, and I tend to become incoherent with rage thinking on it.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

"Not to mention, there's a double-standard where Anita will do exactly the same things as Belle Morte, but it's okay when Anita does it because she genuinely loves her victims. No, it's not okay, that's fucked up. If there was an admission that it's fucked up, I might be able to buy into it more. But no, Anita is clearly in the right and she's given a free pass while everyone else is condemned and may die horribly."

The double-standard bothered me as well. I did some reading because so many of the women in these stories seemed to enjoy being hurt, and came across a theory for surviving sadistic abuse (not always sexual). There are three coping strategies. One is submission (and that's the one we normally see), the second is to become the abuser (which is what seems to be happening with AB, a more classic example would be Rebecca), and the last is to become an observer (the example I was given for that was Jane Eyre).

I don't like the double standard, but Anita is the PoV character, so I don't mind that she sees everything she does as appropriate. I'm more concerned that no one is stopping her and that everything goes her way.

[amiedoll.livejournal.com]

Yeah I agree, Patricia Briggs did handle it extremely well. I cried during those scenes and the following ones where it was an ongoing issue, not just swept under the rug once the moment was over, and I don't cry in movies/over books very often lol.

I felt too that the emotional fall out of the arduer (sp?) was over looked except for a few tears in the bathroom. It could have been much better, now it seems that Anita has a few moments of regret after "binding" someone new to her, (and the descriptions of those under her influence is really horrifying), but I have not heard her actively try to fix it, she sort of just shrugs, and hopes it will wear off.

I hated hearing Jason and Nataniel talking about her, and what she likes sexually right in front of her, like she was a piece of furniture, and her getting validated by it. It was just so sleazy and gross, but it is the kind of thing that seems typical of some abuse victims (Just a note to add my experience in this field is very limited, but I have seen it before, and it makes me think that the menfolk are not the only ones being abused by this "power").

I feel like LKH is trying to show us how bad guys evolve, how they just had good intentions of protecting their loved ones, and this is where they end up. I started to feel like Anita was the enemy when she took her "protection' from the local were lion and pretty much looked the other way while Haven came in and took over, and I'm assuming killed Joseph and his family (I'm sure she said that that was why a new Rex was such a bad thing at one point).
Not to mention feeding off entire were clans, and pretty much leaving them powerless for however long it takes them to recover (that's over looked), and her other assorted abuses/rapes/power trips.

On the note of Nathaniel and abuse...Why oh why did she call Nathanial a wife, and buy him pearls (ewww and wtf?, at this point I was wondering if someone had switched my copy for bad fanfic)it not only emasculated him, but made an insult to all the house hubby's who still manage to remain men and look after their spouse and kids, and their homes. She treated him like a plaything till he cried, and begged her for sex, and now he's trying to make a spot amongst all the men for himself, and she treats him like nothing but a bad joke. Its just infuriating lol, and I think I went off onto a tangent.

Anyway to wrap it all up (tl;dr version)I've heard around here the saying "In the hands of a better writer" and I think this is a perfect example. She could have really made an impact on Anita, and made this an emotional trip worth reading, filled with deepth and tragedy and all those things that build up a character, instead we get books worth of bad sex scenes, angst, and not much else.

I would really love to see old Anita meet new Anita, I can imagine how deeply disappointed she would be.

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

Yeah I agree, Patricia Briggs did handle it extremely well. I cried during those scenes and the following ones where it was an ongoing issue, not just swept under the rug once the moment was over, and I don't cry in movies/over books very often lol.

Oh MAN when I read the rape scene it felt like I was punched in the gut. I usually don't have such visceral reactions to writing, but I've always loved Patricia Briggs' writing and Mercy Thompson in particular. I don't think I actually cried, but I definitely felt an ache.

[genchaos.livejournal.com]

It says a lot about Adam, as well. The first image one gets of him in the series is as a rather arrogant Alpha, but the rage and anguish at what was done to Mercy, the genuine care and love he shows for her in the aftermath, and the willingness to take the time she needs in order to respond and begin to heal and to *help* her to heal... that speaks a lot about both him as a man and about his love for Mercy. It gives depth to his character and makes him far more complex.

[gwynethfar.livejournal.com]

I disagree that Sookie left Bill because he raped her. In the first place, it wasn't written like a rape, and she left him because he left her for his sire in the first place.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

I didn't say she left because of the rape alone, just that she left him after that point. It is the last book that they're a couple in. And Harris has publicly stated she doesn't intend to get them back together, so it will likely stay that way.

I didn't know that rape had a specific way it had to be written. I thought the scene was more heartbreaking because Bill was clearly not himself, but it was still about the same as if a spouse turned into a different person after a few too many drinks. Sookie's choices were death or sex. She chose sex. She did not really want sex at that point. It was just a better option than death by temporarily insane vampire.

[ever-obsessed.livejournal.com]

Sexual assault is one of those things that makes me gnash my teeth with a lot of writers - and yet I support in the hands of a good writer because when it's done well, I have a lot of love and support for anybody who can show the effects and show how the characters continue after.

LKH has the 'fourteen year old fanficcer' disease, honestly. She's the one who makes everybody have a history of child abuse and a history of rape and THEN ROCKS FELL ON THEIR HEADS WHEN THEY WERE FIVE YEARS OLD, OH GAWD and uses it as nothing but a 'LOOK HOW DARK MY WORLD IS' measurement that... doesn't actually measure anything except for how desperately she's TRYING to look bad and how epically she is failing in this endeavor. And when you have a good writer handling it, I've seen people attack those good writers handling this subject matter anyway because it's another "abuse" story which makes me gnash my teeth even more because, hey, if done well, it's not just a random thing thrown out there, it's a well-done character story that deals with a problem a LOT of people have brushed against in their lives.

I've ranted here before but few things, VERY FEW THINGS, have upset me on a gut-deep level as how she's used the sexual assault in Nathaniel's history. It think it may have upset me as much as Bianca Montgomery's rape on AMC, and that at least had a good amount of emotional fallout and pretty much all of the actors nailed it which, you know, saved it for me. Nathaniel just upsets me. AND THAT'S NOT EVEN GOING INTO MY ISSUES WITH ANITA HERSELF but I think dwg already voiced my feelings for that perfectly.

That said?

I wish more people dealt with the long term fallout if they're going to use sexual assault than the attack itself. Also? The fallout for the family/friends/partner - because everybody around that character, even if they don't find out, is going to be affected by how the victim is affected. THE EFFECTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT DO NOT STAY IN A VACUUM.

[denelian.livejournal.com]

last year [last quarter] i had a Comm Theory class where i had to design a PSA. i chose to design an anti-rape PSA.
and the FIRST STEP was IDing rape myths, and getting men to recognize what rape myths are.


and it fucking -failed-. OMG did it fail. the guys were insulted that i would work on this sort of thing because somehow, acknowledging rape means i am saying all men are rapists. the women were insulted that i would work on this sort of thing because somehow, i was making them all victims and nothing more than sex. [the teacher loved it. sigh]


as much as LKH pisses me off, and sometimes triggers me, she doesn't write in a vacuum. the worst aspect about the issues as she presents them in her books is that the presentation she offers? is the presentation that society tries to make the only one.
ie: rape "spoils" the victim, and they can never be "clean" or "good" again, they must always be seen as dirty and used and less-than - and don't need anything else, except to know that they are not redemable, so as long as they keep in mind they are nothing but spoiled sex-things now, they can have a sort-of life. one where everyone -knows- "what they are", but a life of sorts.
there is NO acknowledgment that the REAL "dirty" person is the abuser; there is never in real placing of blame on the person who BLAMED. [with the exception of the father-pimping-his-sons, which is a bit of a different issue... :( :( :( ].



LKH over uses it, to be sure.
but she got it from society.
and the reason it makes me so angry, is that it is just reinforcing what people believe.



Patricia Briggs, as others have said, did it MUCH better. MUCH better. it was actually helpful to me, to see it done right.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

At least your teacher appreciated your work.

How would you write a story to be more realistic?

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

You might like the Illonia Andrews ones, where they're totally monsters. I can't picture anyone having sex with her vampires.

[phoenixprime.livejournal.com]

As many of the commenters stated, rape is rarely written well. Unfortunately, it's still done quite frequently.

I personally struggle with this. I read fiction for entertainment. And I don't particularly want a side helping of rape in my entertainment - so the frequency with which it comes up is annoying, particularly when it's poorly handled. If you're going to use rape in a story line, then I want it to be a necessary part of the story - not something that was easy or convenient. And please, please don't have the character recover in a couple of days after having nice, healing sex with the "right" man. (Yes, I'm aware that just writing about this is bring up some of my own pet peeves on the issue.) If you're going to write rape into a story, let's deal with the fallout, too. Let's not pretend it's something that we just get up the next morning and get over.

I love(d) the Mercy Thompson books. Until the rape scene. Was it well written and handled well? Yes. But as a rape survivor, did I really need that in the middle of fiction that I had, up until then, been thoroughly enjoying? No, I didn't. Will I continue reading the series? Yes - but I'll be careful about my state of mind when I do. Am I happy that scene exists? Not particularly - but I can see it, and the subsequent situations, providing some insight into what rape survivors deal with. And since we don't like to talk about it as a society, then I can at least hope that the stories we tell that include rape might start to change the way people perceive it.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

"Am I happy that scene exists? Not particularly - but I can see it, and the subsequent situations, providing some insight into what rape survivors deal with. And since we don't like to talk about it as a society, then I can at least hope that the stories we tell that include rape might start to change the way people perceive it."

One of the reasons I'm interested in the comments about rape as a cliche is that does it mean that more people will talk about it (if not of their personal experiences, at least in the semi-safe abstract that a fantasy world allows)? And would that be helpful to getting things to change?

My theory is always that if we can talk about a problem, at least we might be able to take steps toward fixing the problem. If it's not talked about, there's no hope for understanding the victims, or how to stop it.

And it is awfully easy to talk about Anita and rape. Even if we use her as a punching bag for how badly it's been written.

Or does the way it's being written by popular authors like LKH totally trivialize it? Clearly Patricia Briggs has done an awesome job in portraying the subject affectingly, but if it becomes common place will that just desensitize people to the topic?