Puzzlement
So, very shortly after I posted Until We Burn here on my LJ, I recieved the rejection notice from the archieve it had been submitted to. Now, I'm not terribly surprised: there's quite a list of warnings on that story, and it's not for the faint of heart. That said, the rationale for the rejection has me somewhat puzzled about our social mores.
To whit: Until We Burn has warnings for murder, incest, cannibalism, sex, and violence. With all of those on the docket, I don't feel the need to include a warning for swearing, but that applies as well. I admit, I was half expecting the story to be rejected, simply because the list of black-listed topics is so long. What I didn't expect was this:
The reason your story was rejected is because the Adults Only Sexual Content and the Strong Violence warnings are too strong for your story's content, and the incestual participation between your characters has been deemed too inappropriate for our Archive.
Beg pardon? There are characters having sex on-screen, and while it's not pornographic there's a fair bit of description. A character is killed, and her blood is drunk -- that's cannibalism, for anyone who has romantic notions of vampirism. There's discussions of hanging murder victims upside-down like rabbits to properly bleed them out. If I, as the author, feel that this constitutes 'Adults Only Sexual Content' and 'Strong Violence,' am I really to be condemned for being cautious in my ratings? I can't imagine I'm the only one who has opened a PG story, only to find that the characters are shagging left and right, while the rating is justified by some flimsy excuse like, "Well, I never actually called it his dick..."
Keep in mind that this rejection is from an archive which, as stated in it's rules, allows incest, sex and murder to be featured in stories. Had this not been specifically stated on the site, I would never have considered submitting the story.
But that's not really the issue. I refered to the heart of the matter directly in the story, because it was on my mind, and I feel it appropriate to quote it here:
That's so strange: you seemed perfectly fine hearing about the murder and the vampirism, but the incest… all things considered, that should bother you the least, shouldn't it? I mean, it's just sex.
In case you're reading this without having read the story first, I'll point out that all sexual relationships are between consulting adults. A sexual relationship between an adult and a child... suffice to say that I most strongly disapprove. I don't condone incest either; I simply find it interesting that that's the most objectionable part of the story.
What does it say about our society, that murder and manslaughter can be treated so casually? If someone gets shot in a movie, what does that make the rating -- PG13? Or vampirism... as I've said, that's cannibalism. But that never seems to occur to us, does it? Vampires are amazing, mystical creatures that we love to write stories about. As an aside, I'd like to point out the prevalence of vampire romances, and also remind you that vampires are dead. That's necrophilia, folks -- and yeah, that word gets a reaction, doesn't it? So why does no one bat an eye when what's-her-name gets knocked up by Edward Cullen? In fact, they queue up to buy the book.
Contrast to incest (again, we're talking consenting adults). If you take a poke around scholarly journals (or Wikipedia) you'll notice that incest, cannibalism, and murder have all been socially accepted practices in some culture. All three are illegal, and condemned by every major religion in our current society. So why should we be so insensitive to two that we expose our children to them, while condemning the third in the strongest language?
As I've said, I don't condone incest (I don't condone murder, cannibalism, or any of the other questionable practices discussed here either) but I'm puzzled by this apparent discrepancy in our social values. It's not an issue I'm about to fight out with the archive moderators, though.
All apologies for the fractured nature of this note. I haven't had enough sleep recently, but I'm not in the mood to rectify that at the moment.
To whit: Until We Burn has warnings for murder, incest, cannibalism, sex, and violence. With all of those on the docket, I don't feel the need to include a warning for swearing, but that applies as well. I admit, I was half expecting the story to be rejected, simply because the list of black-listed topics is so long. What I didn't expect was this:
The reason your story was rejected is because the Adults Only Sexual Content and the Strong Violence warnings are too strong for your story's content, and the incestual participation between your characters has been deemed too inappropriate for our Archive.
Beg pardon? There are characters having sex on-screen, and while it's not pornographic there's a fair bit of description. A character is killed, and her blood is drunk -- that's cannibalism, for anyone who has romantic notions of vampirism. There's discussions of hanging murder victims upside-down like rabbits to properly bleed them out. If I, as the author, feel that this constitutes 'Adults Only Sexual Content' and 'Strong Violence,' am I really to be condemned for being cautious in my ratings? I can't imagine I'm the only one who has opened a PG story, only to find that the characters are shagging left and right, while the rating is justified by some flimsy excuse like, "Well, I never actually called it his dick..."
Keep in mind that this rejection is from an archive which, as stated in it's rules, allows incest, sex and murder to be featured in stories. Had this not been specifically stated on the site, I would never have considered submitting the story.
But that's not really the issue. I refered to the heart of the matter directly in the story, because it was on my mind, and I feel it appropriate to quote it here:
That's so strange: you seemed perfectly fine hearing about the murder and the vampirism, but the incest… all things considered, that should bother you the least, shouldn't it? I mean, it's just sex.
In case you're reading this without having read the story first, I'll point out that all sexual relationships are between consulting adults. A sexual relationship between an adult and a child... suffice to say that I most strongly disapprove. I don't condone incest either; I simply find it interesting that that's the most objectionable part of the story.
What does it say about our society, that murder and manslaughter can be treated so casually? If someone gets shot in a movie, what does that make the rating -- PG13? Or vampirism... as I've said, that's cannibalism. But that never seems to occur to us, does it? Vampires are amazing, mystical creatures that we love to write stories about. As an aside, I'd like to point out the prevalence of vampire romances, and also remind you that vampires are dead. That's necrophilia, folks -- and yeah, that word gets a reaction, doesn't it? So why does no one bat an eye when what's-her-name gets knocked up by Edward Cullen? In fact, they queue up to buy the book.
Contrast to incest (again, we're talking consenting adults). If you take a poke around scholarly journals (or Wikipedia) you'll notice that incest, cannibalism, and murder have all been socially accepted practices in some culture. All three are illegal, and condemned by every major religion in our current society. So why should we be so insensitive to two that we expose our children to them, while condemning the third in the strongest language?
As I've said, I don't condone incest (I don't condone murder, cannibalism, or any of the other questionable practices discussed here either) but I'm puzzled by this apparent discrepancy in our social values. It's not an issue I'm about to fight out with the archive moderators, though.
All apologies for the fractured nature of this note. I haven't had enough sleep recently, but I'm not in the mood to rectify that at the moment.