Symptom of Rape Culture?

[akashathekitty]

I'd really like as many as possible to comment on this, if you have the time/inclinations/a lot of feelings, okay?

It's about this story of mine. It's also available here if you aren't a member of H&V. In the Darkness, All Cats are Grey.

I just received a PM about that fic. Rather than summarize it, I will copy it in its entirety, leaving out who

Comments

[akashathekitty]

[edit for a single missing word]

Suppose, H. recognizes him. What would he do? Hex her and go on or back off? A typical Granger's lecture is a turn off for a normal male, so I can easily see him rolling his eyes and going away disappointed.

He would walk off, no question about it. He is not painted as aggressive in this fic. In fact, she starts out not wanting to do P-i-V and he tries to persuade her and then when she doesn't seem to want to budge, he just gives up and takes what he can get. And then she changes her mind.

While social awareness may require us to recognize all these different situations as rape, fans also want to know in advance what the story is about. Non-con/dub-con labels, signalling to the reader that there's no physical violence involved, provide some of the granularity, that would be lost, if they chose to put just rape in the warnings.

I think you said it better than I could. Dub-con, by it's very nature, is not hunky-dory. It's just a bit more grey area than Ugly Violent Rape tends to be. Yes, if Hermione decided she was Not OK with it having been Draco Malfoy and charged him with rape, I could see her absolutely winning that case, no matter what doubts etc she had during the act. But reading/writing it is much different (to me) than reading/writing a more clear-cut assault. I like dub-con a lot more than non-con. In fiction. I wouldn't condone either IRL.

Does the luck of the authorial commentary in the warnings mean that the author endorses rape culture in your case? I doubt it.

That's nice to hear as a person, thank you. :)