So...
... what are YOU reading right now?
Books, magazines, fic... whatever. What's tickling your literary fanny?
At the moment I'm reading The Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters.
Let me first say that my rant is about how they treat rape so if you'd rather not read about that, stop here.
It's a crime novel, someone is killing older gay men who are known to have propositioned rent boys. While I find the story and setup interesting, the interludes with news clippings and police reports especially, some things about it really bother me. Mainly the dismissive attitude the author seems to have towards rape.
The main character, and possible murderer, is believed to have raped his ex-fiance prior to going to Iraq and having half his face blown off. There are hints that it was an anal rape, adding to the whole gay angle. From what I'm reading between the lines it is possible it wasn't really rape (I'm not done yet, don't tell me if you know), both her and his vague descriptions read more as regret, shame and anger about it being up the arse than of the violence of the act. She even tries to win him back, visiting him in hospital all sexy clothes and flirting and gets really insulted when he doesn't want her. The whole thing smells weird. (She is not a submissive woman in any form, very aggressive actually, so why would she ever want her rapist back?)
Whether it is true or not, what bothers me is that everyone involved, the police, the psychiatrist, the doctor, they all believe it IS true and they all seem to agree that hey, it's not that bad because 1) he's really sorry and unlikely to do anything like that again and 2) she's a drug using whore and thus provoked him. The guy's psychiatrist actually tells the fiancee that. Like, "Yes, him raping you was bad but you gotta see his side, after all you were using drugs and selling yourself. Did you really think he wouldn't be angry when he found out?"
I'm just... WHAT? The rapist is sorry so we're supposed to forgive him? The victim, (whether she is or not the people talking DO believe it's true) is an aggressive whore so she deserved it? And everyone's okay with that attitude? Jeez!
Not to mention the fifteen year old street boy who says he was gang raped by five men. Checking with his doctor they find out that's not true, at least there was no anal rape, but at the time of the interview they couldn't know that, even if they believed he was a lying little shit. Still, when he tells them about it they're all, "Well, that's too bad, now what about that cell phone you stole?" And "You should know about rape, after all your girlfriend was only twelve when you had sex with her." (He was fourteen at the time.) God yes, way too young to have sex but it hardly measures up to being gang raped in the ass by five grown men!
The whole thing just baffles me. I'm hoping there is a reason for all this but so far I can't see it.
Anyway, enough about that. It's sharing time. Dish. What are YOU feasting your eyes on right now?