I got raped. It sucks. But hey, lemme write a book about it.
Is it me or people have actually made an industry out of child abuse? So I work at a book store and there's a section there called 'Tragic Life Stories' and it has titles like Betrayed, Abandoned, A Childhood Lost etc. And I'm like... wtf?
Most people might not find anything wrong with this and well, most people might even be right. I'm not most people. I'm sorry but I find something a bit exploitative about selling books and hence earning a living out of child abuse. Obviously it's targeted at a certain audience that may - I'm not going to say enjoy because that's just fucked up - sypmathise with the genre.
These books are 99.9% about children who have been physically, emotionally and sexually abused from as little an age as 3 years old. And apparently they're 'true' stories. So here's me wondering. If the author has gone through the abuse the book's based on then is it a 'How to Survive Abuse and Come Out Right as Rain Guide'? The books aren't obviously targeted at abused children, or those experiencing abuse, to read and be like, 'Oh okay. This isn't *so* bad. A few years of scarring trauma and maybe I can take out a bestseller and become rich too like this nice lady/gentleman.'
So if it's not for them then parents, adults, paedophiles? 'Oh it's alright to abuse my kids because obviously this person made it out OKAY. So it mustn't be that bad whatever horrendous things I'm putting them through.'
Can anyone see why this frustrates me beyond belief? I mean it's good, brilliant in fact, that a person has been able to put this behind them and want to share their experiences and all but for goodness' sake. It's getting *beyond* ridiculous.
I can't help but see these books as, 'Rape sucks but hey, you get over it. Eventually.' And maybe my view point on this is completely screwed up and unnecessary but I'm not going to make excuses for how I feel about this subject matter. I think what's worse is that these books have such a large consumer demand. What does that say about our general public?
Most people might not find anything wrong with this and well, most people might even be right. I'm not most people. I'm sorry but I find something a bit exploitative about selling books and hence earning a living out of child abuse. Obviously it's targeted at a certain audience that may - I'm not going to say enjoy because that's just fucked up - sypmathise with the genre.
These books are 99.9% about children who have been physically, emotionally and sexually abused from as little an age as 3 years old. And apparently they're 'true' stories. So here's me wondering. If the author has gone through the abuse the book's based on then is it a 'How to Survive Abuse and Come Out Right as Rain Guide'? The books aren't obviously targeted at abused children, or those experiencing abuse, to read and be like, 'Oh okay. This isn't *so* bad. A few years of scarring trauma and maybe I can take out a bestseller and become rich too like this nice lady/gentleman.'
So if it's not for them then parents, adults, paedophiles? 'Oh it's alright to abuse my kids because obviously this person made it out OKAY. So it mustn't be that bad whatever horrendous things I'm putting them through.'
Can anyone see why this frustrates me beyond belief? I mean it's good, brilliant in fact, that a person has been able to put this behind them and want to share their experiences and all but for goodness' sake. It's getting *beyond* ridiculous.
I can't help but see these books as, 'Rape sucks but hey, you get over it. Eventually.' And maybe my view point on this is completely screwed up and unnecessary but I'm not going to make excuses for how I feel about this subject matter. I think what's worse is that these books have such a large consumer demand. What does that say about our general public?