Comments | peppermintyrose: Rape Rarely Referenced

peppermintyrose

Rape Rarely Referenced

Apr 15, 2011 05:51

I keep seeing this one around, and even though I've dealt with it generally before, I'm going to break it down for those who can't see. There is this assertion that Sookie's rape - the trunk scene with Bill - is not dealt with in the text, and that CH glosses over it. Usually it's said by people who haven't been victims, or occasionally one lone ( Read more... )

the psychology of violence, that's not what i read at all, ch & svm is not so amateur, dttw a.ka. shower scene, vamps=dangerous liaisons, get staked at club dead, the pure cult of virginity, the mythology of rape 101, eric northman the lover, rants of the fanficy flavour, bill compton - sweetheart, i thinked about svm today, sookie stackhouse - 28

Comments 24

thyradane April 14 2011, 21:52:54 UTC

As all your threads, this was food for thought - but probably even more so than most of them ( ... )

peppermintyrose April 15 2011, 02:43:55 UTC

Rape gets used a lot as a dramatic plot device - for which writers should be keelhauled. Usually it's used to spread more shit myths about rape. That's often what happens with fanfic too - some writer thinks it's good to write about Sookie being raped and Eric saving her from herself, when that's just complete crap.

I never hated Bill for the rape either. I don't think it was deliberate, but the stuff with Selah certainly was.

Yeah, the hygiene rituals are something obscure that people don't tend to know about. Sometimes they go the opposite way - with victims not wanting to shower and groom, with the underpinning notion that it will lessen attractiveness. It all comes down to how they process the rape.

I love the layers in the books. It surprises me how much information she manages to jam pack into the text.

elbly April 15 2011, 11:57:55 UTC

You mentioned the rape/cleaning rituals aspects a while back, and at the time it gave me a new light on the books, as well as people I encounter day to day.

The "1 in 3" statistic for women horrifies me, and it's something I can't really get my head around. Is that evenly split across all countries, all walks of life, religions etc.? Is it over the course of a woman's whole life? Or does it relate to certain age groups? I raise the questions because I deal in numbers, they are my bread and butter, but also because recently we have had a trial in the UK for someone who attacked and raped pensioners - which has raised the terrifying question in my mind of how much abuse occurs in "care" homes... (the attacker broke into people's homes, rather than care-homes, but it still raised the issue in my mind)

I don't expect you to be able to answer these questions, and I'm not exactly sure I really want to know the answers, but...

Anyway! Going back to something in your post that really fascinated me: They had that control taken away from ( ... )

peppermintyrose April 15 2011, 13:02:10 UTC

Yeah, the cleaning rituals are something that some victims bond over ( ... )

thyradane April 15 2011, 15:32:03 UTC

I`m not sure it`s that easy as "don`t talk about it - don`t ask questions."
A friend of mine - who is a talker like me - resented the fact that no one would ask her about the rape everyone knew she had been through. She felt people were trying to shut her up - that her rape made them feel uncomfortable and that they just wanted to forget it when she couldn`t.

I`ve never been raped but I`ve felt the same way about other things in my life. I`m a talker. Just like non-talkers don`t want to be forced into talking - I don`t want to be shut up.

So I guess it`s all about knowing your friends and doing whatever they feel comfortable doing.

peppermintyrose April 15 2011, 23:33:24 UTC

She had no problems expressing that desire though - and that it made her feel judged. If you are a talker, you'll talk about it.

But what Alcide did? Picking his own time to talk about it and his own dialogue? That he'd only talk about it as rape, and he wanted to talk about it now he'd broken up with Debbie by dint of her being dead? I don't think talkers would appreciate being steered that way either.

Thread 6

lavenderchic3 April 15 2011, 14:42:11 UTC

Well I do have personal knowledge of the after effects and THAT is where I have a problem with how it was dealt with in the book. CH kept him around to smash it in her face over and over again. If I had to face my monster day after day like she does, I would have never been able to be the survivor. CH had him not just stay in the story but show up constantly at Merlottes with his new woman and he gets mad about her being with Eric as if he has a right to any opinion and on and on. Remember the wedding when he caught her upstairs in the middle of changing her clothes, he declared his love for her............ that bothered me the most right there. Talk about a big nanny nanny in your face. But your right he is vampire so who the hell cares.

peppermintyrose April 15 2011, 15:01:11 UTC

Plenty of children who are abused by a parent still survive even though they live through a long period of offending with the offender - and even talk to their parents when they leave home. Plenty of women are raped by husbands or boyfriends who keep coming around. They still survive through what happened. One personal experience doesn't trump the sheer deluge of different experiences. Not every victim has the luxury of not having to face an offender afterwards ( ... )

Rape Rarely Referenced anonymous April 15 2011, 15:30:28 UTC

Ooh…great post. I’m verklempt. I will have more to say, but for now it’s just…great post. *off to compose thoughts* JanineMNM

Re: Rape Rarely Referenced peppermintyrose April 15 2011, 23:37:31 UTC

:D I await your return.

And thank you for bonus use of verklempt. :D

consider me schooled ext_337835 April 16 2011, 01:41:39 UTC

i will admit i'm one of those who has been frustrated with the way the rape is dealt with in the book. your analysis has definitely brought to my attention the ways in which the incident is acknowledged. i've (mis)judged sookie, and i feel bad about it ( ... )

Re: consider me schooled peppermintyrose April 16 2011, 09:25:19 UTC

It's not so much Sookie I worry about - it's all the victims on the web that will be made unsure about the way that they reacted. I know in my time of talking about stuff on the web, people have contacted me to talk about what's happened to them, and they're the ones I worry about ( ... )