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So, while scrolling through some fic that had the whole 'sex slave' schtick going on, I couldn't help but be struck by the glorification of what was rape - a trope most wildly popular fiction engages in when it deals with that issue; that if it feels good, it isn't a bad thing to be forced into sex; that if the rapist is kind and gentle, the
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Okay some words. But they may not be coherent.
I love... the point of view. Reading this through the words and thoughts of the dominant figure, the aristocrat was- amazing. To be the antagonist was fabulous.
I really liked... I'm going to call hir The First (heh, gender-neutral pronouns)... I really liked The First. That strong personality, as seen through the eyes of... I'm going to call hir The Binder.
Speaking of which, I love the use of first-person prose, addressed directly to another person, as a very graceful way of avoiding all gender references.
I also love the world this is set in... not that we see much of it, but the sense of a different culture... very interesting.
Furthermore! I totally agree about the rape thing. The rape fantasy is a common one, and all the more disturbing for that. I and my favorite authors write the experience of rape or sexual assault as it is... a horrible one. And not really about sex, but about having power over someone, and exerting that power. My definition of rape is a broad one, and extends beyond sexual rape to include other forms of using another's body against hir will, such as slavery or possession... all of which are EVIL and WRONG and NOT OKAY.
...So it turned out I had a lot of words after all. Heh.
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The irony of this is that I just read a sex!slave fanfic that actually didn't hit all my squick buttons regarding rape/consent/power/domination/etc. (It was Stargate SG1 fic, and I'm not sure if you run in that fandom, but it was astonishingly done.) But the reason why it didn't hit my squick buttons (though at times did make me uncomfortable and uncomfortably thinky) was because it was so self aware of the issues, it didn't just handwave them away; it brought them up and didn't quick fix them into some socially acceptable sphere but instead used them as incisive character study tools as well as a method to create a very complex dynamic. That said, I have read other sex!slave fic where, though incredibly well-written, made me want to curl into a ball and never leave my room because I didn't feel safe...
As for your comments (which I adored) ~ the mechanics of this story were actually trickier than I'd expected them to be. I've attempted to get away with gender neutral narrative in the past and have always tripped over myself, usually painfully; so I'm incredibly delighted that they way I wrote it here worked for you. If you ever have the chance to read (or if you've already read) Jeanette Winterson's "Written on the Body", it's a first person perspective novel where the narrator's gender is left unstated, and it does this cool ambiguous thing to the literary interpretation, ideas about sexuality and relationships and gender dynamics, etc. It's something that I'd love to play around with some more, given the space and opportunity.
The world that this was set in was very much sketched in, but a sort of cultural playground that I may explore in greater depth in a later story or something. You never know, yes?
About rape fantasy ~ I can sort of understand it, in a way, if it's something that's known to be fantasy and not reality - if it's an act that both sides are complicit in, if it's akin to dom/sub relations rather than actual rape. Because there is something about a loss of control and being wholly in another's power that is appealing to some; yet, at the same time, blurry edges. Rape fantasy is a strange mental space for me; I have to think (and probably post) some more about it. My definition for rape is tied to issues of consent. If there is no fully informed consent that is given without pressure of any kind (including social, economic, familial, academic, etc) between two parties who are of mature (and sound) mind, emotion, and body - then it's rape. Non-consent and dubious consent are rape. If consent is in question, it's rape.
Ahaha, it seems today is the day I rant a lot.
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