"It's purely sexual." "No shit?"

[kateorman]

Prior to a hasty flocking1, a naughty nameless person was complaining that my Doctor Who novels are merely an excuse for indulging my fetishes. I protest! I prefer the term "perversions

Comments

[tysolna]

First off, it's not a turn-on for me. Still, I know what you mean (you probably don't want to know how often I've read the Bainbridge scenes in Seeing I...).
Since we identify with the hero/victim, I'd say it's party catharsis, and partly... Oooh I can see that where I am headed is dangerous territory, so I'll start saying "I" and go there anyway.

I have a problem with the serotonin in my brain and take medication for it - in short, I am/was depressed. During the worst phases, I often had daydreams of being a victim (in a purely non-sexual way); daydreams of hurt and comfort, if you will. And scenes where the hero becomes a victim in some way stood out to me; not only in Who, but in other things (Trek, for example, or Farscape, to stay in SF land) - because the hero was going through hell, either physically (ho-hum) or mentally (much more interesting), and he/she was survivingMy subconscious talking loudly? I have no idea. To be quite honest, I only started thinking about this as I was typing the reply to your post. You've made me

[tencrush]

Little bit from column A, little bit from column B. No, actually, I wouldn't say hurt/comfort is a particular turn on, I think it's just the fascination, and the age old triumph over adversity thing. The hero always has to suffer, it's like a rule

[ashamel]

I don't think anyone has accused me of just indulging my fetishes, though horror has nastier things going on -- well, mostly. Some of your stuff is indeed intense.

(Or maybe that's just because less people have read my stuff.)

[alawston]

I always enjoyed the Doctor-beating in your novels because of their context within the book ranges as a whole. When the 7th Doctor became so all-powerful in many novels (especially Transit, Human Nature, The Also People and Just War), the prospect of a few heart attacks, stabbings and flowers growing out of shoulders provided a welcome contrast.

[mad_march_hare]

I wouldn't say it's a fetish, as there's nothing sexual about it, but I find it a fascinating way to view any kind of heroic character