the_ragnarok (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_ragnarok) wrote2011-01-21 03:33 pm
the_ragnarok) wrote2011-01-21 03:33 pm
Thinky: Consent and the meaning of sex
So, there's a fanfic author. I like this author and will faithfully read anything new she posts. Her sex scenes, to me, are blazing hot (this is part of the issue, actually).
But then there are things she writes that outright baffle me.
In one fic - admittedly a dark one - there's more than one scene where Arthur repeatedly, explicitly asks Eames to stop while he's fucking him. Eames' response is to laugh and continue. This fic is not marked as non-con; nowhere in the story is what Eames did referenced as assault, as rape, as a violation of consent.
I have to wonder why that is. In that fic, Arthur is very deeply closeted, denying his sexuality. Is it assumed that he only protested because of that? Does it make his protest any less valid, if so? Or maybe it's nothing to do with that, but with the fact that after every time Arthur said "No" and was ignored, he proceeded to come his brains out and then ask for more. It's not rape if you enjoyed it?
Further confusing is the way that right up to the end, Arthur doesn't think of himself as gay. Is he really that much in denial, or is he a genuinely straight - or, hell, maybe asexual - person who is so damaged that he needs to be hurt and humiliated to achieve some semblance of mental stability?
Then I read another fic, by the same author. In this fic Arthur is forced, under threat of violence, to give blowjobs to the entire football team. Repeatedly. This is not considered rape, at least not by Arthur. When a football player forces him to undress, beats him and makes Arthur suck his cock, Arthur thinks at least I wasn't raped. What the hell do you call what just happened, then? Consent that isn't.
And yet, when Eames kisses him without asking for permission first, Arthur calls it sexual assault. I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just perplexed by how arbitrary it all seems. I can't make sense of it at all.
But I still read her fics. I still think the sex is hot, even with all the wonky consent issues. And I have to wonder whether, in the end, that says something about me - as a person, as a reader, as a part of the fandom.
One of the inspirations I had for writing Allowed was how much I, as an author and a reader, enjoy Arthur being in pain. I really don't think I'm alone in this, either.
Correlate this with how people love bottom!arthur. I'm not judging anyone on what they find hot - hello, look what I just confessed to enjoy - but you have to wonder where that sort of thing comes from. You have to wonder about how power dynamic in general is presented in fic, and become curious about the ways people sexualize it.
Anybody's thoughts about this are most welcome.
But then there are things she writes that outright baffle me.
In one fic - admittedly a dark one - there's more than one scene where Arthur repeatedly, explicitly asks Eames to stop while he's fucking him. Eames' response is to laugh and continue. This fic is not marked as non-con; nowhere in the story is what Eames did referenced as assault, as rape, as a violation of consent.
I have to wonder why that is. In that fic, Arthur is very deeply closeted, denying his sexuality. Is it assumed that he only protested because of that? Does it make his protest any less valid, if so? Or maybe it's nothing to do with that, but with the fact that after every time Arthur said "No" and was ignored, he proceeded to come his brains out and then ask for more. It's not rape if you enjoyed it?
Further confusing is the way that right up to the end, Arthur doesn't think of himself as gay. Is he really that much in denial, or is he a genuinely straight - or, hell, maybe asexual - person who is so damaged that he needs to be hurt and humiliated to achieve some semblance of mental stability?
Then I read another fic, by the same author. In this fic Arthur is forced, under threat of violence, to give blowjobs to the entire football team. Repeatedly. This is not considered rape, at least not by Arthur. When a football player forces him to undress, beats him and makes Arthur suck his cock, Arthur thinks at least I wasn't raped. What the hell do you call what just happened, then? Consent that isn't.
And yet, when Eames kisses him without asking for permission first, Arthur calls it sexual assault. I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just perplexed by how arbitrary it all seems. I can't make sense of it at all.
But I still read her fics. I still think the sex is hot, even with all the wonky consent issues. And I have to wonder whether, in the end, that says something about me - as a person, as a reader, as a part of the fandom.
One of the inspirations I had for writing Allowed was how much I, as an author and a reader, enjoy Arthur being in pain. I really don't think I'm alone in this, either.
Correlate this with how people love bottom!arthur. I'm not judging anyone on what they find hot - hello, look what I just confessed to enjoy - but you have to wonder where that sort of thing comes from. You have to wonder about how power dynamic in general is presented in fic, and become curious about the ways people sexualize it.
Anybody's thoughts about this are most welcome.