Recently I’ve been having a hard time dealing with the feeling of “holding my breath” whenever I read descriptions of a strong, courageous female character (or maybe a “shrew”), particularly in books set in a historical period or science fiction. I’ve found there’s a >50% chance this character will be the victim of a scene describing sexual assault. While I fully believe we should acknowledge the harmful and violent reality that sexual assault is rampant and a horrific crime that disproportionately affects women, I feel it’s too often used as a device to cheaply write pathos or a “critical branch point” in the character’s backstory or plot development particularly for female characters. This is even worse when the assault is graphically described in a way that makes the scene a detailed spectacle, almost written to punish the female character for her strength (especially when written by male authors). I feel that male characters are often given a more diverse range of setbacks or challenges to drive plot and character development. I would love to hear other readers’ thoughts on this problem- any worse offenders or authors who write these situations well? Any tips for handling this feeling as a reader?
by mistakesmistooks
1 Comment
I think the key is to remember that people can be biased. Especially authors or people wanting to sell the books. A lot of authors have a habit of wanting their character to be seen with certain characteristics. Such as the “genius” traits many authors try to push on their main characters, who then might not seem as smart as the author wants them to be. So they just tell us that a character is a certain trait, and don’t always show it well.
And similarly with characters in books. They can describe other characters with biases. Such as thinking “oh wow! My friend is so smart! My friend is brave!” Even if the behaviour might not match with those thoughts, in another person’s opinion.
And one has to realise that another character in the book might see the smart/ brave character with a different perspective. Just as we might not understand how the author is trying to push a certain narrative to a character who we don’t feel embodies those characteristics.
Many times I try to ignore certain opinions people have about characters, I’ll admit. Because a lot of the time, it is someone just trying to sell a book. Whether it be an author wanting you to think that of the character, or just a marketing/ PR person, trying to make it seem more interesting. And even with other book reviewers, they might not have the same opinion about characters as I do.
So the best advice I can give to you is to take store page descriptions and reviews with a grain of salt. Since they might not have the same opinion as you do.
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Content warning for stuff hidden under spoiler tags: references to sexual assault
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>!Edit: Like you were saying with the sexual assault bit. I think another weird thing authors do is to try and make sex really dominant with a lot of characters. Like the whole thing where authors think a person (regardless of gender) seducing someone else is a sign of their “strength”.!<
>!In spy novels, there’s the common trope that the spy will seduce someone else to try and get information on them.!<
>!And a lot of authors also don’t consider the actualities of situations. Like with consent. Such as a recent TV show I watched last year, where a woman was being held prisoner (in luxury, but still a prisoner). She and the main character were finding similarities between themselves and they have sex. But the things is that he’s essentially a guard to her. In my opinion, she would not be able to consent fully because he has a level of control over her.!<
>!And like with a lot of books as well. A lot of authors don’t understand the reality of consent in those scenarios. They don’t understand where their characters’ sexual habits or experiences are negative, rather than positive.!<