Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
Where do we draw the line in "further harming the victim", though? For example, I'm going to pick on brecklundin a bit here: his avatar is the cover of one of John Normal's "Gor" novels. If you've never read them, the basic premise of the books is that sexual slavery is the natural condition of women (and occasionally the females of other species), and no matter how much they resist, they will be happier (and make badly-written speeches on the subject, apparently) when suitably raped and subjugated. And he's written book after book detailing this. I know several women who, after having been raped, find the "Gor" novels utterly horrifying -- in one case, shaking if the books are even mentioned. I should mention, by the way, that they lived in a country where rape, especially the stranger rape so lovingly detailed and endlessly justified by Norman, is quite illegal. So ... are those books "further harming the victim"?
Again, we're dealing with one of those lines. Who is a victim? What constitutes further harming them? And who decides?
By the way, if you want a good feel for the writing of the Gor novels without actually having to read one, I strongly recommend the parody " Houseplants of Gor". Or, for that matter, if you have read them. Aside from getting John Norman's literary voice dead-on (yes, he is that stilted) it's a side-splittingly funny parody. |
I dont understand how those books are a problem. The women must have already read the books prior to their rapes because it seems like madness to go read something like that after a rape.
When I was 17 I lost my virginity by rape to a drunk drugged up neighbour. He broke a window and climbed into my house while I was in the bath. He beat, bite, and raped me for 12 hours. For years afterwards the smell of alcohol (especially on someones skin when they've drunk a lot) would make me throw up or pee myself. I don't expect drinking to be made illegal because drunks freak me out. I dont expect beer to suddenly only be available sheathed in a brown paper bag so as to avoid further harm to me.
I am an adult. I made the choice to actively participate in recovery from abuse. I stopped allowing monsters to hide under my bed.
Children are unable to protect themselves, either from the people who seek to hurt them or the tools they use to further their cause. It is they we must protect.