Note to Diana Gabaldon

[matrixrefugee]

Aka. Little Miss "Fanfiction is Rape". Here's a thought: Try meeting with some real rape victims/survivors. Ask them what it was like, and then try comparing people borrowing your characters to what they went through. Fanfic writers just *BORROW THINGS*. You should be taking this as a compliment, that people are so enthused with your books that they're imagining things that happened in between scenes, not twisting it into something that's just plain rude and which denigrates the sufferings of real people. Or are you the type who wants to have fictional characters declared to be real people and thus subject to human rights? The problem is, they don't exist, at least not in this universe. If that's the case, then I guess we need to start prosecuting some of the villains. But how do you get the charges to stick to, say, Gendo Ikari in the Evangelion series, since he's definitely facing human rights violations, due to, oh, destroying the entire human population just so he could be reunited with his wife? Have fun trying to get those murder, kidnapping, torture, human organ trafficking and rape charges to stick to Kazutaka Muraki: he's got alibis like Teflon, besides being the grandmaster of the Karma Houdini.

I had half an interest in reading her books, now I have zero interest, and to be honest, if I find one of her books in a jumble shop, I'm inclined to buy it and use it as toilet paper. I was having a crappy day to begin with, and now it's got even worse.

Ryuk, hand me that death note.

Comments

[anivad.livejournal.com]

Buy them, use it as toilet paper, and take photos.

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I just might!! Might be a little squidgey for some people, but it's worth a shot!

[zekkass.livejournal.com]

The worst part, for me, is that GRRM, an author I hugely respect, supports her stance on fanfic. No idea who this Diana lady is, but GRRM? He writes good stuff! So yeah.

Boo.

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as soon as GRRM got on the bandwagon, I decided to put him on the "buy it used in paperback" list of authors; this happens when people are idiots about IP laws, or just idiots in general ( :: Glares in the direction of a female urban fantasy writer who bitched at me about people buying books used:: ). I'm with the MIT professor who argues that fanfiction is a form of literary criticism, and if people can write papers about the themes, etc. of literature and their personal understanding thereof, people should be allowed to write fictional takes on said characters, themes, etc.

[koemiko.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I think it's the changing definition of the term "rape" that gets things bungled up. According to dictionary.com one of the definitions of rape is:

4. an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.

So though I think she's taking an extreme stance on it, I don't think she was trying to compare it to literal sexual assault. Though, I do think this was the straw to your camel-back bad day. To which, I say:

*hugs* Chin up, buttercup.

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

The problem is, most people's first thought when the term is used tends to be the "sexual assault" definition, which is, granted, a knee-jerk reaction. Unfortunately, due to things that have happened in my extended family, I am one of these people, thus my indignation (yeah, I tend to get uncomfortable with the title of a comedic mock-heroic poem by Alexander Pope, ie. "The Rape of the Lock").

[koemiko.livejournal.com]

In my experience, it's almost always a reference to a feeling of violation, and rarely has anything to do with the traumatic experience of rape, or people who have been in that heinous situation.

The issue is, the nature of language is to change. The more importance we place upon the word, the more we are setting ourselves up to 1) have others use it only to offend us, 2) watch that word drift in definition, 3) watch that word fall out of use.

Case in point, "Nigger," "Bitch," and "Awesome."

Moving on. As such, I think it's all right to feel violated by fanfic** (and thus use the word in that string of sentences - as long as she doesn't go on and on about it and make explicit references to actual rape.)

**You do, do not, like rape in fanfic?