03-Jul-2001
Disclaimer: First of all, this is not an attack on yaoi. Most of you know that I write lots and lots of yaoi stuff (sometime with rape and NCS) and read lots and lots of yaoi stuff and love it. Secondly, this is just what I feel about the subject. I love intelligent banter and differences of opinions. I do, however, ask that if you are going to respond to this, please read carefully what I have to say, and not skip over important words. Also, please realize that I know there are tons of exceptions; I am generalizing some things here.
Recently, while semi-lurking on the yuri list, I read an interesting criticism of yaoi. The writer said that what turned him/her off to yaoi was the amount of rape and Non-Consensual Sex (NCS) present in the fanfics of this genre. There are many essays written on why such a phenomenon exists in yaoi and slash kingdoms, and here are some of my thoughts.
I think two of the keys for this frequent occurrence of rape and NCS are the semi-detachment of writers and the dynamics of rape itself.
Undeniably, the primary audience of yaoi and slash are women, which is not to say that erotic fiction written for homosexual men does not exist. The difference between yaoi and erotic fiction for homosexual men is characterization and the amount of sex. The characterization in yaoi of men and boys are often much more feminine and more sensitive than how most homosexual men view themselves. Often, men in yaoi fanfics will be much more idealistic than real men. That is, yaoi men often have real dilemmas and real traumas and not just the frustration of everyday life. That is why yaoi and slash kingdoms are often more popular when they are based on series where men have problems that are out of the ordinary. I think this is partially because women writers of yaoi instinctively know that these men are unattainable, and because they are unattainable, they lose a bit of human frailty. Despite the angst and the drama the characters in yaoi and slash go through, the characters themselves are often heroes and not anti-heroes. Homosexual men themselves deal with other homosexual men usually on a daily basis, and in their works, the men are often more realistic. They are more likely to deal with AIDS and prejudice than superhero responsibilities. Furthermore, despite of amount of PWP stories, gay men are more likely to view sex as for sex' sake than heterosexual women would.
While much of yaoi and slash deal with relationships, often yaoi/slash is a form of pornography. Consider how often explicit sex comes up in this genre. Yaoi/slash for women is quite possibly one of the ultimate forms of escapism because unlike heterosexual men who watch lesbian porn, women often do not wish to be part of the male/male relationship.
Because of the type of audience of the yaoi genre and because of the sometimes pornographic nature of yaoi, there is a certain amount of detachment over the writing of such material.
Rape is usually about power and not about lust. Rape is also something that robs someone of an enormous amount of control of his or her own life. Yet I believe the attraction of rape as a plot device is the exposure of vulnerability. Many times, when a man is raped in yaoi/slash, he becomes the victim. He is vulnerable, and he needs to be protected or avenged by his partner. Sometimes he simply runs away to avoid dealing with it. Women rarely get a glimpse of a man when he is this vulnerable, and it is thus an item of popular fantasy. Also, women sometimes view the dynamics of a male/male relationship as a power issue with a more masculine partner and a more feminine partner. It is almost always the perceived feminine partner who is raped, which sparks the protective tendencies of the more aggressive partner. Because the more aggressive partner is seen as being more masculine, he is also given the quality of ultra masculine ego. That is, the inability to express emotions. Yet in time of a rape or NCS, his own emotions too must also become vulnerable. I think this interest in vulnerability is one of the reasons that there are so many pregnant fics. Like rape, a pregnancy is another marker of complete vulnerability.
Interestingly enough, since women are often seen as the more vulnerable sex, when a woman is raped in a story in lots of recent feminist fiction, she herself often becomes the weapon and the tool that brings down her aggressor.
I know there are many issues I glossed over and many things I did not talk about. Feel free to mention them or disagree with me.
The End
Draco <-who hasn't written an essay in three weeks and it seems that Draco actually misses that.
(:./draco/rape)
