**Adult contents and the mention of rape in FF** - Page 6

Originally posted by: -publicenemy-

This is a troubling phenomenon that has been evident in many FFs for a while now. However, what I have also noticed that - and I admit that this is likely an over-generalization - the FFs that glorify rape, rapists, and have the woman victim be presented as someone who either enjoys it or who later finds love with the perpetrator are written in a generally immature manner or at the very least give the indication that it is written by a young person or someone who is just reaching for extremes in the FF without having any understanding of the issue itself. The reader-base also tends to be of a similar ilk, giving the indication of young age or some level of lack of maturity in their responses. I am all for creative freedom in writing and there is certainly a genre of rape-fantasy fiction out there that has its own reader-base (although generally they are geared towards adults with some clear understanding of the distinction between fantasy and reality and not young'uns attracted to the shock value of the subject and somehow confusing that level of control and possession as somehow reflecting desirability and genuine love).

I have had debates on this issue with some of my friends here on IF and in arguing both sides of the equation between ourselves, what one of them said was that there is no way to protect children and adolescents from the real world and given that they have access to the web and all its questionable content, what is the purpose of trying to control content here on IF or FFs. While there is some merit to her argument, I am often troubled by how much support there is here for 'dark FFs' with this content and how the majority typically tend to ignore the issue and the fact that some of these FFs receive 300 and 400 likes. Popularity does not automatically mean that the issue should not be questioned or that there shouldn't be a good discussion about this trend so that the other side of the issue - the problems with glorifying rape in this manner - should not be discussed.

Independent of the new rules on writing this content, I am genuinely curious about the appeal of this trend and would like to hear from both sides of the argument - those who are in support of it and those who are opposed to it.

-D