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Rape in porn comics: My Unwanted Opinions
8 years ago
General
Firstly, I'd like to preface this by saying that, while I won't name the artist or the particular comic that triggered this journal, and while I'll try to be at least somewhat vague, it's entirely possible that several of you will know what I'm referring to just from context clues, and a few of my friends already know since I've discussed it briefly with them. I'll ask that nobody post any guesses in this journal, nor PM me with guesses: if I find any attempts to ID either the artist or comic I'll delete them. This journal isn't meant to vilify anyone, it's meant for me to just get these opinions off my chest.
With that out of the way, I'd like to discuss my opinions on rape in porn comics. One of the main defenses I see is "it's just porn lol." First and foremost, no. Maybe our definitions differ, but I see porn as something that is both arousing and pleasurable. I will not deny that rape in porn can often be arousing, but at the same time it certainly isn't enjoyable. Disgusting is probably a closer word. I think part of this takes root in the fact that I'm very much a control freak, and any situation where someone has no way to stop themselves or a loved one from being victimized gets really deep under my skin. That's twofold when the rape includes acts I typically find arousing, as it comes along with the shame of having that physical reaction of arousal to something so abhorrent as rape.
That links into an element of the comic that sparked this discussion; how physical arousal and desire are linked. One of the recently-introduced antagonists immediately fondles the main protagonist and reveals him to have an erection upon witnessing an ongoing rape occurring, and implies that it's connected to enjoying the scene before him or desiring sex himself. I'm not entirely sure of the artist's intent here: they might be using this as a means to make this new antagonist seem more despicable, or this may be truly a means of revealing some facet of the protagonist. In either case, I feel it's important to make this clear: physical arousal is a completely separate entity from desire and enjoyment. Anyone with a penis can attest to the fact that erections occur independently of desire. One can become physically aroused as a result of a good workout, as a result of anger or fear. Erections are even a common physical reaction during the course of death. Orgasm is the same thing: a physical reaction to a stimulus, not necessarily a sign of pleasure.
One more element is the means by which this rape is achieved. The deuteragonist of the comic in question is - at least as far as we can tell - being raped through coersion. The main antagonist does make the implication that it's simply a desire for him to suck any cock that's made available to him, but based on previous actions by both the deuteragonist and antagonist, it seems doubtful (although, again, I'm not fully aware of the artist's intentions or motives, and without a clear answer from them, this is still in the air). That said, rape through coersion IS STILL RAPE. Put yourself in the victim's shoes. Suppose you're given one of two choices: either you have to watch a man slowly torture your mother as you're forced to watch, or you're forced to suck his cock while your mother watches. If you choose to suck the man off to save your mother, does that mean you're no longer being raped, simply because you made the decision? Of course not. You've simply chosen the option that'll result in the least harm in the long run.
You'll probably note that I did implore that you "put yourself in the victim's shoes," and I think that may be part of why I've taken such an aversion to the events in the comic. I empathize far too much with the characters. Despite knowing this is a work of imagination, that the events are fictional, and not at all knowing how the artist intends to resolve these issues, I still put myself into the protagonist's mindset, I still imagine how I would react in the situation, and I find myself sick to my stomach at the thought of ever facing something so harrowing. It may very well just be me being me.
Once more, I'll state that this is by no means a dig at the artist, or the comic that triggered this. For all I know they may intend to resolve everything by the next page, or they may be setting things up to make the antagonists as despicable as possible. Or they may well be in the "it's just porn lol" camp, I dunno. I'm not here to judge, I just wanted to get this out and see how others may think.
With that out of the way, I'd like to discuss my opinions on rape in porn comics. One of the main defenses I see is "it's just porn lol." First and foremost, no. Maybe our definitions differ, but I see porn as something that is both arousing and pleasurable. I will not deny that rape in porn can often be arousing, but at the same time it certainly isn't enjoyable. Disgusting is probably a closer word. I think part of this takes root in the fact that I'm very much a control freak, and any situation where someone has no way to stop themselves or a loved one from being victimized gets really deep under my skin. That's twofold when the rape includes acts I typically find arousing, as it comes along with the shame of having that physical reaction of arousal to something so abhorrent as rape.
That links into an element of the comic that sparked this discussion; how physical arousal and desire are linked. One of the recently-introduced antagonists immediately fondles the main protagonist and reveals him to have an erection upon witnessing an ongoing rape occurring, and implies that it's connected to enjoying the scene before him or desiring sex himself. I'm not entirely sure of the artist's intent here: they might be using this as a means to make this new antagonist seem more despicable, or this may be truly a means of revealing some facet of the protagonist. In either case, I feel it's important to make this clear: physical arousal is a completely separate entity from desire and enjoyment. Anyone with a penis can attest to the fact that erections occur independently of desire. One can become physically aroused as a result of a good workout, as a result of anger or fear. Erections are even a common physical reaction during the course of death. Orgasm is the same thing: a physical reaction to a stimulus, not necessarily a sign of pleasure.
One more element is the means by which this rape is achieved. The deuteragonist of the comic in question is - at least as far as we can tell - being raped through coersion. The main antagonist does make the implication that it's simply a desire for him to suck any cock that's made available to him, but based on previous actions by both the deuteragonist and antagonist, it seems doubtful (although, again, I'm not fully aware of the artist's intentions or motives, and without a clear answer from them, this is still in the air). That said, rape through coersion IS STILL RAPE. Put yourself in the victim's shoes. Suppose you're given one of two choices: either you have to watch a man slowly torture your mother as you're forced to watch, or you're forced to suck his cock while your mother watches. If you choose to suck the man off to save your mother, does that mean you're no longer being raped, simply because you made the decision? Of course not. You've simply chosen the option that'll result in the least harm in the long run.
You'll probably note that I did implore that you "put yourself in the victim's shoes," and I think that may be part of why I've taken such an aversion to the events in the comic. I empathize far too much with the characters. Despite knowing this is a work of imagination, that the events are fictional, and not at all knowing how the artist intends to resolve these issues, I still put myself into the protagonist's mindset, I still imagine how I would react in the situation, and I find myself sick to my stomach at the thought of ever facing something so harrowing. It may very well just be me being me.
Once more, I'll state that this is by no means a dig at the artist, or the comic that triggered this. For all I know they may intend to resolve everything by the next page, or they may be setting things up to make the antagonists as despicable as possible. Or they may well be in the "it's just porn lol" camp, I dunno. I'm not here to judge, I just wanted to get this out and see how others may think.
(that's actually a problem I had with Inorog for a while. I identified with him too much and rapey stuff stopped being hot as a result for some time, but rather a source of great discomfort)
But then, of course, we also want characters with personality... Some of the hottest porn I've read has been with very vivid, very real characters .And archetypes by themselves are boring. So it's not necessarily a hard and fast rules, and can be a thin line to straddle...
The supposition also goes of course that in real life you'd identify with everyone else around you rather than objectify them--but as we sadly know that isn't always true.
Anyway, tldr human sexuality is weird, liking rape stuff is definitely problematic in a lot of ways, but I've also come to accept it's just a part of my sexual makeup and that it's important to keep stuff to fantasy and take a step back if it gets too heavy.
I can see how you started getting uncomfortable with Ino being in non-con scenes, too. As I mentioned above, I'm kinda the same way with Onyx, and when the consent with him is dubious, I still end up painting him as consenting at some point. One note is that generally, if it's a fully non-con situation, the aggressor is typically something mindless that has no concept of the moral implications of what's happening, with Onyx mostly understanding the nature of his attacker, so he feels less... violated, I guess? This might well be an unhealthy viewpoint, maybe even hypocritical, but it is what it is. And at the end, I don't participate in images or scenes I'm not okay with anyway, so even then I'm exerting personal control.
If characters are written in a way to make you sympathise with them, and then you just have them get raped and that's the whole thing, it's pretty not okay. I'm not on the side that people shouldn't have an outlet for those things, but I'd appreciate a rape warning int he thumbnail there more than on a comic where a blue fox gets his guts filled with suprise tentacles. Naturally how you feel about it is important, but mostly to you. So even if what distressed you stopped being made by the creator, you still bear your responsibility to protect yourself and look out for such things in the future. (Not saying you specifically, but the collective "you" btw)
So I guess basically, it sucks for you, but the creator didn't intend that (hopefully) and nothing really forces you to look except yourself. (All of our worst enemies) Yet it's a risk of the environment too. Furries are basically super lax, for the most part because a lot of us aren't really in a place to judge or shame eachother, which is a very real thing people do to control the society as a whole. So, I hope you don't have such difficulties in the future, but I can't say whatever comic (as I really have no clue what it is so my opinion has to be objective.) isn't really something worth targeting, you didn't make it sound like it violates any real boundaries. (Like, using real names, making threats, breaking ToS, etc.)
But I'm not 100% aware of the whole situation. Hopefully, like, bad stuff won't happen.
That's honestly one thing that I feel is a problem with FA itself, though. They used to provide thumbnails in submissions and on the front page; now they only seem to appear as part of the artists' profile. I dunno if I'm missing a setting or something, and if so that's my bad, but as it is... well, it's especially annoying because I love a lot of the artist's work, but had to unwatch them to minimize my risk of seeing the comic.
The site DOES remove all thumbnails on the main page, but everywhere else it keeps them. I think having a mandatory tag thing, and some.better filing options would go a long way to helping the site with content management. Especially because it could mean the inclusion of a black and white list for content management. Sofurry tries tondo this, bit for a few reasons FA (as a website) is still a better experience in a lot of ways. E621 does content filtering extremely well, but over all lacks more important features needed for artists to make a living. Though hopefully we'll see some global changes to everything on the furry 'sphere'
It's just such a disappointment. I used to like this artist's stuff. Now I can't even look at the things they did that I once enjoyed.