::Bored::

[teddog]

Slow day at the office, waiting for materials and whatnot. I've been trying to get a slimmed down version of Coppermine up and running on Signal Loss. It seems to be coming along, although I'm going to have to dig to disable the rating system, since it's messing with my layout.

Small rant: I really don't like it in fandom when the non-words "molestable" or "rapeable" are used to describe an actor or a character. It's so... wrong.

We know what rape is. What does molest mean?

1. To disturb, interfere with, or annoy.
2. To subject to unwanted or improper sexual activity.

Yeah, in many cases where it's a character, we're dealing with a fictional thing. If you like non-con, that's your own thing. It seems to be a kink that's becoming very popular in areas of fandom, probably for the same reason incest is: It's "racy" and whatnot and slash and BDSM have been done. Buuuut... threatening molestion against another human, like an actor, with intent to carry out that action, is pretty wrong. I'm also willing to group younger characters under this "Wrong!" catagory. You don't walk up to a 4 year old on the street and tell the mother "Ooo! He's so rapeable!" That's grounds for being arrested.

If you wanna do someone, fictional or otherwise, then just say that. "I'd jump his bones" or whatever else works. Talking about molesting them, in the true sense of the word, hints that you are lacking confidence; that you believe that the object of your affection will not give you a second look, so you need to rape them in order to get what you want. That or you want sex slaves and I'm not sure where the law stands on that.

The sad thing is you see "molestable" a lot refering to geeky or socially awkward characters, which seems to be sort of insulting. Why is it assumed that a nerd will refuse sex, so you need to force yourself on them? This isn't fanfic and odds are, they aren't going to suddenly enjoy it at the end. Is it wrong somehow to call a geek sexy in the true sense, instead bringing them down to "It's only fun if you take advantage of them"? We have sex drives too, you know.

Meeeeeeh I'm done.

Comments

[moonygirl.livejournal.com]

...but I like things that I'm familiar with. Like slash and BDSM. ;_;

We have sex drives too, you know

Well most of the time anyway. XD

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

...but I like things that I'm familiar with. Like slash and BDSM. ;_;

Didn't's you hear? Those are NORMAL now. You can pick up your "mainstream" button with the het and gen writers.

Well most of the time anyway. XD

Except during periods and stuff. Because that's like, icky time. That's when the sap is good.

[moonygirl.livejournal.com]

Well they shouldn't be normal. ;_;

Yeah but like sap like 25/7.^^

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

And that's why we love you.

Awesome Lust icon, BTW. She's such an lovable evil bitch. I love my little figure of her - oh, and her eyes are red in the manga, which explains the odd paint job:
http://groups.msn.com/FullMetalAlchemist/chapter39.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=4886

[moonygirl.livejournal.com]

^^

Why thank you, I made that icon. *preens* Yeah she certainly is, she on my fvaourite top ten character list especially in the manga.

Her eyes are red? Then are the rest of their eyes are purple or are they red too? I always thought it was nifty that the rest of them except Pride had the same color of eyes practially.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Wait... or ARE they purple?
http://groups.msn.com/FullMetalAlchemist/fullmetalalchemistartbook.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=2758
This is all very confusing. o___O

I thought it was a little silly having all of their eyes purple, with Envy beening a plothole; in his "true form" in the anime, his eyes are gold. I'm guessing that it's a carry over from his orignal form, but that doesn't explain why Sloth and Lust have purple eyes when we know that Trisha and Scar's sister-in-law didn't. Lust's should have been red, given where she was from. Trisha... I don't remember in her case, since she was probably onscreen for fivem mintues.

[moonygirl.livejournal.com]

ugh. Sometimes wished they would keep things consitent. -_-;;

I do believe that Al had his mother's eyes so....

[slwatson.livejournal.com]

Non-con has always been there. It's been an underlying trend in fandom for practically ever -- I haven't particularly seen a resurgance of it, but then again, there are a lot of larger fandoms I don't get involved with.

I'm a fan of well done non-con/rape stories. And by well-done, I absolutely do not mean stories where the victim falls in love with the perp, or stories where it's used as a stepping stone to oodles of angst that ends with fluffy sex. I mean realism. I mean an author who actually understands what rape can do to a person, and portrays it accurately. For that matter, I'm a fan of any story that can justify itself in such a matter, in any genre -- het, gen, slash, etc, etc, etc. Realism (and spot-on characterization) is absolutely the key.

I crossed into that territory when I wrote Fundamental Beliefs, and it wasn't pretty. It was bloody and violent and messed up, and it sure didn't have oodles of angst or fluffy sex. Ever.

And that was not a geeky or pretty character -- it was Sabretooth. I think that most people automatically assume that characters who aren't bulging muscles out of every opening in their shirt are somehow easier to take advantage of.

And they seem to completely miss the psychology of rape. It's not a crime of attraction, it's a crime of control and domination. Looking at a pretty boy and wanting to fuck him, or a geeky one, is NOT IN ANY WAY the same as wanting to actually rape them. Generally speaking, people who want to screw another character on the basis of attraction (mental or physical) would never cross the line into rape unless they were inherantly sick and perverted to begin with, and certainly not just casually.

Blah. It's messed up, but when isn't 98% of fanfic?

I won't even touch the RPS/RPF angle. It's wrong. Period.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

I know non-con is an old kink. However, it has snowballed in a lot of anime fandoms. In FMA, it's like every other fic has a non-con warning slapped on it. Which would be fine, except that the fics are exactly like you described; Either character A gets raped by character B and then they fall in love (it's like Stockholm syndrome, but not) or character A gets raped by character B, falls into deep angst and then discovers the healing power of sex with character C. Repeat ad nauseum. Much like NC-17 fics written by 12 year olds. In fact, there's crossover in the two catagories.

I think I'm suffering from general sick and tiredness of sex in modern society. Yay! General attraction = I want to molest someone! There's at least a DOZEN other phrases you can use to describe a character and most of them include real words, like my best friend's "he's cute like a little lost puppy!". Meh. Maybe that's a little over the top, but you get the idea.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

That's very weird. Molestation and rape are truly horrible experiences for most people and the aftermath can be devastating as people attempt to rebuild their lives afterwards.

Fiction, any type of fiction, needs to deal with the consequences of it. Real people don't just pick themselves up and go on with their lives. In the realm of the fantastic (spec fic, comics or whatnot) I actually think it's even more important to explore this. If Cyclops got raped by Sabretooth, that should be something that resonates with the character for the rest of his life.

Besides, sex is supposed to be fun! It can be kinky as hell (or not) but at it's core it's supposed to be about consent - even in over the top dom/sub situations, it's still about consent. Molestation doesn't.

Von

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Here's it in use, if you want an example (http://community.livejournal.com/fm_alchemist/4446714.html). It comes across as very dehumanizing. Interesting, because fangirls use it to refer to male characters/actors. If a man refered to a female character like that, he'll learn the meaning of double standard quite quickly.

In the realm of the fantastic (spec fic, comics or whatnot) I actually think it's even more important to explore this. If Cyclops got raped by Sabretooth, that should be something that resonates with the character for the rest of his life.

This is what I've never understood about fandom and fan fic in particular.

To grab a random example, my sister was on the judging team for a "squick" fiction contest, which translates to "Try to disgust everyone else in fandom with a twisted, but well-written story!". She dragged me in as her ghost co-judge (because I tend to laugh at really bad stories, much like bad movies) and we read the material. There were a ton of molestation and rape stories, all focused on the event and not the fallout.

The result is just really awful writing. There's a total removal of the emotional side of the act by both parties and a strong focus on the physical. Further more, the stories ended after the fact and didn't go deeper into the consequences, which would have been much more horrific in terms of literature then the act itself. I believe the authors believed that they were doing something avant-garde when they missed the point completely.

But I ramble.

[slwatson.livejournal.com]

If Cyclops got raped by Sabretooth, that should be something that resonates with the character for the rest of his life.

Oh, my poor Scott! :::grabs and cuddles her Cyke plushie:::

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

::Insert out of context reference to a very large mutant getting his head lopped off::

Because, you know, the example made me think of that.

[slwatson.livejournal.com]

Similar and different. That was genuinely psychological warfare that would have never played out (though no one else knew that) and was meant to be a mindfuck more than anything (and resoundingly succeeded in those terms).

Did not take into account, though, that eventually you're gonna cross the wrong people. And failing to take those people seriously in battle, relying entirely on your near-immortality and healing factor, may just result in your life.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

That's too funny! :)

Von

[slwatson.livejournal.com]

Die-hard Cyke fan. At least, until he started doing the White Queen.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Call me old-school, but I still have a hard time with her being, y'know, a good guy. She did some pretty nasty things when she was a villain. I suppose anyone can reform but I dunno...

I'm a big fan of the 2nd X-men team in general (the one that debuted in Giant Size X-Men Number One). And for that reason, I kinda covet this.

Von

[slwatson.livejournal.com]

I think she's evil and needs to die. And I like the second team... Hell, I like all the different versions, all the way up until the modern era. When they went to the leather outfits (and killed Scott, and brought him back... should have left him dead), I quit.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Now you know my pain over Alpha Flight. And that's been 20 years...

Sigh...

Von

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

And on a completely unrelated note. Did you hear about this? I get SO jealous of Toronto sometimes.

And the Women of Comics panel looks quite interesting, too. Moggy and I had to make a decision on which con to attend and we decided on APE. But I'm kinda kicking myself right now.

Von

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh! No, I heard Mark was doing something in the next week, but didn't realize it was TONIGHT! I've been so busy as of late that I missed at completely. Crap, and I had plans to sleep after work today. :(

The Women of Comics panel look neat, but I have no idea what state my weekend will be in. We've been dealing with family issues at the moment; my grandfather passes away last week and we haven't found a signed will yet. MASSIVE LEGAL HEADACHES.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Sorry 'bout effecting your sleep patterns! :)

But seriously, I'm very sorry to hear about your grandpa. That's really tough and the lack of the will makes it that much harder. Even at the best of times death ain't easy, but to not be able to just focus on the death itself and the healing that goes along with it (if that makes sense) really bites hard.

Von

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

I've had to deal with about a death a year since 2001-ish, give or take. You get used to it after a while, as much as you can get used to such a thing.

Although, this marks the first time we've had an estate get frozen in probate. The other times, there was a will or everything was joint. It's sort of interesting to learn about, when it's not annoying the heck out of you.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hear you. The worst for me was when my Mom died. No will and no insurance. Weeeee...what fun.

Take care of yourself, y'hear!

Von