A post-script on the non-con issue

[emmagrant01]

In my last post, I asked people to give their opinions on non-con in fanfic, and the results surprised me. I knew that the label meant different things to different people, but some of the perspectives that were expressed in comments really caught me off guard.

1. Some people think all non-con is about sexual gratification. That surprised me. While I do get that people have rape fantasies and fic fulfills that particular kink, I don't think it's fair to assume that all or even most non-con in fic is there to be sexually arousing. There are other reasons for inserting non-con scenarios into stories, and many of them have much more more to do with power and providing a catalyst for character development than they do with getting the reader off. Just because it's about sex doesn't mean it's a PWP.

2. Some people think there is only one kind of non-con, and it's all violent rape. I don't want to get into a huge discussion about what rape is and isn't. I have some personal experience with the issue that I don't want to get into, and besides -- that's not the point. The point is that this is about people (mostly women) exploring fears and fantasies or dealing with their own particular traumas through writing fiction. To put all of those fics into a category of "evil bad stuff I don't read cause who wants to get off on that" seems strange to me, considering how much kink there is in the fandom. We're usually all quite open-minded about people's motivations for writing a particular kink in a live-and-let-live sort of way, so why do we make assumptions about people's motivations in this case? I'm not saying people shouldn't read what they want, of course. I just find it interesting that people feel that way.

3. The label "non-con" means different things to different people. Yes, duh. But still, it's made me question how useful that label even is. Depending on who you ask, I have either never written non-con, or I've written a ton of it. At this point, I'm leaning toward the first, because I haven't ever written a sex act that would classify as rape according to my own definition. Even in situations where there was dubious consent at best, it always was worked out between the characters before they got to any actual sex. Either that, or in the cases when consent wasn't given, the "victim" was able to fight back and turn the tables. For me, writing those stories is about empowerment, not stripping people of power. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with flat-out rape in fic, because that is something many people clearly want to read and write. But should all of those fics be classified in the same way? I just don't think so.

Anyway, those are some thoughts I had as I was reading over comments on that post last night. And now, off to a meeting...

Comments

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard about that in Germany. In the US, the case law is up in the air about fanfic as porn, as far as I know. There haven't been any cases in which written materials were classified as the sort you have to restrict access to. Visual images are different, but I believe that may only be restricted to visuals of real people, so fanart might not count.

[rubymiene.livejournal.com]

US law is quite convoluted. For example, two sixteen year olds who decide to have some fun and tape themselves having sex would be guilty of child pornography.
Under the First Amendment, sexual visual depiction of minors that do not contain as real minor (including digital manipulations) are protected as 'free speech', however, the burden has been placed on defendants to prove that the production of the depictions didn't actually harm a minor.

[sorion.livejournal.com]

Basically, they have targeted the porn.
That's why PWPs aren't allowed, anymore. Sex in a story is okay, sex without one constitutes as porn.

Rape is a felony and therefore off limits, too. Non-con in a story counts as sex.