Oh the ways I despise FF.NET. My despite has no bounds. Yes I mean YOU. And YOU. AND YOU.

[timepiececlock]

Things Rashaka Hates To See Done To Female Heroes In Fanfiction, ft. Katara of Avatar:TLA

1. Katara being lured away by a man and almost raped only to be rescued by Zuko/Aang/Jet/Haru, seeing as she totally forgot she could kick their asses any OTHER day except the day some random man decided to rape/sexually assault her.



2. Katara kissing Zuko/Aang/Jet/Haru after he rescued her from almost being raped/sexually assaulted, because sexual contact is really what she wanted the whole time, right? And it's just Zuko/Aang/Jet/Haru talks prettier to her, so that makes it okay, the whore.



3. Katara whoring herself out for money to survive, because a woman in need of poverty will always whore herself out, because that's a woman's natural fallback way of life, right? Even though someone like Katara has the physical/magical power to maim or kill pretty much anyone she chooses, there's no way she'd be a thug and mug people for money. Why do that when she can whore herself out?



4. Katara whoring herself out for money to survive, and being rescued from her life of sin by Zuko/Aang/Jet/Haru, because it's always a man's job to rescue the little woman from her natural state of whorish behavior, and only through his benevolent love and protection can she find happiness and integrity in life, providing of course she falls in love with him next, since being his object of sexual desire is fine, just as long as she realizes she can't be anyone else's.



5. Katara forgetting the fact that she knows how to use waterbending to maim or kill people. Seriously, KATARA KNOWS HOW TO MAIM AND KILL PEOPLE. KATARA IS A WARRIOR, AND WARRIORS MAIM AND KILL PEOPLE. That is what she went to the North Pole to learn, and she got very good at it. Katara had the opportunity to be a healer, and she decided she'd rather learn how to maim and kill people. Please for all our sakes' remember that.

Okay, see that list? Now take the name of the character, Katara, and replace it with EVERY LEAD FEMALE CHARACTER IN ALL OF YOUR FAVORITE SHOWS. Television, anime, books, WHATEVER.

Chances are, you've read that fic multiple times, for every female lead character you can think of.

More than bad spelling, more than an inability to understand paragraph breaks, more than random OOC love stories, this is the shit I hate to see in fanfiction.

^---This is what badfic looks like.---^


p.s. If you want to write rapefic, read this story first. Then come back and tell me you want to fucking write some rapefic, and I'll say okay.


EDIT: muffytaj is love.

Comments

[mana-runigha.livejournal.com]

I can see why that seems dumb unless she attempted waterbending and that was an utter failure or she didn't have any water nearby. She was lucky in Ep. 9 until Zuko caught her off guard and bound her hands which has been proven in several episodes to be necessary in bending.

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

Ah, FF.Net, how you continue to delight us...

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

In the case of pre-episode 10 fanfic, I can imagine situations where Katara might be physically overpowered. But having her then fall in love with her rescuer and kissing him within the next two days or even the next five minutes makes no sense either.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

She was lucky in Ep. 9 until Zuko caught her off guard and bound her hands which has been proven in several episodes to be necessary in bending.

True. But that was episode 9, she's come a long way since then. Even if she doesn't have a lot of water nearby, she always has what's in her canteen. Enough to create the water-whip, and that's proven useful on countless occassions, before she became a bad-ass waterbending master.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

With only a dribble of water she could freeze somebody's eyeballs. That'd be pretty damn effective against an attacker.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

This is true, too. Katara's a fighter and there's no way she's letting somebody go that far without getting the whip. (Or their eyeballs frozen.) No matter what episode the fic's set in.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I mean, DUDE. I just read a new fic by the person who wrote "To Fight For Honor", which I liked, and its plot pretty much encompasses three of the four points above. I looked at this new fic and then back and the old one and I'm like, "Why, ficcer, WHY?"

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

I vote for laziness as the leading culprit. Nobody wants to bother with the reality of characterization or plot that doesn't lead to kissies.

(Three minutes later>--- ::gets struck by lightning for hypocrisy:: )

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I'm all for plots that lead to kissies. I love fic with kissies. More fic could to with kissies, or even better, sexies. But I just fail to see why rape & rescue is supposed to be romantic. That's not romantic, that's scary and traumatic and angering makes you want to lash out, not make out. HOW did this become a fanfic cliche? How is it that new fanfic writers, FEMALE fanfic writers read fics with this plot, think it's sooooo cool and romantic, and want to replicate it in their fics? HOW? ::headdesk::

[beckingham.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, people, sex that's used to comfort after a rape just fucks things up more. Really. It happens. Girl might start associating boy with rape - to soon after and it will just add salt to the wound. GAH.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Exactly. We've seen what Katara can do with her bending when she's angry. Why couldn't she get angry/scared enough to bend the liquid in people's bodies? We've never seen her desperately protecting herself. I'm sure she's capable of a lot.

And, even if you feel the need to break down and humiliate her character (I admit I like breaking down characters sometimes) by, say, having her leg broken so she can't move and her hands bound so she's totally incapacitated to whatever the attackers want to do, the least you could do is write an in-character aftermath. None of this clinging to the male rescuer bullshit, when even looking at a man is probably the last thing she'd want to do.

[mana-runigha.livejournal.com]

No female would just kiss their rescuer after being raped or nearly raped...they'd be too stunned to maybe even properly thank the rescuer and completely freaked out.

What's sad is that a good deal of the fans of A:TLA seem to be really young and I've read stories that are rated M written by kids under thirteen. I think part of it has to do with being naive about sex.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

No kidding. It happens, though it's unusual, that sometimes people seek more sexual contact to counteract a violent or hurtful experience. But most of the time that's not healthy contact or healthy behavior, and it doesn't lead to true love, and it doesn't make things better.

Now, if I read a rapefic that actually addressed the fact that it makes things worse, well at least they'd get points for an attempt at realism.

[muffytaj.livejournal.com]

I wish there were more fics where Katara decides to turn to a life of thuggery and thievery in order to gain money. That would be much more interesting.

Or, you know, bum off people's offerings to the Avatar. Whichever.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

No female would just kiss their rescuer after being raped or nearly raped...they'd be too stunned to maybe even properly thank the rescuer and completely freaked out.

Pretty much.

It happens, though it's unusual, that sometimes people seek more sexual contact to counteract a violent or hurtful experience. But most of the time that's not healthy contact or healthy behavior, and it doesn't lead to true love, and it doesn't make things better. Usually it fucks them up worse inside. And even so, this reaction is rare.

I think part of it has to do with being naive about sex.

That's probably true, but this problem spreads across every fandom I've been in. It's not limited to young fandoms. When I said it applies to any female lead character in any fandom, I mean that. I've been in fandom for about 7 years, and in every single fandom I've come across, with characters both adults and teens, I've found fics like this. Sometimes quite a lot.

[mana-runigha.livejournal.com]

Thievery would be more interesting. Sokka can do the thuggery.

[muffytaj.livejournal.com]

They would be known as the "Watery Death Duo!" and they would rob from the rich and give to the poor. And then squabble with each other because Sokka would insist that THEY are the poor ones and therefore they could keep the money and still be giving to the poor, and Katara would be insisting they use it to fund rebel attacks and give it to the even less fortunate.

And Aang? Well, he'd be busy hanging out with Appa and Momo, trying to get them to admit their feelings for each other.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I think I might write a fic like that at some point. You should too. It's been too long since I had a nice good anti-rapefic rant in story form.

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes: the Rape Fantasy. Not a debate topic I enjoy tangoing with because, frankly, it is at best a pathetic little cliché that’s grown too big to hide in the back alley gutter where its life began. Despite being a thousand miles away from reality, rape fantasies remain a gimmick I’m not sure I want to comprehend. This is especially, and depressingly, true in fanfiction where somehow the notion of being brutally overpowered and subjugated has become a cheap ticket for “romantic thrills”.

If someone wants to write a rape story, fine: that’s between you, your keyboard, and the rabbi. But, for f*ck’s sake, kids: rape is not a love a story.

(The thing that frightens me most, though, is how so many fan-writers seem so damn earnest about it.)

[beckingham.livejournal.com]

A dear friend of mine that suffered from sexual abuse often acts much more sexualized than she really is. It's just her way of dealing, but it's obviously not helping her. It also gives people the wrong idea of what she's comfortable with. Forcing yourself to be involved that way before you're ready will eventually poison your attitude toward sex completely.

I can forgive people who write rape!fic, because rape and the repercussions of such isn't ever really discussed in any formal setting - not something that's brought up in sex ed. But it doesn't mean you shouldn't leave a review that reminds them to maybe visit a site that addresses the problems they're writing about; a little ignorance can be easily mended - if the author is willing, of course.

Now, if I read a rapefic that actually addressed the fact that it makes things worse, well at least they'd get points for an attempt at realism.
These are the sort of rape fics I pine for, because they make an effort instead of carelessly throwing the issue around. Why is rape brought up so causally in fic and not in sex ed where you might actually gain some insight?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Rape fantasy, like all control fantasies, can have their place in human sexuality. But the people/kids who write these fics don't understand S&M fantasies in a realistic sexual situation, and convolute them with the idea that real trauma can lead to romantic thrills. As you said so nicely,

"This is especially, and depressingly, true in fanfiction where somehow the notion of being brutally overpowered and subjugated has become a cheap ticket for “romantic thrills”."

The earnestness bothers me too. My only explanation is that fanfiction cliches replicate themselves across fandoms and down through fandom generations, so we see the same bad plots over and over again. And the people who come into this stuff, especially very young fans, maybe fanfic is their first experience reading about these things, maybe the never read about it in a novel before, or in an essay, or an-depth magazine feature. So they read this shit and think that this stuation is right or desireable, that this is how sexual relationships should be.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

But it doesn't mean you shouldn't leave a review that reminds them to maybe visit a site that addresses the problems they're writing about; a little ignorance can be easily mended - if the author is willing, of course.

Sometimes I do the teaching thing, sometimes I turn away from the fic in disgust and read something else. Unfortunately I've read to many fics that use sexual assault or threat of assault as a plot for cheap romantic thrills, and I've given up on educating the entire internet. Every once in a while I meet my max capacity and use Livejournal to vent my indignation.

These are the sort of rape fics I pine for, because they make an effort instead of carelessly throwing the issue around.

I linked to a fic in the post that is the best handling of rape in any fanfiction I've read, across fandoms. There's a few out there, probably in a couple of different fandoms, but this is one that struck me emotionally.

Rants in fic form are fun!

[muffytaj.livejournal.com]

"Hey little lady," The sleazy fire nation soldier said. Katara had been gathering water from the river, when all of a sudden a random firebender had turned up! "You're awfully pretty..."

Zuko was walking around in the woods, wondering where the hell the avatar was, or his uncle was for that matter, when he heard a piercing shriek.

"That sounded like a woman in trouble! And since I only know one woman, it must be Katara!" He shouted, and raced off towards the screaming.

"Help!" The screamer screamed when they saw Zuko. "Help me, oh kind sir!"

Zuko raised an eyebrow as he took in the scene before him. The fire nation troop had been frozen naked to the tree, icicles piercing his hands and shoved up his nostrils, whilst Katara readied an ice dagger.

"Wanna-be rapist." She said shortly, not seeming at all surprised to see Zuko. "Any objections to me," here the ice dagger cut through the air, resting against the fire nation man's groin "dealing with him the water tribe way?"

"None at all." Zuko said in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual, as he began to seriously reconsider his life goals.

"Good." Katara smirked, and swung.

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

And that is exactly why we need good fic out in the pool: to set a standard and curtail the influence of immature, self-indulgent, thoughtless rubbish. Basically, writers should be shown the value of respecting the subject matter (instead of just exploiting it like a half-brained monkey masturbating in the corner…y’know, next to the typerwriter.)

[beckingham.livejournal.com]

It's you're not required to educate anyone, of course - that's not your job nor am I going to badger you about it, but whenever I read a fic that would otherwise be great except for their mishandling of the rape... I pop in and tell them so. I can't let a good fic go down like that.

I noticed your link and went to check it out, but I'm not too fond of the Buffy fandom; specifically because I've never seen more than one or two episodes. Maybe I'll read it through despite that, just to see how they deal with everything, but I'll put that off for a time when I'm in a more adventurous mood.