I'm not fond of dubcon and rape-romance. It's why I stopped to read yaoi as before and focus my readings on shonen-ai.
I know some women can see themself in the seme because the uke who is a man is raped by a woman with a dick by attribution.
It's my pov on the question, please excuse my poor english :)
Well, we all feel bad about reading shota or yaoi with rape. But i don't think it's something bad. It's just like video games. Even if you see people get killed, you won't have the idea to kill people (apart if you are mad...) So we should just enjoyed the main story and not only focuse on the "rape part"
It feels a bit strange sometimes but yaoi are not really representating the reality and it's exagerated. I'm okay with that :)
(sorry for my bad english level :p)
I don't read much shounen ai unless its really interesting.. or maybe I haven't really found the really good ones yet... haha! sometimes, it just too pure and innocent, you know? I need the sexy and wild shit. hahah! XD but I get your point, the whole dubcon and noncon thing is pretty sketchy and toxic at times.. like, you're gonna be. "wtf did I just read?!" for like 10 minutes after reading the manga! XD
I also agree with you Miyo : fantasies are fantasies because it's not reality :)
I see where you are coming from--"because it's a boy, we dismiss it". In reality, not boyxboy, it happens very often too. Some people stay in the relationship and gets married later some dont.
The author is allow is to write and draw what he/she wants in their manga though. I never thought once that it was okay to have someone get raped in a story--but I never let it bother me--once it bothers me, i drop the manga. What bothers me is shotacon. =( I cannot even bare to read it if there is a shotacon label.
I agree with you on that! yaoi IS fiction at its core!
Sometimes, I find it hard to drop the manga though, especially the harada ones. ugh! I just can't help but want to know the ending! XD
I usually drop mangas when it gets too boring or confusing.
I used to read shota stuff, and I still do. some of them are cute! but then shota rape is just.. I bugs me in the wrong way at times.. like anyone who looks like he is under the age of 10 would really just turn me off even in my reading manga.. these days, I'd rather go for bara rather than shota.. XD
It is a popular trope and not just in yaoi. The ravishment fantasy has been a staple of fiction since fiction was invented. And when a trope is that universal, it's because it is serving a significant psychological need for a large number of readers, in this case, primarily women. So I hate to see people run down rape stories--which are in no way meant to echo real life, normalize or excuse sexual assault--because rape fantasies are so important to female readers. They provide a safe space (as all fiction does or ought to) for women to explore aspects of sexuality without the many constraints placed on them by the society in which they live. Think about how women are sent the message--subtly and overtly--that if they enjoy sex, if they want sex, they are sluts. The ravishment fantasy plays on the desire of women, but it also plays on the power dynamics of sex, where the woman's power is in driving the desire of the man. (Again, we're talking about a metaphor here, not any real life scenario where we know that rape is not about desire at all.) All of this is particularly true in yaoi because yaoi also frees female readers from gender baggage.
Readers who have trouble differentiating between the metaphors of fiction and real life are probably best staying away from these stories. Not every story is for every reader. I, personally, have a serious problem with the concept of brain eating and therefore, I avoid zombie stories. But I understand that zombie metaphors are important to others. Get it?
Now you ask an interesting question re: how rape is handled within the story, and it would be nice to see yaoi writers actually work the trope through the story and deal with the aftermath. But you might have to look to fanfiction for that.
the reason why it's fiction is partly because in no way is yaoi rape like real life rape. there are some mangas that portray it realistically, but in the majority cases, they are nothing like what rape in real would be like. Stockholm Syndrome in not something that everyone that gets raped can have, which is why rape in yaoi doesn't necessarily connect to the one in real life. You would hardly ever see a rape yaoi where the victim does NOT fall for the seme or the seme was NOT doing it out of love. Rape ,in many cases in real, is due to the aggressor wanting to show his superiority over the victim. that is not the case in most yaoi. the rape in yaoi are rape fantasies. they do not reflect what would actually happen, but just what we want to happen, that CAN'T HAPPEN in real.
In a lot of yaoi mangas.. rape becomes kinda ok just because the seme is hot.. although, some of them do have their own reasons like they had a history before or it was onesided or something.. but still.. boy meets boy, then rape, then bg story, then story development (which is actually pretty good at times) , then they are in love.. The end.
but lets face it, would you want to pursue a relationship, or do you even want to see the face of the person who raped you (even if they supposedly like you) ?! how weird would it be when people ask you how you got together?
"he was my co-worker/classmate"
"how'd you get together?"
"oh! well, he raped me, and and then he asked me to go out with him a few days later. he is so romantic, right?"
"..."
I know its fiction, and I actually like reading rape-y manga cuz a lot of them are pretty good, and its a pretty popular trope.. like viewfinder you know? but sometimes, you just question what is going on in people's heads you know? idk.. just an opinion..
what do you think?