Coming from someone who veryyyyy morally grey and loves the story and all sorts of dark fiction, I totally agree that rape is practically in every Yaoi, and it's altering the way people consume fiction. I think the issue is that in these stories themselves, people don't fully classify the rape as rape because of how the artists push the narrative that they fall in love because they're a misunderstood person, and that the rape was like a 'crossroad' of sorts that was bound to happen.
Also, because the tops make the bottoms have orgasms during the rape, a lot of the time they diminish that it's actual rape because of the body's natural response to pain mixed with pleasure. They see the body's response as truth, not caring about what the character has actually said. Rape to many, is only rape if you don't find enjoyment in it because that's not being 'a perfect victim'.
I love Zhenya down (I read the novel), but it's still no excuse for what he did to Taekjoo, no matter how traumatic his life was or what he was or wasn't introduced to. People lack nuance to where let's just say 'I see how your life has molded for this to be the outcome of how you treat people and relationships, but what you did is still wrong, stupid, and it's not okay to do regardless if you weren't taught differently.' I can sympathize while also not diminishing their actions. The issue is that many can't - LMAOOOOOO
The argument of 'it wasn't that bad' is unfortunately because, when you read so many of these stories, you kinda 'grow numb'/desensitized to the rape at hand. Playing devil's advocate here (not justifying it in any way), but when you see harsher versions of rape, and because of what a character could do versus what they did do, the rape is not only diminished, but it's seen as an act of mercy, like it is in this story. Not necessarily because of attraction alone, but also because they've seen worse and they know what said character is capable of. If the rape isn't this brutalizing, merciless act, to them, it's not that bad when, in fact, it's always that bad. You wouldn't tell an actual rape victim 'it wasn't that bad'.....I would hope.
The story doesn't endorse rape. The audience does. Not everyone, but a good lot of people do. A story like this will be like many of these: 'I chase you, you deny me, I rape you (or violate you in any way), you find out my traumatic backstory, you understand me, and we fall in love with very little character development or great character development.' Lots of these stories follow this exact cycle, whether good or bad. The issue is that the audience begins to fall weak in the knees after the traumatic backstory, completely forgets all the horrible things the top did, and excuses their actions. The story itself doesn't say 'this is a love you should strive for' just because it got popular. What endorses it is the audience consuming it with their opinions.
I'd definitely recommend reading the novel because we get actual details. I think that things are left out of the manga because the artist has disk issues, and I think they're just trying to push the story out as fast as they can, and I doubt the actual meat of the story will be involved much from the looks of it.
Here's a thought that may ruffle some feathers, but it must be said. If you lack nuance and you can only see a story in one singular road, whether fully positive or fully negative. Not taking into account everything inside of it. Or you just read a book to just say you read it, but don't actually take in details, you are not mature enough to read dark fiction, and you don't need to read it. I obviously can't stop anyone from reading it; however, I think many torture themselves reading a book because they see it as a one-way street. Dark fiction is loosely connected to being psychological in some aspects. It's to make you think, even if it has lots of smut. You still have to pay attention, or your commentary, unfortunately, isn't fair.
In this story alone, lots of people don't pay attention to details. I'll go with the stuff that is in the manga (I won't bring up the novel to prove the point.) For example, people make the argument, 'Why does Taekjoo not fight back hard enough, and why does he let Zhenya overpower him? After all, he's a spy.' Zhenya was in the FSB who worked in a unit by himself. Zhenya has a height and strength advantage. He ripped a man's jaw with his bare hands.....Taekjoo can't fight that man. If Zhenya wasn't interested in him, Taekjoo wouldn't have even gotten a singular hit in.
Another argument, "Zhenya is so cruel for no reason and is keeping Taekjoo just because he likes fucking him and he's a bastard for treating Taekjoo as a pet.' Taekjoo willingly blew up Zhenya's blueprints after barely escaping with his life, all because he was upset his pride was fucked with after Zhenya played him. Since Taekjoo is considered a traitor/fugitive in Russia, if Zhenya lets him go or gives him to the FSB, they'll kill him on sight. Not that his cruelty is okay, Taekjoo is still trying to find a way out and to escape. Zhenya can't exactly say 'stay,' and Taekjoo actually listens, but it's never gonna happen. Zhenya is also treated like an asset to his family and cast aside because of his violent nature. He likely didn't experience proper love (I won't spoil the novel because the backstory is sadder than that), and therefore, he doesn't know what he feels for Taekjoo or how to express that. A mafia/political family likely doesn't have much love in them, which leads him to treat him like a pet and take care of him like one. Point being, context matters; it matters incredibly otherwise when you give a review, and it's lacking the meat, you're not giving a fair perspective, and you're just reading it and not paying attention.
Sorry not sorry for the long fuck ass essay, hope you enjoyedddddd.
Coming from someone who veryyyyy morally grey and loves the story and all sorts of dark fiction, I totally agree that rape is practically in every Yaoi, and it's altering the way people consume fiction. I think the issue is that in these stories themselves, people don't fully classify the rape as rape because of how the artists push the narrative that they fall in love because they're a misunderstood person, and that the rape was like a 'crossroad' of sorts that was bound to happen.
Also, because the tops make the bottoms have orgasms during the rape, a lot of the time they diminish that it's actual rape because of the body's natural response to pain mixed with pleasure. They see the body's response as truth, not caring about what the character has actually said. Rape to many, is only rape if you don't find enjoyment in it because that's not being 'a perfect victim'.
I love Zhenya down (I read the novel), but it's still no excuse for what he did to Taekjoo, no matter how traumatic his life was or what he was or wasn't introduced to. People lack nuance to where let's just say 'I see how your life has molded for this to be the outcome of how you treat people and relationships, but what you did is still wrong, stupid, and it's not okay to do regardless if you weren't taught differently.' I can sympathize while also not diminishing their actions. The issue is that many can't - LMAOOOOOO
The argument of 'it wasn't that bad' is unfortunately because, when you read so many of these stories, you kinda 'grow numb'/desensitized to the rape at hand. Playing devil's advocate here (not justifying it in any way), but when you see harsher versions of rape, and because of what a character could do versus what they did do, the rape is not only diminished, but it's seen as an act of mercy, like it is in this story. Not necessarily because of attraction alone, but also because they've seen worse and they know what said character is capable of. If the rape isn't this brutalizing, merciless act, to them, it's not that bad when, in fact, it's always that bad. You wouldn't tell an actual rape victim 'it wasn't that bad'.....I would hope.
The story doesn't endorse rape. The audience does. Not everyone, but a good lot of people do. A story like this will be like many of these: 'I chase you, you deny me, I rape you (or violate you in any way), you find out my traumatic backstory, you understand me, and we fall in love with very little character development or great character development.' Lots of these stories follow this exact cycle, whether good or bad. The issue is that the audience begins to fall weak in the knees after the traumatic backstory, completely forgets all the horrible things the top did, and excuses their actions. The story itself doesn't say 'this is a love you should strive for' just because it got popular. What endorses it is the audience consuming it with their opinions.
I'd definitely recommend reading the novel because we get actual details. I think that things are left out of the manga because the artist has disk issues, and I think they're just trying to push the story out as fast as they can, and I doubt the actual meat of the story will be involved much from the looks of it.
Here's a thought that may ruffle some feathers, but it must be said. If you lack nuance and you can only see a story in one singular road, whether fully positive or fully negative. Not taking into account everything inside of it. Or you just read a book to just say you read it, but don't actually take in details, you are not mature enough to read dark fiction, and you don't need to read it. I obviously can't stop anyone from reading it; however, I think many torture themselves reading a book because they see it as a one-way street. Dark fiction is loosely connected to being psychological in some aspects. It's to make you think, even if it has lots of smut. You still have to pay attention, or your commentary, unfortunately, isn't fair.
In this story alone, lots of people don't pay attention to details. I'll go with the stuff that is in the manga (I won't bring up the novel to prove the point.) For example, people make the argument, 'Why does Taekjoo not fight back hard enough, and why does he let Zhenya overpower him? After all, he's a spy.' Zhenya was in the FSB who worked in a unit by himself. Zhenya has a height and strength advantage. He ripped a man's jaw with his bare hands.....Taekjoo can't fight that man. If Zhenya wasn't interested in him, Taekjoo wouldn't have even gotten a singular hit in.
Another argument, "Zhenya is so cruel for no reason and is keeping Taekjoo just because he likes fucking him and he's a bastard for treating Taekjoo as a pet.' Taekjoo willingly blew up Zhenya's blueprints after barely escaping with his life, all because he was upset his pride was fucked with after Zhenya played him. Since Taekjoo is considered a traitor/fugitive in Russia, if Zhenya lets him go or gives him to the FSB, they'll kill him on sight. Not that his cruelty is okay, Taekjoo is still trying to find a way out and to escape. Zhenya can't exactly say 'stay,' and Taekjoo actually listens, but it's never gonna happen. Zhenya is also treated like an asset to his family and cast aside because of his violent nature. He likely didn't experience proper love (I won't spoil the novel because the backstory is sadder than that), and therefore, he doesn't know what he feels for Taekjoo or how to express that. A mafia/political family likely doesn't have much love in them, which leads him to treat him like a pet and take care of him like one. Point being, context matters; it matters incredibly otherwise when you give a review, and it's lacking the meat, you're not giving a fair perspective, and you're just reading it and not paying attention.
Sorry not sorry for the long fuck ass essay, hope you enjoyedddddd.