I’m fucking tired of this shit where every BL manhwa apparently needs rape somewhere in the plot. Childhood friend? Rapes him. Abusive parent? Sexual abuse. Side character? Somehow they have to assault him. Villain? Of course, rape. Even the fucking ML himself? Apparently that’s supposed to be “possessiveness” or “desire.” Like, are these authors incapable of writing conflict without sexual violence?
And what pisses me off even more is how casually it’s treated and how the scenes are framed. Before, when fiction showed rape, it was actually presented as something horrific. The victim would be terrified, struggling, trying to escape, fighting back however they could. Obviously, not every victim physically fights back freezing and being unable to resist are real responses too. But nowadays, some BL literally goes out of its way to sexualize the victim’s reactions, barely show any resistance, make them “enjoy” it, and then frame the whole thing as passion, possessiveness, or romance. Because apparently if they actually showed the victim crying, suffocating, terrified, and desperately trying to get away, it would become a little too fucking obvious that it’s rape.
That’s what bothers me. Rape is being used as a convenient fucking plot device for trauma, angst, jealousy, revenge, character development, or to make the ML look “better” than another character. And then the story expects us to accept the same violence as romantic when the ML does it. At some point, can these authors write conflict without throwing sexual assault into every other fucking plotline?
I’m fucking tired of this shit where every BL manhwa apparently needs rape somewhere in the plot. Childhood friend? Rapes him. Abusive parent? Sexual abuse. Side character? Somehow they have to assault him. Villain? Of course, rape. Even the fucking ML himself? Apparently that’s supposed to be “possessiveness” or “desire.” Like, are these authors incapable of writing conflict without sexual violence?
And what pisses me off even more is how casually it’s treated and how the scenes are framed. Before, when fiction showed rape, it was actually presented as something horrific. The victim would be terrified, struggling, trying to escape, fighting back however they could. Obviously, not every victim physically fights back freezing and being unable to resist are real responses too. But nowadays, some BL literally goes out of its way to sexualize the victim’s reactions, barely show any resistance, make them “enjoy” it, and then frame the whole thing as passion, possessiveness, or romance. Because apparently if they actually showed the victim crying, suffocating, terrified, and desperately trying to get away, it would become a little too fucking obvious that it’s rape.
That’s what bothers me. Rape is being used as a convenient fucking plot device for trauma, angst, jealousy, revenge, character development, or to make the ML look “better” than another character. And then the story expects us to accept the same violence as romantic when the ML does it. At some point, can these authors write conflict without throwing sexual assault into every other fucking plotline?