takebackscifi

Those of you who attended the WisCon panel may recall me talking about my volunteer work with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. This weekend, I'm doing a special fundraiser for them!

Details are here:
Main post: http://shadesong.livejournal.com/3907512.html
Sponsorship link: http://www.blogathon.org/pledge.php?blogid=58
Auctions: http://community.livejournal.com/blogforbarcc/

Click around to see what it is, why I'm doing it, and what amazing stuff we have up for auction to support BARCC. Sponsor if you can, and tell your friends!

Thank you!

Just incredibly busy. Fortunately tn_tiger had a fully fleshed out topic suggestion for everyone to discuss:


In the paranormal romance panel at Wiscon, someone mentioned the "healing penis" cliche of fiction and fanfiction. It's basically that if someone (usually female) who has been raped just has sex with the right person, they'll get over all their trauma. One obvious fallacy in this is the idea that everyone who has been raped has trouble approaching sexual activity again.

I have to admit, I was sorry to hear that this was a cliche'. I think this stage of survivor's recovery, or this particular challenge for a couple, can be a worthy topic if it's done right. The questions I would like to pose to the community are the following.

1) Can this type of story be done right? In other words, can the process of reclaiming sexuality after rape be depicted correctly? If so, how is that done?

2) What are some examples of speculative stories, shows or films that get it right? Which ones get it wrong?

3) What are some examples, both good and bad, where the survivor is male? Where the couple is same-sex?

So popelizbet suggested we discuss one of Derek Goodman's Tales of Loose Reality "The All-Night, One-Stop Apocalypse Shop". Since the book is available online for the low low price of free I thought we could all take a look at it and have a rousing discussion of a work that popelizbet feels is problematic on many levels. So, take a look at the book (if you haven't already) and her review and then come back and let's discuss things. Or throw things. I'm flexible.

ETA: The more I read of the various stories the more I think we should discuss "The Cover Girl" too. If you can stand it. I hate most (if not all) of this collection.

You may have noticed that you can't post topics to this community yet. This is because karnythia and I are concerned about the possibility of trolling. We'll gradually be giving posting access to community members who request it and have proven themselves to not be trolls, but not for the first week or so, so hold those requests, please!

So karnythia and I will be posting topics. You can suggest topics at the rules post.

The first topic, of course, is the topic we were originally going to discuss at the Wiscon panel. As printed in the program:

Sexual assault and rape frequently get used as symbolic plot devices with no consideration about the realities of how these events effect survivors and the people around them and the larger social realities of this epidemic. Sometimes these stories get told well, but often they perpetuate social myths and stereotypes that normalize predatory behavior and make survivors complicit. How do authors work to create a culture where stories that perpetuate rape myths are not acceptable? Examples?

Panels usually involve the panelists telling you what they think, then having a Q&A period. This is less an online panel than a moderated discussion, so I'll just get out of your way and let you talk. Please be respectful of others at all times. Thank you!

This is just to introduce yourself and tell the group why you're here, if you feel moved to do so.

Hi. I'm a writer, a mom, and a state-certified rape crisis counselor. I volunteer at my local rape crisis center as part of the community education and prevention team, and I'm a member of the survivor speakers' bureau.

I'm here for a few reasons:
* As a survivor, I find gratuitous use of rape and sexual assault in fiction upsetting. Particularly when there are no consequences for the rapist, or when it's straight-up lazy writing - need something to hurt a female character? Rape! Need to show that a character is a bad guy? Rape!

* Our media reflects and informs our everyday world, and that world has a dangerous undercurrent of rape culture. (I'll be posting more about what rape culture is and you can help dismantle it here.

* As a trained rape crisis counselor, I believe that I'm well-qualified to co-mod the community.

Comment to this post if you want to introduce yourself!

This list was generated by discussion before the panel, and added to by other WisCon attendees later. This is books-only - please help me create a similar list for other genre media!

Discussion in this community will not stick *only* to these books - this is just to give us a place to start from.

I have not read all of these books, so I can't tell you how I think they handled the topic - I'll list the ones that I can personally vouch for or against first, and then put down the rest of the list. Please add to this list (I know there's stuff I missed!)! Thank you!

( Read more... )

1. Contact the mods via the comments section of this post. Do not go to our personal LJ's and comment, IM us, or send emails to our personal addresses. The only way to contact us and be well received is to use this post. Ask questions, report problems, if it pertains to this comm then it needs to be stated here. Comments are screened and will only be unscreened if the poster states that they are okay with it.


2. No linking, or reposting of locked posts without the permission of the poster. You can refer to concepts in a general way, but no one's words that are shared here in the privacy of the comm should ever be seen by the general public without that person's permission.

3. Keep in mind that many of the commenters may be sexual assault survivors, so please be respectful at all times.

4. We are not here to debate whether there is a problem with rape culture, we are here to discuss the problems that undeniably exist.

5. You will respect everyone's voice and everyone's experience. There will be no 'But men don't get raped' or 'But she was drunk' or "If she hadn't been dressed that way/out so late/hanging out with those people" type comments tolerated here.

6. For the moment the mods are posting the topics for discussion. Eventually we hope to open things up a little bit, but for now we feel it is best to direct things until everyone gets a feel for the comm. Please do not message us to ask for posting privileges.

7. No colorful fonts

8. No leet-speak or chat shorthand

9. Leave your bad attitudes outside. This is a discussion community, and if someone suggests you lack information? You probably need to read, watch, listen to what they are recommending. Trolls will be sent packing.

10. Violators of these rules get one warning. One. Then the ban hammer. We are all adults, and I have no desire to expend a lot of energy policing this space.

Hello! Thanks for your interest in this LJ-based panel, everyone!

karnythia and I are aware that discussion on this topic tends to get heated, and that there's terminology that shouldn't be used, etc.; to that end, we're working on a Rules of Engagement post. We'd hoped to have that up by the end of last week, but life intervened. This week for sure. Just wanted to stop in and let you know that it's actively being worked on. :)

Thanks for your patience!