On Rape Culture in Crime Fiction / Lisa Levy

Do we like reading about fictional rape? An affirmative answer would make us sleazy and voyeuristic, but it’s a common enough fantasy and so present in our culture that to answer with an unequivocal no can’t be right either. Yet it’s conundrums like this that make living in rape culture so confusing. The proposition that we do indeed like it validates fears about our most debased impulses, that we (or enough of us) get off on violence at some primal level. This is hard news to hear, especially for women, who we know read for pleasure more than their male counterparts. Yet it also makes innate sense to the noir fan, who understands the irresistible pull of the ugly. Even I have my limits, and I read a lot of dark stuff. I put aside novels by Jo Nesbø, who I also admire for his psychological insights and natural way of building suspense, because I found them too violent towards women. I also put aside books by Pierre Lemaitre and M.J. Arlidge because I couldn’t stomach them. ... [mehr] http://lithub.com/on-rape-culture-in-crime-fiction/