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Rape and Recovery
So, I have a question about rape and recovery. I normally don't casually ask questions like this, but I'm getting kind of bewildered by it now, so I want other opinions. LJ-cut for sensitivity, although there's not any specifics or anything.
Character D is raped by his co-workers, Character X and Character S. He's very upset, an emotional and psychological wreck, as really you'd expect. Character A, is... often supportive of him, sometimes weirdly verbally abusive. Whatever.
Days (?) later, before the anal tearing has even healed, they're having sex. They have never had sex before.
One of my friends voices the opinion that this fic is disgusting, basically using rape as a plot device by which to force two characters to be vulnerable so that they can get together. If there were ever a story that actually dealt with rape and recovery, there would not BE sex in that story, because it often takes years to get over that sort of thing.
Someone else says that that's not true, that "most women" go back to having sex with their boyfriends/husbands/etc. without therapy or any significant recovery period.
To me that sounds ridiculous, not to mention counterintuitive, and contrary to everything I've more or less ever known about rape. But another friend of mine seconded that opinion: most women don't need therapy or an acclimation period to feel comfortable with sex.
Now, people deal with things in different ways, and I know that situations themselves can be vastly different -- a girl who was drugged and wakes up naked and sore on a stranger's couch isn't necessarily going to have the same reaction as someone who was held at knifepoint and fully aware of what happened.
But what do other people think? What's "normal"? Is this a commonly held belief I've never heard about, or even a fact? Have you ever known any victims, how did they resume their sex life?
Character D is raped by his co-workers, Character X and Character S. He's very upset, an emotional and psychological wreck, as really you'd expect. Character A, is... often supportive of him, sometimes weirdly verbally abusive. Whatever.
Days (?) later, before the anal tearing has even healed, they're having sex. They have never had sex before.
One of my friends voices the opinion that this fic is disgusting, basically using rape as a plot device by which to force two characters to be vulnerable so that they can get together. If there were ever a story that actually dealt with rape and recovery, there would not BE sex in that story, because it often takes years to get over that sort of thing.
Someone else says that that's not true, that "most women" go back to having sex with their boyfriends/husbands/etc. without therapy or any significant recovery period.
To me that sounds ridiculous, not to mention counterintuitive, and contrary to everything I've more or less ever known about rape. But another friend of mine seconded that opinion: most women don't need therapy or an acclimation period to feel comfortable with sex.
Now, people deal with things in different ways, and I know that situations themselves can be vastly different -- a girl who was drugged and wakes up naked and sore on a stranger's couch isn't necessarily going to have the same reaction as someone who was held at knifepoint and fully aware of what happened.
But what do other people think? What's "normal"? Is this a commonly held belief I've never heard about, or even a fact? Have you ever known any victims, how did they resume their sex life?
no subject
I seem to recall reading somewhere that men tend to internalize it even more than women do, though I could very much be wrong.
no subject
Male and female rape reactions may differ, but it's irrelevant, because in gay fanfic the submissive character is always portrayed as a woman anyway.
no subject
Thank you! That's yet another thing that I hate about bad fic.