I am against stories that treat sexual abuse, harassment, and rape as normal behavior. I have written several stories containing such topics, especially when writing true-to-life/history stories, but I always mark them as being about deviant behavior and acknowledge that it's illegal or morally wrong. Contrary to my detractors' beliefs, I do this not to 'protect' someone from the hard facts of life, but so that I do not contribute to the belief that people should put up with this behavior from someone who claims to love them.

Everyone, even, and maybe especially, we fanfic writers, need to stand up against sexual abuse whether it's toward a male or a female. One of the reasons sexual harassment and date rape was and can still be so very hard to prosecute is because it has been socially acceptable for so long. After all romance novels have rape scenarios. In women's own popular fiction, it's often considered permissible for one person to force another as long as the forced person enjoys the act at some point.

The fact is that beginning in the 1970s, the romance book industry pushed writers to incorporate rape in their novels if they wanted to be published. This gave birth to the 'bodice ripper,' novels that espoused women being raped and later falling in love with their rapist. These were set in a "remote historical setting allowing women to enjoy the rape fantasy from a safe distance." That's party line, folks, right out of official documents.

Legally-speaking, these stories stopped in the late 1980s, though they have continued through today in paranormal romances. Now called non-con, these stories labor under the so-called 'understanding' that the creature perpetuating the rape is ruled by animalistic tendencies. What makes them 'okay' to many is that though the person does not want to have sex, being forced (a less emotionally-charged word than raped) eventually leads to so-called 'true love'. Frankly, if I knew that getting bit by a were-animal would turn me into a rapist, I'd put myself down immediately. Exerting power over another person does not equal love, nor does it lead to love. Ask a rape counselor, cop, or psychiatrist, and they'll agree... exerting your will over someone else's stated desires is rape.

The truth is that no matter what is done to it, the human body will protect itself and act as it is designed to. That means that even if the brain is screaming in horror, the body will react in many of the same ways it would if a desired lover was touching it. It's not that the person wanted to respond to or enjoy their rapist's touch, it is that their body reacted normally. That's nothing to hold against the assaulted person, or that they should hold against themselves... although it regularly is.

It is conjectured that half to three-quarters of all rapes are date rapes, and date rape is one the least reported kinds of rape. Currently, statistics on rape say that 1 in 6 women are rape survivors, and 92,700 men are raped every year in America. 1in6.org, an excellent resource for male victims, says that one in six boys under sixteen have been victims of sexual abuse. Yes, in this so-called modern America that we are so proud of, over a third of our population have been victims of rape or molestation.

If you want a very good website to check out rape myths and facts, go to https://well.wvu.edu/articles/rape_myths_and_facts. To find out more about 'forced seduction', the publishing industry's term for fanfiction's so-called non-con (non-consensual sex), go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_seduction.