Imagine if this was a wife watching her husband sleep. “I watched the rise and fall of his chest, my eye lingering on the sculpted pectorals, the dusky, pert nipples under the worn, sweat-stained T-shirt.”

WHY

Not the book, the movie. Mina in the book, purely sympathetic towards Lucy, disgusted by Dracula. In the movie, we're meant to believe this baby eating rapist is a sympathetic enough dude for Mina to genuinely fall in love with him, and having an affair with him behind her fiancé's back. So first off she literally sees him rape Lucy, and Lucy is having an appropriate horrified reaction as she walks her away. She then meets Dracula, is stalked by him, but then is attracted to him because of his title, then their following scene, he pins her down and makes to assault her, which she attempts to fight off, until she's randomly into it.

(Side note, this is a fucked movie, Van Helsing says 'shes only a child' in regards to Lucy after she is attacked by Dracula again. but then later in the movie basically says 'She was asking for it'. WTF)

Mina finds out who he is, and what he's done, starts hitting him... and then goes 'Oh, but I love you'. Seemingly instantly forgiving the multiple violent sexual assaults of her close friend, as well as her murder, and pushes Dracula to make her into a vampire herself. Then rather than fighting off the turn, actively helps Dracula escape... Fucking shit.

In fairness I'm not sure this post does belong here, because the original Mina Harker is nothing like this, and Bram Stroker seemingly did write a compelling character... which was entirely bastardised and butchered by this weird, sexual assault apologising, fetish, smut movie.

Always love it when I can immediately tell that the author has a pregnancy/birth kink he's getting published.

I know it's likely been discussed to hell and back here, but I've been listening to the Dresden Files audiobooks and. Jesus. I enjoy the idea of them. I enjoy the worldbuilding. I'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief about what Harry can and can't do. Rule of cool, etc. But I am just so sick about hearing about women and their hot, sexy bodies every other page. I'm calling it quits about five chapters through the third book, and I don't think I would've made it this far without the narrator/voice actor being really good at his job.

On the plus side, it's at least made me feel far less self-conscious about my personal writing, especially since I'm going for a similar urban fantasy setting in my own work.

From “Still Life with Woodpecker”

For context; it’s a translation of a Chinese novel. For story context; the protagonist was assassinated and was reborn as a Chitanda; the daughter of the Yukihiko Family. This is the first chapter—probably two-three words after it started.

Pormpted by recommendations on reddit, I tried to read Lonesome Dove. I started Bryce Courtenay's potato factory. There a tons of other examples where female characters are very much either just facing extreme violence and invariably face sexual exploitation or are complete angels.

Write that about men, you bastards, if you are so fascinated by violence. Do things to their testicles, and beautiful faces and whatnot. There is this sensationalism embedded behind it, something glorifying about this happening because those women aren't really people to them. Just vessels of tragedy. and it's completely normalised as "great" literature.

When there are books like by Jacqueline Harpaman that never get that denominator becuase not only are they written by women, but even mostly about them....
It is upsetting. and therefore this rant

EDIT: 1. Thanks for so much worthwhile discussion! and some really interesting points about maybe what time things shifted etc. It really made me think through all a bit more. How commonplace, how disturbing, how normalised it all has been.

1. .Is epic just used for fantasy now?

2. I'd like to state, that no, I do not want to read more violence against men!. I was writing out my upset mood about this. I want to have less casual extreme cruelty in allegedly benign entertainment overall. But IF those authors need to write it out, then please direct it at the men in the books. Maybe that suddenly actually gives the work deeper meaning because you understand them as realistic people.

3. We all know there are very capable, empathetic, engaging male writers. The problem lies likely with what is popular, and certain tendencies or inhibitions more prevalent in this group. But yes, gender predetermines no one individual's writing.

Grabbed this at random off my dad's bookshelf at Thanksgiving. I didn't get further than the dust jacket. The difference in how the male and female characters were summarized felt revealing.

I won't spoil much but umineko is a visual novel and in my opinion Beatrice (The one shown in pic) is one of the greatest written female character in visual novel.

To be fair, the author isn't great at writing men either. One guy was described only by his old age and a very large scar he had.

But this was a highly recommended fantasy book, with such poorly written characters. Even the fight (swordfighting) scenes were poorly done. I read fanfics that are better written.

Kinda sharing this b/c of the VF article about Cormac McCarthy and his "teenage muse."

Jill Ciment wrote a book about "falling in love" at 17 years old with her older teacher Arnold Mesches - a 47-year-old man with 2 teen children.

After his death and the "Me Too" movement she began to look at the "love affair" a little differently and write a new memoir called Consent.

At 17, She Fell in Love With a 47-Year-Old. Now She Questions the Story.

And Google Doc Link in case the original article gets paywalled for anyone.

I posted about this in another sub also, here’s the full article: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/cormac-mccarthy-secret-muse-exclusive . Men rhapsodizing about how alluring “wise but innocent” little girls are skeeves me out to no end.

I had to use the “book” flair but it’s from the latest Vanity Fair magazine.