Holly answers “why are people saying Outlander is a rape...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about Outlander (Outlander, #1):

why are people saying Outlander is a rape book?

Holly Because the book is primarily a paean to how great it is to be dominated by some big dude in a skirt and no underwear and learn to call him master. Ma…moreBecause the book is primarily a paean to how great it is to be dominated by some big dude in a skirt and no underwear and learn to call him master. Marital rape is AWESOME because even though it HURTS to have your husband pound you super hard when you're already in pain and begging him to stop, the extra-super intense orgasm you have from it and the special closeness you feel to your lord and master afterward makes it all worth it. Same thing with having him beat you: yeah, it hurts, but if you deserved it, well, it just helps you see what a lucky lady you are to have a such a strong, domineering husband. Check it out:

"Aye, I mean to use ye hard, my Sassenach," he whispered. "I want to own you, to possess you, body and soul." I struggled slightly and he pressed me down, hammering me, a solid, inexorable pounding [!] that reached my womb with each stroke. [I really truly am not making that up. Someone wrote that sentence and managed to get it published in a book.] "I mean to make ye call me 'Master,' Sassenach." His soft voice was a threat of revenge for the agonies of the last minutes. "I mean to make you mine."

The "solid, inexorable pounding" is so "brutal" (Claire herself refers to it that way the next morning) that Claire says "No!" and cries out, "Stop, please, you're hurting me!" But Jamie doesn't stop--and CLAIRE LOVES IT.

IOW, even though stuff that's not rape happens, the primary lesson of the book is how great it turns out to be to get "a solid, inexorable pounding" against your will.

No wonder rape culture is alive and well in the twenty-first century: women can't spend enough money on books about how great rape is.(less)

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Holly Oh, Carey, I'm so sorry the book was so painful and triggering to you.

I will tell you that I have a friend who is a writer of romance novels, and she ...more
Jan 07, 2022 01:14PM · flag

Meagan Sullivan THANK YOU Holly for naming exactly what was so disturbing to me that I had to do a search on the internet to see if anyone else was talking about it. ...more
Apr 15, 2023 12:03AM · flag

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