Yvonne 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?

Yvonne Aburrow I think it is about the difference in expectations of marriage between the 20th century (note that Claire is from the year 1945, not the present day) …moreI think it is about the difference in expectations of marriage between the 20th century (note that Claire is from the year 1945, not the present day) and the 18th century.

In the 18th century, both marital rape and beating your wife for disobedience would've been pretty normal (it was illegal in England to beat your wife with a stick thicker than your finger). Remember that marital rape was not made illegal in England till 1981 (if I recall correctly - may have been 1991, when this book was written).

So it would've been a bit surprising if Jamie hadn't beaten Claire for endangering him and all his men. And given that Claire is from an era where some people were still behaving that way, and given that she nearly did get all his men killed, it's not all that surprising that she forgave him (though it wasn't ten minutes later, more like two days). And bear in mind that this is written from Claire's point of view, so it has to be couched in the thinking of 1945.

If Claire had been the average woman from 2018, I very much doubt that she would have forgiven him.

Where I think the author could've done better is to somehow make it clear that she does not approve of all this wife-beating and marital rape, or at least not portray it as a norm for male behaviour.

I don't have a problem with people enjoying consensual thrashing, it's non-consensual thrashing that I have an issue with.(less)

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Jessica Unsure how different the tv show is vs the books, but...in the show claire threatens him with a knife and says she will cut his heart out and eat it i ...more
May 11, 2020 09:20AM · flag

Yvonne Aburrow She doesn’t do that in the book. And belt, tawse, whip: still a non-consensual thrashing.

With the rape, the issue for me was the constant marital rap ...more
May 17, 2020 05:45AM · flag

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