Furciferous Quaintrelle Bex answers “Is anyone else having a hard time reading...”

Divine-Asia asked this question about Tampa:

Is anyone else having a hard time reading Tampa? I read Nolita and it never felt as icky as this novel. I constantly have to put it down for long periods of time to recover from the graphic sexual details of the main characters desire for teenage boys.

Furciferous Quaintrelle Bex The great thing about books is that we can allow ourselves to examine dconcepts & ideas that we don't necessarily like or agree with, via a kind of th…moreThe great thing about books is that we can allow ourselves to examine dconcepts & ideas that we don't necessarily like or agree with, via a kind of thought experiment. Never worry about what others will think of you for reading it...you've probably read about Doodlebugs, Dunkirk & the US dropping the a-bomb on Hiroshima, as part of your history class at school. Wanting to know about the damage it did, the fallout it created or the size of the death toll, doesn't make you some kind of voyeur. Nor does it make you someone who is likely to go out and create a bomb yourself for the sole purpose of hurting people.

You can examine a contentious issue, with or without uncomfortable prose, without it being something you feel affiliated with. These books are always going to raise hackles because of the illegality and taboo nature of the topic, but it doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist and we shouldn't be curious about it.

The actual number of female sex offenders out there is way higher than most people are aware of. Female child sex offenders may be more likely to assault female children, but this issue of young, bored, female teachers, in positions of power, specifically choosing jobs where they can exercise their predatory nature and seek out new victims, happens ALL the time. It doesn't get reported as often as adult males abusing underage girls, because a lot of male victims are too ashamed to admit that they were at all hurt, upset or confused by the whole experience. On top of that female sex offenders receive hugely different sentences, when they get sent down. Their sentences are half that of a man in for a similar crime. Women are still viewed as the fairer sex by the judicial system, which unfairly meters out greater punishments to men all across the board; for all crimes.

We're more inclined to look for reasons why a woman, who is expected to possess maternal instincts and be of a nurturing nature, would end up becoming a child sex offender. It's an uncomfortable thing for many people to have to try and think about. And it's books like this, that whilst being hard to read in some areas, give us a more benign insight into the motivation & mentality of the female sexual offender. You know it's a story, so in this instance nobody actually got hurt. You can learn a bit about what elements need to come together in order for the perfect storm of means, motive, opportunity and desire to take place.

And if by chance the book is ever written in such a way as to make you actually enjoy reading some parts of it, then don't feel guilty, dirty or bad. Some aspects of humanity ARE disturbing, but it's much more comforting to feel as though we have a slight insight into how these people operate, having used fictional examples of well drawn characters, by talented authors, who have played out various scenarios and helped us to understand them so much better. (less)

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