What can I do to help my story not come off as antifeminist?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm writing a screenplay, and the villain is a female serial rapist. But I was told by readers so far, this is going to come off as hugely anti-feminist and misogynistic to readers and audiences. I don't intend for it to be at all, but is there a way I can avoid that at all?

What made you pick this particular topic?

A rapist is a rapist is a rapist, no matter what gender.

Is a woman writing about a male serial rapist a misandrist just because she writes about a male serial rapist?

I'm not sure, what made me think of it, it just sort of came to me randomly when trying to think of ideas.

Well I was told it's because if a woman were to become this way, it would be because she was abused by men in her past, because that's what happens to female rapists in real life, and if I have a character who is turned into a villain because she was abused by men, that would make the story come off as anti-feminist to readers, I was told.

Make it NOT about a female serial rapist ... or a rapist of any kind.

Writing a story involving rape is very difficult if you want to do it tactfully. (I've never read anything you've written so just know I'm not trying to be presumptuous). All too often films/books/whatever centered around a rapist villain can come off as going for shock value. This is especially the case if the violence is shown explicitly, or how it is represented if it is not shown explicitly. This kind of violence has a reputation for being used as a kind of cheap, gratuitous way of motivating (usually male) protagonists to set the plot in motion. Important questions to ask are: is rape integral to telling this story? Could this plot exist without the villain committing those specific crimes? Could I have more creative freedom to tell this story how I want if I took out this inessential detail?

I would be wary of attributing certain individual incidents in someone's past to their becoming a rapist. Sometimes abuse factors into it, sometimes not. Regardless of gender. Many who have suffered from abuse themselves would take exception to abuse being the crux of someone's motivation for becoming a rapist.

Having a female villain is not anti-feminist on its own--again, it's a matter of how it is done.

tldr; I would strongly advise against including rape in one's stories unless one has extensive experience writing about similarly grave or controversial subject matter.
I would give the same advice to a writer regardless of gender, unless they have direct or indirect personal experience with it--and even then it is not guaranteed that it can be done tastefully.

My advice would be to try to get comfortable writing violent stories without your audience ending up perceiving it as excessive or otherwise mishandled. Try to ease your way into writing stories with graphic but non-sexual violence first.

Hmm, that seems odd because to me it seems kind of anti-feminist to suggest female victims of abuse from men are likely to become serial rapists. Also so what then? does that justify it in any way? I don't think so I can't just go shoot people because I was a victim of an incident with someone coming in my school with a gun and killing a girl. In some cases rapists and murderers did face abuse in the past...but to suggest the only way someone commits such awful acts is if they have experienced abuse also seems to imply abuse victims are not to be trusted because of the assumption they will in turn abuse others. But I would even dare say most abuse victims do not go on to commit abuse themselves. So yes I think it is pretty messed up for them to imply its normal for women who have been abused by men to become rapists, like what the hell.

IDK if this is the story you want to do, do it...but rape is certainly a difficult topic so there are certainly going to be people bothered by book or film content involving rapists. That is why some people don't like Game of Thrones, that does happen in it...it doesn't really show it but its implied that some of the bad characters have raped. And I can see how it can be a bit controversial but at the same time it made the story seem a bit more realistic than a lot of fantasy type content and that was kind of the point so people got sucked into this fantasy world that kinda mirrors the real world in some ways and well would you hate such and such bad guy as much if they hadn't raped?. That said those kind of characters always met their deaths, so if you go forward with your story may be best to give this serial rapist character a deserving death for what they have done. Some people still won't like it but that is with any art, writing and music there will always be critics and people that don't like it.

Oh okay thanks for the input. No I am not going for pure shock value, I actually did want to tell a good story. It's a crime thriller story, but I still wanted it to be good.

I don't mean for the violence to be represented cheaply at all, and I wrote it in a way, in which I try not to have it be too explicit. The rapes are not shown for example, but only alluded to, or talked about in dialogue. Yes I would say the rape is an integral part of the story, because a lot of plot comes out of it. Taking it out would cause a lot of the rest of the plot not to hold together, because a lot of what comes out of the plot is a result of these specific types of crimes.

I don't have to write it so that the rapist's past is necessarily brought on by the abuse of males while growing up, it's just that a couple of readers told me so far, that if you look at female rapists throughout history, there are abused by men in their pasts, as a result. So I cannot avoid it therefore, and have to include they say. But if I include it, it will come off as anti-feminist, because she was turned into a rapist, because of male abuse. But do the readers have a point of that's how it happens realistically, and I cannot avoid it therefore?

I had assumed shock wasn't what was motivating you. I wasn't sure so much if it as a mystery/crime thriller or something on the darker side. This sort of thing is somewhat standard in the genre (Law and Order SVU gets like, what, 80% their episodes from sexual violence?). I might suggest looking at how other films/series have handled it well. You'd probably know more examples to consider than I would--I don't watch much crime drama

It sounds like you've already looked into it but research into female rapists and their backgrounds/motivations would be helpful. As for being able to have this kind of protagonist and not come off as anti-feminist, I would draw attention to other women characters to provide a contrast to the villain. Giving other women characters depth and agency in the story is also important. For all I know you already considered these things, but it felt worth mentioning.

I'm probably the most hardcore feminist on this website, and I don't find your story idea anti-feminist.

I've noticed that a certain group of people will get offended by fiction because they see one of the characters as representing a whole demographic group. I'm sure your character isn't intended to represent all or even most women.

I would just write the story and ignore such people.

Oh okay.... Well I originally wrote it so her background was not really touched upon much, and she is more of a mysterious villain, kind of like how in a lot of crime thrillers, the villains are mysterious and kept in the dark to a degree. But do I need to go into backstory to give her more depth considering the subject matter? In a lot of serial killer stories for example, a lot of the past is not delved into, but do I need to go into more for mine?

That's entirely your decision. It depends on what kind of story you want to tell.

Oh well it's just that so far readers said that if I keep the character mysterious, that it doesn't do the rape material justice, and it makes it lack depth as a result, if that's true?

Character background is important—to me.

Oh okay, but how do other works of fiction get away with the villain not having a background and people still like the stories though. What's their secret?

I wouldn’t like the story. I guess other people just like to speculate.

I like to, as well. But I’m very biased towards biographical details.

To be honest with you...there isnt a single thing in this post that makes any sense to me.

First: you seem to be rather obsessed with rape as a theme. This isnt the first time you brought it up in relation your writing.

Second what exactly do you mean by a "female serial rapist"?

I assume that you dont mean statutory rape. You dont mean an adult woman who seduces underage boys. And you dont mean a lesbian who preys on other women. You mean a female equivalent of the stereotypical male rapist: an adult woman who goes around and repeatedly forces adult men to have sex with her against their will.

If thats what you mean then...is that even a thing? It may happen in the real world, but its not something that you hear about very often.

Third: Humans DO sometimes become criminals to "act out" because of trauma in childhood. And females because of abuse by men. But I dont see how a character who does that would seem "antifeminist" per se. It might be something wrong with how you're writing the story that causes it to seem that way to your readers.

Fourth (Im not a shrink, but this is what I have gathered) women who go into crime to unconsciously get back at men - dont generally use sex as the weapon, but as the bait to lure men into a trap- to use other things as weapons (if you get what I mean), like actual weapons as weapons. An extreme example is that female serial killer in Florida who would torture and kill men, but would use sex to lure them into her lair to do other things to them. She wouldnt rape them. She would seduce them into wanting consensual sex with her...so she could then hack them to death with an axe or whatever.