If you're on this blog, you've likely read some of my work. If you've read some of my work, particularly the Wildlands books, you've figured out that I sometimes like to play with questions of consent. So let's talk about it for a few minutes.
First, I want to make it VERY clear that I am a strong advocate for enthusiastic consent in all real-life sexual encounters. Sex is only sex if all parties have agreed to engage in the activity without coercion, intoxication, intimidation, etc. Otherwise, it's a crime.
That being said, dubcon, or even noncon, can be a kink. For certain people, there is something titillating in the idea of being overcome sexually, having your body taken over by a strong, sensual partner who awakens something within you and forces you to respond. It can be a fun sexual game if that's what you're into, and I won't say that I've never tried it. But such games must be undertaken very carefully, with agreed-upon parameters, safety precautions, etc. That is vital for the physical and emotional safety of all parties involved. It's rather ironic, that a dubcon fantasy must be entered into with enthusiastic consent. But it's the reality. Otherwise, the results can be disastrous, and leave people with lifelong scars.
For those of us who do have a dubcon kink, erotic fiction of a certain kind can provide a safe way of exploring those fantasies. For some women, especially those raised in a sexually repressive environment where they are taught that their ladybits are bad and dirty, it's easier to 'forgive' a heroine who experiences pleasure in forced or coerced sex because she did not have a choice. The sex, and by extension the pleasure, was forced upon her. We are going to look at an extension of that mentality in Innocence Aroused, where the heroine enters into a d/s relationship in part because it's easier for her to enjoy her sexual experiences when she can tell herself that she did not have a choice. So we will have to examine that mentality, see whether it's healthy, and whether she can, or should, move on from that eventually.
In a way, writing the kink into the Wildlands series is a lot easier. It's a fantasy world. Though fantasy worlds must have an element of believability to them, it's different than writing about contemporary reality. The Wildland Tribute system is, at its core, a form of marriage-by-capture, and in most of human tradition, marriage has given males the automatic rights over their wives' bodies. In First Possession, even as Ava panics at the sexual act she's about to be performing, she understands that she is essentially these men's wife, and therefore required to allow them access to her body. Part of the narrative of Wildlanders' Woman, particularly the tension between Ava and Blaise, and as we see in the brief scene between Darock and Sarina, is the fundamental difference in perspective between the Arcadian women and the Wildlander men. Wives they may be, but the Arcadian women struggle with the intimacies performed upon them. At times, they feel violated. The Wildlander males don't understand why their women could feel this way, as they always ensure their pleasure. The Wildlander obsession with physical enjoyment makes it difficult for them to comprehend why anyone would choose not to engage in sex, as it leads to such pleasure.
The problems that arise in Wildlanders' Woman, particularly surrounding Ava's addiction and Sarina's criminal activities, are evidence of the problematic nature of the Wildlander mentality. Something's gotta give, here. So as the series progresses, the society will have to move toward a better understanding between the two groups.
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