in which i randomly attack a well-loved trope

This is, surprisingly, non-HP related. No, *really*. This is A Moment of Random Fanfic Bitching.



Okay.

I totally am behind the rentboy-kink thing. I do. Seriously. I'm not a huge fan of it (my only attempt at it went to the most depressing places *ever*) but I do get it. It's kink. It's hot (so I've heard. Not my thing, but I've read some I enjoyed that didn't verge on character assassination).

But God.

This is just--kind of a rule I wish I could set up. For fic that is not supposed to be kink. Because kink-fic is a different animal.

Unless your character canonically has no other possible skills up to and including the ability to use a spatula at McDonalds, maybe most of them *might* choose to not sell their asses (or other sexually-charged body parts) for money. I know, crazy thoughts.

But really--suddenly Random Character X is fired/wife dies/sister dies/mother dies/Dark Lord dies/Lionel dies/world ends/au-where-everyone-is-a-prostitute*/head-injury-so-terrible-they-lose-their-minds and boom, they are offering up asses like it's Christmas and someone gave them a hit of ecstacy to surpass all hits of ecstacy. It's *bizarre*.

*shusu has permanent exception to this rule because she's doing things with her rentboy au that I've never seen done before and also because, to me, she set up a universe where I could see John Sheppard doing this and still be John Sheppard. Also, no humiliation moments that seem so rife in other fic. Also, Jesus, hot.

But other than that--okay, admittedly, I don't get the attraction. Since it's not my kink, I can't go to that mental place very well or easily--frankly, shusu tricked me. I'm fairly certain this is one of the things I Just Don't Get because to me, I cannot imagine anyone taking it up willingly. Totally a me-thing. And it's a me-thing that is totally scraping my nerves raw when I see it, because it always seems to be paired with a fairly high level of humiliation like this is some sort of punishment for the character in question for whatever the author doesn't like about them in canon. Not always, and probably not even most of the time, but it does feel like it sometimes.

Right. Done here.



This has been A Moment of Random Fanfic Bitchery. Please return to your porn writing, plz.

Comments

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

You've prompted some fascinating conversation in your comment section! Here's my bit:

According to the estimable Dr. Drew Pinsky, who is generally very well-informed and non-judgmental about these things, women who become prostitutes *always* have a background of sexual abuse at the hands of a male authority figure at some time during their formative years. It's a job built on the terrible traumatization of a child. The inside of a prostitute's head is not a pleasant place to be, no matter how chipper, upbeat, or matter-of-fact she seems to be about her situation. They do not think well of men and they are not happy people -- frankly, it's better to flip burgers, but it doesn't sound like that's a viable choice for these broken women -- if I remember correctly, they need to punish men (by making them lose all control and behave "like pigs instead of human beings" as one ex-hooker being interviewed put it) and they need to punish themselves (by treating themselves like an object, a "thing.") No idea if this holds true for male prostitutes, Dr. Drew seemed to be talking about women only when I've heard him speak on the subject.

A lot of ex-prostitutes seem to go in for becoming born-again Christians or evangelists, giving control of their lives over to a higher being, like Linda Lovelace or Laurin Chapin, the youngest daughter on Father Knows Best who was forced into prostitute after the show was canceled.

Mrs. Warren's Profession

[executrix.livejournal.com]

But in any occupation, pay and working conditions make an immense difference. I can see that it would be a risk that being a part- or full-time sex worker could easily impair one's own private sex life (although I don't think that's true in all cases) but a lot of people are much more interested in money than in sex anyway.

As Shaw points out in Mrs. Warren's Profession, people with lousy jobs are also very vulnerable to sexual harassment. If you have to give the foreman a blowjob just to keep your rotten job in a sweatshop, I can certainly understand the appeal of getting paid as much for giving a john a blowjob as you got paid for hours or even a whole shift in the sweatshop.

[therosewilde.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's a polite way to say this, but... bollocks.
I'm going to assume that what he interveiwed were streetwalkers - poor cases who were forced into whoring.

Those do not account for all people who are selling sex. There are plenty who work through agencies, who walk into it because it's a damned easy job that pays a hell of a lot more than humiliating yourself working behind a bar.

I mean - OK, picture this. You're 19. You're working your arse off in uni. On the one hand, you have a bar job. You work 20 hours a week, you get £105. You have to deal with drunks, you get leered at by multiple strangers, pawed at, come home stinking of beer and smoke.

On the other hand, you have escorting. You get a call, talk for a while, and go meet up with a guy. Sometimes you have a drink, sometimes he buys you dinner, then you have sex. An hour later, you come home, with £100 in your pocket.

I know which sounds more debasing to me.

As for the abuse thing - well, all I can say is bollocks. The idea that it's all "broken women" is just bloody insulting.