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A book edit from half a decade ago (mid-2010’s) tried to hit ALL the TOXIC women-in-jeopardy tropes in a single manuscript.
I wrote an email to a friend listing all the issues after reading the manuscript and before writing the editing response so I could organize my thoughts and separate myself from my emotional reaction:
(1) Woman lies about a rape (I think I can get the author to drop that nightmare)
(2) women are cat called, called slut, etc.
(3) bully threatens to rape main character’s (MC’s) girlfriend (GF)
(4) bully corners GF and tries to rape her
(5) bully kidnaps GF and tears the clothes off and tries to rape her (… yes, this is a second and separate incidence)
(6) a different girl gets the mental thought response of “I knew she wanted to kiss me”
(7) … looking ahead GF gets kills. Refrigerator all the way.
… Dude wrote it.
***
My task, and I didn’t have a choice in accepting it since the book was contracted, was to bring the manuscript up to modern standards and mitigate the awful tropes without destroying the story or his voice.
A couple-few of additional factors I want to bring up about this rant.
(a) I do need to say a dude wrote it as women authors I have worked with have also bought into the women-need-rape-as-character-development trope. Females have internalized the rape culture of our society as much as men.
(b) Most of these would be acceptable for a story in isolation. The combination of all of them in the same book though is too much by modern standards. It’s no longer the seventies with the back-splash of the sixties as the 50-something writers reacted to the change to “their” world done by the 20-somethings of the “trust no one over 40” generation.
Most traditionally published books not only run about five years behind on subjects because of the time it takes from book concept through writing to publishing, but also run about two decade behind on what is happening on the society-changing front. It can take several decades to develop the skill set for book publication, which means first-time best-sellers tend to be in their fifties. Thriller and mystery are especially behind on the society curve as their audience runs even older than the writers.
(c) The biggest trope of the above I think needs real killing is “I knew she wanted it.” Express consent is now the name of the game. Only villains should have these thoughts, and even that is getting old.
Look, I get it. Someone-in-jeopardy is needed in books and the MC’s love interest brings a wealth of emotion to the table on top of the action-adventure angle. Just realize sexual jeopardy isn’t the only choice. Threatening rape again and again and again isn’t edgy, it’s unimaginative. And that, my friends, is the biggest objection. Be creative with your character torture, not the same-old same-old. Boring is bad. TOXIC women-in-jeopardy tropes need to go; create new jeopardy tropes and keep us on the edge of our seats.