[Perry] Sex Part 1: The Purpose
Let’s talk about sex.
A few months ago, I attended a reading and signing in town by Patrick Rothfuss. During the reading he was asked a question about the reactions he got from his decision to have his main character, Kvothe, indulge in several acts of a carnal nature in The Wise Man’s Fear.
He mentioned that a lot of readers sort of got up in arms about the issue and that he was baffled to understand why.
During the course of the novel, Kvothe kills around thirty to forty people, some of them in some pretty heinous ways using sympathy. Also during the course of the novel, he…”romps” a few times with a a fairy sex goddess, a tavern wench and two ninjas.
One of these events garnered Rothfuss a lot of hatemail from outraged readers who stated that on no uncertain terms would they be caught dead buying his books ever again. The other event passed by without a single word of protest.
Can you guess which was which?
I found this story a little disturbing. Having read the book (as I’m sure many of us have?), I’d have to say that any sex that was present in the book was of the ‘fade out’ variety. It’s the sort of scene where if it was in a movie, you would see a man and woman coming together to kiss and maybe start to unbutton a shirt before fading out to black and then scene would fade back in with the two of them naked in bed (with the covers pulled up demurely).
Contrasted against that, you have some fairly descriptive depictions of violence. There’s a fair bit of blood spilled, torturous wounds inflicted and even the desecration of dead bodies to achieve an end.
And of these two, the first one is the more disturbing one? PG-rated sex between two consensual adults (don’t forget the consenting fairy sex goddess) is MORE disturbing than murder, torture and the desecration of the dead?
This isn’t even taking into account the implied off screen rape of two minors. Yeah, you read that correctly. And you know what? Of all of the events of the novel, THAT was the bit that made me a little uncomfortable. The sex didn’t bother me and the violence didn’t make me bat an eye but the whole suggested rape thing got me a tad squeamish.
But according to him, nobody wrote him any hatemail because of the rape.
No, what really gets certain people’s blood boiling is that the main character has had sex a few times.
I think there’s something strange to be said for a culture that tends to find a hazy depiction of sex more disturbing than explicit violence and gore or implied rape.
Stepping off of my soapbox for a moment, I want to take a look at the question lurking beneath the rhetoric: What is the purpose of sex in a story?
Given the relationship between sex and death, it probably wouldn’t surprise you guys to know that I feel the same way about characters having sex as I do about characters dying.
I think that by and large, many people shy away from the idea of their characters dying and having sex just because. It might be out of a sense of trying to protect the image of the character you’ve created or it might be because you’re not sure you’ll handle it well. Despite those very valid worries though, I say if the situation calls for it, give it a shot.
Just like killing off main characters, I’m most definitely NOT advocating that you throw some sex in there just because you feel you should. That just leads to a whole host of awkward moments that will probably have your reader glossing and skimming past.
But there are cases where a bit of sex feels perfectly natural to include. Our characters are just as human as we are…well, you know, unless they’re like…not.
Even if we don’t engage in the act directly, thoughts of a sexual nature cross our minds probably at least once or twice a day, even if it’s nothing more than seeing an attractive stranger walking past on the street and reacting to it. Considering also that many of our characters spend an inordinate amount of time in high stress situations with all of that extra adrenaline and heightened emotions all around…well, I’m just saying that I don’t think a few stray sexual thoughts or impulses would be unwarranted.
Many readers relate best to characters that they can see a bit of themselves in and a character that’s 100% pristine and pure of thought and deed no matter what the situation feels as fake as a villain who has a handlebar mustache and ties virgins to train tracks just because he can (see the difference between Elene and Viridiana in The Night Angel).
In closing, to be clear, I’m not saying that there HAS to be sex. All I’m saying is that if your characters grow and develop relationships that might lead to sex, be open to the idea that including it might help strengthen your characters and make them seem more real instead of dismissing it out of hand to keep the story and characters ‘clean.’
9 Comments
Firstly, and most importantly, that implied rape was by far the squickiest thing I read in the series. I totally agree on that point, no holds barred.
I was a little eye-rolly at the sex in the books not because I found it repugnant to think that he’d HAVE sex, but rather the fact that he was THE BESTEST SEXER IN THE WORLD. Honestly, once he left the fairy, I thought his trysts were totally believable, and yes, that includes the two ninjas.
Our society definitely still has a LOT of issues about sex and they’re way out of proportion with our ideas about violence. Hell, our violence is more free than our SWEARING and that’s pretty freaking crazy.
I watched the tail end of a tv show where these strangers were locked up in a town together. One lady was pointing a gun at a man and he was terrified and he asked her why. She handed him a rolled up piece of paper, like a fortune cookie fortune, and it said “Kill Jim (or whoever) and you will go free.”
For a few very tense moments, I wasn’t sure what she’d do, and finally she screamed and shot the camera in the ceiling that was watching them.
I walked in on the middle of this scene and my heart was immediately pumping. Fantastic tension.
But then the show ended and I saw it had a PG rating.
PG.
Not even PG-13.
Which means they’re not going to swear or have sex or any kind of nudity, but we’re thrown headfirst into a gun-in-the-face moment.
God forbid someone say “fuck.” We might warp our children.
Wait, there is a response to this. But it just might warp my children if I said it.
Honestly, I feel like it’s one of the most warped things about our…entertainment consumption as a culture right now.
Nobody bats an eye at violence and even a bit of gore past the blood squib on gunshot is regarded as more and more okay now…but dare to flash some skin or swear and that’s what launches the rating of a movie.
There’s a movie I remember watching a long time ago called Nothing to Lose, with Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. There’s little to no blood in the movie and what violence is there comes across as Three Stooges kind of violence.
But there IS a fair bit of swearing and there’s one brief, brief moment where you see a woman on top of a man in bed (you see her bare back, covers piled up around her waist).
That movie is rated R.
A comedy like that with a bit of language and a flash of bare back is rated the same as like…Friday the 13th or a Freddy Kreuger movie.
THAT’S messed up.
On a side note, I also watched Looper this weekend, and it was MUCH better than I expected. Actual storyline and EVERYTHING.
There was a fade-to-black sex scene, however, that I wasn’t at all certain why it was in there. It felt forced. Maybe it was to characterize them, or maybe it was to make the ending feel plausible (sorry, no spoilers. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean).
I dunno.
I do know that we’re not Puritans any more. That casual sex is a dangerous thing for tons of reasons, but care and contraceptives allow people to be a little more free with their affections than we had to be in decades past.
In fiction (written or screen) sex seems to be used as a tool to indicate:
1) everlasting love
2) characterize a woman as being of loose morals, often a whore or a drug addict
3) characterize a MAN as being of loose morals
4) characterize a man as being sexy
I am purposefully ignoring rape for this evaluation, as I believe this is a consentual sex discussion.
I think that depiction is shifting (slowly, as all such moral shifts happen). I have seen more and more shows where sex isn’t considered a giant plot point. Where women are allowed to enjoy it without being throwaway characters.
Even so, in fantasy, I don’t think it should be treated flippantly unless there’s some kind of contraceptive available. Kvothe can bang women and then go on with his magical life, but if any of those women get pregnant from it, their story typically ends right there. The ninjas seemed to have a good handle on that (which was one of the reasons I liked that bit) but casual trysts don’t really work the same way when you end up responsible for the life you create.
That being said, I’ve also heard Rothfuss talk about a new story he wants to write, and I can’t wait to read it.
It’s the story of a mother whose children have grown and started their own lives, and now she goes on an adventure. Because damn straight there’s no reason a mother can’t have an adventure that isn’t directly related to her children.
Rambling comment is rambling.
With regard to the scene in Looper, here’s something I thought was an important distinction. While the scene definitely felt forced (I sort of thought it was used purely as a vehicle to reveal the whole TK thing), because of the fade-to-black technique they used, it didn’t feel gratuitous.
I thought that was important.
The movie was already walking around with an R rating so they COULD have made that scene more explicit if they wanted to, dragged it out a little more.
But they didn’t.
I think this serves to highlight the fact that the implied sex scene was being used to a very specific purpose instead of just for the hell of it, which is something I find to be an important consideration when making the decision to include sex in a story.
The point about the use of some form of contraceptive, especially in medieval fantasy (which encompasses most fantasy stories really) is a very telling one.
I loved the whole Ademre culture Rothfuss cooked up and the scene where Kvothe learns how the Ademre think childbirth works was hilarious haha.
But the contraceptive thing definitely becomes an issue with his other ‘conquests’.
A series I thought handled that well (if a little conveniently) was Carey’s whole Kushiel thing. Where there’s a lot of sex in a medieval fantasy setting but there’s a reason given for the whole contraceptive thing.
His new story…I heard the first chapter/prologue to it and it certainly peaked my interest. I can’t wait for it =D
An aritcle I read yesterday spoke about sex from the view point of an author named Mary Renault. I have never read any of her books, but she was being published in the 1960s and 70s and wrote quite a bit of historical fictions about Alexander. I do enjoy good historical fictions. Anyway, her quote on writing sex scenes into books.
“If characters have come to life, one should know how they will make love; if not, it doesn’t matter. Inch-by-inch physical descriptions are the ketchup of literary cuisine, only required by the insipid dish or by the diner without a palate.”
That is beautiful. And now I want to read her books.
That quote is PERFECT.
Absolutely perfect ._.
Look at me being all amazing with the right quote.
Not only is the quote very nicely phrased, but poignant. I was rather hoping that, as an author, you might warmly approve of the quote. :)
When I eventually read one of her books, I will let you know what I think.
Looking forward to it ^^