Fandom is stupid, why am I part of it?

[azurite]

ceruleansan, I apologize in advance for this. I really liked your other recs, and I appreciate you introducing me to FMA, explaining things to me, and reccing fics to me. But this one fic really pissed me off, and I have to rant about it. And the reviewers. But I'm excluding you, because you are my friend, and you don't know how I react to these kinds of things. So please don't take this as an attack on you (especially when I mention the reviewers.)

You know how I normally only read fics if they're recced to me by a friend or some such? Well, ceruleansan was reccing me some "good" FMA EdWinry fics today, and I was very excited. Many of them were quite good -cute or fluffy or whatnot,  and I liked them. I wanted to review, but FFnet wouldn't let me. Well, then I started on this fic called "Falling Away from me" and the content of the fic had me BOILING.

Not like "yum, hot cocoa or green tea" boiling either. MAD BOILING. FUCKING HOT BOILING.

I told Ceru from the beginning, when she described the fic as a "rapefic" that I might not be into it, but I trusted her previous recs, so I read it. By Chapter 5, I wanted to strangle the author. I never write flames (flames defined as a "baseless personal attack on the author, unrelated to the fic" in my book, which this wasn't), but I was certainly tempted to. I left a long, angry review, because this "fic" deserved it. The author (only 15, but writing a Mature fic involving rape AND self-mutilation) is a complete idiot.

I don't know who to blame: the senseless author, her idiot teachers for not educating her, her idiot parents for not educating her, or someone else. Maybe the idiot reviewers for pumping her with praise she doesn't deserve. Do these people not know anything about real women, psychology, human biology? I mean forgetting "getting a clue," these people need a life!

Okay, I have to admit that I've read several other EdWin fics before this, and I was very skeptical of reading this when my friend described it to me, even though almost everything else she recced was very good. But seriously, you need to learn a few things. I don't want come off as mean, but rapefic will put many people in a bad mood, and I'm one of them. I gave this fic a chance anyway, and I want to help you.

One - use a spell check. You misspell some pretty basic words, such as 'hospital' (you spelled 'hospitol').

Two - get a grammar check. Whether that means proof reading your fic five times, getting a beta reader, or what, have someone check to make sure you're using the right form of "your" "you're" or "their," "they're" or "there." Same goes for "too," "to," and "two." And don't forget punctuation like commas and apostrophes. It makes your story easier on the eyes, because people know when to pause and breathe.

Three - Rapefic. I admit, I didn't find this story through a search of summaries here at FFnet, it was linked directly to me through an IM. So I missed any warnings you may have given in the summary. Actually, I knew it was a rapefic, but I decided to give it a chance anyway, because my friend said it was good. But seriously, if you know anything about basic human psychology and/or biology, you'd know this:

a) Women do not hang around the people they think raped them. Winry would get the hell away from Ed if she thought he raped her, and fast. Point, however, is that Ed would never rape Winry (we know this), and Winry ought to know it, too. At first, she may have believed it and been shocked, but she of all people understands Ed, and would know that he couldn't just do a complete 180 only around her. She would be upset and suspicious, and it would show. The real Ed would not stand for simple mood swings, he would find out -one way or another- what was upsetting her. Not to mention, they all have other people in their lives -Al, Schiezka, Izumi, Roy, Riza, to name a few. If Winry or Ed went to any of them, they would all look into "suspicious" behavior.

b) Women do NOT usually get pregnant the first time they have sex, or during first attempts. Most women have to TRY to conceive. Many, many times. You hear all these horror stories of teen pregnancies, but in the grand scheme of things, they are uncommon, even for couples that don't use protection.

c) You do NOT start to develop symptoms of being pregnant within a few WEEKS of having sex, let alone a few days or *hours!* Not to mention, if Winry was throwing up, I'd say it was more of a psychological thing -a way to damage herself further, the same way bulimics do.

d) Let's say I missed a transition or something, and Winry started throwing up a month or more after she and Ed slept together. (Still not possible in our universe, since morning sickness tends to set in during the second trimester, which is 6+ mos pregnant, and very visibly so). For those of us that immediately know that rapist!Ed is not our Ed, but say, shapeshifter Envy, we also know that ENVY CANNOT HAVE CHILDREN. None of the homuniculi can. We know that as a FACT from the series, so to even put that idea in anyone's head is just plain silly.

e) "Down the road, not across the street." This is how cutters cut. Winry would not become a cutter, for one. But even if she was so blind, so psychologically damaged to start hurting herself in that manner, she's a mechanic. An automail mechanic, for Pete's sake! She knows how nerves and veins work! If she wanted to commit suicide, she would do it right the first time. She wouldn't "experiment." And she would cut properly, she'd bleed a lot, then she'd pass out, then she'd die. She wouldn't have anything to clean up, or be able to get up and lust after Edward (though some rape victims DO start to "protect" their rapists, most are still terrified of any close, personal contact whatsoever. They probably won't immediately go jumping into the sack because they feel a trickle of "lust").

Rape is not a plot device, darling. It can work well when you really want to explore the psychological side effects and character development, but that doesn't mean that it's something "fun" you can do to your characters just to make your fic more angsty and "romantic." Because it's not. Rape HURTS.

You've seriously butchered Winry here, and that hurts those of us that are actually fans of her, the strong-willed girl that she is. Same for Ed, who you've essentially turned into a complete airhead in this. Ed is much smarter than you are giving him credit for.

If I finish reading this, the only reason why I'd review again is if it seriously improved. If it stays as bad as it is or gets worse, I don't know why I would waste my time.

This isn't a flame, because I'm not attacking you, the author. But this fic idea good have been written well without sacrificing characterization or cliché, but that hasn't happened here.

Before you write Mature rated fics, you need to be mature yourself, and understand the impact of what you're writing. You shouldn't be writing this kind of stuff if you're under 17, or if you haven't studied human psychology and biology. Seriously, research is NOT hard.

To other reviewers: how can you honestly be EXCITED about what's going on here? I admit there's suspense, but generally, the character names could be replaced with names from any fandom, and nothing would change. Villain disguises himself as Hero, and Heroine thinks she's been raped by Hero, when in reality, she's been raped by Villain. Will Hero and Heroine ever discover the truth, and will Heroine ever be the same? No, of course not. You've completely killed her.

I admit, I was pretty harsh. And I was even wrong with the morning sickness thing -I've just found out that it can start as early as six weeks, but some women don't go through it until the 7th, 9th, 14th... some don't EVER have morning sickness (I hope I'm one of them, whenever I end up having kids). But ONE DAY? Come on. Let's not be idiotic here.

Am I in the wrong here, for sort of knowing from the start that this might not be something I wouldn't like, but I read it anyway? I didn't read it to get pissed off, and the first four chapters were halfway decent, spelling and grammar aside. And I'll keep reading it (masochist!) just to see if it gets better or not. I'm glad I'm not the only reviewer that's pointed out the airheadedness of the fic author, but... seriously, if she gets her panties in a twist and decides to quit writing, I won't shed a tear or care if the fangirl squad comes after her.

222 reviews, and for what? Character-butchering, clichés, and sheer predictability. Some suspense, and a decent style of writing, but... a decent plot idea (because rape can be done well, just not as a "device" for getting Ed and Winry together) gone horribly wrong.

Honestly. People should be made to give their exact birth date when they sign up for FFnet, and NOT be allowed to post or even read Mature-rated fics if they're underage. They just DO NOT KNOW. Maybe some do, through real-life experiences, but I doubt they can/will talk about it in a coherent, mature way. And I admit, many of my friends on my FL write mature stuff, or have read mature stuff without complaint, but...

Ugh. There's a reason we have ratings and restriction. It's not that BAM! You turn 17 or 18 and all of a sudden you KNOW about rape and violence, gore and sex, cum and other such things... but your mind has developed more to a point where it isn't just stuff you blush and giggle about. You realize how SERIOUS stuff like rape can be. Maybe by then your high school teachers have crammed it into your head that RESEARCH is important, PLAGIARIZING IS BAD, and idiots should not breed!

And fuck, this is fanfiction. I feel stupid for taking it so seriously. "It's fandom, it's fanfiction, I wrote it for me, it's just for fun!" Yeah, fucktard, take your sick immature fantasies OFFLINE plzkthx, because when you put it online, you're ASKING for people to tear it apart. And I feel like tearing this apart, because it upsets me.

Comments

[azhp.livejournal.com]

gg

[azurite]

good game? good god? gotta go?

What are you saying here, I don't speak Netspeak on my LJ!

[homgsekrit.livejournal.com]

It may just be a fanfic, Hon, but rape is just a sensitive topic, so I think you're entitled to be upset. Especially if it has character-rape attached to it.

After all, I'm more than sick of the topic in general at the moment. I understand some people may search the psychological aspects of it, but everyone seems to be exploring it in one form or another at the moment, and I could not be more annoyed. It's started to create a flight reaction for me in RPs. If someone gets raped, I'm likely to want to hit the road, especially if I think my characters will get told about it so that I have to play sympathetic towards the "victim."

It's driving me mad.

I.E. Rant away. You've every right to it, and the review sounded helpful, if not a bit upset. Still, that's understandable.