Friday, December 12, 2014

Lesbian Rape is NOT Sexy

When I started writing Lisa's Nightmares, I knew it would contain a scene of female/female rape. Wanting to portray the moment where Lisa's life goes spinning out of control as accurately as I could, I turned to the Internet for help...and came away disgusted.

The first dozen or so hits for the keyword search term "lesbian rape" were all for pornographic videos and a few books. The porn--which seemed to be catering to a predominantly male audience--portrayed female/female rape as fun and sexy, truly a victimless crime.

The one dissenting voice was an article on the Huffington Post about singer and actress Vanessa Williams who was molested by an adult woman when Williams was 10 years old. She didn't find the abuse at all "sexy." She was hurt and traumatized.

Perhaps we don't hear much that is factual about female to female sexual violence because the U.S. Department of Justice reports that 99% of sexual perpetrators are male. But is that an accurate statistic, or does it exist because women are reluctant to report sex crimes committed against them by other women?

My most recent novel, Lisa's Nightmares (a sequel to Lisa's Kiss), shows Lisa being physically and sexually attacked by her partner, Peggy. The rape is devastating to Lisa, and it propels her to do something she's never done before: reach out to another human being for help and comfort.

Lisa is also shown struggling with many emotions common to many survivors of sexual assault including shame, self blame, anger, and terror. The book follows her path as she deals with the present assault, uncovers the roots of violence planted in her childhood, and reclaims her life and sexuality.

Any woman on woman action that is meant to be erotic in this book is completely consensual. The lesbian rape sequence, on the other hand, is brutal, disturbing, and meant to horrify rather than arouse. That is because, whatever the porn manufacturers may want us to think, any kind of rape is a criminal act and should be treated as such.

I hope you enjoy Lisa's Nightmares, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on this controversial story.

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