I am very respectful of the limitations of people reading about abuse and neglect. I try to warn folks for whom this is simply too painful. I have several dear friends who cannot read my fic, and I absolutely understand. I have also received, in comments, reviews, emails & owls, notes from people who have experienced these things and who have found that the story helped to show them that they weren't alone and to break a kind of silence.
I am highly respectful of both approaches, and always, strongly urge each person to take careful stock of themselves before reading, and respect what they find. Both reading and not reading can be a sign of healing and health. Only the individual knows which is best.
If I may say a bit about Abused!Hermione. I haven't read many of these fics. Unfortunately, given my experience, I would never write off Hermione as "no way could she have been abused", or especially, "no way could she be raped."
The best statistics in the US -- and I'm unaware of any from other countries -- state, consistently, that 1 in 3 girls, that one in every three girls has been raped or molested by the age of 18. And that statistic only goes up from there. The figure for boys is between 1 in 5 to 1 in 7, and given my background, I absolutely believe this to be an underestimate. Boys are culturally taught not tocode their experiences as rape or molest, even though their responses to rape and molest are extremely similar to girls and women, and worse, they have learned that the shame of the rape is on them, just as much, if not more than this happens with women. When, of course, but understandably not of course to victims, the shame of the rape or abuse is always on the rapist and the abuser.
Well, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have read one story about an abused Hermione, and, yes, there was some AU to it. But it was also genuine, thoughtful, accurate and sensitive. A "trend", however, would of course be godawful.
As sensationalism, it is nothing short of reprehensible.
Thanks for this thoughtful thread, and for your vote of confidence.
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Date: 2005-04-13 08:29 pm (UTC)I am highly respectful of both approaches, and always, strongly urge each person to take careful stock of themselves before reading, and respect what they find. Both reading and not reading can be a sign of healing and health. Only the individual knows which is best.
If I may say a bit about Abused!Hermione. I haven't read many of these fics. Unfortunately, given my experience, I would never write off Hermione as "no way could she have been abused", or especially, "no way could she be raped."
The best statistics in the US -- and I'm unaware of any from other countries -- state, consistently, that 1 in 3 girls, that one in every three girls has been raped or molested by the age of 18. And that statistic only goes up from there. The figure for boys is between 1 in 5 to 1 in 7, and given my background, I absolutely believe this to be an underestimate. Boys are culturally taught not tocode their experiences as rape or molest, even though their responses to rape and molest are extremely similar to girls and women, and worse, they have learned that the shame of the rape is on them, just as much, if not more than this happens with women. When, of course, but understandably not of course to victims, the shame of the rape or abuse is always on the rapist and the abuser.
Well, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have read one story about an abused Hermione, and, yes, there was some AU to it. But it was also genuine, thoughtful, accurate and sensitive. A "trend", however, would of course be godawful.
As sensationalism, it is nothing short of reprehensible.
Thanks for this thoughtful thread, and for your vote of confidence.