I think that what bothered me most about this story were the ideas behind Alistair's actions and Gabriel's response:
1) That one half hour of deviant sex could make a man throw aside all of his ideas and beliefs, because, apparently, he had never been laid so good in his life.
It's Captain Kirk Syndrome. All Kirk has to do is screw the Green Goddess of the Cosmic Computer and she instantly betrays all of her family, friends, traditions and most deeply held convictions to free the men from the Enterprise.
PH34R THE POWAH OF THE MAGIC COCK.
2) That nothing quite says true love like forcing someone to have sex with you. Especially when the person you're forcing to have sex with you is manacled. There is a word for this. It's "rape."
3) That if the other person has an orgasm during a rape, this necessarily means that he or she emotionally enjoyed being forced to have sex. Because, y'know, bodies never respond involuntarily. In fact, if a person has an orgasm, not only did that person like the rape emotionally, but he/she ALWAYS WANTED THIS. He/she just never admitted it.
Why, yes, this DOES sound like the rationale of a rapist, doesn't it?
4) That it is perfectly all right for Alistair to be forcing young YOUNG teens to have sex with him--and this in an era where young, unmarried women of seventeen, eighteen or nineteen were considered children.
Of course, this makes one of the gay/bisexual men in the story a pedophile. But then, aren't all gay men pedophiles? [/sarcasm]
I don't think that the author thought any of this out consciously. But I do think that some ill-considered ideas and some unpleasant stereotypes, and she didn't really think about how these things affected the characters, or the story.
no subject
1) That one half hour of deviant sex could make a man throw aside all of his ideas and beliefs, because, apparently, he had never been laid so good in his life.
It's Captain Kirk Syndrome. All Kirk has to do is screw the Green Goddess of the Cosmic Computer and she instantly betrays all of her family, friends, traditions and most deeply held convictions to free the men from the Enterprise.
PH34R THE POWAH OF THE MAGIC COCK.
2) That nothing quite says true love like forcing someone to have sex with you. Especially when the person you're forcing to have sex with you is manacled. There is a word for this. It's "rape."
3) That if the other person has an orgasm during a rape, this necessarily means that he or she emotionally enjoyed being forced to have sex. Because, y'know, bodies never respond involuntarily. In fact, if a person has an orgasm, not only did that person like the rape emotionally, but he/she ALWAYS WANTED THIS. He/she just never admitted it.
Why, yes, this DOES sound like the rationale of a rapist, doesn't it?
4) That it is perfectly all right for Alistair to be forcing young YOUNG teens to have sex with him--and this in an era where young, unmarried women of seventeen, eighteen or nineteen were considered children.
Of course, this makes one of the gay/bisexual men in the story a pedophile. But then, aren't all gay men pedophiles? [/sarcasm]
I don't think that the author thought any of this out consciously. But I do think that some ill-considered ideas and some unpleasant stereotypes, and she didn't really think about how these things affected the characters, or the story.