Essay Sample on Crime Novelists: Exploring Sexual Violence with Insight and Compassion

Introduction

There is a mistaken perception that fictional depiction of sexual violence in novels can influence the outcomes of criminal cases. The implication that crime novelists who write about rape and other forms of sexual assault against women nurture it in real life is misleading and offensive. Many such writers explore this kind of crime because they believe it is an important issue that should not be downplayed. They go about it in a meticulous and sensitive manner full of insight and compassion. As long as men continue committing acts of violence directed towards women and misogyny, novelists have a responsibility to highlight it so that does not go unnoticed.

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In 2018, an award known as the Staunch prize was launched. It is presented to a thriller novel whose plot does not include an instance of a woman being assaulted, raped, stalked, murdered, or sexually harassed. According to the awards organizers, it offers an alternative plot to tales based around violence directed towards women. They argue that stereotypical depictions of antagonists who attack women can seriously undermine justice. The prize points to what it refers to as substantial research findings. The findings apparently claim that jurors are not inclined to convict certain types of men accused of rape and other forms of sexual assault. These are men who don't fit the description of a rapist internalized through fictional images and stories in popular culture.

The prize's organizers argue that fictional depictions of menacing strangers, serial killers, dark-alley attackers, night stalkers, and rapists are quite misleading. They point out that 90 percent of rape victims know their attacker and the vast majority of female murder victims knew their killer. They believe that the likelihood of this fictional depiction seriously affecting justice for women is alarming, and something needs to be done about it. It is for this reason that the Staunch prize urges thriller novelists to write stories that do not abide by the same outdated cliches on sexual violence.

The truth is that crime writers explore the theme of violence against women because it is humanity's lived experience. To claim that tackling it in fiction is somewhat wrong can be seen as a subtle way of silencing and sidelining the female voice and experience. It is a fact that female victims of sexual violence feel that depicting it in fiction can go a long way in combating it. While violence against women occurs in many forms, censorship is probably the most insidious. Women are discouraged from reporting attacks to law enforcement in case no one believes them, are convinced to expect skepticism to their version of events, and are silenced by fear or shame. The Staunch prize underpins all those discouraging messages while ignoring the good thing that crime fiction does by highlighting the violence that many women go through.

Crime novels often feature female characters who engage in bold and seemingly safe activities in the course of their daily lives. Consequently, they sometimes find themselves in risky situations whereby they get hurt. The prize appears to suggest that they should remain within the safety and comfort of their homes. All in all, given the huge numbers of reported domestic abuse cases, it is clear that the home is not safer.

Works Cited

Altenburger, Lauren E., et al. "Sexist attitudes among emerging adult women readers of Fifty Shades fiction." Archives of sexual behavior 46.2 (2017): 455-464.

Brigley Thompson, Zoe. "Happiness (or not) after rape: hysterics and harpies in the media versus killjoys in black women's fiction." Journal of Gender Studies 26.1 (2017): 66-77.

Clark, Caroline T., and Mollie V. Blackburn. "Scenes of violence and sex in recent award-winning LGBT-themed young adult novels and the ideologies they offer their readers." Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 37.6 (2016): 867-886.