Homophobic Content in 'Shadows Return'
Posted on 6 December 2008 by CJ Stutz at 2:33 PM | Comments (1)
Tags: Gay, Lynn Flewelling, Nightstalker, Reviews, Shadows Return
Awhile ago,
I wrote a fairly glowing review of Lynn Flewelling's Nightstalker
series. Now, with Shadows Return, I retract it. In its entirety. This review
is going to be fairly short, because I'm not good at talking about
things that disgust me. One of the great goals of the gay rights
movement has been to increase awareness of the fact that, ultimately,
there really is no such thing as "gay" rights. There are "human
being" rights, and your sexuality doesn't define you--or your experience
in the world. The designation "gay" doesn't give us any
insight into a person's character, any more than the designation "straight"
does. To me, using "gay" as a plot device, in the sense that
all gay people react to things a certain way, is offensive.What's even more offensive is saying that, unlike a woman, a gay man can't be raped, if he experiences physical arousal. What's even MORE offensive is saying that, unlike a woman, for whom rape is a cataclysmic, life altering event, a gay man doesn't experience even mild discomfort. A gay man can, apparently, just keep right on going, because it's just sex--and, therefore, no big deal. Well, gosh, where to begin with this one. Do I really need to tell you this is all bullshit? Apparently, I do--because, not only did Lynn Flewelling write a book about it, her editor was either so homophobic, or brain dead, that he let it go.
The Nightstalker series features two protagonists, partners Alec and Seregil. The basic theme of Shadows Return is, Alec and Seregil go on a diplomatic mission, where they're both kidnapped, and, they think, taken to separate destinations. What they don't realize, but you can see coming from the first chapter, is those "separate destinations" are actually in the same house! While Alec languishes in slavery in the basement, Seregil languishes in torment in the tower. Seregil is tied to a bed, drugged, and repeatedly raped. Flewelling, disappointingly, makes no effort to contextualize her character's experience. Instead, she treats us to the Happy Valley version of torture. Her attitude, throughout the book, seems to be, "eh, no big deal." There's never any sense of danger, or foreboding, because, quite frankly, Flewelling doesn't take her character's experience seriously.
Once Seregil escapes--of course he escapes--he returns to Alec, and all is well. Alec, of course, having seen Seregil with his tormentor once or twice, is burning with jealousy. The main issue of their reunion is, how can Alec ever overcome his jealousy? I think what makes me angriest is, Flewelling plays right into the most destructive homophobic stereotype of all: that gay relationships aren't "real" relationships. Seregil is a slut and Alec is a screaming queen.
I think Flewelling should be ashamed of herself. She'd be better off spewing her bilious, homophobic nonsense out in the open, with Anne Coulter, than trying to pass herself off as a novelist. The only "fantasy" here is the notion that gay people don't really feel things like the rest of us, because they're not really people. Don't give your money to a homophobe.
Grade: F
On Tap
Copyright 2008 The Accidental Bard. Some Rights Reserved.
1 Comments
Wow! I just stumbled upon your site and I'm glad I did. I've loved this series and the only reason I didn't jump all over the new release was I'd been thinking of starting from the beginning.
I'm so disappointed that she treated the subject matter in such a way, I can't see buying the book. My hope is that maybe it just came off that way because she was very uncomfortable with the pain she was...OK. I'll stop trying to make an excuse here.