Responses
Hmm I agree overall but people can evaluate the scene critically and also romanticise it. They don't cancel each other out, they stem from different places. You never know the reason behind why someone is turned on by violence, but what's certain is that you can be aware and intellectual and at the same time be affected by e.g. trauma responses, coping patterns, societal pressure, retaliation to patriarchy, different variables that contribute to finding it hot or familiar.
It's not often just a random little fetish or guilty pleasure.
the difference w this work is that unlike in almost 90% of bls where rape is fetishized n framed in a romantic light, here it’s deeply unsettling n uncomfortable. the author doesn’t try to make it look sexy or appealing, n incheol doesn’t suddenly enjoy being penetrated. that’s why, with how the worldbuilding has been unfolding n how we’ve seen how low incheol is willing to go for his job, the outcome felt expected.
obviously it’s still never okay to normalize rape, but just like murder, violence, n every other crime, when it’s used in a way that actually puts it into perspective n forces you to confront how horrifying n violating it is, it can have a real impact. instead of desensitizing the audience or turning it into shock value, it makes you uncomfortable on purpose, n that discomfort is what drives the point home and makes the narrative feel honest rather than exploitative…
however, if you still choose to fetishize this entire chapter, that’s on you. at that point it says more about your inability to engage with the material critically than anything else