Deborah Markus answers â€œwhy are people saying Outlander is a rape...â€� â€� Outlander Q&A

A Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ user asked this question about Outlander (Outlander, #1):

why are people saying Outlander is a rape book?

Deborah Markus Because....rape.

Deborah Markus 1. Please translate "turn them into your own sense of importance." I Google-translated that stuff and almost broke my laptop. Thank you.

2. While you'r 1. Please translate "turn them into your own sense of importance." I Google-translated that stuff and almost broke my laptop. Thank you.

2. While you're at it, translate "Claire doesn't allow it." What do you mean? She doesn't "allow" herself to be raped? That's kind of the definition of rape -- your saying "no" isn't taken into account by your assailant.

3. If you're talking about being beaten and raped, women are still "treated this way." If you're talking about societal attitudes in the West toward rape, marital rape, and domestic violence -- it's true, those used to be more socially acceptable than they are now. As in, way more guys used to do them and get away with it. In terms of how women felt about it, however -- I'll be happy to quote you some actual historical letters from an eighteenth-century woman who lived in northern England. She was a widow who married a hot, significantly younger guy. Then he started abusing alcohol and her, at about the same time. Her letters are full of anger and bitterness at how she's being treated, and some of those letters beg her male relatives to help her get away from the man she was in love with until he started treating her like that. So no, I'm not being "presentist," as some people have accused me of. Women have never liked being "treated this way."

4. Yes, I'm officially uptight. I don't enjoy reading a story about a woman who's beaten and raped by a guy she then stays with because she's just so darned in love with him. Sorry.

5. "Lighten up"? Yeah, you're right. I should stop thinking when I start reading. And I should definitely stop going to other people's book reviews and telling them how wrong they are to disagree with me. Oh, that's right -- I don't do that. The guy who posted this question does, though. Not just about this book. He requested my friendship here, and then not only defriended but blocked me when I started reading Twilight and posted some status updates he didn't approve of. Updates like, "Gee, Bella -- why are you so snarky to people who are just trying to be friends with you when you move to their town and start going to their high school?" Horrible stuff like that. Maybe you could pass along the "lighten up" message to him, since I assume that if he blocked me he can't see my posts anymore than I can see his. Thank you. ...more
Dec 29, 2014 05:19PM · flag

Nicole The amount of rape in the book made me uncomfortable too, but I think that's part of the point of the book. To be honest with you, I thought Claire ge ...more
Jan 14, 2015 10:02PM · flag

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