I'm a writer and I have no qualms about rape in fiction - same as i have no qualms about the (arguably) male equivalent - warfare. Although neither is gendered, men can be raped and women can go to war and kill other people - these are some of the most psychologically damaging things that can happen to an individual. So why don't have an issue including it? The answer is simple. Truth.

I have no problems with writing anything, but the thing you're writing must be true. People murder. People rape. People are murdered and people are raped. However, if you're going to pen these things, you have to be certain that you are capturing the truth of what it means to be human. If it is simply a plot device, something to help you out of a creative hole, or to add 'colour commentary' because your story isn't interesting enough as is - then it isn't truth. If your character is raped and becomes stronger as a result and that is psychologically and narratively true, then I have no problem with it. If your character is arbitrarily raped and the rape is a magical plot device whereby your character suddenly becomes kick-ass then I do have a problem with it. The writing is lazy, I'm not offended (because I don't really believe in weaponised offence) but I can see why other people might choose to be.

The issue here isn't with the action, it is with the truth of the fiction. It doesn't matter which sex the individual who writes it is, it doesn't even matter whether they've had lived experience of such things - what matters is that they can capture truth and express it through words. That truth can be obtained through research, it can be through first-hand understanding, or it can be by simple creative imagination alone.... but without truth you've not got 'gritty' writing, you've got 'shitty' writing.

Cracking article as always. :o)