The (sorry to be so blunt) "Rape" Plot

[timshepardsgurl]

:(When I first started writing for fan fiction, I was guilty of that. I offended and creeped a lot of people out and I wanna apologize for that; because those things shouldn't be taken lightly.

So, to any new writers out there; if you write a rape plot do research on it.

[blackcat2010]

I agree with TSG, the new wirters need to do more research. Heck everyone needs to do research when it comes to touchy topics like Rape and stuff. I wrote a fic about rape and i never should have. I apologize for every writing that fic (forgot the name of it now) but i do apologize.

[kathy]

Hi. I've been a guest reader of your forum for a long time and decided I have to register and reply to this thread. I have a degree in Social Work, specializing in Child Welfare and I've worked with a lot of child rape victims. I agree that most of these teen rape stories on fanfiction.net are disturbing since they are mostly written as fluff, trying to get boo-hoo sympathy from the reader for some OC. However, the one story that really bothered me was called "We'll Be Back", which was a slash rape of Pony by the Socs. This story was very graphic, but it was also very realistic, showing rape for what it is, violence, and the psychological trauma of the victim, not something to be treated lightly. So if you can stomach it, it makes for a good read, but I don't think the author ever completed it... My heart goes out to "murderofcrows", and I commend you for taking a step to help others = strength, compassion, and healing.

[Nittanylizard]

Welcome to the forum, kathy . I'm glad you decided to join so you could give us your take on this issue.

I have a question - as somebody working in Child Welfare, does it bug you to see story after story where social workers are depicted as evil home wreckers with bad attitudes who hate their jobs almost as much as they hate children? It bugs me and that's not even close to my field, hahah.

Anyway, hope to see you around often!

Liz

[kathy]

Yes, it bothers me the way the media portrays us as evil baby snatchers. The majority of Child Welfare workers are in the business only because they love kids and they love their jobs, since it pays squat and the stress level teters on the brink of insanity. Removing a child from his/her family is the last resort to make sure he/she is safe, and when it must happen, the ultimate goal is family reunification, if possible. I think one thing that keeps me attracted to The Outsiders is I had a case that reminds me of the Curtis boys in many respects. The oldest son, Jason, took custody of his 4 younger brothers and sisters so they could be together, and faced a lot of the same struggles as Darry, as a sibling suddenly becoming a parent, and having to be the caretaker and disciplinarian. I remember the first time Jason had to ground one of his brothers, and the yelled "I hate you!" at him, just like Ponyboy, and Jason told me he it was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

[Nittanylizard]

Oooh, I should be talking to you about one of my stories, lol.

My first fanfic was Ten Years Later, in which I had Ponyboy being a social worker. A few years after writing it, after learning a lot about writing, I decided much of the story was kind of awful, haha.

I began the rewrite, Sculpting Souls, with the intention of using some of the better concepts from TYL, but giving the story an actual plot and purpose instead of rambling along like a soap opera. Ponyboy is still a social worker, but I go into a little more detail about how it happened since some readers didn't get why he would go into that field (comments from "He hated social workers, why would he be one" to "He would never go into that field given the environment he came from.").

My thought was that he actually had decent experiences with their case worker, who was a caring woman who worked to help them stay together. Fresh out of college and unable to find a job in his chosen field (journalism), Ponyboy runs into his old case worker, and she tells him about a job opening in her office that she will give him a recommendation for. He takes the job "temporarily" while he continues to apply for journalism positions, but is still there over a year later because no other jobs are panning out. That's when he meets Vic, a young teen from a broken home who was taken away from his father.

The gist of the story is that Ponyboy decides to foster this boy; the result that he didn't expect, other than that it's much harder than he thought it would be, is that it brings to the surface questions and regrets about his own father and his relationship with him. Ponyboy is at a point where he is questioning whether he's doing the right thing with his life as he tries to deal with the knowledge that he will never really know if his father would have been proud of him.

My biggest issue is that I have very little knowledge about how CPS works in Oklahoma now, much less in the 1970s, lol. I end up giving as little information as possible about his day-to-day job responsibilities and focusing more on his personal life.

[Keira]

Warning - O.T.

Liz - I would like to follow up on something you said in your last post. You mentioned that people would tell you that Ponyboy wouldn't want to be a social worker because of the environment and experiences he came from, and I have to seriously disagree with that. Anyone who thinks that people would be that one-dimensional has to be somewhat uneducated in that topic.

My younger brother, who as of today has been clean and sober for over four years, ran into some MAJOR problem when he was barely 17 years old. I won't go into details, but it was fairly horrifying for my family and absolutely devastating for us, as well as for him having kept some terrible secrets for a long time. He is in no way a bad person, but he was in a LOT of trouble for actions he had chosen to take.

A very brief run down of his story is that he was arrested at the age of 17, in front of me in our living room, and I watched as he was taken away to juvenile detention. He was on suicide watch for two months before he was moved to a boys ranch in southern Utah for about a year. On this ranch he learned valuable skills, a sense of self-worth, and went through a lot of emotional healing. He went on to be in foster care for another year and a half. (For the type of trouble and psychological state he was in, the courts mandated that he be legally considered a minor until they said otherwise - he was in foster care until he was 19.5 years old).

Now that he is 21, out of the foster care, and making strides to get his life back on track, he has high ambitions. I can't say that he is setting out to be a social worker, but it is something he has considered (as well as other careers in that round-about field). Those people he worked with changed his life - some of them wanted to bog him down and drag him under, but some of them believed in him and they are the ones who made the difference.

For someone in Ponyboy's situation, who has gone through some equally - if not, more so - horrifying situations as my brother, yet have the stability in life and positive outlook that he does, it's far from being far-fetched that someone like him would want to be in the social-work field. Who better than someone who has gone through it, survived it, and can empathize with kids who are going through the same thing?


Okay, now that I'm off my soap box...

[kathy]

Most people working in social services or any "helping profession" (doctors, nurses, psychologists, etc), chose their career because of a positive personal experience in their past, that affected either themselves or a family member. I got into the business because I have a sister with a disability and I wanted to do something to help others with special needs. I started out as a psychology major, but it was too much research and theory for me, since I was literally training rats to play basketball in the lab. I changed to social work and immediately started interning at our local state child protective services office. It takes a special personality to work in child welfare since you have to care enough so you do want to help, but not care so much that it burns you out emotionally... Getting back to Ponyboy, even the 70's (10 yrs post book) he couldn't be a social worker without a degree in a social services related field, but he could be a child advocate, which is a volunteer positiion where you help one child or family get through the family court system.

[Nittanylizard]

Mar 11, 2011 9:28:42 GMT -5 kathy said:

Getting back to Ponyboy, even the 70's (10 yrs post book) he couldn't be a social worker without a degree in a social services related field, but he could be a child advocate, which is a volunteer positiion where you help one child or family get through the family court system.

That's a good thing to know. I had written it so that Ponyboy majored in journalism, but minored in social services simply because of his nagging interest in it, and his belief that he understood the system well enough to slide through his classes and keep his GPA up, lol. I don't know if that's quite enough, though. I pretty much stalled in the rewrite because I was feeling too picky about getting it right, but couldn't find the info anywhere.

And the rats - I would totally love to teach mine to play basketball, hahaha. I've got eight pet rats and am fostering two for a rat rescue ;D. They're very smart.

[astiosis]

Frankly, the whole idea sickens me. Thankfully, it doesn't appear to be SO common at this time, however the cliche' "Socs beat up girls" is running all over the place. I don't even know how that one first happened.