Things I Hate About Warriors Fanfiction

Rape Isn't Sexy

Rape and sexual assault tw//

I was really struggling to think of a topic to write about for this book. Between school, mental health, and everything else going on in my life, I'm not able to read many fanfictions, so the ones I read are ones I genuinely enjoy. For the first time in my life I couldn't think of something to complain about. Am I finally becoming a positive person? Has the true meaning of life been live, laugh, love all along?

Turns out I've just been reading some quality fanfiction. Because yesterday I found something to complain about, and I couldn't believe I haven't done it already. I was looking through the "warriorcats" tag and saw that within the top 10, there were smut books. And then it hit me. The biggest fucking problem with these smut books and I've only mentioned it in passing. I've written two rants about warriors lemons already, and I brushed over this?

It's gross that people like writing cat sex. It's gross (and a little funny) that their writing is riddled with so many inaccuracies and that young kids are exposed to it. But it's a whole different level that these people write about characters getting raped as if that's something that's sexy.

I forced myself to read a couple of these so I could get a general idea of what these chapters actually looked like. As a side note, it's kind of funny how they're all obviously written by kids who have had no sexual experience whatsoever. I'm not shaming people for having no sexual experience, I've just gotta laugh and how badly these are written.
I noticed two themes with awful rape chapters. The character either starts off resisting and ends up enjoying it, or they end up a sobbing mess. At least the latter is accurate.

It's so incredibly disgusting. I honestly cannot believe I have to say this but getting off to rape is disgusting. You're a disgusting person. I don't care if it's fictional, it's so incredibly wrong. It's sickening. Absolutely sickening. I doubt anyone writing these lemons are rape survivors. I doubt anyone reading them are either. How in any way does the image of someone being violated get you off? How is the idea of someone in pain sexy to you? I get that degradation is a kink but this is something else. This is...very concerning. Talk to a fucking therapist. It's horrific that you guys think it's okay to sexualise trauma.

I can imagine one of these kids claiming that they don't believe rape is okay and their writing doesn't reflect their ideals. And yeah, I'd believe that. They probably aren't meaning to romanticise rape. But they are. There aren't any topics that are necessarily off limits in writing. You can write about rape. I read a Warriors fic that unfortunately was discontinued that wrote about rape. It was fantastic. It was clear to the reader what was happening without it being porn. It was handled maturely and appropriately, and most of all, it wasn't romanticised or sexualised. It was clear within the text that rape is wrong. The character was hurting and traumatised. That's what's missing with these lemons. The intent is all wrong. They don't write rape to highlight that it's wrong, they write it to get people off. That's sexualising and fucking sick. I don't care if you believe rape is wrong, if you're writing this kind of bullshit, you're actively adding to rape culture by making rape seem acceptable.

No, I don't think that many people go away from these fics genuinely believing rape is okay. But you can't deny the implications of writing things like this. Like it or not, you are presenting rape in a positive light. You are sending the message that rape is sexy, that it's acceptable. Every comment, opinion, piece of media that promotes rape in any way enables rapists. I don't care that these are cat fanfictions that aren't going to be seen by many people, I don't care if you think you're harmless and you're not hurting anyone. You are. You're contributing to rape culture, and having an impact on the wider world, even if that wider world is the five reads you're managing to scrape each chapter. Those five readers are now getting off to sexual assault. Associating rape with their own sexual gratification. I doubt these fics are turning people into rapists. But they're still internalising unhealthy beliefs about rape. Sure, you can claim your sexy rape fics aren't hurting anyone, you can whine "if you don't like it don't read it!!!" until the cows come home. But we all know that's bullshit. That's plain immaturity and an inability to understand the world around you and take accountability for your actions. If you're too young or too ignorant to understand that writing rape stories for other's pleasure is wrong, you're far too young or ignorant to be writing them. Delete your book and start reading about rape culture.

The majority of the people who write or read this stuff are young teens who don't realise the depth of their actions. They probably don't know much about sex, and are so horny they'll get off to the just the words "penis" and "vagina," not even caring about the context. Or should I say "member" and "core."

But in all seriousness, it's horrible. Especially the stories where the character starts to enjoy the rape. I'm not shaming survivors who have experienced physical pleasure and reaction to sex, you can't control your body's reaction, and that's a normal response. But no one enjoys rape. Not mentally. As if there's any point in writing about cats getting raped, there's even less point in writing one where both parties end up enjoying it, because then you're writing about normal sex and didn't "need" to include graphic trauma in the first place. Though you never need to write graphic trauma porn. If you feel like you do...talk to a therapist. Get some help.

I can't lay all the blame on these fic writers. Most of them are kids, after all. Trauma porn is a disturbing trend in media. We're fed unnecessary graphic scenes for the sake of shock value. Take 13 reasons why, which showed a character's suicide and rape, exploiting suicide and rape for money and views while under the guise of raising awareness. Those scenes didn't have to be in there. But they were. At the very worst, it's used for voyeuristic creeps to get off to other people's pain and hurt. Literally trauma porn. So I'm really not all that surprised that young kids absorb this and think its okay. But it's not okay, and it's a real problem in this fandom.

Lets stop brushing off smut fics as "ew, gross, cat sex!" That's a genuine problem too, but this is something that has been ignored for far too long. I don't understand it. If you're that horny for warrior cats, humanise them. Stop writing graphic rape for pleasure. Getting off to pain isn't normal. I don't want a repeat of "the Purification Army," but lets quietly report and try to get these fics taken down. They have no place in our fandom.