Pacat seemingly changes her mind and decides she wants to write a real fantasy novel, rather than rape erotica. The first two thirds of the book essentially has no plot, but instead features explicit rape scenes, alludes to even more, and throws in a beating or two to mix things up. Claiming that sexual slavery is “not that bad” because the sex slaves are “treated well,” they “enjoy their work,” and it’s “for their own good” doesn't excuse it. Not only that, but the life of a sex slave is glorified in the short story included in the paperback, which gives the background story of a minor character from the book. According to him, sex slaves in Akielos know that they’re trading their personal freedom for “perfect treatment” by their masters, as if this somehow makes it okay. At one point, Damen compares sexual slavery in his home country of Akielos to that in Vere, where he himself is a sex slave. As far as I can tell, all the kingdoms in C.
Rape isn’t the only thing trivialized by Captive Prince sexual slavery is as well. Having an orgasm does not equal consent, and that’s a dangerous idea to perpetuate. In Captive Prince, Damen has oral sex forced on him, and although he does have an orgasm, that doesn’t change the fact that, as a sex slave, the act is in no way consensual. I’m not sure why this is such a hard concept, but my guess is that it’s connected to the fallacy that men can’t be raped in the first place. Since I’ve seen people argue that the book isn’t that bad because the main character doesn’t actually get raped himself, I’d like to point out that forced oral sex is still rape. But apparently sexual violence is only a problem when directed against women, while it’s fine to have graphic scenes that serve no purpose other than to “entertain” the reader, as long as men are the ones getting raped? (Although how someone could find these scenes entertaining is beyond me.) When I define feminism, I think of women being valued as highly as men and being treated with as much respect - not more.
There has been a lot of criticism in recent years of gratuitous sexual violence against women in books, movies, and TV shows, as it is both offensive and harmful to the feminist movement. We need positive portrayals of queer characters, yes, but we don't need degrading ones.
I fail to see how a book with graphic same sex rape scenes is beneficial to the “We Need Diverse Books” campaign. Personally, I don’t think that’s the kind of “relationship” we should be promoting, regardless of whether it’s queer or not. I love seeing queer relationships in books, but the characters in Captive Prince are either sex slave owners or sex slaves themselves. I’m having trouble understanding how this book can be praised by so many people. There are so many things wrong with Captive Prince, it’s hard to know where to start. Rape isn’t sexy, and it certainly isn’t entertainment.
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