Saw this article in The Guardian, although it is about TV I thought it had some pertinent points about fiction too:
Full article:
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/dec/13/tv-rape-portrayal-storm
But not all rape storylines are equal. The Fall, despite critical acclaim, has been repeatedly criticised for the way its depiction of a misogynist worldview often threatens to topple into the misogyny it purports to despise, while last week saw award-winning US scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin at the centre of a media storm after a topical subplot about an alleged campus rape in his journalism drama, The Newsroom, was branded ill-conceived, clunky and, in the words of the New Yorker’s television critic Emily Nussbaum, “crazy-making”.
One of the things that upset me last season with Happy Valley was when extreme feminists were arguing that we should never show violence against women,” she says. “I understand why people say that, but I think the counter-argument is that you have to show the reality, otherwise you’re complicit in pretending that violence towards women doesn’t happen.” The key, she stresses, is to ensure that the rape is never sensationalised or gratuitous. “We were very keen not to show the actual rape on Happy Valley, our interest was to show the effect it had both on Ann and the people around her and that after-effect is something that we explore a lot more in the second season, because it is profound.”
By contrast, one of the key criticisms of Sorkin’s plotline was the way in which, after a bit of debate, the episode twisted the story to blame the accuser, placing the onus on her to prove that she was telling the truth. “The Newsroom was never going to be my favourite series, but I didn’t expect it to make my head blow off, all over again,” wrote Nussbaum of that decision, adding: “On a show dedicated to fantasy journalism, Sorkin’s stand-in doesn’t lobby for more incisive coverage of sexual violence or for a responsible way to tell graphic stories without getting off on the horrible details … Instead, he argues that the idealistic thing to do is not to believe her story.” Alena Smith, a writer on The Newsroom, tweeted she had objected to the storyline so much that she’d been thrown out of the writers’ room.
Full article:
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/dec/13/tv-rape-portrayal-storm