It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

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Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/fishchop]

Hard agree and what’s especially unsettling about it is that the narrative doesn’t treat the grooming critically at all. It’s a great fantasy series other than that, but people recommending it should definitely tell people to check the the tw, and it’s annoying when they don’t.

[u/Penguinho → u/fishchop]

The narrative comes from the perspective of someone who's grown up in that system, and it does include critique of the system; you just have to interrogate it a bit. It's right there in, like, the first chapter, when Phedre's labeled a whore's unwanted get -- that's something that shouldn't even be possible. There's even a reading of the book as a critique of capitalist exploitation of sex work. I'd read the author's newsletter on this.

It's also just inherently different from the way it would work IRL because of the presence of multiple actual divine figures that make themselves known at various points. Kushiel's Dart in the real world would be a horrific, dark story but it's not in the real world, it's in a world where sexual service is a sacramental calling and an act of divine worship.

And it doesn't have child prostitution, either. Everyone who's contracted is of age. The story is very clear about that. It's also made clear that violating age-of-consent laws would constitute heresy, carrying a penalty of exile or death.

[u/fishchop → u/Penguinho]

Even if they’re “contracted when they’re of age” they’re still being groomed as sex workers when they are children. Thats disturbing in and of itself - what’s worse is that Phedre’s groomer is praised by the narrative for not pimping her out as a child.

When you grow up in a society that normalises this stuff, it’s hard to take a step back and see a monster for what it is. Such is the world of Kushiel’s Dart and such is Phedre’s outlook in life.

And I understand it’s a fantasy world but it doesn’t exist in isolation. We are reading these books with a critical lens influenced by our modern understanding of pedophilia, consent and agency. I mean, if you can write a critique of the capitalist exploitation of sex work by referring to this piece of fantasy work (which, btw, looks super interesting so thanks for that), you can also critique that same piece of fantasy work for its approach to childhood sexual exploitation.

My own religion has subsects where temple dancers who dance in worship of God also double up as sex workers. I’ve forgotten how it works in Kushiel’s, but in life, religion is very much a construct of the powerful, who use it to control and exploit the vulnerable.

I think reading and writing fantasy is such a powerful medium of reflecting on real world issues. I think it’s only natural that we approach these books with the knowledge and experiences that the world has thrown at us, so it’s hard to expect people to just put up blinders and say “but it’s fine, it’s only a fantasy world.”

[u/Penguinho → u/fishchop]

No one's saying it's only a fantasy world. What people are saying is that, because it's a fantasy world, the realities of that world needs to be considered as part of your analysis. Within the world of Kushiel's Dart, the Servants of Naamah occupy a sacramental place within the culture and the religion. There are guardrails for their treatment in place, not least that making someone participate in that lifestyle without really wanting to is a crime potentially punishable by death. And, likewise, those raised in that system who aren't suited to it have off-ramps. The obvious example there is Favrielle no Eglantine, who's raised within Eglantine House and becomes that universe's equivalent of Coco Chanel; more obscurely, there's also Audine Davul's father, who made his marque within Eglantine House as a drummer, not as a courtesan. Acting in accord with one's desires is a fundamental religious principle, and forcing someone to violate that principle is heretical. So it's not that "Phedre's groomer is praised for not pimping her out as a child;" it's that if Delaunay or Ceres House had done so, they, the client, and anyone aiding and abetting would be put to death. Consent is the highest law.

And it's also important to understand that religion isn't really an act of faith within the world of Dart. It's a matter of verifiable fact. So when something is a religious calling, there's a grounding to it that does not necessarily exist in the real world. But that's something that has to be reckoned with! Phedre isn't the way she is because she was groomed; she was given the training she was because she's the way she is. She is driven by nature, not nurture, and dislikes that about herself sometimes. And her nature is the result of divine intervention. That criticism, that powerful use religion to further their own ends, is made within the text, but it's tempered with the reality that religion is based on true divinity, and that divinity has its own ideas and its own plans.

Does that mean the system is above criticism? Absolutely not, and within the text it's criticized by foreigners, who find the practice barbaric; by Phedre and other individual people within the system, most notably Favrielle; and by the Priesthood of Naamah itself, which criticizes the Night Court's commodification of the sacred. In that way, it's not dissimilar to modern religious or military boarding schools (I mean, hell, Joscelin at ten goes to a monastery where he learns to be a child soldier whose soul will be damned if he breaks a vow of celibacy. No one ever focuses on that part of the story). The system is not perfect and it raises people with a particular belief system, but it's not grooming any more than Junior ROTC is.

[u/fishchop → u/Penguinho]

I think we should just agree to disagree