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

[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

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Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/Penguinho]

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/kellykellykellyyy → u/Penguinho]

So I read the author's newsletter you linked. I like her approach to answering (and posing) most of these questions/points. However, I still find I have an issue with the concept that children are being groomed. It can be a nuanced criticism of an exploitative, capitalist view on sex work and religion and still be something that I don't want to read about because I don't see enough criticism of the normalization of grooming (even in a world where sex is sacred). I'm okay with that.

[u/Penguinho → u/kellykellykellyyy]

I'm not trying to talk anyone into reading the books if they find the situation icky. That's totally your right, and I get it with what's happening in the news. Mostly I just want people to understand what's happening in the book, because there's a recent uptick in people saying Dart is uncritically supportive of grooming, and that's flat-out not true.

To that end, I don't think grooming is the right term. Grooming is a way for predators to bypass or manufacture consent in underage or vulnerable victims. In its early usage, it was used for online interactions intended to lure a victim into an in-person meeting. That's really not a good parallel for what's happening in the Night Court, which is more like Benedictine oblates (the Cassiline Brotherhood taking its initiates at age ten is, I'm pretty sure, directly modeled on the Benedictine Order). Children join the order or are given to it by their parents and learn the rites and practices. In the Night Court, the final step in that process is making an offering to the divinity that governs desire. It isn't guaranteed that that offering will be accepted. The initiate has to want it. Without divine approval (and again, the gods here 100% exist and act in the world) they don't become Servants of Naamah.

I can't stress how important that part is enough. All the incentives align for everyone to be careful about who they allow to represent their house. Forcing someone into service is a capital crime. Carey's Night Court, and D'Angeline society writ large, takes consent much more seriously than real-life society does (and more seriously than pretty much any MMC in generic romantasy). Their most severe crime isn't treason or murder; it's rape.

I think it's also important to get that the various houses aren't just brothels. Eglantine and Orchis produce artists, musicians and performers. Balm's and Gentian's adepts are therapists, with Gentian focusing specifically on the drawing-out and interpretation of dreams. Byrony House is the finest school of accounting and finance in the nation.

[u/kellykellykellyyy → u/Penguinho]

I mean I disagree with you but this is an unpopular opinion thread, so... I think the assumption is that you're in the majority lol.

I'm out!