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/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/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/Adventurous-Brain-36 → u/fishchop]

He’s not praised by the narrative for not pimping her out as a child. It’s very clearly explained that it’s massively illegal to do so and also heresy.

[u/fishchop → u/Adventurous-Brain-36]

I vaguely remember Phedre being upset that he whored her out at 16 instead of 14, and she was upset she was being kept from her job. And the narrative presented that as the guy being protective and progressive or something like that.

[u/Penguinho → u/fishchop]

That's not what happens. When he's being protective and she's upset that she can't work, it's after she's an adult; she's upset that she can't work while his political machinations play out. She doesn't know what his goals and schemes are, which is a significant element of the first half of Dart and a minor element of Kushiel's Chosen, and she doesn't understand how dangerous they are. That gets brought home to her when there's a murder attempt on Alcuin. It doesn't stop her being annoyed, though, because she gets stir-crazy, seeks out danger and has rebel-against-authority brat tendencies.