Why are so many books centered around rape or sexual abuse?

[ChateauMargaux]

I've just finished The Paper Palace which has some beautiful writing but had a huge amount of sexual abuse in it. I was also left cold by Where the Crawdags Sing because of the underlying theme of males being attracted to underage vulnerable females.

I just want to read a book where women or children are not abused. I wonder if the authors have experienced abuse, if abuse is really so widespread, if this somehow normalises it.

Full disclosure, I have lived under the shadow of a life ruined by childhood sexual abuse and it hangs over our family like a cloud and I dislike reading about it.

I would love to read meaningful beautiful writing without childhood or other sexual abuse.

It's just like other media. It's cheap and easy and because most media is made by men, and they don't empathise with the women and girls, it's a great 'baddy' trope. Shove a rape in there and you signal 'baddy' easily and cheaply. Same with sexual harassment, cheap and easy but I have to switch off/put down.

What kind of writing do you like? There are good works that don’t include/rely on sexual abuse, maybe you could check out a few books on goodreads, there is often warnings in the comments if it includes rape scenes/sexual abuse scenes.

You need Stella Gibbons.

Because people find it titillating.
Same reason it appears in tv shows and movies.

I'm with you, I find it gross that such an ugly thing would be manipulated for commercial gain.

I've gone off such a lot of tv drama, because it seems to be about victimised women as wallpaper/props.

I will look up Stella Gibbons. Thank you all for hearing me.

I hate this too OP. It always seems to be the way to make a character bad, or the motivation for a female character to get revenge etc (or a male to get revenge after the rape of his wife/daughter). At best it’s lazy plotting. At worst it’s exploitative and dehumanising.

I’m so tired of it.

@Kanaloa. I started the Paper House almost against my better judgement and was sucked in by the lovely writing.

I LOVED The Scent Keeper by Erica Baumeister though was a bit let down by the mother character. I also really enjoy journey books by women. In the last year I have been so exhausted by real life, I couldn't read fiction but loved The Salt Path, The Land of Lost Borders, Life on The Edge, Isle of Soay.

If you have any recommendations, I would be grateful.

I have been tempted by this list..
www.bicycletravellingwomen.com/14-inspirational-books-written-adventurous-women/?fbclid=IwAR1NmdPGNlsdHsDglapIXJ6YZ79p73KQ7Q8Kx-21PTKcUoGU5Yyy_mqIvDc

Maybe The Goldfinch? There are scenes of child neglect that are upsetting but no sexual assault or anything. I also liked Song of Achilles, there is implied rape but nothing graphic if I remember correctly. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is my favourite feminist novel, it’s about a woman who is just sick of sexism and the sort of journey she goes through.

And all these books are by women too, I have been trying to read more female authors after realising ninety percent of the books I read are male written.

I hate this too and avoid anything (TV, books, films, etc) with sexual abuse and violence against women. I just don't want to read about/watch this kind of thing for entertainment.

I think there are lots of books without sexual violence, but it depends what your taste is. Can you give a few examples of books you've liked (or would have liked if they were less violent), and perhaps people can suggest some nonviolent ones in a similar style or genre?

Sorry I've just seen you already posted this - I missed that when I read the thread. I've just been through my 'read' books on Goodreads and actually a suprisingly large number do have some kind of sexual violence, even though they're not graphic in any way. Just characters who've experienced abuse in their past for example. I hadn't reallised this - I was thinking more of thrillers, which I don't read at all. So it's made me think about the kind of books I read anyway. A couple of suggestions:

Almost any of Elizabeth Strout's books
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Have you read The Outrun by Amy Liptrot? It's a first person account of her going home to Orkney to recover from her alcoholism and being healed by nature. Beautiful writing.

I think that this is partly a genre issue and partly a gender issue although I have still read e.g. literary romances by women where there is sexual violence.

Stella Gibbons wrote Cold Comfort Farm which is a joy. As is The Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield and its sequels. And there's always PG Wodehouse. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis is a comic novel about time travelling historians that I enjoyed recently. Havana Year Zero by Karla Suárez is about a mathematician in Cuba trying to get the crucial bit of evidence to show the phone was invented in Cuba. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is quite gentle as well, about a cafe where you can time travel.

I really enjoyed Circe by Madeline Miller. There is a bit of abuse but she she deals with it in a way I wish all women could!

Thank you all.. I have a good list to work through. I appreciate your responses especially that so many people also feel the same. I wish it was different.

The reason there are so many is that people like it, and people buy them.

I love reading meaningful, well written books, like you.
A lot of literary fiction is like this and it’s overwhelmingly written by women, especially young writers.
It’s not about titillation in this case obviously. I think these writers have probably had bad experiences and are working through them in their writing. I think it’s also an easy way to add drama and emotional heft to a novel.
I find it disappointing how many heterosexual relationships are portrayed like this. Therefore, I read lesbian fiction because the relationships are just so much more positive! Ali Smith is wonderful. I also like Jeanette Winterson.
Other brilliant lit fix novels I have read recently with no rapes, etc:
Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
Second Place - Rachel Cusk
Utopia Avenue - David Mitchell
Strange Flowers - Donal Ryan
Death in her Hands - Otessa Moshfegh
The Mermaid of the Black Conch - Monique Roffey
The Dutch House - Anne Patchett
Also reading Transcendent kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and no rapes YET.
All four or five star books
I’m writing my own novel and there is no abuse either, although the main character’s husband is a cheating bastard

Sorry, when I say lesbian fiction, I mean books by lesbian authors. They write about lots of things obviously, but include lesbian relationships often.

Nuffaluff Regarding Ali Smith, I've liked some of her books, but I found the first few chapters of The Accidental so disturbing and upsetting I couldn't read on, so I definitely wouldn't recommend that one in this context.