What you can get away with in a Science fiction or fantasy context

[AwkwardlySet]

This discussion feels increasingly pointless. You seem to be suggesting that if the setting of a story is not itself worse than the worst possible event in reality then it is not a valid counterclaim to your original assertion of fantasy worlds never being worse than the real one. My assertion is that if the setting in general is demonstrably worse than the real world, then the depths to which it sinks are likely to be correspondingly lower, even if the author doesn't feel the need to drag us there to witness such atrocities. It feels like the goalposts are kind of moving, though, with each additional clarification, so I think we're just talking past each other and suggest we table the issue as unresolvable.

I was mostly suggesting that you are using present-day world as a reference point, whilst even if we take things in general, there are terrible periods in human history that span over a whole continent, at least. But yeah, let's drop it since it does seem like it is going nowhere.

 

[Bramblethorn]

To both @Bamagan and @LittleNerd (btw, that name isn't taken on Lit... just saying)
The book is a dystopian view of modern Western society. It is horrific, but in comparison to what used to be the real world just a few hundred years ago...
You had far worse in some parts of the world; people of different colors were treated worse than animals; religious torture and murders; people being skillfully impaled through their bodies so that they could live as long as possible and suffer and serve as an example; brutal rape and body mutilations; brutal murders of family members in front of the eyes of the person being tortured; etc.

Sure, there are plenty of historical societies that treated their dissidents far worse - in physical terms - than what happens to Winston Smith. But considering it only in physical terms misses the point of 1984, which is more about the pervasiveness of Big Brother's scrutiny. It doesn't need to torture very often, or very much, because it already has so much control and intrudes so deeply into people's lives that few even get to the point of rebelling. It doesn't just monitor known dissidents, it monitors everybody, in a way that simply wasn't possible before the advent of electronic surveillance methods.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I still think this is fucking hot. Been writing a scene in which the FMC is caned. Had this in mind the entire time.

The curve of her back and angle of her hips suggest she is trying to suppress her pleasureful reaction to the pain.



Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I still think this is fucking hot. Been writing a scene in which the FMC is caned. Had this in mind the entire time.

The curve of her back and angle of her hips suggest she is trying to suppress her pleasureful reaction to the pain.



Em

I like how she has musculature as well. Those look like rock climbing or rowing shoulders.

The only problem is do I want to be her or the woman with the whip.

Em

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Still trying to grasp the point of this thread.

I probably don't have the right word, but what's worse in a scifi versus irl is subjective or comparible. Even with decent world building, we're only following one person or group and see what they see. For example; the aliens in District 9 or the concentration camps of Germany- both are shitty situations and both groups are miserable. Why does it need to be some sort of competition, a bad situation is a bad situation. Would you prefer to be locked up in some Russian prison or Azkaban- niether.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Still trying to grasp the point of this thread.

I probably don't have the right word, but what's worse in a scifi versus irl is subjective or comparible. Even with decent world building, we're only following one person or group and see what they see. For example; the aliens in District 9 or the concentration camps of Germany- both are shitty situations and both groups are miserable. Why does it need to be some sort of competition, a bad situation is a bad situation. Would you prefer to be locked up in some Russian prison or Azkaban- niether.

That’s not what the thread is about - that’s just @AwkwardlySet mentally masturbating.

Em

 

[AwkwardlySet]

@AwkwardlySet mentally masturbating.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Still trying to grasp the point of this thread.

I probably don't have the right word, but what's worse in a scifi versus irl is subjective or comparible. Even with decent world building, we're only following one person or group and see what they see. For example; the aliens in District 9 or the concentration camps of Germany- both are shitty situations and both groups are miserable. Why does it need to be some sort of competition, a bad situation is a bad situation. Would you prefer to be locked up in some Russian prison or Azkaban- niether.

This thread is about the hot girl getting whipped by the other not quite so hot (but still pretty hot) girl. With a slight overlay of religious crucifixion art.

Em

 

[JaxRhapsody]

That’s not what the thread is about - that’s just @AwkwardlySet mentally masturbating.

Em

It was the only thing I could comprehend enough to comment on.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

This thread is about the hot girl getting whipped by the other not quite so hot (but still pretty hot) girl. With a slight overlay of religious crucifixion art.

Em

Niether of those girls are hot to me.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Niether of those girls are hot to me.

You can leave them to me then, hun .

I think Dale looks amazing. Not your type?

Em

 

[TheseLegs]

I agree with the point of this thread, that sci fi/fantasy does have the ability to push artistic boundaries. I think it comes down to certain 'outs' that makes it possible to do things that in a non-fantasy story (Still fantasies, but no magic) would not be possible. To make an example of my own work, Demon Hunting is about a huntress who takes the mana from a demon through sensual contact, and she does this by letting him prey on her to the point where she springs the trap. The sequel is written from the perspective of a demon, so the tone is pretty... aggressive(ly rapey). I wasn't sure it was going to fly, but they slapped a warning on it, and it was posted in sci fi/fantasy.

In short, if a story relies on magic to exist, it's distanced from real life, and insulated from other real world rules.

I also very much like the comic art. Very, very much.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

You can leave them to me then, hun .

I think Dale looks amazing. Not your type?

Em

Who's Dale? I thought you were talking about that comic panel.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Who's Dale? I thought you were talking about that comic panel.

The woman being whipped is Dale Arden - Flash Gordon’s girlfriend.

Em

 

[JaxRhapsody]

The woman being whipped is Dale Arden - Flash Gordon’s girlfriend.

Em

Oh, then naw. Skinny, small boobs, not my thing.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Another version - with welts.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh, then naw. Skinny, small boobs, not my thing.

If you think she’s skinny, you’d call me a famine victim.

Em

 

[mirafrida]

I was pondering this general topic in the litE-specific context recently because, while i mostly don't write scifi, i had one such story spew out of me recently. It was pretty dark, with NC/R stuff as is my wont, but i thought it really belonged in SF and almost posted it there with warnings. In the end I chickened out. But still it got me thinking that SF may be more forgiving of edgy themes - perhaps especially if they feel like they derive from and fit the world constructed... (?)

 

[MillieDynamite]

From Memory Alpha Star Trek website.

From 2342 to 2352, Natasha Yar evaded the rape gangs by hiding. (TNG: "The Naked Now")

When the USS Enterprise-D found itself at the edge of the known universe in 2364, Yar envisioned herself back on her world. In the vision, she found a cat. Hearing the sound of the approaching rape gang, Yar said to the cat, "Now run. This place isn't safe at all." Soon afterward, the lieutenant returned to the reality of the starship. (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before")

So, yes, you can do a lot in Sci Fi or Non-Human that'll get you flamed out of existence in other categories.

 

[TheseLegs]

That's what I love about fantasy. You make up your own rules and as long as it's consistent, everyone just agrees that's the rules now. It's the best, and leads to sometimes erotic creativity. Obviously you can still argue about rules 'making sense', but sense is beyond my purview.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'd agree with Black-White being more taboo, but in that era White-Asian wasn't just "technically" interracial. At the time of Shatner's 1958 kiss there were still something like ten US states where it was illegal for Whites to marry Asians.

Oh Jesus, why is it, whether you think you know how bad history is, you then find out its worse.

 

[Bramblethorn]

This thread is about the hot girl getting whipped by the other not quite so hot (but still pretty hot) girl. With a slight overlay of religious crucifixion art.

Em

Somebody said religious art?



Every so often I bless the anonymous donor who gave my local gallery this rather large piece of softcore lesbian bondage porn inspirational imagery of early Christian martyrs.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

If you think she’s skinny, you’d call me a famine victim.

Em

I gots tuh have a chick with meat on her bones, or at least in her chest. Or ripped. Gimme Tess Holiday or Denise Mansino.

 

[onehitwanda]

I, High Priestess of Cleavage, bless this thread.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Somebody said religious art?

View attachment 2281387

Every so often I bless the anonymous donor who gave my local gallery this rather large piece of softcore lesbian bondage porn inspirational imagery of early Christian martyrs.

Thank you for sharing. Beautiful.

That’s seriously a religious painting? And not two lesbians who have worn each other out?

Em