Content warning: mention of depictions of rape in fiction
Something that I wish more people were aware of when they are discussing media is: Just because something is justified by the story, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a choice that the author made to include it.
Metal Gear Solid’s Quiet provides a pretty classic example of this: people will be like “um actually Quiet HAS to dress skimpy because otherwise she can’t breathe because of the parasites”. And like, in-universe sure, but out-of-universe these contrived parasites were an authorial decision. The real reason Quiet doesn’t wear much clothing is because Kojima (or whoever) didn’t want her to.
Now this is a lighthearted example and I’m certainly not saying there’s anything wrong with women in bikinis. But keep an eye out and you’ll see people make this same blunder in more serious contexts.
For example, when I pointed out that it’s weird that DANDADAN’s first episode includes an extended scene of the attempted rape of a school girl, someone immediately replied that the scene is important to the story. But that doesn’t matter to me. The author could’ve chosen to write a different scene that was important to the story.
Keep an eye out for people making these arguments. You might be surprised how often you see them.
Authors choose what they write.
