Would it be acceptable to write demonic possession as a form of rape?
Being possessed by a foreign entity seems very tame in the stories where I have seen it. The event doesn't have the gravity that I feel it should, and the person usually goes back to living a normal life if they are freed. I always felt that being possessed should be taken more seriously as a traumatic experience that people don't just come away with unscathed. I came up with an idea that I believed accomplished that.
Demonic possession is done through a magical ritual which can bind a demon to a human being, allowing it to cross over from their reality into ours. In the process, the demon forcefully bypasses the barrier that separates the soul from the individual, completely taking them over. The victim is left fully aware of their situation, and is in constant pain while being possessed. The demon has access to its abilities in the host body (strength, speed, etc) but remains under the control of the caster. In a country where magic is commonplace, this is seen as a supernatural form of rape, the ultimate violation of a human soul. It is treated as one of the most evil acts an individual can commit on another person.
The victim was captured and subjected to this against their will, so people understand that. But while most will regard him as a victim, many would see him as corrupted and dangerous even after they are freed. They are forced to deal with the trauma of possession as well as being distrusted by others, even worse than murder.
I think this lends gravity to the situation and plays up the full horror aspect. But since it is obviously a sensitive subject, I wondered if this might be viewed as offensive or disrespectful. Does this premise take it too far, or should I just one with it? How can I present it in a way that it is taken seriously?
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1 answer
I think its a good idea, and it makes sense. Say a man is aware during an evil possession, and he sees the demon intentionally in front of a mirror, using his body to rape and torture the wife he loves, laughing in glee the whole time. He can't do anything about it, and he sees her, thinking it is him doing this to her, begging him, and she dies thinking he did this to her, unable to understand.
It would be even worse than the horror of being tied up and witnessing a criminal torturing his wife, because she died believing it was him, believing he was telling the lies the demon screamed at her.
How could he ever look at himself in the mirror again without seeing the killer of his wife? How could he ever overcome that psychic trauma?
He may know the demon did it that way to torture HIM as much as her, but that doesn't help, it was his hands that wielded the razor, his face she saw laughing as she died.
I wouldn't worry if anybody gets offended; violent rape happens. You might as well not write about crime, or murder, or assassination, or drug addiction, or fatal accidents, or lethal disease, or sex slavery.
Bad things happen. Reading about it in a fictional setting is a way to help deal with our fears, we know what we are reading didn't really happen, even if it seems realistic. Just like the vast majority of us wouldn't watch this stuff in movies and on TV if we thought it was real and people were really being tortured and killed and burned alive. Fiction is a safe place to explore the dark side, without the trauma of knowing it is real.
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