Not about ICFA, but in the spirit of ongoing conversation

I've posted about the lack of male rape in George R.R. Martin's books before, so I was interested to read Sophia McDougall's much more developed essay on popular culture & male rape in The Rape of James Bond.

Some thoughts on the Evil Gay Man trope: Our culture is terrified of male rape. I wonder whether part of the rationale for the Evil Gay Man caricature isn't also an attempt to control the threat of male rape by positing that the people who would do THAT are <<Evilgay,>> and therefore not anyone the viewer would want to be. Only over-the-top Evilgay (TM) characters, or prisoners, would even contemplating raping a man and so that act becomes both evidence of and explanation for their deviant identity.

Meanwhile, it's perfectly possible for a character to be portrayed as both a rapist of women and normal. Even admirable. I'm looking at you, Rhett Butler, Thomas Covenant, etc. To rape a female character is merely to commit a crime, whereas to rape a male character is to define one's identity.

ICFA

So I once again had a lovely time at ICFA, the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts down in Florida. The final day of the conference was interrupted by a tornado passing overhead -- excitement! -- but there was no damage. Just a green sky and the smell of ozone, which Kij Johnson pointed out to me and is indeed pretty remarkable.

I'll do a fuller write-up later. In the meantime -- it was great to see you all.