Last night I had to call 911 because a man was beating a woman outside my house. It was not a good evening to finish JK Haru. But I did finish it. I have many thoughts about this book, some good, some bad. There will be sleep lost for a few days while I deal with it. Much like Psycho-Pass, my brain has to work through the trauma of experiencing someone else’s trauma third-hand. So let me provide some context for my perspective.
In the 1980s, there was an anthology series called Sword and Sorceress. It began in 1984 and ran for 30 volumes through 2015. The first volume began with an introduction, The Heroic Image of Women: Woman as Wizard and Warrior by editor Marion Zimmer Bradley.* She was and remains a big name in 1980s fantasy literature. I was never a fan of her work at the time, although I ended up reading a great deal of it. I felt her work as a editor was vastly superior to her writing. It was her introduction to a later volume that changed my life. She talked about how the first volume contained stories about women proving themselves in sexist fantasy worlds, of women earning the right to be a warrior or wizard. In her introduction, Bradley paraphrased an earlier science fiction editor who spoke to prospective writers. Those writers were often at great pains to spend their time with the technical details of their technologies, at the expense of the story. Bradley noted that the early volumes had been at pains to establish women’s right to be a warrior or wizard and that future volumes would run stories that assumed that right. No more “why can’t women do x?” stories. Women can, women do, and then, you can just tell the story.**
That was in the late 1980s, more than 30 years ago. And yet, here we are still reminding everyone that women can and women already do everything they do. Over and over.
JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World by Ko Hiratori was a very rough read for me. Highschooler Koyama Haru is killed by a truck, along with her classmate, Chiba and they awaken in another world. This other world is structured like a RPG game and characters are given abilities at random. Only men get to be adventurers or soldiers and the world is overtly misogynist. Haru becomes a prostitute.
The bulk of the book is scenes of sex work, some consensual, some rape. You know I do not shy from violence, as long as it is between equals. This is not that. The book’s climax is a worse-for-being-entirely-predictable gang rape of Haru and another prostitute and the other’s death. At which point, Haru decides she’s had enough. The book had made a point, but failed to develop the point it had made. Instead, it retreated into a fantasy revenge narrative, dropping the one potentially excellent plot point into a literal single line of conclusion. “It was raining.”
Yes, Haru does create change by the end of the book. That was a positive note. We are left at the end of the book with the belief that things can change for the better.
But I’m still left having read page upon page of sexual and psychological violence against women. I’m pissed that once again, the humiliation of women is a plot point. It confused me that the author*** said this book is “for women.” What are women supposed to gain from it? “Life is unfair, but the most exceptional of you can take revenge for those who can’t,” isn’t really a lesson we had to be told, surely. Sex workers are always at high risk of violence. (From:17 Facts About Sexual Violence and Sex Work.) Sex work is work. Sex workers deserve to live without stigma. Sexual harassment is disease. Sexual assault is a plague.
In the end, the most crushing thing about the entire story is that not one man in the entire story had learned anything at all. ****
Ratings:
I am unable to rate this. It wasn’t written poorly, but it wasn’t something I’d recommend for entertainment. Perhaps as a reading for a class on social justice. The ending is all right, but I really did not enjoy the ride.*****
Kudos to translator Emily Balistrieri and editor Aimee Zink for not just making this book make sense but for giving characters unique “voice.” That takes a lot of skill.
*Yes, I am aware that she is a child abuser. If you thought it might be some incredibly relevant point to make, please rest assured, it isn’t.
**I adopted this policy for the Yuri Monogatari project. Stories about coming out were done in V1 and from there contributors were expect to move forward and tell a story.
*** I do not know, nor do I care, if the author is male or female. It’s not really relevant to my reaction to the interview. The interviewer really needed to ask a follow up, like, “In what way is this ‘for women?’ Can you explain what you mean by that?” If I were asked for to suggest a book that outlined “female power fantasy” I would not recommend this book. Not only was more space in Sexiled taken up by women working together, it had a much less violent outcome.
**** Arguably Sumo is the exception. He was never a threat and in the end became an ally. Whether that would be enough, we’ll never know, but we do know the sweet kids Haru played Kickin’-the-Can with did not grow up to be allies, which I would have hoped.
*****Yes, there will be a sequel. I am reviewing this book and how well this book handles its own material in this review.
If you are about to comment with *any* version, of “well….” or “but…” or “actually…” stop. It won’t be approved. In fact, I am going to be very strict about comments on this post.
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