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My concern has never been about the existence of Jinx, nor has it ever been about people reading and enjoying Jinx. People will always write stories like Jinx. People will always like stories like Jinx. There is nothing in the goddamn fucking world that I can do about that that would not fall under fascistic dictatorship, and I simply do not care enough about the continued existence and consumption of this one single story enough to become a fucking fascist.
My concern has always been about the audience reception and interpretation of Jinx, and what impact it can have on real life victims of sexual assault. Yes, the story is fucking fictional. Yes, the story is in many parts (sexual) fantasy. Yes, the relationship between Dan and Jaekyung has some degree of nuance to it. Yes, those things are important to how the story should be interpreted. But also, your interpretation of this story is not fictional. Your beliefs and attitudes surrounding sex, sexuality, consent, and rape are not fictional. And any story, fictional/fantastical or not, can and does utilize elements of realism in order to make itself coherent to the reader, and in order to make itself seem at least somewhat believable. Any story can and often will say something about the real world, whether it is saying something new, or reiterating something old, whether it is rejecting the reality we live in, or embracing it. That is the fundamental nature of storytelling. That is why we engage with stories in the first place. Do not dare chat to me about "media literacy" if you don't know or understand this. You would not know media literacy if it payed $5,000 dollars to fuck you.
Let me be abundantly clear, because perhaps I have not been before. If you read this story and come away from it with the conclusion that Jaekyung does not ever rape Dan, or if you read this story and come to the conclusion that Dan is at fault, partially or wholly, for his victimization, however you define it—you would not be able to identify an instance of rape in real life. You would not be able to identify if it happened to a friend, or a family member, or yourself, unless it fit a VERY narrow set of parameters. And even then. You would not be able to respond properly—with understanding, with compassion—to it happening to yourself, or to anyone else. You would blame yourself for your victimization. You would blame someone else for their victimization. You would blame the victim.
Someone posted their story of having been sexually assaulted by a former partner on these forums yesterday, I believe. Another person today offered their "condolences," and then proceeded, completely unprompted, to rattle off nearly every single line from the victim blamer's book. "You should have chosen a better partner." "You should've known better." "You should've given a firmer no." "You should've fought back (harder)." On and on. Almost every single thing that people, including myself, have raised concerns about and explained in long, explicit detail. Here. Don't take my word for it. https://www.mangago.zone/home/mangatopic/16888661/
THIS is the fucking issue. If you do not see or understand that after having read all this—if you do not see what is wrong in telling a victim of rape and/or sexual assault that what happened to them was THEIR FAULT because of some extenuating and ultimately irrelevant and/or completely nonexistence circumstance—then I cannot help you.
I'm not discussing this matter any further with anyone else unless they want to engage in a good faith and honest discussion. I am tired of going out of my way to be abundantly kind to people who don't deserve it, and being abundantly thorough in my explanations to people who do not care to read it. I am tired of talking to people who have nothing new to add to the conversation except to chirp away with the same braindead talking points, only to turn around and call ME stupid for engaging with them and engaging with this stupid disappointment of a webtoon more than they could ever hope to. I am betting my bottom dollar they will not read any of this—that even if they do, they will leave a comment along the lines of "why are you taking it so seriously" "why did you write a novel about this" "i'm not reading all of that" "you're wrong lol". That's fine. I am writing it for you, just as much as I'm writing it for myself. I've already lost faith in you.
Anyway! That aside, I am genuinely interested in talking about all the ways Jinx doesn't work as a narrative. I think I'm a bigger fan of this story than its actual so-called fans. See, I'm not afraid to admit that. I really do see it as a story that could've done some interesting things but just repeatedly fumbled the bag. And while I think things could turn for the better, I have many doubts about this author's ability to properly pull off a satisfying ending. We'll see. But I want to talk about where it is/what it's done as of now so far.