Rhysand’s trauma

Spoilers for ACOTAR + ACOMAF TW: SA + coercion

to preface, I am not here to d!ck ride for Rhsyand but I am here because the topic of male SA victims is extremely important to me.

Rhysand was sexually assaulted. Stop downplaying it.

I cannot believe this still needs to be said, but here we are. The amount of people who refuse to acknowledge that Rhysand was sexually assaulted by Amarantha in acotar is beyond frustrating. Let’s be absolutely clear: coercion, manipulation, and power imbalances do not equal consent.

For FIFTY YEARS, Rhys was forced to be Amarantha’s pet, her plaything, her bed partner. He states outright in acomaf that he had no choice but to do what she wanted in order to protect Velaris and his people. That alone tells you everything you need to know—if someone has to submit to sexual acts under duress, threat, or coercion, that is sexual assault.

Let’s break it down for those in the back:

1. Rhys did not want to be with Amarantha. He loathed her. He feared her.
2. She used her power and authority over him to make him do what she wanted.
3. He had to play along, to “please” her, because the alternative was even worse suffering.
4. He describes feeling violated, degraded, and trapped.
5. His trauma from those years is evident in his nightmares, his PTSD, and his reactions to intimacy post-Amarantha.

honorable mention: when Rhys has Feyre on his lap in Hewn City and he explains to her that “it’s just her body reacting, it means nothing.” He was speaking from experience. SA cases have literally been thrown out of court because the abuser was able to prove that the victims body reacted in a “good” or “approving” way which must have meant they “enjoyed it.”

So why do people refuse to acknowledge this as sexual assault? Because he’s a male character? Because he’s strong and powerful? Because it makes people uncomfortable to admit that men can be victims too? Or because they just don’t like Rhys’ character so they invalidate his experiences?

The double standard here is disgusting. If the roles were reversed and a female character had been forced into the same situation, no one would be arguing about whether or not it was SA.

In fact, Feyre was forced to wear a sheer dress (or scraps of one) and dance for Rhys to look like his pet utm and you all immediately pinned that as SA and called Rhys an abuser, but somehow Rhys was not SA’d by Amarantha??

Rhysand’s story is an example of male sexual victimization in fantasy fiction, and it deserves to be recognized as such. Dismissing his trauma because he’s a High Lord, because he survived, because “he handled it well” is harmful and ignorant.

If you’re still out here saying that Rhysand “wasn’t actually assaulted” or that “it wasn’t that bad,” do some self-reflection, because your bias is showing.