There is something call ‘Battle Homo’ which addressing a gay couple with a lot of power game. (It’s some kind of fic promt used in my country.) I think TyZane is one. They fight and tease not to be on top, but because they enjoy it. They enjoy energy exchange, and it heats up there mood. I remember when Zane’s sister asks Ty “why do you tease my brother” and Ty admit it is foreplaying. I took “struggle” word in that way. But I agree that word is problematic. But actually I thought Zane is kind of rapey when I read book 7. I know there was verbal consent but still….
BATTLE HOMO! That is tremendous!! I can’t help but picture giant fighting gay robots - we can make a movie and call it 'Pacific Rimjob’. ^o^
As for T&G, yeah, I agree. What Zane did was terrible despite Ty’s dubious consent. But then, Ty does his fair share of shit. Think about Ty sucker punching Zane in the face near the end of D&C, hard enough to shake blood clots loose. That’s…pretty bad, when you really stop to look at it.
The long and the short of it is that Ty and Zane are both tremendously damaged, and there are plenty of triggers to trip over along the way throughout the series. I don’t envy Abi or Riptide the editing of it. Too many changes will defang the series completely, and too few will upset those who consider some of the original material truly offensive.
I wanted to address one thing because it’s an accusation I’ve seen leveled at T&G before, and it really bothers me for personal reasons.
Full disclosure, I was raped in college by my boyfriend at the time. Granted, this is coming solely from my experience (which was still horrible) but it is mine and I do know what it’s like to be forced by someone you love.
The scene in T&G is not rape. It’s not even dubious consent. Ty consents fully and completely to sex. He’s sober, he removes his own clothes, he tells Zane where the lube is. He consents to bottoming and pulls Zane closer. These are not the acts of a man who is unsure if he wants to sleep with his partner and I know for a fact that scene was written with that in mind.
The reason why that scene is so uncomfortable for readers is beause it’s not sexy, not romantic, not tittilating. There is no enjoyment for the reader in that scene and that’s done on purpose. Zane is angry and hurt and lashing out. Ty is guity and beating himself up for everything he’s done. For all his lies. That’s also why Ty let Zane beat him up in the bar just moments before this scene. He’s letting Zane take it all out on him in any way Zane wants because he feels like he truly deserves everything and more.
Is it heathy? No. Is consent there? Yes.
If you remove all emotion from that scene. All dialogue even. There is consent. Zane wants to have sex. Ty wants to have sex. They undress themselves. Ty tells Zane where the supplies are. Zane fetches supplies. They have sex. There’s never any questioning of consent. Ty never says stop. He never tries to escape or fight Zane off. And he is a man who is truly capable of escaping such a situation and rendering Zane incapacitated if it came to that. There is never anything from Ty that indicates he does not want this in any fashion. Ty still retains all autonomy and his share of power in this moment.
It is an extraordinarily dark moment in the book and viscerally uncomfortable for us as observers because we’re voyeurs in that moment (as always through this series) but there’s no enjoyment in the intimacy. It’s cold and harsh and unforgiving.
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