“Are you that woman who writes fiction about slicing men’s genitals off?” I am. That particular scene isn’t the only instance where a male character undergoes extreme violence enacted by a woman. This type of violence is deliberate and deeply intentional.

The Song of Seven Fires is a world of inverted gender roles. That means the males in my novels go through everything women and they/thems experience in ours. A short—and by no means comprehensive—list of things male characters endure:

1. Genital mutilation that renders them unable to experience sexual pleasure (many women in the world have undergone this horrific practice and still do to this day).
2. Rape (between 10-60% of all women in the world have been raped, depending on who does the study).
3. Unaliving, whether at birth because male children aren’t as valued as female babies are in this world, or at any point in a boy/man’s life should they dare to stand up for themselves (female babies are still tossed out to die in some places in our world, as they are seen as not as valuable as boys. Women are unalived at a rate of 1 every 10 minutes here in the United States, almost always by an intimate partner).
4. Sexual and literal torture (Junko Furuta, a Japanese high school student, was tragically kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. Her case is often cited as one of the most horrific crimes due to the prolonged and brutal abuse she endured for 44 days before her death, by multiple BOYS, who targeted her because she declined the advances of one of them. Towards the end of her life, she was rotting because the abuse was so bad. The boys received between 5-20 years for their crimes. This is ONE case we know of, where the perpetrators were caught. Imagine how many aren’t.).
5. Forced subservience in the name of the Goddesses, which is normal in this society, because the woman is the head of the home, as she is like the Goddesses (men have been the head of the home since Abrahamic religions were invented about 4,000 years ago.).
6. Being talked over and ignored by women/theys.
7. Knowing that no matter how perfect they are, no man among them will never ever be shown the same respect a woman is.

Getting the point? So yes, I do write graphic torture and rape scenes—ONLY for male characters. And if that makes you angry, keep in mind that I’m doing exactly what the author of GOT did—but with men bearing the brunt of abuse rather than women. If you’re mad at me, you should also be mad at him.

My novels reimagine the world as it could have been if men had been unsuccessful in their bid to destroy Goddess cultures—and the fallout they would have experienced as a result of their attempt to do dominate and subjugate women.

So no, I won’t apologize, and I won’t tone it down. Men have been raping, killing, and torturing women/theys for literally thousands of years. It’s their turn to have a tiny, infinitesimal taste of the lived reality of women and theys.

And let’s be honest—how many of the people who need to read a novel series such as mine, will? My guess is close to zero will venture beyond the first chapter, if that. At least one man is already foaming at the mouth, and I’ve only released chapter one of book one—with zero advertising. I fully expect men—and some women—will do everything they can to harass me, tear me down, or intimidate me into giving up.

I won’t.

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