48 pages • 1-hour read
Captive Prince
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Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of enslavement, gender and/or transgender discrimination, anti-gay bias, sexual violence and/or harassment, rape, child abuse, child sexual abuse, and sexual content.
Genre Context: Dark Romance and Pederasty
Dark romance is a genre that combines the common elements of romance (including love, marriage, and sexuality) with dark elements from various other genres, such as horror, thrillers, and mysteries. Dark romances often deal with disturbing or offensive topics, like sexual assault, navigating different perspectives on these experiences through elements of fantasy or trauma, depending on the author’s goals.
Captive Prince is an unconventional dark romance in that the main love interests don’t begin a relationship in the novel. Instead, Captive Prince is the first novel in a series, and this first installation merely lays the groundwork for Damen and Laurent to develop a romance later on. Nevertheless, the novel includes content that some readers may find disturbing, specifically, descriptions of sexual assault, enslavement, and pederasty. Though most dark romances include fantasies of domination and submission, Captive Prince these topics to a more serious degree, since the ownership of one person by another is inherently enslavement, intensifying the normal dom/sub dynamic.
Pederasty is a form of pedophilia in which older men take younger men as lovers. In contemporary understanding, the gender or nature of any dynamic in which an adult has a sexual relationship with a minor is pedophilia and is discouraged in most modern cultures. Some cultures in human history have practiced and encouraged pederasty, however, and Captive Prince plays into these dynamics. In ancient Greece, for example, pederasty was seen as a rite of passage for young men, and the sexual relationship between an older man and younger man was paired with a kind of mentorship. In addition, pederasty among the ancient Greeks was governed by a complex set of social, legal, and cultural rules, much like in Vere. The Veretians don’t regard “pets” as enslaved, and they aren’t obligated to serve their “masters” in particular ways. Instead, the practice of pederasty, such as in the case of Nicaise, is a means of social ascension, through which the younger man will be more supported and intertwined with the court when reaching adulthood. Nonetheless, such relationships carry a burden of non-consent, since minors can’t legally consent to sexual relationships, and Laurent’s character shows the consequences of pedophilia, particularly its lasting trauma on survivors.
Social Context: Homophobia and Sexual Preference
One element in the sexual discussions of Captive Prince that recurs throughout the novel is the issue of sexual orientation in same-sex relationships, particularly the division of sexual roles regarding penetration. The comparisons often made between sexual roles with regard to physical orientation—specifically in comparing the “bottom,” or the man who is penetrated, with women or femininity—spark significant debate. Essentially, retaining the masculinity of the “top,” the man who penetrates his partner, establishes a sense of dominance, while the “bottom” is considered submissive, linking the concepts of femininity and submission. What makes this comparison even more problematic is the further linking between femininity, submission, and weakness, implying that any person, regardless of gender identity, who is penetrated during sex is the “loser” of the sexual “conquest,” which suggests that the person who penetrates their partner “wins” or “conquers” the other. This dynamic is rooted in heteronormative conceptions of sexuality, in which the designation of women as obedient, submissive, or weak has been used to oppress and subjugate women.
In Captive Prince, this issue arises frequently, such as in the arena, where the loser is literally penetrated by his opponent. Likewise, members of the Prince’s Guard frequently discuss sexually assaulting Laurent because they see sexually penetrating the prince as a form of domination over him. In reality, these social understandings of sex both inside and outside of heteronormative roles is both misguided and harmful. Regardless of sexual roles, consenting adults don’t “win” or “lose” in sex, and the combination of competition with sexuality creates a dangerous paradigm. For the characters in Captive Prince, penetration becomes synonymous with victory and contributes to the perpetuation of “pets” as subservient, blurring the line between sexual roles and the horrors of slavery. While reading Captive Prince, it’s important to acknowledge how these social dynamics, while likely exaggerated for the purpose of the narrative, reflect real-life issues.
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