Character descriptions in rape fantasies... are bad

[Corvid]

I'm reminded of a female acquaintance noting just how many romance novel heroines seemed to have violet (or some other color of purple) eyes... And how often you were informed of this fact within the first three paragraphs.

Some details are helpful, just in a "how would you pick this person out of a crowd" sort of way. The tall blonde, the diminutive redhead, the girl with the cornrows. Hair color is often one of the first things you notice about a person from across a room, before you hear them speak and discover that they have a voice that sounds like they just took half a lungful of helium, or have a weird habit of speaking about themselves in the third person, or that they haven't quite banished a Cornish accent since moving to Australia. Start the process of recognizing and distinguishing the character, letting the reader's memory and experience fill in a picture.

Other details, especially in this genre, "warn" the reader that the character is being sized up in a sexual manner. I don't usually go for actual bra sizes (I don't think most men spend enough time in lingerie sections to actually judge at a glance), but heterosexual men definitely tend to notice breasts, whether it's that the woman's top clings to them, or has a particularly low neckline, or that they're unusually large on an otherwise proportionate frame. Clothing descriptions can often serve as an excuse to describe what the clothes cover, or don't. Movement gives reason to observe limbs, hips, or overall build.

I broadly tend to agree that descriptions should serve some kind of double duty. It's not that she's beautiful; it's that she's beautiful, and uses that beauty to intimidate people. It's not that he has grey in his hair, it's that his mien of experience gives him the stature to make demands that others obey without hesitation. She hides behind her glasses. His acne makes him act like the world has kicked him, and he wants payback.

I think physical description, even lengthy physical description, can be done well, but it's usually better if it serves a purpose beyond just trying to paint a portrait. "For your consideration: Lola Badenov, 38-24-36, sexy spy with a Russian accent and a black pleather jumpsuit so tight you could do three different medical exams before pulling a single zipper. Yes, we will be banging her like a drum in three paragraphs. Hang on to your hats."

Part of the reason "Lolita Virginia Snow" starts with such a lengthy description of the title character is just because it is a frequent occurrence in a lot of rape fiction. I do not think I'm likely to ever write a phrase like "the melon-like swells of her breasts" without tongue firmly in cheek.

All of that said, while I think it's not my usual particular writing style, there is something to be said in-genre for a physical description that feels like it immediately objectifies its subject, so long as the author is aware that's what they're doing. Just as the reader may fill in visual details of a character in their mind as they spend time with them, a reader may imagine an "inner life" exists for a character who is reduced to an object of lust for the story's duration. There may be something to be said for the implicit suggestion that the "who" of them does not matter all that much in context. It can make for some quite evocative, dirty prose.