KUALA LUMPUR: Actress Tiz Zaqyah has expressed disappointment with novelists who romanticise infidelity and write main characters who are rapists.
She posted on her Instagram account screenshots from X showing users talking about the issue.
"Do you know what happens to victims in real life? They suffer from trauma, some become almost insane, they live in fear and even simple interactions can trigger their trauma," Tiz said, quoting an X user.
"Yet you easily write a novel about a victim marrying a rapist?"
Some X users in the screenshots Tiz shared tried to educate netizens about what romanticising means.
"Romanticising rape, writing main characters who are rapists, making rape scenes the main focus, gaslighting victims with plots where victims fall in love with their rapists and so on.
"Sick! Rapists be punished, not be portrayed as main characters!" she said.
Tiz said authors who write such stories were normalising these behaviours.
"Knowledge comes from reading. But what do we learn from this?
"Then these novels get adapted into films, reaching even larger audiences.
"We should educate each other about how to protect one another, instead of asking victims to accept rape."
Tiz called for an end to this trend, saying that a lot of content like this slips through.
Many social media users supported Tiz.
Instagram user @asma_razak3 commented: "Authors should write stories like Tamil films, highlighting life's realities. Mostly, they emphasise unethical politics."
User suzie_imanjer said: "I'm worried about the future of our children. Thank God someone is voicing out about this."