All Comments on 'Steampunk Harlots Ch. 20'

Besides the great story are some of the issues you bring up. Long term captives can be affected by Stockholm Syndrome, where prisoners/slaves begin to identify with their captors. More subtle is where the re-socialization takes place: when one sees objectionable actions that take place and they are forced to suppress their natural reactions to fight or to flee because they are captives or a conquered people. The result is they may begin to shut down emotionally, and turn a blind eye to what's hateful in order to survive, or even subconsciously adopt the atrocious behavior themselves. Sometimes, though, some begin to even justify the abuse perpetrated by their captors /conquerors (thus this behavior is related to Stockholm Syndrome, but not quite the same).

Vile is self-centered in her pleasure because that's what she's witnessed and experienced for years. The long captivity and abuse that Vile has endured has forced her to turn off any natural empathy; to do otherwise would be too painful for her to endure, or too dangerous. Social skills may become blunted. Vile wants love and affection along with her pleasure, but her tendencies at the moment are selfish. She has, though, recognized the fact, and that's the first step. Recovery, for humans anyway, is often a long and difficult process, and may or may not eventually be successful; sometimes the scars run too deep; depending upon how traumatized they are, they may even have difficulty adjusting to freedom (not having their actions controlled by others), with feeling safe, trusting others, etc. Emberborn may be different...

The elementary "talkies" aka silent film was a nice touch, and fits in with the steampunk genre. It's a short step from there to inventing porn movies, which is inevitable, considering their trade. Their clientele might not appreciate any permanent records of their debauchery, but watching films of others might be a kink that can make Liddy some money. Hannah as the first action star and the first porn star. Heh heh.

Kudos for recognizing and addressing the long-term impact of slavery upon the slave. 5* Slainté