The Escort

Introduction (What You Need to Know)

A/N 21-2-28:  Hi, everyone!  When I began writing this book, the pandemic was just getting started.  Sadly, I was hearing about anti-Asian sentiment in my home country (and even an incident in my home town).  It was part of the reason why I wrote the book.  Racism is so ugly, but I feel like when it gets discussed (among those of us who aren't really subjected to it) it becomes really theoretical, you know?  We can talk about it all we want (specifically referring to those of us who have privilege in this context), but at the end of the day we walk away and don't have to worry about being attacked for our ethnicity on the way home.  It's only when you read stories, and put yourself in another's shoes, that it really begins to hit home how unfair and just plain wrong it is (when you don't regularly deal with it).  I tried to be careful in how I handled it, portraying its ugliness without sensationalizing it and directly attacking some of the stereotypes it results in.  I hope I succeeded.

Maybe it's just me, but I've been seeing even more reports of anti-Asian violence in the news.  And now we have had a radio person, working for a radio station that (I'm told) receives government funding, use Bangtan as a vehicle to lob hatred and ignorance at people of Asian ethnicity (using a reference to the Holocaust that would've been out of line in ANY context and IS NOT FUNNY).

This is not the first, nor will it be the last, time that we will see hatred towards people of Asian ethnicity in the news.  Nor the last time we see people use BTS' ethnicity to attack them.

So I just wanted to say something here.  Whether you are solely ARMY or a multi, if you consume Asian culture.  If you find entertainment value in Asian productions, whether Korean or otherwise.  I do believe you have a responsibility to speak up and speak out against this (assuming you are in a context where it might just make things uncomfortable, not unsafe for you).  We cannot consume the products of these cultures and then fail to speak out when the people that belong to them are dehumanized.  If we do, we are just as guilty of reducing people of Asian ethnicity to objects and treating them as such.  Maybe we don't say slurs, but the racist doesn't view them as human either.  They're just honest about it.

If it's safe for you to do so and you encounter people who engage in this behavior, say something.  Mention it on your social media.  Share and follow people of Asian ethnicity who are writing about this and documenting it, let the world see that they have a following and that when they point out the wrongness of this behavior they will be listened to. Stay educated.  Don't consume and leave the people whose culture you appreciate hanging out to dry.

I'm aware that I have readers from all around the world (and I appreciate you all!) and this obviously is being written to a specific subset of them.  For those that aren't, who have maybe even had some of this hatred directed at them, I hope you know it was 100%  wrong and it is not overly sensitive to have a problem with it.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is gaslighting you and their opinion is worth absolutely nothing.  

I'm very active on Twitter, so if you'd like suggestions on who to follow there, DM me and I'll send you their users.  

Love you all and I'm sorry to add something so depressing to this book, but I felt it was appropriate given what originally motivated me to write it.

<3

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Hello, everyone!  Once again, I am trying out slightly new things with this book.  Sadly, as I'm sure many of you have seen, our world can be quite ugly.  No matter how much progress we think we make, there are always people who hold us back and reduce people to their parts and judge them.

Obviously, some (hopefully not a lot) of my readers will have dealt with being on the receiving end of racism/and or sexism or any number of other really stupid, hateful things.  I want to draw attention to just how ugly these things are (it's not okay to make jokes, etc).  That being said, I recognize it may be an extremely sensitive topic for some.

So with that I warn you, this book will involve some pretty ugly (because it is ugly) racism and sexual assault related themes, as well as a smaller toxic people theme.  If you've been a victim of this in the past and are (understandably) sensitive then please, please do not read.

Bad things happen in this world and it is important to get people thinking about them and the people on the receiving end of them. That's the point of this book here.  You have no idea how many storylines I went through for Jimin before I finally arrived at this one (I still can't believe this came out of my brain....).

I feel like a lot of times Jimin is oversexualized or overemotionalized in the fanfiction world so I was initially hesitant about this plot (I like exploring tropes and cliche storylines and surprising people but still), but I feel like he's also the kind of person who's fairly open-minded about lots of more progressive things and would be passionate about raising awareness.  That's why, in the end, I still chose to use this story plot for him.  Perhaps in the future I'll try and  write a different book that puts him where a reader least expects him.

And, as always, parts of this book end up being an exploration of my own dysfunctions.