Soapgate

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Event
Event: Soapgate, Dick Soap, Penis Gate
Participants: Bookish and Stuff
Date(s): August 2018
Type: Controversy, Discourse, Book Box
Fandom: A Court of Thorns and Roses
URL:
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Soapgate refers to the online controversy surrounding an 2018 A Court of Thorns and Roses-themed book subscription box from Bookish and Stuff (now known as Book Boyfriend Box) that included a penis-shaped soap and a bound book of explicit fanfiction. The box, inspired by characters from Sarah J. Maas's popular but sexually explicit ACOTAR series, sparked debate about the legality of selling fanworks, age-appropriate marketing, oversexualization in young adult (YA) literature, and the line between sex positivity and fetishization.

The Box

Inside of the Illyrian Boyfriend Box, including fanart of Rhysand, naked, with a cloth covering his groin

The "Illyrian Boyfriend Box" offered ACOTAR-themed items including a pillowcase, lip balm, fanart, "a personalized smutty character love letter," and a "mystery item." Unboxing photos revealed the mystery item to be a realistic, blue penis-shaped soap with a suction cup base. The box also included a bound book of explicit fanfiction titled "A Court of Smut and Wingspans".

The product listing included the following content warning:

Mature content: This box is recommended for those 18+ because of the sexual nature of some of the designs/content that will be included. So in a nutshell if Illyrian wingspans, smut and sexual innuendos isn't why you love the Night Court's Illyrian males this isn't the box for you.[1]

Soap

The infamous 'dick soap'. Note: Marked as sexually explicit; minimized.

The "mystery item" included in the Illyrian Boyfriend Box was a realistic, blue, penis-shaped soap with a suction cup base intended for shower use. Many felt this overtly phallic soap was an inappropriate and sexualized item to include in a book box.

The Illyrian characters in Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series, such as Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel, are described as muscular warriors with large wings, with implications that the size of their wingspans correlates to the size of their genitalia.

There were widespread jokes and memes dubbing the soap the "YA dick soap crisis", or more commonly "#soapgate", as well as serious warnings cautioning against misusing the suction cup feature for sexual purposes.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Bloomsbury employee who has to manage the YA dick soap crisis of 2018.[2]

While horrified, I can't help but think that SJM dick soap is a total rip off. It would get smaller every time you use it. (PSA: YOU SHOULDNT USE IT!)[3]

it is really important to me that everyone who gets this box does NOT

TRY

TO FUCK THE SOAP

especially if you have a vagina, and especially if this is perfumed soap (oh god what scent - NO I AM NOT THINKING ABOUT IT)

please do not

fuck the soap it has a suction cup god save us

I don't know if it's a functioning suction cup or some kind of weird soap suction cup but if it's functioning yes that IS a feature on many dildos,

PLEASE DO NOT FUCK THE SOAP[4]

Sarah J. Maas classified A Court of Thorns and Roses as "new adult" fiction (NA) geared towards adults between 18-25, and containing sexually explicit content. Despite this, the book series was frequently marketed and sold in the young adult (YA) category, which typically targets readers between 12-18 years old. This incident raised concerns on the book's marketing.

And so, back to the #SoapGate disaster then. Ignoring copyright scandals, you all need to stop worrying about phallic toiletries—they’re not the real problem here. The real problem is that a book written for 19+, is being shelved in the same place as books for 13+ because the industry is too afraid of dealing with a new market, when the YA one is already established. Why take risks, when you can make money?[5]

Fanfiction

A dark cover image for the fanfic A Court of Smut and Wingspans, showing decorative text
The cover for the fanfic A Court of Smut and Wingspans

Another point of controversy was the box's inclusion of a bound, printed book of explicit ACOTAR fanfiction titled "A Court of Smut and Wingspans." The book contained three smutty short stories: "A Court of Wings and Thrusting," "A Court of Groans and Water," and "A Court of Crowns and Passion."[6]

Many YA authors spoke out against the unauthorized use of copyrighted characters and settings for profit, regardless of the "fan" label. Victoria Aveyard, author of the Red Queen series, expressed her disappointment on Twitter:

Pretty bummed that the box creators are apparently ignoring the fanfiction issue and making this entirely about soap. Dang.[1]

Maggie Stiefvater, author of The Raven Cycle series, also weighed in on the controversy, challenging the perceived dichotomy between fans and creators:

There's a conversation happening in book twitter at the moment about selling fanfic, centered on the truth that it's illegal, it takes people's livelihoods, it makes it even harder to make a living in an already challenging industry, etc, but the element that interests me is: It stares squarely at a widely believed dichotomy: that there are fans, and there are creators. There are fans, and there are professionals. There are those who consume (and sometimes create) and those who sit on panels. Etc. Either/ or. This dichotomy is leaned on hard in arguments on how harmless paid fanfic is, how unfair it is for the elite professional class to disapprove of Ko-fi-for-fanfic, how vast the difference is between a book-on-the-shelf versus an Ao3 link. But the funny thing is that it's a false dichotomy for a billion reasons, some more boring than others, some more sociologically fascinating than others.[1]

Response from Bookish and Stuff

Facing this scandal head on. We've gone viral for the now infamous soap.

Here are the comments we shared with Electric Literature:

"We of course know the debate about what really is YA series and if ACOTAR should be YA or NA it's an ongoing discussion, one we do not control. However that fact that the series contains multiple graphic sex scenes remains. Our box was advertised and sold to adults 18+, we offered multiple warnings about its not safe for work and mature sexual content. The infamous soap should be taken as the joke it is: a literal Illyrian Wingspan it even says so on the label. These are sold as bachelorette joke favors in the real world. We want to clarify that they are for external use only, as instructed on the label.

But with everything in life there will always be those that are scandalized. If the box scandalized you, it wasn't for you. Most of the feedback has been positive so we are going to concentrate."[1]

Further Reading

News Media

Bloggers

Reddit

Videos

References

  1. ^ a b c d YA Drama Llama. "Drama Alert – Book Boyfriend Box + Selling Fanfiction #soapgate". August 16, 2018
  2. ^ Tweet by margotwood, unavailable, reposted in Electric Literature's article
  3. ^ Tweet by sincerelyamelia, unavailable, reposted in Electric Literature's article
  4. ^ Tweet thread by sarahhollowell
  5. ^ Madeleine E. Vaughan. "The Rise of New Adult - Sex, Soap & Sales"
  6. ^ withcindy. "🚫 Unboxing Soap Gate 🍆 " August 16, 2018
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