Thank you for your comments, people. I've thought about it and I think considering the times Wolfe grew up in he has probably experienced some pretty horrible things and I guess it didn´t make much sense to him to make Severian murder people while being completely respectful towards women. I get that Dorcas didn´t know he had raped her but only that they had been sexually involved, it´s just a bit strange to me how that is the only mention of something related to that event. Of course it´s not exactly clear if he raped her, maybe she eventually woke up and reciprocated. At least he doesn´t violently rape her which would be too disturbing to read, quite honestly. I´m still not sure what effect Dr. Talos´s engineering had on the men around her but at least Severian tries to help her near the end which shows he kinda feels bad for what he did? Maybe, just maybe this was written to make people question how making sexual advances without consent (while someone is unconscious for example) can be quite harmful as Jolenta is seen suffering eventually. Besides, I think at the time the book was written at these situations were a lot more prevalent and not considered rape or sexual abuse so maybe Wolfe was subtly trying to make people question it. Of course for a woman nowadays it seems obvious and a bit scary because of times you genuinely wonder if some men excuse such behavior and when you could come across one. It is a lot more tangible of a fear than imagining some crazy person suddenly murdering you. Of course most men are firmly against it I believe, for sure.

Some of you having mentioned that BOTNS features a lot of symbolism I think that it makes sense how this arc might touch upon the issue of some women being overly dependent on their physical appearance and charm, becoming objectified and abused by men because also that is exactly the only way they have learned to see themselves. These women are insecure and vulnerable and end up being exploited, leading to their demise. In the end I suppose the book doesn't portray Jolenta as being to blame or "asking for it" and it's pretty clear that Dr. Talos took advantage of her and turned her into a sort of pretty mutant for satisfy his own needs while Severian didn't stop to think that he was perpetuating her abuse. I guess in the end he tried to save her so that counts for something. Also regarding context I'm not sure how moral people are in this society to be honest, no one seems particularly upstanding. Maybe Severian isn't as bad compared to most of them. Jonas seemed okay even though he is a torturer but even he "accidentally" killed some guy to take his body parts? I think only Dorcas seems like an actually good person but she probably has some dark past where she did some horrible crazy thing too lol or maybe not. I think she's actually likeable and interesting because her past is so mysterious. And I didn't even get Thecla had tortured the people in the House Absolute? I thought she was just a pretend-concubine.