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It's a novel idea: a new book prize that's only for thrillers which contain no sexual or physical violence against a female character.

The award, called the Staunch Book Prize, was created by British writer and educator Bridget Lawless, who argues that sexual assaults on female characters are an "old cliché" that thrillers rely too heavily on.

The prize comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which has shined a spotlight on how pervasive sexual misconduct is against women everywhere. Lawless said "the whole climate around what's happening to women" was part of what prompted her to create it.

Mary Higgins Clark Laura Cavanaugh / Getty Images file

"There's such great stories that don't need to have that," Lawless said.

"If women are constantly depicted as victims and as helpless and as having no agency and being props to men who solve great crimes and protect them, I'm sure that has a subtle and subconscious effect on how women see themselves and are regarded as well," said Lawless.

The award has "hit a nerve," Lawless added, with many people reaching out to her to thank her for creating it.

But crime novelists are divided over it.

"My first reaction was, that's so well-intentioned and probably impossible," said Laura Lippman, an award-winning crime writer whose 23rd book, "Sunburn," is coming out later this month. "Because it's not the topic of sexualized violence that's the problem. It's the treatment."

Lippman, who was won multiple major awards since the publication of her first novel in 1997, also felt the award made an unfair generalization about thriller plotlines.