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bliss_eternal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-05-07 06:59 PM
Original message
How much of a role does the media/entertainment play....?
Edited on Thu Jul-05-07 07:09 PM by bliss_eternal
...in the idea that women WANT to be raped, assaulted, victimized, pornified, etc., in your opinion?

I recall an interesting comment made by a woman during the original Duke rape trial threads. She was one of the women that argued FOR the precious Duke boys. She admitted that when she was a young-adult, she watched soaps. She recalled vividly seeing the "rape" of Laura by Luke on General Hospital downplayed by the show and turned into a "seduction"--because the producers of the show liked the character's chemistry and wanted the characters to be romantically linked. :eyes: (Yes of course, all good relationships are built on that firm foundation of rape. :sarcasm::puke: I believe rape/assault was further exploited by daytime (and perhaps nighttime) tv in the same way--do correct me if I'm wrong.

I've never watched General Hospital, so I apologize if I'm stating the wrong show.

Other shows that have "romanticized" the idea of assault, rape, etc.

The Flintstones(former prime time animated show for adults. Aired in replays for children in the 70's and 80's):

example--
The Kissing Bandit--a burglar that sneaks into homes at night to steal kisses from women and leave them roses after doing so.
Female characters on the show are represented as thinking that the burglar is "romantic." They get angry at their husbands for never making romantic gestures and overtures toward them. One woman befriends the burglar and tries to help him with his "issues." Later she asks the burglar to help him make his wife jealous.

I Love Lucy--

Various episodes where Lucy is shown using the ploy of being attacked, robbed, etc. to get attention from her husband. She tosses the apt. herself and then hides so that Ricky and her neighbors believe that something terrible has occured, and it's all their fault, for ignoring her. :eyes: Thus creating the dangerous message that women will "fake crimes" to "get attention." :eyes:

I'm sure there are others, these are just a few I've seen lately and were on my mind. Please share others if you know of some that you grew up seeing. Also, share your opinion on how much such seemingly innocent programs have shaped the ideas of people in general in regard to women and assault.


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BlueIris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-05-07 07:50 PM
Response to Original message
1. Well, here's an alarming fact fer ya: I watched major, major amounts of
Edited on Thu Jul-05-07 07:51 PM by BlueIris
"classic" television as a child, which included all of "I Love Lucy" and probably the entire "Flintstones" series run like, ten times. I don't remember one damn thing about the episodes you just mentioned. Went right by me. ACK. That's disturbing.

I can't tell you to what degree entertainment and mass media contribute to the idea that rape is somehow an acceptable behavior, but I've been upset and offended by how much the topic of rape is used to generate "good" "drama" in entertainment, especially on soap operas, for quite a while. I first started noticing the sensationalization of rape as "exciting and fun" on soaps in the early '90s (middle school for me). Which is when I quit watching them. It's still a very popular plot device, last I checked. And when the plots involving raped characters get too "serious," they are dropped, whitewashed or worse.

Now there's the primetime soap, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which is pure, exploitative rape drama. It's vile. That show, in particular, whose creators claim to be making some of kind of a serious criticism of rape culture, is one of the ugliest pieces of evidence I've seen that messages in entertainment today aim to categorize sexual assault into the realm of normal behavior. Rape is so normal it's on a friendly Dick Wolf t.v. show every week now! There's even "charming" unresolved sexual tension among the hot lead characters! Awesome!

Twisty goes on quite a bit about this at I Blame The Patriarchy, by the way, where Law & Order: "Mutilated Women's Unit," gets lambasted from time to time.
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bliss_eternal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-05-07 08:45 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I didn't remember them, either...
...just saw those episodes recently. I was also a bit disturbed, because I don't recall them before--but seeing them NOW...:scared:

I had a sick feeling about the soaps, you validated my suspicion on those. I watched them a bit in middle school too(summer breaks). I couldn't tell you anything about them now (don't watch). But I vaguely recall violence around women figured prominently in storylines then(i.e. The Salem Strangler on Days of our Lives--strangled women, other show storylines featuring kidnappings, holding women for ransom, etc.):eyes:

I'm going to have to look at Twisty's site regarding Law and Order--sounds like an interesting read.
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mrreowwr_kittty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-05-07 10:29 PM
Response to Original message
3. Definitely some. But I think porn contributes the lion's share
Edited on Thu Jul-05-07 10:45 PM by thecatburgler
I can't think of a single rape, or attempted rape or assualt scene, in a mainstream film (and I'm talking as low as PG-13 rated here) or TV show that didn't present the events in an arousing manner. Clearly, Hollywood is still run by a bunch of men who not only have no clue how women orgasm (don't get me started on non-violent sex scenes for that...:grr: ), but they also have no problem perpetuating and sexualizing images of violence against women.

However, regular ol' porn takes the cake when it comes to distorting views about what women want, and what constitutes rape and assault. Especially in men, but increasingly in women. I don't believe porn necessarily causes rape, but it DOES desensitize bystanders. In too many recent gang-rape cases, where there was no disputing that a woman was penetrated by several men, the defendants are being acquitted by majority-male juries who are easily manipulated by a clever defense attorney to believe that "she was willing". Wanna bet those jurors watch porn? Or the case isn't tried at all, as in the De Anza case. Because, according to the DA, how can we prove that an intoxicated and barely conscious 17 year old who is vomiting and/or being vomited on didn't really want to have sex with those guys? :eyes:

A lot of people are getting their ideas about sex, and women, from porn. And even if you don't watch it, it has infiltrated popular culture to the extent that its markers are unmistakeable. It honestly makes me nostalgic for the good old days when it was just Luke raping Laura. Because at least then the violence was suggested. Now, guys are getting explicit training films about how to violate us. And because those films show women "enjoying" it, it pushes the envelope further for the guys who actively wish to harm us. Again, it doesn't cause violence against women, but it creates a context where it's much more acceptable.
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bliss_eternal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jul-06-07 01:33 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Very interesting point...
Edited on Fri Jul-06-07 01:43 AM by bliss_eternal
...you make with the Deanza case. I can't help but notice the similarities between that and the Heidl case. Another situation where a young woman was gang raped at a party, while unconscious(Heidl drugged her) and they put it in video.
Sadly, the perpetrators in that case blamed the victim saying she consented to "making an audition tape for porn." :eyes: I believe (if memory serves) that at one point, the young woman also threw up during the assault, while unconscious.

Yes, of course--ALL young women CONSENT to gang rape, it's merely preparation for their future careers in porn. Just getting in some practice while working through that pesky vomiting fetish. EVERYONE wants to be a porn star. :sarcasm:

Ever watch Howard Stern? Well, kinda' hard to do now as he's no longer on E! I used to watch him sometimes. Too much, to be honest. Kind of a sick train wreck blended with a weird social experiment gone wrong--at least for me. Anyway, I lost count of all the young women that were magazine centerfolds, aspiring porn actressses, actual porn stars, etc. that said some variation of the following words:

"...well my dad used to keep Playboy and some Hustler magazines around. I'd see them and thought the women were SOOOO beautiful and sexy. I knew I wanted to be one of those women when I grew up."

(sigh)What does this tell us?


Edited to add:
For more on the parallels between the Heidl case and the Deanza case see this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=341&topic_id=6344#6353

and here for what the sick piece of filth did once daddy got him out on bail:eyes: (yes, I'm still bitter about this):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=341&topic_id=6344#6353
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Morgana LaFey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-07-07 11:24 PM
Response to Original message
5. Media/entertainment is a key vehicle for acculturation
what do you mean "how much of a role does it play?" :evilgrin:

I too think it's more porn, but porn has become so mainstream and acceptable... and gross... and people are becoming so desensitized to it, or it's so normative.

But I don't see a dividing line between the whole gamut of women's treatment in a sexist society like ours: from the common, everyday disrespect of women, to the hyper over sexualization of women (and girls!! thanks to Britney Spears and others), to women's bodies selling everything, to full out porn. I don't see a firm dividing line, frankly, between Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition (or Britney Spears) and Hustler. I just really don't. It's all degrading, it's all demeaning, it's all exploitative, it all ends up in some women getting sexually assaulted and other women dying.

Or maybe it "only" results in lousy, disrespectful relationships between women and their sorry ass mates? AFAIC, that counts too. If you're a regular consumer of porn, can you REALLY have a loving, fully respectful relationship with your wife? I'm not sure, and I don't think anyone here would be able to convince me it's possible.

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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 09:32 AM
Response to Original message
6. On "The Young and the Restless," about 2-3 years ago, Paul raped Chris.

That one neatly disappeared down the memory hole on the show.

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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 09:34 AM
Response to Original message
7. How many times in the movies of yesteryear have you seen a man
grabbing and kissing a woman, and at first she tries to push him away, then after a few seconds, she relents and embraces him?

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:
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