In which I get long-windedblythechildJuly 4 2014, 15:37:33 UTC
I get tired of watching rape/sexual-domination-of-women trotted out as viable entertainment. My current fandom is a U.S. crime procedural show, and the level of graphic female victimization that happens in it on a WEEKLY basis makes me Hulk out a lot. I get that women are proportionally much more likely to be a crime victim, regardless of the nature of that crime, but this sort of camera-in-her-mascara-marred-face-while-she-begs-for-her-life obsession is... pornographic and disturbing. How is a 5 minute scene about her suffering adding to the 42 minute crime plot? How is this justifiably passed by the broadcast standards censors but you can't say 'fuck' during primetime? Why is sexual torture and violence displayed as a fate to which death would be preferable, and yet each week it gets highlighted and underscored as an enticement to watch or detailed in such a way as to be a primer for those turned on by female victimization?
My only consolation (in this specific fandom) is that a majority of the show's fans HATE this trend (it's been increasing over time, presumably to stall sagging ratings). The fans are overwhelmingly female, the show's e.p. is a woman and has several female writers on staff and yet despite this the trend continues. This is just an isolated example, and probably atypical in the industry, but it is important to note that lack of female/POC representation in the film/tv industry is only part of the problem: when given the opportunity, minority creators fall into the same cultural traps as the white, male majority.
I have no problem whatsoever with a visceral depiction of violence, sexual abuse, or sexuality in general SO LONG AS IT IS RELEVANT TO THE NARRATIVE. I'm a big girl with an even bigger brain - I can handle it. What I am no longer interested in seeing as 'entertainment' are meaningless orgies (hello, Game of Thrones, True Blood, Mad Men...), torture porn, or extreme violence without consequence or purpose. I don't think that the solution to this is as simple (if you can label it that way) as increased representation. Both men and women need to evaluate what they are trying to achieve when they write/direct/create these scenarios and how it adds to the unconscious cultural soup that we all simmer in. We are all victims of these archetypes - both in permission to be victimizers as well as expectations of being victimized - so we can't just satisfy ourselves with pointing out the inequity.
My only consolation (in this specific fandom) is that a majority of the show's fans HATE this trend (it's been increasing over time, presumably to stall sagging ratings). The fans are overwhelmingly female, the show's e.p. is a woman and has several female writers on staff and yet despite this the trend continues. This is just an isolated example, and probably atypical in the industry, but it is important to note that lack of female/POC representation in the film/tv industry is only part of the problem: when given the opportunity, minority creators fall into the same cultural traps as the white, male majority.
I have no problem whatsoever with a visceral depiction of violence, sexual abuse, or sexuality in general SO LONG AS IT IS RELEVANT TO THE NARRATIVE. I'm a big girl with an even bigger brain - I can handle it. What I am no longer interested in seeing as 'entertainment' are meaningless orgies (hello, Game of Thrones, True Blood, Mad Men...), torture porn, or extreme violence without consequence or purpose. I don't think that the solution to this is as simple (if you can label it that way) as increased representation. Both men and women need to evaluate what they are trying to achieve when they write/direct/create these scenarios and how it adds to the unconscious cultural soup that we all simmer in. We are all victims of these archetypes - both in permission to be victimizers as well as expectations of being victimized - so we can't just satisfy ourselves with pointing out the inequity.
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