Not Cool, My Friends, Not Cool
**Some Smallville spoilers for a season long past. Also extremely mild and unimportant spoilers for an eighth-season episode of Friends.**
It's a tradition in my house for my mom, my sister and I (and the puppy) to gather 'round in the evening and watch something together. Usually an old TV show. Right now, having watched the show straight through, we're on the eighth season of Friends (which isn't that old, really, but hey, we watch Big Valley on Sundays). Normally it's pretty fun, and we all like hanging out together. Last night? Not so much.
The episode is "The One with the Stain," in which, among other things, Phoebe tries to start a relationship with her evil twin Ursula's ex-fiance Eric. Everything's going fine and dandy until Phoebe goes to his apartment one day and they realize that Eric did not, in fact, sleep with Phoebe earlier in the day, but with Ursula. Then they both decide the whole relationship is too "weird" and Phoebe walks out. While the audience laughs.
...
How many times do I have to say this? RAPE IS NOT IN ANY WAY ENTERTAINING!!!! It wasn't entertaining in Nightwing #93, it wasn't entertaining in Big, and it sure isn't entertaining here! Stop treating it like a big joke just because we have a female assailant and a male victim instead of vice versa!! Eric said earlier in the show that he has a friend in the police force. If I were him, I would have called that friend up and had him arrest Ursula on sexual assault charges before the end credits, not stand there making jokes for the audience's amusement!!
Meanwhile, on Smallville of all things, when Bizarro Clark sleeps with Lana Lang, who thinks he is Regular Clark, she is UTTERLY HORRIFIED to discover the mix-up. I don't think they say the word rape or actually deal with this in any way, but at least it wasn't treated as a joke.
If this keeps up, I'm going to need a 'rape is not funny' tag... >.<