SVU

I have recently been watching a lot of Law & Order: SVU. I notice that the rape victim in the show hardly ever seems to know anything about rape or sexuality, is usually not very sexually promiscuous, and is completely shattered by the experience, feeling that she will never be the same person again, and her life will never be the same.

This sends a subliminal message that only non-promiscuous girls get raped, harkening back to the olden days where they assumed that if you often had consensual sex, this instance must be consensual as well.

It also assumes either a) that most women are not educated about their sexuality and about rape or that b) only women who don't know about these things get raped. Those who know are somehow magically "protected". Both assumptions are false.

Rape is a shattering experience. That may seem obvious, but feminists have been forced to remind society over and over. I wonder if somewhere along the way however, something has been lost. Right now, rape victims looking for role models of resilience and hope, of women who undergo this traumatic experience without falling apart, or with falling apart briefly, and seeking counseling, while still kicking ass at career and in life, certainly have none in the media or pop-culture. Bitchfest, and anthology of best articles from Bitch Magazine, has an article called "Be a macha", about models or resiliency and being a macha (strong) when it comes to recovering from rape - and about how currently, American society lacks those models.

A pschology TA of mine also pointed out that this massive fear of rape women are taught to have really imputes so much power to the phallus. Women are taught that one day, out of nowhere, in a dark alley, a phallus might shatter their lives, changing the very nature of who they are as human being. Not only does this ignore LGBTQ rape and male rape victims; Not only does it fail to educate women that the real threat they must be cautious around is not the dark alley, but rather, the person they already know (most rapes are not committed by strangers), but it also teaches women that the phallus has this incredible amount of power, and they must fear it - much as men once feared the dark, scary power of women's menstruation. Of course, since men were in power, they could curb their fears by sequestering menstrual women from society, whereas women are taught to live in fear and adapt their social habits to the all-powerful phallus by not walking alone at night, and carrying mace or rape whistles.

That being said, SVU deserves a lot of credit: Having a major TV show about rape and abuse, one that is sympathetic to the victims and includes anatomical details and rape kits, helps take away the stigma and social taboo around talking about rape, and may even inspire some people to report rapes or abuse. Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia on SVU, has also been extremely active for advocating on behalf of rape victims, and has been involved with RAINN.

http://www.aoltv.com/2010/11/11/the-women-of-law-and-order-svu-speak-out/