Content Warnings: Police Brutality, Sexual Violence, Rape, Prison, Criminal Justice, Racism

Since I was in middle school until mid-college, I actively watched Law & Order: SVU. It felt like a show that would transform rape culture, one that would teach people how horrible sexual violence is. It's continued for 21 seasons now. It's been praised for how much it matters to our society. But, I was misguided in my lauding of it, as this show is deeply racist, sexist, transphobic, ableist, and carceral.

Like, Sam Roberts argues, the show is not diverse (and, in my opinion, any "diversity" relies on tropes and stereotypes). SVU perpetuates rape culture, and it constantly depicts police brutality as a positive. Moreover, I'd add that the show also gives viewers a false sense that sexual violence occurs predominantly to women and by strangers in the night.

Additionally, it gives a lot of false hope that survivors will get justice in the criminal justice system, when that is not only very unlikely, but also true justice can never exist within the carceral prison industrial complex. Beyond the wonderful points Roberts raises in their blog post, I'd like to specifically on the police brutality and rape culture from the show's heroine, Olivia Benson, and her actions in "Perverted" in season 11, episode 9. 

First, a reminder before we proceed: here's an overview of sexual violence statistics and myths. Second, this post will be detailing and analyzing sexual violence and harassment. This could be triggering, so please make sure to take care of yourself and exit at any time; the National Sexual Assault Helpline is only a call away [800.656.HOPE (4673)]. 

In this episode and this thorough breakdown/synopsis, there's a lot going on. Specifically, at the end of the episode, Olivia is attacked in her apartment by a man, Brady, that she put in prison years ago. As he is on the verge of attacking her, he asks her why she arranged for his rape in prison. Olivia does not know what Brady is talking about, but eventually comes to the understanding that she threatened him during his interrogation. In the interrogation, she had said, “A pretty boy like you is gonna be real popular in prison. Maybe when you’re raped, you’ll understand what you put those women through.” Benson, under the threat of Brady's violence, declares that she should have never said that nor did she arrange for that. Eventually, Olivia manages to apprehend him, he's arrested, and Olivia is exonerated from being framed.

This scene epitomizes some of the series' problematics with police brutality, the criminal justice system, and rape culture. Olivia, while apologetic in the moment, apologizes only under the threat of violence, so as a viewer, we don't know how sincere it is. Moreover, her violent and brutal words are never addressed further in the episode or in the series, and she continues to perpetuate police brutality at times as well. So, this threat of rape to a perpetrator is still continued throughout the series with many of her interrogations threatening perpetrators with murder and/or sexual violence once they go to prison. 

This is unacceptable, violent, and carceral. Sexual violence in prison is perpetrated by other inmates as well as prison staff at alarming rates. Prisons have a vested interest in not letting this information out, as prison staff commits 42% of these assaults. The criminal justice system is also a system that allows for a form of modern-day slavery to prevail against Black people and people of color, such as DuVernay discuss in 13th. Thus, Olivia and other police officers' threats in the show perpetuate the very real scenario that these people will be brutalized and assaulted by law enforcement. This brutality exists both in prisons as well as in homes and society. Police kill and hurt Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color as well as disabled people at alarming rates. Police officers have some of the highest rates perpetuating domestic violence. 

Furthermore, regardless of what anyone has done, no one deserves to be sexually assaulted, harmed, or killed, so when law enforcement officers threaten this, they continue to add to rape culture. Yet, viewers will continue to root for law enforcement and Olivia in these scenarios because as the show's intro says, "These are their stories *dun dun*..."

But, who's stories are we telling here? The stories of the oppressors in the system that brutalizes and assaults? The stories of "justice"? The stories of rape culture? This show is not one to be lauded for many reasons, but particularly because it distorts sexual violence and the very ways it flows into every part of our society, even the criminal justice system.

Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Rape, Objectification of People/Animals

A few week's ago, I kept seeing Shrek (2001) pop up in memes and on my Twitter feed, so I decided to rewatch it, as it was one of my favorites as a child. In that rewatch, I laughed, I reminisced, but I was also horrified.

The movie was filled with objectification, sexual harassment, and sexual assault.  

This film that won many awards and accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and AFI's Top 10 Animated Films. One could argue that it's a product of its time, especially since it was almost 20 years ago, but even if it's a product of its time (which is never actually a valid excuse)—it's still central to today's pop culture; it's still being added to in the franchise; it's still not above critique. This movie's target audience is children and adults who loved it as children. Through the social model of learning, children observe and imitate what they see. So, it's not a surprise that rape culture exists when exposure to it started so young in the lives of so many. 

First, a reminder before we proceed: here's an overview of sexual violence statistics and myths. Second, this post will be detailing and analyzing sexual violence and harassment. This could be triggering, so please make sure to take care of yourself and exit at any time; the National Sexual Assault Helpline is only a call away [800.656.HOPE (4673)]. 

In the movie, if you are unfamiliar, it's a satire of fairy tales. The antagonist, Lord Farquaad, wants to be King of Duloc. One of his first directives as "king" is to exile any fairy tale creature, which includes any you may have heard of before, such as Gingerbread Man, 3 Blind Mice, 3 Little Pigs, etc. It also includes our protagonist, an ogre named Shrek, and his sidekick, Donkey, who is a talking donkey. 

In order to be King, Lord Farquaad must marry a princess, and his options are given to him by the Mirror on the Wall. Here's the clip: 

In this clip, it is meant to be read as a parody of shows like The Bachelor. Yet, the mirror still describes these women in deeply problematic ways (not unlike the shows such as The Bachelor):

• Cinderella as a "mentally abused shut in" who enjoys her domestic duties that partially originate from that abuse. Abuse is never the survivors fault, nor is it something to be satirized 
• Snow White is alluded to as both a Madonna-whore where they say someone should just kiss her, even though she's incapable of consent and that she will be a "live wire" (an allusion to her sexual prowess despite her inability to consent to sex)
• Fiona as a "loaded pistol" and "yours for the rescuing" thus implying she is only an object and meant to be owned.

Then, beyond the mirror's descriptions of these women, the guards in the background start shouting numbers, most of them saying, "2," which indicates that most of them would prefer the option of raping a woman. When Farquaad chooses Fiona, he values her only for her ability to give Duloc their "finest King," thus furthering her objectification. This objectification is added to when she's perceived only as the "Damsel in Distress" trope where a woman's only value in the plot is to be rescued by a hero. Many times, this trope also means that the damsel ends up marrying the "hero." This trope has drastic effects on children's perceptions of gender roles and expectations, which again, primes them for observation and imitation of what they see. 

At the beginning of the movie, Donkey manages to escape Farquaad's exile and meets Shrek, who's loner on his swamp. In order for Shrek to keep his swamp and be left alone, Farquaad orders him to retrieve  Fiona from the tower and bring her to him (Fiona's agency is entirely removed here, but I'lll touch on that later).

While Shrek and Donkey storm the castle to get Fiona, a fire-breathing dragon, later named Dragon, protects the castle. In the sequence of events, Dragon sexually assaults Donkey as well as Shrek in the sequence. Here are two clips: 

In the first clip, Donkey is quite literally on the edge of being murdered by Dragon. In a last ditch effort, he tries to compliment the Dragon as her "food." His compliments are superficial and only given to save his live. Dragon has all the power in this situation. Donkey has none. He tries to leave the situation giving the excuse that he's "asthmatic" before she grabs his tail and takes him away against his will. As she's taking him away, he's screaming, "No," multiple times. To be very clear, Donkey not only said, "No," to the Dragon's actions (and just because someone doesn't say no, does not mean they want sexual contact), but he also was incapable of consent because he was under the Dragon's threat of violence and murder. Yet, despite this, Dragon still  takes Donkey by his tail and assaults him. 

​In the second clip, the sexual assault is furthered. Donkey pleads with Dragon to stop by saying he wants to "take things slow" and that he's not "emotionally ready." Dragon then sexually assaults him by taking her nails against his body. Donkey proclaims, "That is unwanted physical contact." Again, he's very clear with his boundaries, and she begins to bite his tail, which is an allegory for rape. Donkey says in the background, "hey, what are you going to do with that?" Again, the audience is hearing and witnessing his rape.

​Shrek then proceeds to fly in, and he is the one kissed on his buttocks instead of Donkey, but either way, she intended to sexually assault Donkey, but assaults Shrek instead. These two clips are horrendous, as we see multiple instances of sexual assault and rape. Additionally, Donkey ends up marrying Dragon later, which only shows the audience that 1) this behavior is acceptable and not a big deal; 2) this is how one courts someone for marriage; and, 3) there will be no punishment for these heinous actions. 

After Shrek and Donkey rescue Fiona from the castle, she is forced to go with Shrek against her will so that he can take her to Farquaad. Here's two clips: 

In the first clip, Shrek refuses to let Fiona stay on her own terms, adding to the trope of her as a "Damsel in Distress." Then, he picks her up against her will despite her yelling at him to stop and her hitting him. As Fiona talks with Donkey about his situation with Dragon, Shrek grabs Fiona's butt and gropes her. She screams, "Hey!," and the camera cuts to Shrek's smug grin. He knows what he did, and he doesn't care. This was a crime of power and asserting his dominance over her by sexually assaulting her. She, like Donkey, ends up marrying her abuser as well, which reinforces that this behavior is okay and leads to romance.

Also on the road, in the second clip, Fiona sings before she is unwillingly snatched by Robin Hood. She asks what he's doing, and he replies, "Be still... I'm your savior," and kisses her up her arm. Not only did he grab her against her will and ask her to "be still," but he also kisses her without her consent—again, sexual assault. When Shrek intercedes saying Fiona is "his princess," which adds to her objectification and trope as the damsel, Robin Hood says, "I'm a little busy here." Thus, this indicates his possible nefarious plans for Fiona. Then, he launches into song and dance with his "Merry Men." In the lyrics, he brags he "rescues pretty damsels" and the implication that his only concern is to get  "paid," which is said only after a pause in the song and dance thus implying it means "laid" and Robin Hood "rescues" women and then extorts sexual favors from the women. Again, sexual assault. Additionally, there's a part later in the movie where Fiona makes an allusion to being date raped as well. While Fiona defies a lot of the damsel trope, she and others are still used, objectified, and sexually assaulted throughout the movie.

What's all this mean? Frankly, it means at the very minimum that this movie is filled with sexual assault. This is a movie for children, ​and children observe these behaviors from these characters, internalize them, and then imitate them. They are being taught from a very early age that this behavior is acceptable, normal, and leads to romance. Stopping sexual violence in our society starts first with our media. We must be aware of what ideologies we expose children to because one day they grow up and accept and possibly perpetuate this behavior. 

As of January 2020, I'm finishing my Master's degree in English Rhetoric and Composition at Ball State University. There, I study writing centers, sexual assault rhetoric, and trauma-informed pedagogy. With all of these realms, I want to enact change—to make writing centers more inclusive, braver spaces; to help rape culture go away and a society where survivors are believed; to create classrooms that are proactive and treat any student with care and respect. I, however, realized that all of these goals are idealistic as well as only work inside the academy, which is a microcosm of the racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, classism, etc. that permeate the world. Therefore, I want this blog to be something not for the Ivory Tower, but instead something that discusses life and our culture for everyone living that life and in this culture. With that, I will be writing semi-regularly to analyze popular culture that inundates our lives and how it may be more problematic that one may first think. In order to do these analyses, though, I want to start our with an overview of sexual violence and rape culture in the United States so that we can have a basis from which to go. 

Sexual Misconduct and Violence in the United States
Sexual misconduct is a non-legal term that can include stalking and sexual harassment. Sexual violence is also a non-legal term that includes sexual assault, rape, sexual abuse, incest, etc. Statistically, in the United States, every 73 seconds, another person is sexually assaulted. These people can be those that surround your daily life. Here's just an overview of some of the many statistics available: 

• 1 out of every 6 cisgender women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, with women 18-24 the most likely out of the general population to be assaulted 
• 1 out of every 33 cisgender men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, with 1 out of every 10 rape victims being male
• 47% of transgender people will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes 
• Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are at higher risk of sexual violence compared to heterosexual people
• People of color are at even higher risks of sexual violence compared to white people
• Disabled people twice as likely to experience sexual violence compared to those without disabilities
• Poverty also greatly influences not only one's chance of being assaulted, but also the aftermath of one's assault

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Myths of Sexual Violence
There are many, many myths surrounding sexual violence, and subsequent posts will begin to unravel them even more, but let's start with an overview of some of the more ubiquitous ones: 
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