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A woman sexually harassed & coerced at work = Awful but Man gets raped = shrugs?

posted 5 years ago by Threadkiller (2952)
44 replies | jump to latest

2 episodes in I'm pretty "meh" on this show. I like the premise but otherwise pretty middle of the road so far. In the first episode we see Starlight the newly selected superhero club member gets aggressively sexually harassed & implied to have been coerced by one of the male superhero team members The Deep into performing oral sex on him. Starlight appears to be 1 of 2 (the other being the Dennis Quaid/Meg Ryan hybrid. Seriously I've never seen someone look so much like both parents) characters the audience is meant to relate to most thus lot of emphasis is placed on how this disturbing experience affects her character.

Appropriately the audience like the character is supposed to have nothing but contempt for The Deep. The following episode a male politician is lured into an intimate liaison with a female waitress only to be raped by what turns out to be a male shapeshifter & later blackmailed. This gets glossed over and the man seems oddly indifferent about being raped and only concerned about how the recorded incident could affect him politically.

As disturbing as what happened to Starlight was indeed, I believe what happened to the politician was worse yet it was almost treated as a joke for the audience to snicker at(the rapist being an obese balding man mimicking a woman's voice. ) I know there's a long standing double standard in media of female sexual assault vs male sexual assault but it was still a bit jarring to see it play out so close together.

[–] McQualude (4231) 5 years ago

I agree with you there was a double standard between those 2 incidents. To be honest, I hadn't even considered it until seeing your post.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 5 years ago

The politician has a broader appetite and is used to dirty tricks. Starlight was an innocent country girl. Pretty realistic, really.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

A broader appetite? What does that mean & where was that established? "Dirty tricks" is one thing but being raped by a man is another. Nobody is going to be okay with that.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 5 years ago

It wasn't a man but a shape shifter. And the politician had consentual sex with the woman form first, only the last bit was a male form. He recognized the dirty trick. Besides, he did the pegging and remained dominant

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

I don't agree with your logic and neither would the law. He consensually intended to have sex with a woman & was unwittingly tricked into a sexual act with a man. It's rape. Plain and simple.

Also the male form of the shapshifter was imlied to be his default form and more to the point specifically raped him as a male.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 5 years ago

Yeah, well you saw what I saw and he wasn't surprised. I only gave an explanation for why it isn't impossible for him to have reacted like he did. But we are talking about fiction here.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

My criticism is more with the double standard about how the writers/director of the show presented it compared to the incident with Starlight, than an issue with the characters. The character's improbably indifferent attitude towards to being raped is part of the problem, not a reason to excuse it as "not really rape".

[–] Lampedusean (498) 5 years ago

A double standard is the stuff of everyday life as we are all full of bias.
How is your reaction to the murder of a small girl in comparison to a gang shooting? Murder is murder.
As TV is made for sale we are being fed our own bias. Does that emphasize the existing bias? Of course.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

I'm not sure you point. That life is full of biases and double standards? Well regarding the show, that's the problem & why I was pointing it out.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 5 years ago

It is not a problem because the show is not made to educate, merely to entertain.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

Well it's obvious that is not an issue with you but it was for me as I'm sure it would be for a number of people who have a problem with gender bias when it comes to the callous indiferrence in the way a man being raped was portrayed comparativey to its portrayal of a female victim of sexual misconduct.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 4 years ago

There is no error in your interpretation and nothing wrong about how you or others feel about the depiction but the practice is normal from a producer's perspective. All I am saying is that it's a money driven process.

[–] McQualude (4231) 5 years ago

One big difference is that Starlight agreed to go down on Deep but the politician didn't consent to sex with another man.

[–] xfool (923) 5 years ago

Its not rape .... the shapeshifter has a vagina with his dick in it.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2645) 5 years ago

If you're a straight guy, would you be OK with a MTF transsexual tricking you into having sex with them without disclosing they used to be a man?

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

I'm thinking the previous poster was being facetious but what you're saying does happen. There have been cases of people who who pretending to be the opposite sex who manipulated unwitting people into sexual contact. It's rape by deception.

[–] xfool (923) 5 years ago

not if the 'victim' is a willing participant and clearly enjoying the process,yes there is deception but its more like being punked.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

Your logic wouldn't hold up in court so for your sake I hope you don't go about applying that line of thinking in real life when it comes to any potential sexual relationships with people. "I swear, she enjoyed it your honor!".... Yeah good luck with that.

[–] xfool (923) 5 years ago

I doubt anyone would feel bad for a horny guy that gets punked, there is just no comparision for this to rape............a rape would have been if the politician get forcefully analed by the shapeshifter.

[–] xfool (923) 5 years ago

By your definition you are suggesting a man can sue a woman for rape?
That wouldn't hold up in court too.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2645) 5 years ago

You're trolling right?

[–] xfool (923) 5 years ago

It may not be what u wanted but its good to experiment.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 5 years ago

That is a great post.

However, Starlight is a WHORE for blowing the guy when she did not have to. You do not have to have sex with someone just to get a job, you choose to. Meanwhile, the male did in fact get raped and had no choice in the matter.

So, more fucked up morals and ideas from Hollywood.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 5 years ago

Umm while I wouldn't call Starlight a whore (That's a bit over the top), it is worth noting that while she was clearly a victim of sexual harassment, at the end of the day she was given a choice. His threat to accuse her of attacking him was pretty weak & she ultimately made the choice to degrade herself over integrity, on the chance that she could lose her new job when she could have easily told him to screw off.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 5 years ago

No she wasn't.

A whore is a person who exchanges sex for profit. She did not have to do that because it was for a job, not someone threatening to kill her, etc.

The scene was meant to reflect the Harvey Weinstien kind of situation. He wasn't raping women, he was having sex with whores who wanted roles in movies. You do not need to have a role in a movie and if you have sex to get it, you're a whore.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 4 years ago

Randomly pulling your dick out at the workplace in front of a co worker and then trying to coerce sex from them when they're clearly not interested is definitely harassment (Not at all okay and grounds for a lawsuit in most developed countries) but not it's not assault or rape. The Weinsten is situation is very messy. I think it's pretty obvious that he did indeed harass & assault a number of unwilling women but I also believe it's fairly obvious than in many situations the women willingly participated in the "casting couch" with Weinsten in hopes of furthering their careers and had "buyer's remorse" after the fact when their careers didn't go the way they had hoped.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 4 years ago

Yes, it's harassment IF the person doesn't respond to it.

If someone gets sexual, proposes a deal, then you take it, it is not harassment but rather unethical practice and being a whore.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 4 years ago

But there was no "deal" proposed until after she vocally expressed her offense to his inappropriate sexual forwardness & was about to leave while threatening to report his behavior. Again she ultimately made a dumb choice and sacrificed her integrity (a point which the show pretty much glosses over) but we can't excuse The Deep's behavior either.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 4 years ago

It's not a "dumb choice" to give a dude a blowjob for a choice job.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 4 years ago

That's like saying crime is ok if you can get away with it.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 4 years ago

That has nothing to do with it.

If someone proposes a crime to you and you cooperate, you're also a criminal.

In this show the character didn't tell her he was going to kill her. He could have even been bluffing, but she's like, okay, I'll blow you. Then, she's mad about it later.

That's a stupid hypocritical whore.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 4 years ago

Hence, a dumb choice. Glad you set yourself straight.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 4 years ago

A purposeful choice.

[–] MavKilledGoose (778) 4 years ago

I no longer have a Prime subscription, but going by memory, the short answer is, "it's complicated."

Starlight was coerced into sexual relations.

The military guy was primarily a victim of blackmail. It's unlikely he was raped.

Consent can be tricky. In Israel there was an infamous case a few years back where a Jewish woman had sex with a man she believed to be Jewish. In fact, he was Palestinian, and never claimed to be Jewish (friends had given him a Jewish nickname). Later she claimed she NEVER would have had sex with him if she had known he was Arab, and the court found him guilty.

More commonly, there are cases of women getting "played" by guys who pretend to be wealthy. In reality, they only own one set of expensive clothes, the Ferrari is a rental, and the crummy apartment is his residence (his "real house" is not getting remodeled or built). Is that a case of rape? In these sort of instances, there's an element of caveat emptor.

A shapeshifter might be akin to refusing to disclose HIV status. In most states -- but not all! -- it's illegal to have intercourse without disclosure. I'd assume there is no statute regarding shapeshifters in these situations.

[–] McQualude (4231) 4 years ago

The General thought he was having sex with a woman but it was a male shapeshifter set on blackmail, doesn't seem complicated from an ethical standpoint. Legally I doubt there is any precedent since there are no shapeshifters, blackmail is a crime though.

[–] Threadkiller (2952) 4 years ago

It's rape. It's like if in real life a guy were to use a woman as a decoy to lure a man into a sexual hook up then have the woman blindfold him (as happened in the show) then the man comes in the room and takes the place of the woman to sexually assault the unwitting man which is %100 rape.

[–] MavKilledGoose (778) 4 years ago

You've beclowned yourself.

The General didn't know he was with a "male" until after the pictures were shown to him. As someone earlier noted, we have every reason to believe the ugly masculinized form captured in the blackmail photo still had a tight meat-sleeve.

The situation is much closer to one where a guy I know said he was at a bar, and he thought a girl was giving him a blow-job under the table. The best blow-job he's ever had. Later he learned it was a dude.

[–] Kowalski (58146) 4 years ago

AS A MAN..IF YOU RAPED ME...I WOULDNT CALL THE COPS OR CRY AND WHINE...I WOULD LET YOU FINISH THEN LOOK FOR MY OPENING TO DISMEMBER YOU.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 4 years ago

Amazing feat that you can dismember with your opening. Is that how you slice cucumber?

[–] Kowalski (58146) 4 years ago

ILL BE USING MY TRUSTY MACHETE,CHIEF....REAL SLOW LIKE.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 4 years ago

Please do. Stay above the bowl so the cleaning crew has it less rough.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2645) 4 years ago

Stick an appendage in and pinch real hard ha.

[–] Lampedusean (498) 4 years ago

He's so friendly for letting the guys finish first.

[–] RogueDemonHunter (2645) 4 years ago

Absolute gentleman.

A woman sexually harassed & coerced at work = Awful but Man gets raped = *shrugs*?

A woman sexually harassed & coerced at work = Awful but Man gets raped = shrugs?