Tw Prison Rape - Tumblr Posts
Part 1 Writing Advice: Sexual Trauma As Justice And As A Lesson
Tw: This post is specifically dedicated to SA(sexual assault). This is a highly sensitive topic that I will do my best to present accurately and thoroughly.
This is a somber occasion where I will do my utmost to treat this serious and highly personalized experience with the best grace I can muster. I apologize but this is a serious topic that deserves to be talked about in a "everyday way" and not in a stuffy "fake sad" way because sexual trauma happens everyday.
For important hotlines relating to this issue, check out: https://rainn.org/resources
This is a very sensitive topic which personally relates to my family so I obviously need to be the most detailed I can be.
Again, to reiterate, this post will cover highly serious topics involving sexual violence, the threat of sexual violence, and prison rape in both media and in the real world. Don't pressure yourself to read this. Your mental health is more important then some person's thoughts.
So, let's get started!
Why Did You Need This?
Before we continue, I need to ask for your reasoning when including representation of victims/survivors of sexual abuse/trauma.
If it's something that can be "not included" and won't change your plot at all then I highly implore you to not include it.
You won't believe how many "rom-coms" or romance-based media decides to include an assault scene for the sake of a dramatic rescue. It's not fun. It's not romantic. And it's not necessary!
The reason that sexual trauma is treated with more "delicate sensibilities" is not because physical trauma and emotional trauma are not serious or deserving of respect. It's because sexual trauma is often not treated with the respect that physical abuse and mental abuse is.
If you are planning to use sexual trauma/harrassment/rape/prison rape/anything involving assault into:
A comedic punchline which will never be brought up
A highly inspirational hypersexualized revenge flick about a hot badass woman being badass
Another "don't drop the fucking soap" joke
An insult for a character's masculinity/desirability
A transphobic/racist/homophobic example of danger
A meaningless drivel with vague messages about "forgiveness for others"
I will throw you out of my minecraft server! And account! But, if you are sure that you need sexual trauma to be in your stories, let's continue.
2. Sexual Trauma Is Not Justice
What do all of these movies/shows have in common?
Iron Man 2(2010)
The Powerpuff Girls(2000)
Wedding Crashers(2005)
Cop Out(2010)
Without A Trace(2006)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer(1998)
Deadpool 2 (2018)
They all utilize rape as a form of karmic punishment from Tony Stark's "don't drop the soap" line which is meant to allude to prison rape to Deadpool 2's usage of an electrical cable on Juggernaut to sexually assault them.
Of course, most of these movies/shows "only" use punchlines about anal rape although in the case of Wedding Crashers there is a huge reliance on rape so be aware!
A common uniting theme behind these instances of sexual violence is the fact that the audience is meant to react to these scenes with a satisfied snicker about how the bad guy is suffering.
Let me reiterate, these "jokes" and "funny sexual assault" scenes are said by "funny", "sympathetic" women and men who are threatening sexual violence against "unsympathetic" bad people.
There are multiple problems with this so let's start!
Rape is never okay.
When these scenes have "loveable" characters either threatening/utilizing/physically raping "undesirables" you have just recreated a system where rape is acceptable when it's done to bad people. Sometimes these bad people are too sexually positive, too chauvinistic, or just too bad.
And it's this belief of "punishing sinners" which allows the systematic use of prison rape as a way of controlling prisoners to flourish.
There is no such thing as "justifiable rape"
This Isn't Justice
This is revenge. Rape and the threat of it can nevver be used as a form of justice. The goal of justice is ultimately redemption.
Sexual violence, as a form of revenge, could never be used to positively benefit society.
Prison Rape Is Not Inevitable
Prison Rape can be prevented. It's the powers that control the prison system that consciously allow prison rape to happen.
This is because prison rape is a widely sanctioned way to punish "undesirable" prisoners such as transgender and mentally disabled prisoners.
Again, it's that mention of "undesirable" which demonstrates how promoting the positive usage of sexual violence in Media effects the real world
There are solutions to the prison rape epidemic such as mass deincarceration through actual justice-orientated redemption,
Conclusion: I desperately wanted to talk about how sexual violence and the threat of sexual violence is highly influencial in mass media and how this representation impacts the world that you and I inhabit.
Every single repetition of "sexual assault as a justice-orientated lesson" tortures the hundreds of thoudsands of people in justice system who are brutalized by rape and who never recover.