True Blood is known for pushing the boundaries when it comes to sex scenes. Graveyard rape fantasies, BDSM, and head-turning vampire sex. But let’s get one thing straight; last night’s gang rape of Jason Stackhouse by the Hot Shot werepanther women was not a sex scene, as some reviewers have been calling it.
But, while it is most definitely a glorified rape scene, it is also an exercise in slut-shaming and male-rape denying.
When asked about the scene, True Blood creator Alan Ball said,
“It’s kind of interesting to see the kind of guy who really gets his sense of worth from his sexual prowess to all of a sudden to be kind of objectified and sort of [laughs] used against his will.”
Slut-shaming by any other name.
The idea that someone who is sexually promiscuous isn’t really raped because they’re just getting their “comeuppance” is horrifying.
Jason even echoes Ball’s perspective, perfectly portraying how some rape victims feel as thought their attack was their fault. And why wouldn’t they? Unless you’re a young virginal woman dressed head to toe in a burqa walking alone down an alley at night and are attacked by a man in a mask and report it immediately, you’re not really raped. Jason says:
“As much as I love it, every bad thing that has ever happened to me is because of sex, [he enumerates on his fingers] jealous boyfriends, becoming a drug addict, being accused of murder… Maybe God’s punishing me for having too much sex. He’s like ‘Jason Stackhouse you have fucked too many hot women, now let’s see how you like it.’”
Hoyt goes on to compare his relationship problems with Jessica to “kind of” being like Jason’s sexual assault—and let’s not forget his potential werepanther turn!
You wouldn’t catch (most) women trying to compare their relationship problems to a friend’s rape; maybe that’s because in a lot of peoples’ eyes, and Ball’s, apparently, male-rape doesn’t exist.
Sure, Jason was drugged with Mexican Viagra, but it is still possible for a man to become physically aroused whilst not being mentally aroused, just as it is for women.
Bitch magazine puts it best:
“… When a rape clearly occurs onscreen and we call it something else, that contributes to a culture that says straight men can’t be victims of rape, especially if they’re young and attractive and enjoy sex with women.”
It will remain to be seen whether True Blood handles the aftermath of Jason’s attack realistically, or if he lapses back into his fun-loving, iron-pumping, consensually women-fucking ways, without any acknowledgement of what happened to him. Oh, and there’s that whole werepanther thing…
Elsewhere: [Bitch Magazine] True Blood: A Werepanther Rape is Not a “Sex Scene”.
[Feministe] True Blood Season Four & Female-on-Male Rape.
[Thought Catalog] On Rape in True Blood.
[Jezebel] Ass-Kicking, Rape & Fairy Godmother Murder.
[Tumblin Feminist] HBO’s True Blood, Rape & Sexual Slavery.
Image via Bitch, Jezebel.
The Scarlett Woman 