Comments on: Brutalized Women as Entertainment (Trigger Warning)

By: grajj24d

grajj24d — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:27:03 +0000

Bravo, what necessary phrase..., a remarkable idea gry zrecznosciowe | gry

By: British PSA about Dangers of Cabs Implies Rape (Trigger Warning) » Sociological Images

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:02:21 +0000

[...] was the Danish Hit the Bitch campaign and pretty much every PETA protest ever. There was also the CSI ad that showed a dead woman’s body that had clearly been assaulted. var addthis_language = [...]

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:40:36 +0000

Same exact thought. Why isn’t she on the ad? I understand that violence is a necessary part of the storyline if you are dealing with a show on criminal investigations. Honestly, I was quite impressed by CSI recently when they had a show that dealt with a male being raped. That is not a common thing to show, even though it happens. Now I’m disappointed because Marg Helgenberger isn’t on this poster, yet it depicts the other two supervisors of CSI on the other shows. Why? Why all men and not all the bosses?

By: “The Killer in Me” Promo (NSFW! And Major Trigger Warning!) » Sociological Images

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:12:19 +0000

[...] our posts on increases in violence toward women on primetime TV, sexualized violence on TV crime procedurals, and the movie “DeadGirl.” 41 Comments Tags: gender, media, rape, sex, [...]

By: Raksha

Raksha — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:50:15 +0000

When I was in grad school, I took a class on women and violence (that was one cheerful quarter, let me tell you!). Almost every single class discussion began with someone saying “This reminds me of that one episode of Law & Order: SVU where…” In fact, since the women in my program referred to all of our classes by their course #, in this case 740, some of us begain to refer to the show as Law & Order: 740.

My point is that I don’t think having all these crimes against women as the subject matter for TV shows is problematic in and of itself. Clearly, many of the stories on SVU touched on themes brought up in that class, so it’s got some real-world relevance. The big problem is, of course, the sexualization of these issues. I wonder if, given the state of our culture right now, it’s even possible to portray these issues in a non-sexualized manner. That’s not rhetorical, I really do wonder that. Does anyone have examples?

And given the pervasiveness of sexualized violence against women, if there were certain projects that sought to portray issues of violence in a non-sexualized manner, would they even be successful, given that much of the audience would be so accustomed to reading these situations as sexualized anyway?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:03:41 +0000

I think the most insightful part of the post was this:

“Since the American broadcasting system has more restrictions against sexuality, you can get away more with amplifying violence than you can with amplifying sexuality. It results in this weird sadistic element. Putting women in these sexual situations is a backdoor way of getting more flesh in.”

This is certainly true for broadcast TV, but I think it extends even further into cable, film, and books than the EW story gives credit for. Extreme violence as sexual metaphor, or as an expression of sexual anxiety, is the fundamental basis of nearly all slasher films, and an alarming percentage of crime novels as well – see also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/25/jessica-mann-crime-novels-anti-women

Of course, when it comes to film, the MPAA makes a big impact by effectively censoring films that portray consensual sex (especially gay) or natural human nudity, but allowing extreme violence, dismemberment, and torture to be freely marketed to adolescents. (I’m not for censorship, but given the choice I’d have it the other way around).

By: Links « Stuff

Links « Stuff — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:04:01 +0000

[...] Brutalized Women as Entertainment. [...]

By: Lu

Lu — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:29:11 +0000

Actually, I do agree with this. The show seems to advocate always fighting, which is problematic. But it’s still more empowering than most crime shows.

By: Quib9

Quib9 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:59:00 +0000

NCIS is a more recent show, and has a some what more up-beat tone then some of the others. (techno theme song, happy-goth lab girl, it all contrasts pretty strongly with shows like Law and Order where there’s more of a somber realism)
It might also stand out in my mind because of one episode where I remember seeing a woman’s autopsied body without any effort to cover her breasts, and the whole implication that nipples were acceptable so long as the blood had been drained from them seemed pretty messed up. (I can’t remember what episode that was, so take that as you will)
And at any rate, I wasn’t commenting on the frequency at which women are victims, but the types of women cast as victims. Mostly or only showing victims of sexual violence that are young and pretty reflects problematic “rape as a compliment” schema, and runs counter to arguments that gendered violence is just a byproduct of a show about crime.

By: Terrie

Terrie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:00:08 +0000

Can you clarify why you signaled out NCIS? Most of their victims are actually male.

By: pg

pg — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:36:16 +0000

Another relevant link – a blog post by the excellent Nine Deuce on a Halloween haunted house event in which the main elements were sexualized violence against women:

http://rageagainstthemanchine.com/2009/10/31/mutilated-vagina-house/

By: Fat Angie

Fat Angie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:11:00 +0000

I have lived through violence. I’m not speaking for everyone who has lived through violence, and I thought that point was clear.

By: Violence Against Women « Inebriate of Air

Violence Against Women « Inebriate of Air — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:31:33 +0000

[...] culture, violence against women is often portrayed as inevitable, or worse, alluring: this article, “Brutalized Women as Entertainment,” illustrates that [...]

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:18:21 +0000

Agreed. It’s a catch 22. If you fight back, you may be more likely to get killed, but if you don’t, then it’s harder to prove rape.

By: Erik

Erik — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:54:02 +0000

For anybody who’s seen the mid-90s MTV animated series Aeon Flux, the director’s commentary on the DVDs offers one of the most blatant examples of this effect.

There is a scene where a woman who had a spinal injury, and has an artificial vertebra in her lower spine, is being operated on by her doctor/lover. The director Peter Chung in the commentary mentions that in real life, it’s possible for a doctor to induce an orgasm in a patient who has a spinal injury by stimulating certain nerves. He wanted the Dr. to be able to give his lover an orgasm the same way, when he’s replacing her worn-out artifical vertebra.

But the censors at MTV said that she couldn’t moan in pleasure, only in pain. So the result is that the scene had to have her moaning as if the procedure was painful, instead of pleasurable, like the director intended. And this is a show with a very overt, S&M inspired, sexualized imagery in every episode, on one of the most “pushing the envelope” networks on TV (MTV). I can’t think of a starker example of how it’s ok to torture a woman but totally forbidden to show her having any sexual pleasure.

The directors commentary includes many other examples of the weird, arbitrary censorship that MTV imposed out of vague fears of the FCC.