The Unacceptable Acceptance of Rape

No, our eyes did not deceive us on last night’s episode of Scandal.  Daddy Grant did exactly what we thought he did – he raped Mellie!  My emotions ranged from being shocked to being disgusted to being distraught to being angry.  All of that!  Some of us thought she should have fought harder and scratched his eyes out.  Perhaps others thought that Mellie shouldn’t have been sitting so close to a drunken, old man…but for heaven’s sake – he’s her father-in-law.  And, yeah folks, that’s called “victim blaming,” which is part of the acceptance in a rape culture, defined as:

a concept that links rape and sexual violence to the culture of a society, and in which prevalent attitudes and practices normalize, excuse, tolerate, and even condone rape.  Examples of behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, sexual objectifications, and trivializing rape. Rape culture has been used to model behavior within social groups, including prison systems and conflict areas where war rape is used as psychological warfare. Entire countries have also been alleged to be rape cultures.

That scene surprised all of us.  We didn’t see it coming…at all!  I can’t lie – I cursed during and after that scene because I was appalled. It was heartbreaking.  I can only imagine how this rape scene was a reminder to some victims about the pain, shame, embarrassment, and helplessness of rape.  Rape is rape is rape.  It can’t be packaged up pretty because it is absolutely ugly.

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