Essay Prompt #5
Numerous films in the entertainment industry demonstrate sexual violence. Some of this sexual violence is meant for entertainment purposes, whereas some of it is shown to get a strong reaction from its audience and reveal an underlying theme about the source of this violence. Nonetheless, the sexual violence seen in movies is primarily used to communicate a broader message and to demonstrate just how deplorable slavery really is. Sexual violence is exemplified in the film, Twelve Years a Slave, in the brutal rape scene between slave master Epps and a slave, Patsey. During this vivid scene, Master Epps forcibly presses himself on top of Patsey so that she can’t move and begins to rape her. As the life drains out of Patsey’s face, Master Epps stares her straight in the eyes deviously to demonstrate his control over her. Patsey is clearly suffering mentally, physically, and emotionally during this rape, but she is …show more content…
This sexual violence surrounds an abusive and incestuous father, a serial sex killer, and a sexually abusive guardian. All of these men believe that they are in a patriarchal society in which women are completely inferior to men. Martin, a mass murderer in the movie, even admitted, “I am doing what every man dreams of… Taking what I want. These women disappear all of the time. No one misses them.” This disheartening quote communicates the valuable but unfortunate message that there is an ideology of sexual terrorism in which men have an overwhelming assertion that the women are inferior to men in all aspects of life. This is an example of what Roxanne Gay refers to as “indiscriminate amorality”, which is when rapists do not believe that what they’re doing is wrong and normalize the acts that they perform (Gay, 136). As a result, men feel like they have the right to abuse women to “enforce their status at the top of the hierarchy”
Numerous films in the entertainment industry demonstrate sexual violence. Some of this sexual violence is meant for entertainment purposes, whereas some of it is shown to get a strong reaction from its audience and reveal an underlying theme about the source of this violence. Nonetheless, the sexual violence seen in movies is primarily used to communicate a broader message and to demonstrate just how deplorable slavery really is. Sexual violence is exemplified in the film, Twelve Years a Slave, in the brutal rape scene between slave master Epps and a slave, Patsey. During this vivid scene, Master Epps forcibly presses himself on top of Patsey so that she can’t move and begins to rape her. As the life drains out of Patsey’s face, Master Epps stares her straight in the eyes deviously to demonstrate his control over her. Patsey is clearly suffering mentally, physically, and emotionally during this rape, but she is …show more content…
This sexual violence surrounds an abusive and incestuous father, a serial sex killer, and a sexually abusive guardian. All of these men believe that they are in a patriarchal society in which women are completely inferior to men. Martin, a mass murderer in the movie, even admitted, “I am doing what every man dreams of… Taking what I want. These women disappear all of the time. No one misses them.” This disheartening quote communicates the valuable but unfortunate message that there is an ideology of sexual terrorism in which men have an overwhelming assertion that the women are inferior to men in all aspects of life. This is an example of what Roxanne Gay refers to as “indiscriminate amorality”, which is when rapists do not believe that what they’re doing is wrong and normalize the acts that they perform (Gay, 136). As a result, men feel like they have the right to abuse women to “enforce their status at the top of the hierarchy”