Throughout this chapter Lisa Cuklanz and Sujata Moorti discuss the Law & Order: SVU and its depiction of sexual assault and the people who commit the crimes. They start out talking about how it is presented as a feminist show and it addresses the misconceptions of rape. They bring up a lot of the positives of the series but they also are not ok with the way that the show represents the female criminals, which they call "monstrous mothers." Despite this negative I think that it is great that there is a show that is trying to break the mold and educate people about sexual assault. No show can be perfect and I think that they try to make sure that they are factual and also very well thought out.
It is very important that this show demystifies the rape myths and try to put the focus on the "post rape" narrative. They do this to make sure that the sexual assault victims are not objectified and to show that there is life after rape. They tackle the issue of consent in many different episodes and how complicated this issue is, especially in the courtroom. Another good part of the show is that it does not represent the victims as good or bad. For example they treat a case involving sexual assault against a prostitute the same way that they would any other rape case. Other points that Cuklanz and Moorti bring up are that rape can take place in public or safe places like the home, that men and women can commit these crimes, and that race does not play the role that we think it does. They try to demystify the "black male rapist myth" by rarely showing them as criminals in interracial crimes. SVU tries to tell the truth as much as possible.
The main issue that they have with the show is that the male criminals are displayed as people that have been molded by society into criminals and the female criminals do these terrible things because of their "feminine qualities." Mothers are shown as the people that create these criminals, while fathers are barely shown, or their influence is in the past. Their crimes come from a misdirection of the maternal role and Cuklanz and Moorti say that the monstrous maternal story lines make the show appear mysognistic more than feminist. I have not seen the show so I am not entirely sure if it is true, but I don't think that it should take away from the overall message. It is important to bring up the issues there may be, but also to realize that the show does work to overturn many misconceptions people think about sexual assault.
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