Sexual consent is a concept shrouded in mystery in modern times. It has become increasingly difficult to identify sexual acts guided by mutual consent by the partners’ involved, implied consent, and outright rape. Kate Harding in her article ‘How Rape in Pop Culture Became a Matter of Opinion’ holds the opinion that the notion of rape in pop culture depiction is diluted to the opinion of the individual. Cases of portrayed rape are left to the discretion of individual interpretation, thus, according to Harding, subjecting female victims of sexual assault to normalized abuse, in the face of popular opinion.
James Dao in the article ‘In Debate over Military Sexual Assault, Men Are Overlooked Victims’ espouses on how sexual assault on men is a taboo subject rarely broached by both the victims and their supposed support bases in the military and amongst their peers. Similar to Kate Harding’s article, James Dao’s article touches on how difficult the society is at understanding the implications sexual harassment on male officers by other either male officers or female superiors. While both writers focus on the issue of non-consented sexual contact, the negative reaction that the society has on the victims, Kate Harding concentrates on heterosexual contact concentrating on women, while James Dao concentrates on men victims in the army. Both sets of victims also face different circumstances with the case of women being reported more in comparison to the case of male victims. The men face shame and social labeling following their victimization while the women are misinterpreted as having consented to the sexual act despite the contrary being true. Despite this deviation in the circumstances, the issues of sexual assault that both articles handle, the victims are sexually handled without their consent, and with no action being taken on the perpetrators of these crimes.
The case of a veteran serving in Vietnam Gregory Helle brings to the fore the repulsiveness that male officers fear their revealing of these acts shall be met, ‘Back in 1969, you did not dare say a word’ who reveals of his rape by fellow officers (Dao, par 11). Similarly, Kate Harding demonstrates how victims of sexual assault can be victimized by the society in which they live. In the relation she gives to the comedy SVU, two officers Muncii and Tutuola blame the girl for undergoing sexual assault in the hands of a man. The act of a girl going to the man’s apartment while drunk is justification enough for the man to force sexual activity on her despite her drunken state, and her condition of disapproving to the sexual contact in the first place. The instance of this woman is mirrored in James Dao’s article also where the experiences of the soldiers Skovranek and Rick Lawson. Skovranek’s case, another soldier shoved his genitals in his face after a drinking escapade; the instance might have gone down as on the ‘boy goofs’ and not taken seriously, the victim Mr. Skovranek questioned his manhood afterwards after a sexually insinuating act was performed on him. The literal way that the sexual independence of these individuals is handled indicates of a flawed sense of sexuality where the men are depicted as having the liberty of imposing themselves on women for flimsy reasons, with the interpretation of circumstances being taken to imply consent. In the case of the men, sexual abuse is permissible since it is inconceivable that men would suffer such fate given their social standing as strong and reliable individuals. In a demonstration of this fact, Kate Harding utilizes the movie ‘Crank’, in which the starring Jason Statham forces himself on his partner in full view of the public for a supposed medical reason. The consent, after he engages in the act, as Kate Harding puts it is used by the movie’s scripter to show that as long as the woman enjoys the act, then consent can be implied. The truth is that the initial rebuttal should stand as the enduring position of the woman through the ordeal. Harding uses this scene to show that the opinion of the victim does not matter. Jason Statham receives a firm refusal of his request. However, on his insistence, he takes the woman and no retribution on him is shown of him for this act. Similarly, in James Dao’s article, the soldier Skovranek got the feedback from his friends that the act is not a big deal implying that he was blowing the case out of proportion. In contrast, it is sexual harassment in that the victim did not consent to the act and it was imposed on him. The attitude of the friends of the act being a no big deal cements the general attitude that such abuse on men is held in society. Dao uses this scenario to show how the sexual autonomy of the victim is alienated from theme by popular opinion, if a large enough group of people decide that the inappropriate sexual handling of the soldier was in line, then, he has no basis for complaint.
Sexuality and sexual independence is an important freedom that everyone, irrespective of gender is entitled. The abuse of the gray areas between play and humiliation in the case of the men as represented by the soldiers in James Dao’s article, and the implied consent derived from circumstances such as drunkenness and dating in the case of the women showed in Harding’s article, should not be used to deprive the victims the right to seek reprieve. The consent of an individual to involvement in such a sexually involving act is important in guaranteeing the psychological wellbeing after the act. From the articles by Kate Harding and James Dao, the authors indicate that there is a general trivializing of sexual independence of individuals both in the disciplined forces, and in popular culture. This is illustrated by the case of the soldier Skovranek, he doubted of his manhood after what might be a seemingly trivial sexual incident. The presentation of this scenario suffered by Skovranek by Dao shows how sexual disrespect is perpetuated by social conformity to it. Victims like Skovranek are advised to ignore their abuse which shows the prevalent attitude towards sexual abuse in the military and in extension the justice system and society. Kate Harding also guides us to this conclusion, by showing the lackadaisical approach to sexual anonymity of individuals by the entertainment industry, in extension, the society. The incident of Georgie, a star actor of a ‘90s drama recalls to an incident where she was raped as a teenager. Back then, she says, it was known as a bad date. This is another instance where Harding uses societal/ common stereotyping of sexual abuse to conform to society needs involuntarily protecting the assailants, while subjecting the victims to a lifetime of pain. However, her recollection of the event after her niece suffered the same fate shows that she has not moved on from the incident despite the society’s failure of calling it what it is, rape, and according her proper remedy for it.
Works Cited
Dao, James. "In Debate over Military Sexual Assault, Men Are Overlooked Victims." (2013): n. page. Print.
Harding, Kate. "How Rape in Pop Culture Became a Matter of Opinion." (2013): 41-3. Print.
