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.
It made me go back to the story of "The Rape of Dinah" in Genesis 34. In reference to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, it reads "Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of that region, saw her, he took her and raped her". After he did so, "...he fell in love with her and tried to win her affection". Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to have fallen in love with her first, dated her, married her, and consummated the marriage? But that's not what he did. Jacob, her father, did nothing because he claimed that he wanted to keep his family safe from revenge and such. But really he wanted to keep quiet to preserve his reputation. Instead, Jacob and Hamor arranged the marriage between their children - a business transaction. Dinah had to marry her rapist - to keep peace. Simeon and Levi, Jacob's sons and Dinah's brothers, had a different plan in mind. They killed all of the men in Hamor's camp because, "We cannot let our sister be treated like a common whore." This is a situation where the action and reaction both resulted in unfortunate situations. Let's be clear, the victim is just that - THE VICTIM! Dinah and Mellie were both victims...and survivors.
Two of my beloved friends are advocates and counselors for victims of rape. They are doing an awesome job every day as employees of the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center (BRCC). What I wanted, and maybe needed, from Shonda Rhimes was a public service announcement for victims of rape & sexual violence, just like I wanted a public service announcement about drug abuse on the Glee episode about Finn's death. My friends, they don't love their jobs; they wish these types of jobs didn't have to exist, but are grateful that they do!
When we remain silent about rape - it makes the acceptance of rape a lot louder...
Resources:
http://bluegrassrapecrisis.org/
Study Link:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+34&version=GNT
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