The Feedback I Just Sent the CW: Re SPN 7.08

[moragmacpherson]

Contains spoilers for tonight's episode - but if you haven't watched it, I don't encourage you to do so.  Also contains references to triggery material.  I should know.  The episode triggered me.

ETA: I don't think I'm leaving the fandom.  I still do love this show.  But I still feel... really, really hurt.  I may not be as squee happy about it for awhile.  And I'm really disappointed in the entire production crew for not thinking about any of these issues before they brought the episode to air.

ETA2: It's been brought to my attention that there was an outright statement that the relationship was never consummated during the episode - however, this occurred during the scene that hit my single trigger -- involuntary chemical-induced memory loss -- and so I missed the line while I was retrieving my anti-anxiety meds.  Nonetheless, my overall feelings about the episode and the writers' complete incomprehension of the horror that they wrought still stands.  Intercourse or no, the emotional and mental manipulation remains reprehensible and unfunny.

Re: Supernatural s07e08 "Season Seven: Time For a Wedding"  Written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Lofflin.  Directed by Tim Andrew.

I've been a loyal fan of this show for years.  It's the only show I still watch on broadcast television because I've wanted to help keep its ratings up.  When I was selected as a Nielsen's rater this past spring, I made sure that I invited ten viewers to my home to watch the Supernatural finale to help support it.

I don't know if I can watch it again.

I watched tonight's episode in its entirety because I kept hoping that it would redeem itself at any point.  It didn't.

Rape due to involuntary medication is not fun.  It is not funny.  I am speaking from experience.  The fact that this episode managed to so accurately depict several of the worst and most horrific aspects of my rape (I'm fortunate enough to only really freak out when encountered by a single scenario: memory loss due to involuntary medication.  They FOUND IT!  CONGRATS!) leads me to believe the writers might be familiar with drugged date rape.  Their obvious lack of comprehension for what it feels like to be the victim of it leads me to believe that they must know it from the other side. 

And to top it off, they had the victim try to reassure his "loser" attacker (a formerly beloved avatar for our fandom, which I suspect probably just got a LOT SMALLER) that she wasn't a bad person.  WRONG.  And then they had the victim apologize to his brother for things he said while involuntarily medicated!  THIS IS EVIL AND WRONG.  I am not even going to get into the offensive gay and misogynist stereotypes that this episode depicted, because if you can't see them from a mile away, you're not paying attention. 

I am, frankly, shaken and hurt after watching the depiction of Sam's memory loss as a result of being drugged into submitting to non-consexual sex.  What was implied to be multiple instances of rape.  He was strangely unaffected by his experience with repeated drugged-rape at the end of the episode.  It was laughed off.  I'm not laughing.  I'm thinking about the time I spent being interviewed by police for a police report that produced no arrests or prosecution; of having my bruises and injuries photographed by doctors I didn't know; of the years of therapy that it took before I accepted that what happened to me wasn't my own fault.

Please forward this website to the production staff of this episode:

http://www.rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/male-sexual-assault

Sexual assault does not become funny or acceptable because it happens to a male character either.  News out of Penn State this week should make this fact painfully clear.

I am not amused.  And I am not alone.  And I don't know if I can watch this show any more.  This hurt me.

Comments

[jaimeykay.livejournal.com]

I've been steadily losing faith in the writers the past few seasons, what with all the LOL RAPE references (fucking Wishful Thinking, FUCKING FAIRIES AND OBERON, and fucking this, apparently), their attitude toward mental health treatment, and how they deal with sensitive issues in general. So I'd like to say that this ~came out of nowhere~ but I'm not surprised, and this is exactly what I was expecting to happen, and UGH.


And to top it off, they had the victim try to reassure his "loser" attacker (a formerly beloved avatar for our fandom, which I suspect probably just got a LOT SMALLER) that she wasn't a bad person.

Are you fucking serious? How did this make it on screen? I'm debating on if I want to watch this ep, because I feel like I would need to see if for myself, but at the same time...just. ugh.

I am so sorry, honey. Know that I love you and am hear for you whenever you need to talk.

[moragmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I really... I don't know how the feedback process works over there, but I really kind of want an apology for this episode. It messed with my head hard. I honestly have only the one trigger left over from my rape and they nailed it on the head. The look of horror on Sam's face when he can't remember what's been happening while he was roofied and then pieces of it start to come back to him and he realizes that something so very very wrong happened that he couldn't remember. That's exactly what happened to me. And then they said that no, everything's sunshine and rainbows and isn't Sam so wonderful and mentally strong for being able to get through it without breaking down?

Just... fuck them. I'm a strong woman - I've been through plenty of shit in my life and I've dealt with it. But the date rape thing broke me in ways I didn't think were possible. And it's not okay. It just isn't.

[jaimeykay.livejournal.com]

I feel like they've apologized for lesser things, you know? Sure, it was only to apologize for calling Dean a dick in YF (and that is DEFINITELY not what they should have apologized for from that ep - sure, let's make fun of a trauma victim fresh from hell, LOLOLOL oh and guess what, the same writers of this ep! WHAT A SHOCK.)

That sounds horrible, and I went ahead and deleted it from my DVR last night. Let me know how you're doing today, okay? ♥

[moragmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ha! You're right. The same guys who decided to blame Becky going psycho because she had been bullied in high school are the same ASSHOLES who didn't understand that everything in YF actually endorsed bully culture and which made fun of trauma victims. They're also the ones who didn't understand which parts of Good Omens were funny when they decided to rip it off whole cloth.

When is the production staff going to figure out that these two idiots (Dabb and Lafflin) are ummm... poisonous? And hurtful. And above all: BAD WRITERS WHO AREN'T NEARLY AS FUNNY AS THEY SEEM TO THINK THEY ARE BECAUSE THEY ARE BULLIES. EVIL FUCKING BULLIES WHO LAUGH AT RAPE AND TRAUMA BECAUSE THEY THINK BEING A VICTIM OF A CRIME MEANS THAT THE VICTIM ASKED FOR IT.

I'm... okay today. Spent last night watching my faves from Doctor Who and some Dan Savage speeches about bullying and how the people who do it are insignificant, miserable people who are just trying to spread their own misery. Still feels like I got a punch to the gut. Maybe I should go eat something.

<3 you. Thanks for keeping an eye on me.