6533b872fe1ef96bd12d42a7
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Usurping the victim's trauma narrative: Victim blaming and slut-shaming on season 1 of You
Dina Pedrosubject
Sexual violenceLiterature and Literary TheorySubject (philosophy)Gender studiesContext (language use)06 humanities and the arts060401 art practice history & theory060202 literary studiesFeminismSolidarityPromiscuity0602 languages and literatureFeminismeNarrativeSocial mediaSociology0604 artsdescription
The American TV series You (2018-) has been the subject of a heated debate on both social media and Academia in regard to its ambiguous approach to feminism and gender violence, due to its prioritization of the perpetrator’s voice over the victim’s (Rajiva and Patrick 2019). In the present context of feminist activism, with movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up fostering female solidarity and giving voice to survivors of sexual violence, the series appears to have an opposite, and even sexist, agenda. Drawing on the concept of ‘trauma narratives’ (Vickroy 2004; Kohlke and Gutleben 2010), I argue that the first season of the show fails to grant the female victim, Beck, a therapeutic space where she can share her traumatic experience with a sympathetic audience, prioritising the perpetrator’s POV, instead. This makes the audience align with him, blaming his female victims for their promiscuity and even falling for his romanticised view of violence against women.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-01 |