When rape is mentioned, the images often conjured up in our minds is of a poor defenseless woman being taken advantage of by a male perpetrator. While rape does occur more often to women -- in fact one in five women will be raped in some point of their lives according to the National Sexual Violence Resources Center -- rape should not be viewed as a crime only against women. Rape can happen to anyone, and their gender does not prevent anyone from being a victim sexual violence.
ABC Network’s newest drama, breaks down the gender binary for rape. "American Crime" is currently in its second season where it crafts a compelling story of a high school rape incident. The story centers around Taylor Blaine, a male rape victim. In the second episode of the second season, Taylor’s mother reports the rape on his behalf. When realizing the victim of the rape is male, the officer’s disbelief is evident.
"American Crime" is a program which highlights how unjust America's legal system is for certain disenfranchised groups. In Taylor's case, even though he is a Caucasian male, he still experiences some institutional discrimination from the school administration and from the police because he is from a working class family. On some occasions we hear Taylor and his mother referred to as "the WTs" or "white trash."
In addition to breaking down gender stereotypes, "American Crime" portrays minorities outside of “traditional roles.” We see white Americans on the verge of poverty and African Americans as upper middle class or higher. Though these images provide a refreshing change from the typical portrayal of minorities, the show also demonstrates how tactful affluent African Americans have to be in order to protect their image and prevent being associated with black stereotypes.
Accepting one's sexuality is another trope present is the show. One of the characters specifically struggles internally with his sexuality. He refuses to tell his basketball coach, his parents, and even his closest friend that on the night of the alleged assault on Taylor, he was intimate with him because he didn't want anyone to know he was gay. Once Taylor's mother found out that he knew his rapist, she began to doubt if an assault even happened at all. This brings up another misconception that male-on-male rape never happens; or if a gay male is raped, it does not count because they were "asking for it."
Overall, what this show is conveying is that there needs to be a change in how we approach rape whether it's female, male, gay, straight, or transgender, a victim is a victim and they deserve support. This is the mission of nonprofits like PAAR, who help give victims of sexual violence a voice. Victims of sexual assault should not have to be silent.
