After being a "Law and Order: SVU" fan since I was old enough to watch the show, I have always been a strong supporter and lover of Mariska Hargitay’s character, Olivia Benson. However it wasn’t until more recently that I started to realize Benson’s role meant a whole lot more in today’s pop culture media than I had ever previously considered. In fact, she may be one of the most important TV characters in regards to how the media typically portrays women. However I have not heard her character receive the recognition that the writers of the show and Mariska Hargitay’s acting deserves. In a world that desperately needs strong female characters in media to inspire young women, here is why Olivia Benson is exactly what more TV shows need.
She has stayed a strong detective through so much team turnover.
Throughout the many, and there are so many, seasons of SVU so many loved and important characters have left the show, meaning a whole lot of turnover within Benson’s team, including two times when her partner left and she was forced to begin working with a new partner. In many typical TV shows today, an event such as this may leave a female character heartbroken, confused about whether or she should continue to work in this unit or in this job. After an episode or two of Benson grieving the loss of her coworkers, she kept her head up, and realized that she was here to stay, regardless of who was staying with her.
She inspires many young women and victims to find the courage to come forward and speak up about their attackers or experiences.
The number of times Benson has sat down with a victim and gave them the courage that they needed to come forward about what happened to them or come to terms with their experiences is beyond countable. While much of our society is struggling with victim blaming and defining rape, Benson has always been strongly opposed to victim shaming and always puts people in the right. She is always ready to make anyone feel comfortable and strong enough to speak up and stop blaming themselves. Benson could get anyone through anything, that’s what makes her character so special.
She has been brutally attacked and hunted and sexually assaulted through work and it has not swayed her strength or courage.
After the plot line involving Benson’s horrific kidnapping and sexual assault by William Lewis, many viewers including myself may have thought, this is it, this is Benson’s tipping point, her point of no return. Mostly because any normal individual would have backed down at that point. Anyone who had undergone that type of abuse and treatment would most definitely not be able to push on and continue working in the Special Victims Unit. But Olivia Benson is a superwoman, and while her therapist may have told her that she is not, I can guarantee that she is. Because not only did she get back out there sooner than recommended, she then used her own experiences to help other victims come terms with what had happened to them and help them understand how to begin recovering from their pain.
She moved up to be the highest position without losing her dedication or determination or love for her job.
One of my favorite episodes of SVU was when captain Cragen left the show and he asked Benson to take the Captain’s test and be his replacement. Not ever in my life had I been so proud of a TV character on her ability to be the best at what she did, enough to become captain. It is still rare in society today that a woman has the same chance as her male counterpart at a promotion or a raise which made me love the writer’s of SVU so much more for promoting her to become captain rather than any of the other male detectives in the unit. If media doesn’t show women in these positions of power, most of the world views that as common. With the impact that media has on society, writers and actors have a chance to change that, just like SVU has done.
Her ability to adopt and protect a child without taking away from her ability to work.
Not only does Benson become a mother on the show by adopting a child that is left without a home in one of the crimes handled by SVU, but she also keeps up with her work and manages to get her promotion, all while dealing with the very difficult task of becoming an adoptive mother. So many TV shows would have had the female character take time off in order to prep her life for a new baby, or may have even had her quit her job to become a mother. Benson gives an inspiring example of a woman’s strength to not only mother her child but to keep up with her work even when it seemed impossible to do so with the hectic family court dates and adoption requirements.
Her ability to adopt and protect a child without a male figure to raise the child with her.
In addition to the ridiculously challenging task of adopting her child, the strenuous family court and adoption system, and continuing to keep up with her job, Benson also managed to do so on her own, without a husband or father of the baby in the picture. While Benson does occasionally have a boyfriend in the show, this male figure does not take any part in Benson’s work place or her decision to become a mother. Honestly she can do it all, and she doesn’t need anyone’s permission or helping hand to do it.
Let’s face it, this girl has a marathon dedicated solely to her different hairstyles. All hail Queen Benson.
