Project Topic-Sexual Violence in TV Shows

For my final project I wanted to look at sexual violence in TV shows.  I first thought of this idea after watching an episode of Reign, where the main character, Queen Mary, is raped.  Reign’s demographic is young adults, especially teens and I thought it was an interesting choice to have such a violent occurrence in a show for young people.  I viewed the choice to use rape as a plot device to be a strange one.  The rape was not historically accurate so it was solely used to move the plot along. 

The cultural form I am looking at is TV shows.  I’m open to suggestions of other shows that use sexual violence as a plot device.  I’m not completely sure what the question I want to answer is, but from the little research I have done, there is some evidence that observing sexual violence makes the viewer less likely to find it as scary or violent.  Sexual violence is common in crime shows, but when does it go too young?  If we allow it in shows meant for teen girls, does it desensitize them?  Does the ten second clip of the actress addressing the audience about the importance of reporting rape make it okay? Does this really address the issue?

Another area I thought of looking at was the characteristics of the victim of the sexual violence is in these shows.  Much of the outcry against the rape in Reign was because Queen Mary is a strong, central character that is the queen of two countries, yet can’t maintain her power without something bad happening to her.  Is this common in other shows, where the victim is a powerful leader who is put in a weak position? If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated!