Torchwood and rape: redux
Nov. 3rd, 2006 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easyThanks to all for an intelligent and thought-provoking discussion. Here's my revised thoughts, much influenced by your comments.
I think the makers of the show set out to parody the sort of ads where a body spray, or similar snake oil, causes the opposite sex to fall magically into one's arms. Their intention was not that the spray is not supposed to remove the other person's ability to consent - only to make the user extremely sexually appealing (which is what the Web site means by "irresistable"). This is dubious behaviour, and could have serious consequences for the couple; but if their ability to say "yes" or "no" to sex was genuinely unimpaired, then it's not criminal behaviour.
Although I think this is what the makers had in mind - and I'd be much more comfortable with that interpretation - it's hard to swallow because of the incredibly powerful effect the spray has. Neither member of the couple showed the slightest inclination to bed Owen. The woman gives him a sour brush-off; the joke where the spray makes even the man snog Owen only really works if the man is straight, not bi. Their behaviour is so instantly and dramatically changed that it's hard to believe the spray hasn't done something pretty powerful to their brains - much as the unwilling gay man was unable to stop himself having sex with the possessed Carys in the next episode.
My current assumption, then, is that this is a joke that badly misfired - leaving many of us with the impression that Owen had effectively used a date rape drug and got away with it and that the show's makers saw no problem with this.
I think the makers of the show set out to parody the sort of ads where a body spray, or similar snake oil, causes the opposite sex to fall magically into one's arms. Their intention was not that the spray is not supposed to remove the other person's ability to consent - only to make the user extremely sexually appealing (which is what the Web site means by "irresistable"). This is dubious behaviour, and could have serious consequences for the couple; but if their ability to say "yes" or "no" to sex was genuinely unimpaired, then it's not criminal behaviour.
Although I think this is what the makers had in mind - and I'd be much more comfortable with that interpretation - it's hard to swallow because of the incredibly powerful effect the spray has. Neither member of the couple showed the slightest inclination to bed Owen. The woman gives him a sour brush-off; the joke where the spray makes even the man snog Owen only really works if the man is straight, not bi. Their behaviour is so instantly and dramatically changed that it's hard to believe the spray hasn't done something pretty powerful to their brains - much as the unwilling gay man was unable to stop himself having sex with the possessed Carys in the next episode.
My current assumption, then, is that this is a joke that badly misfired - leaving many of us with the impression that Owen had effectively used a date rape drug and got away with it and that the show's makers saw no problem with this.
