She-Hulk’s recent Starfox-centered storyline is a topic that’s come up again on the blogosphere recently and people are weighing in their thoughts:
Point:
Blog@ contributor Ragnell starts things off by explaining how she began to lose interest in the She-Hulk comic:
Which means we have another fake rape accusation in the pop culture consciousness. In a culture where it already so damned hard to bring a rape to trial because so many people that women are just waiting to make an accusation at the slightest offense. Where I can get into a 45 minute argument at work with men who think that there is actually some sort of gain in going to the police to report a rape, which goes the exact opposite of every statistic and anecdote I’ve ever heard about it.
Counterpoint:
On her livejournal, mildredmilton explains why she disagrees with Ragnell’s interpretation:
Honestly, it never read like that to me. To me, it was very clear that the victim was raped. She wasn’t ‘making something up.’ Starfox did use his powers on her. That did remove her ability to reason, and thus did not allow her to consent. She was raped.
The argument isn’t that Starfox is innocent. If anything the only defense is diminished capacity to reason. He didn’t know that he was using his powers, just thought that the woman was willing to have sex with him. In fact, at the end of the story, Starfox willingly gives up his powers, horrified by his own brush with mind control. He’s then told that before his sin is fully expiated he has to seek forgiveness from all his ‘victims.’ The word they use is ‘victims.’ It’s clear that what he did was rape, even if he didn’t know it.
So what do you think?
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I think both women writing here may be talking about different rape accusations. The first writer maybe alluding to She-Hulks rape accusation that turned out to be not ture. While the second is writing about the accusation brought to court which was legitimate and treated as such.
With regards to She-Hulk’s accusation which started as:
1. He probalby used his powers on me
2. To I’m not sure
3. To turns out he didn’t.
I think the first writer has a point.
It reminds me of Veronica Mars and the:
1. I was druged and raped
2. Wait it was consensual sex with my ex-boyfriend
and then the next season
3. But after the great sex with my ex-boyfriend I was raped by an implied homosexaul who was molested as a child and working out his anger and sexaul issue on me.
Yeah I had a lot more problems with Veronica Mars rape flip-flop-flip (not to mention that the only prominent gay character on the show turned out to be a closet case masochanist sexual abuse victim turned rapist murderer).
She Hulk’s transgressions seem pale by comparison. Starfox as a mind-controling rapisted who effectively coerced She-Hulk was a lot more interested than the final story we got where it wasn’t REALLY his fault. The true rapist was ultimately Thanos, the horrible stranger down the street, not that nice guy from work or school who would never KNOWINGLY do such a thing.
March 2nd, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Is it even possible to tell a meaningful and dignified “rape story”, when it involves a green-skinned laywer and an immortal from one of the moons of Saturn? A story that involves a metaphor for rape? Sure. The actual crime itself? Why even bother?
Mike
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Is it even possible to tell a meaningful and dignified “rape story” at all?
Rape is a ridiculously complex and sensitive subject. I think it’s almost impossible to tell any kind of story about it that isn’t going to get some readers angry. Even when it’s a straightforward case of a clearly guilty monster, the fact that the story is being told at all will raise some alarms in people. Something more complex than that is guaranteed to be problematic.
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:14 am
It’s a comic book, why does it even mention rape? Comic books are kids and for the young at heart; subjects like sexual assault have no business being in a comic book, other than to titillate and excite the writers, artists and readers, and i can’t believe that more women are not angry about and offended by that. Just my opinion.
March 3rd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
t, welcome back to the real world. It’s a place where comic books are a medium, just like novels, movies, etc.. A medium where all subjects that humans can explore, debate, discuss and so on will be dealt with sooner or later.
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Dwight’s right, saying that comics are for kids is just as off track as saying that movies are for kids just because Disney makes kids movies. It’s a medium, it can be used to tell any kind of story.
If a comic maker is writing his stories for adults and the readers are adults wanting adult stories, then it’s not for kids in any way. Having some third party come in and tell them that their relationship is wrong is silly.