After reading Ferguson et al.’s (2005)
article, I started thinking about incidents of sexual harassment and
promiscuous women that I have seen I media.
The first incident that
came to mind was from Friday Night Lights - great show if you haven’t seen it!
A character, Tyra
Collette, is portrayed as a confused, troubled girl who in the past has been
very promiscuous. The other main characters know her as the school slut, more
or less. She is described as the town’s former bad-girl who is now “hoping to
rise above the stereotype of the blonde, over-sexed female” (Wikipedia). As the
seasons progress, the show dives deeper into her story and she is portrayed
less promiscuously as she begins to rearrange her life around college dreams
and a healthy relationship.
In the second half of the
first season (Episode 20 “Mud Bowl”), Tyra is studying at a diner where she is approached
by a man. After they speak, she heads out to her car alone. As she is walking
out, the man follows her, attacks her, and tries to rape her. Tyra ends up
fighting him off by burning him with a cigarette and pushing and shoving her way
out of there…
First, I think it is
interesting that it is her character that falls victim to this harassment. Of
course it is the over-sexed, promiscuous girl that almost gets raped... Lyla
Garrity, the wholesome hometown sweetheart in the show, for example, would
never have been sexually harassed. Even though at this point in the season,
Tyra is getting her act together, studying for exams, etc, the show still chose
to put her in this situation, which is stereotypical due to the fact that she
was once the troubled, promiscuous girl. This reinforces the idea that Ferguson
(2005) was pointing out that it is a common misconception that more promiscuous
girls are more likely to be involved in harassment or rape, because they’re
“asking for it”.
While the show uses the
stereotype of the promiscuous woman as being the victim of sexual harassment,
the show combats these conceptions as well.
Tyra’s promiscuity does not affect the seriousness or injustice of the
event, as the issue is handled in a very serious tone and lasts throughout
season 1 and in to season 2. The trauma
that Tyra goes through is extremely emotional and shows that she was
significantly affected by it. The show also makes it clear that she was not at
all responsible (seeing as how she was sitting at a table doing homework before
it happened). These two things contrast the Ferguson et al. (2005) article
which shows a link between the victim’s promiscuity and viewing the victim as
being less traumatized and more responsible.
Overall, I find it
typical that it is the promiscuous girl who almost gets raped. The show may
give the idea that Tyra’s overtly sexual nature (boobs, lips, reputation, etc.)
leads her to be more susceptible to these acts. At the same time, however,
while it is characteristic of this type of character to get in trouble, the show
makes sure that it is not taken lightly as it is clear that she is seriously traumatized.
As the Ferguson et al.
(2005) article stated, physical, rather than verbal, harassment is more consistently seen as being
inappropriate, traumatizing, and in no way the victim’s fault. The fact that
Tyra’s incident was seriously physical, it seems obvious that the show would
not make light of the incident. But that leads me to wonder about less physical
or less observable acts of harassment. Would the show make such a big deal if Tyra
was verbally harassed? Probably not, and though I’m not certain, I’m sure in
earlier episodes she was verbally
harassed - clearly they didn’t take it seriously as I cannot even remember for
certain. It is media portrayals like this that reinforce the idea that verbal harassment is not serious and can be dismissed, especially when made towards promiscuous
characters like Tyra. If verbal harassment were always portrayed with such
seriousness as physical harassment, people would realize that comments,
requests, or gestures of that nature are inappropriate.
