The internet is abuzz with Tyler Perry latest movie, Temptation, and it is not about Kim Kardashian who makes a small appearance. I called Nollywood on this movie - bad writing and heavy handed message delivery - but this is not a review. Which is coming soon by the way.
This post is about the first sex scene between two of the main characters where Judith, a married 26 years old (married for 6 years) cheats on her husband with a rich social media inventer, Harley. So we know that Judith was young and vulnerable, and Harley is an arrogant cocaine addict who abuses women.
In this sex scene, Judith is probably feeling wild sexual attraction for the first time. She said no to Harley, several times, he could have stopped, instead he played on her emotions. And if you remember, she was crying when she remembered the sex, yes she was attracted to Harley, yes, physically she enjoyed the sex and wanted more, but she also felt very guilty of failing her own values and cheating on her husband.
Indeed, rape in real life is different from a make belief movie by Tyler Perry, where Judith goes on to have an affair with Harley, but I have heard lots of stories of young ladies who think they are dating a guy innocously, and who are trying to abstain till marriage, only to be taken advantage of by their so-called boyfriend. It is rape, pure and simple.
Not everyone agrees with me, Vera says on her post about why she doesn't think Judith was raped;
Her resistance was alleged: You know that kind of resistance where you’re verbally saying no and physically saying yes? That’s what it was to me. It was like a stop-it-I-like-it kind of resistance. In the ideal world, that should mean STOP. In the real world, it doesn’t.
This makes me think of the argument of the real or legitimate rape, where whether the coerced or forceful sex is rape is determined by whether a woman's body reacted to the sexual sensations, or whether her body becomes pregnant after a rape. It is possible that both scenarios go along with a rape.
So, in a movie so heavily didactic and moralistic, I think it was dangerous to portray a pivotal sex scene that way, It could be passing a negative message to the impressionable young men who see it, and who may go away thinking, if I can coerce a lady to give in to sex, it is not rape. Fact, IT IS.
Of course depending on where you are. In America, the man could be convicted if the woman decides to press charges. Who remembers Ohio?
I do, and while I respect him a lot, and try to support his work, I think Tyler Perry needs to up his game when it comes to story telling and stop passing mixed or confusing messages to his audience.
I go with Vera. Let's check out dictionary meaning of Rape (the unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse). I guess all dictionary will not have anything diffrent from this. Lay emphasis on the word "force"... If it's not by force/duress, it's not rape.
ReplyDeleteLook up the meaning of duress and see what it means.
DeleteWon't dwell on the moral aspect but I really do think if the 'feeling' is mutual at the point of 'action', regardless of whether its borne out of coercion or persuasion, then it is pure sex between 2 consenting adults and not rape. #my thoughts
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
DeleteFrom Alegal stand point, Rape is coitus in the Absence of consent. Force is recognised in the law, if the woman says No, No should mean NO
ReplyDeleteI agree with misslara, no means NO! A man should be able to respect a woman who says No,even though her body is saying yes. It means she isn't ready mentally and psychologically. So men should respect that and wait till your ready.
ReplyDeleteThe man siezed the opportunity of using her weakness against her; he played a game which she was bound to fall victim to. Her mind said NO but her weak body said yes and the mind is supreme because it controls the body. If she had been drunk with alcohol, she would still have had almost no control over her body and succumbed to what she didn't bargain for. In this case she was drunk with desire which she wanted to avoid but succumbed to. Both manners of drunkeness clouds judgement and since she started with a NO till she was lured, I see it as rape on a rather smart level.
ReplyDeleteBut its going to be hard concluding that because its complicated. She was tempted but was too weak to resist could be a counter-argument that sits in as well.
I feel the situation is just relative to perspectives.
i think I should go watch d ad first
ReplyDelete