[ SECRET POST #1732 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1732 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.
[Troop Beverly Hills]


__________________________________________________



03.
[Sanctuary]


__________________________________________________



04.
[Law & Order: Criminal Intent]


__________________________________________________



05.
(Mikael Åkerfeldt and Steven Wilson)


__________________________________________________



06.
[FFVIII]


__________________________________________________



07.
[Man of the House]


__________________________________________________



08.
[Kingdom Hearts]


__________________________________________________



09.
[Harry Potter]


__________________________________________________



10. [repeat]


__________________________________________________



11.
[Doctor Who]


__________________________________________________



12.
[Bandom]


__________________________________________________



13.
[Steve Juliano/I Am Ghost]


__________________________________________________



14.
[WWE]


__________________________________________________



15.
[Doctor Stephen Strange, Jon Stewart, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Palin, Reed Richards.]


__________________________________________________



16.


__________________________________________________



17. [posted twice]


__________________________________________________



18.
[FDR/Winston Churchill]


__________________________________________________



19.


__________________________________________________



20.


__________________________________________________



21.
[The Guy with the Glasses]


__________________________________________________



22.
[Amadeus]


__________________________________________________



23.
[Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica]


__________________________________________________



24.
[Alphas]


__________________________________________________



25.
[The World Ends With You]


__________________________________________________



26.
[WWE]


__________________________________________________



27.


__________________________________________________



28.


__________________________________________________



29.
[Homestuck]


__________________________________________________



30.
[Doctor Who]


__________________________________________________



31. [repeat]


__________________________________________________














[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]













32. [SPOILERS for Persona 4]



__________________________________________________



33. [SPOILERS for Fallout 3]



__________________________________________________



34. [SPOILERS for Buffy the Vampire Slayer]



__________________________________________________



35. [SPOILERS for Leviathan]



__________________________________________________



36. [SPOILERS for Pokemon Special]



__________________________________________________



37. [SPOILERS for A Song of Ice and Fire]



__________________________________________________



38. [SPOILERS for A Storm of Swords]



__________________________________________________

















[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]















39. [TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault]



__________________________________________________



40. [TRIGGER WARNING for rape]



__________________________________________________



41. [TRIGGER WARNING for rape]



__________________________________________________



42. [TRIGGER WARNING for anti-trans violence]

[Khaos Komix]











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #247.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 (suicide trigger) - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom.livejournal.com]

41.
http://i.imgur.com/RyTF3.jpg

[to-question.livejournal.com]

Their relationship was pretty twisted and mutually abusive and attempted rape is always a big deal. I completely agree that Buffy's ability to fight off her attacker is not the point. The point is that he attacked her and that is a very big deal.

[(Anonymous)]

He also stopped, when he could have kept trying. It wasn't a failed rape attempt, it was an aborted one, because he realized what he was doing and stopped himself.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I had stopped watching BtVS during that season because I didn't recognize the characters anymore. For some reason, my roommate and I turned in for that episode, and we were both so horrified, we didn't watch BtVS again until the last few episodes of the series.

TL;DR: You're not the only one who feels that way, Anon.

[classic-mold137.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I didn't know any Buffy fans said that. That's upsetting.

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

UUUUGH. I think it's patently obvious that Spike/Buffy was fucked up in season 6. It was SUPPOSED to be fucked up.

But the thing that gets me about that scene is that the attempted rape ended up being all about Spike. The fall out from it had nothing to do with Buffy and her experiences. It was all about making Spike hit rock bottom so he would realize that he was still a monster who needed a soul. I hate it when writers have women be attacked or sexually assault in order to further a male character's growth.

Fuck that.

[to-question.livejournal.com]

The fact that the writers used sexual assault to jumpstart the aggressor's positive character growth nearly made me physically ill. I'm glad I was over the show by season 6.

[(Anonymous)]

haha I hope you don't think me stupid for this, but... i've read many essays about this episode, and comments, and i've had people rant at me about it ... but this is the first time i ever really got why it was so fundamentally offensive.

[wottie.livejournal.com]

Same as the anon above. Something always bothered me on a fundamental level about that scene, and I think you've hit the nail on the head. Dammit, Buffy writers!

[dragonladyk.livejournal.com]

THIS.

I cannot like the Spike/Buffy ship. At all.

DragonLady

[insanenoodlyguy.livejournal.com]

At the same time though, where else could they have gone with it? I mean, killing her would, in it's own way, actually be less fucked up, considering their natural nature towards each other.

If you mean it never should have happened at all then, I get that.

[antialiasis.livejournal.com]

The twistedness was what I liked about their relationship; it underlined how just how lost and desperate Buffy was after being pulled from the grave. And I liked the attempted rape too, because it shows how screwed-up Spike is thanks to not having a soul: he can't properly comprehend right and wrong, only that he wants Buffy, and all the good he's done by that point has fundamentally been to get in her pants, not because he had a real conscience. It's all monstrously unhealthy and that's the whole point.

If people are brushing it off as no big deal or somehow excusable because Buffy didn't fight back hard enough, then... yeah, I have no words.

[agnes-bean.livejournal.com]

+1 to all of this. I like the messed upness (I still don't like the AR for lots of meta reasons -- given the cultural context, there are LOTS of problems with using that as way to advance a male character's story -- but in story I think it does say interesting things about Spike. I just wish they'd used something other than sexual assault), but people trying to say it's not messed up are wrong.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd have preferred it if Buffy had actually raped Spike instead. It would have still shown the depth of the twisted nature of the relationship, and also highlighted that men can also be rape victims. However, AFAICT most of the fandom does know how twisted the relationship was, and how stupid both Buffy and Spike were, playing those kind of games without a safeword, or fully discussing either partner's preferences and desires could only end in rape. From the moment it started it was a case of if and who, not when.

The trouble is there is a specific subset of people in fandom that refuse to accept there is equal responsibility on both sides, and seek solely to vilify Spike for it. They get huffy and and screamy if it's explained to them, because life can't be full of shades of grey and must be simple black and white.

[(Anonymous)]

"I'd have preferred it if Buffy had actually raped Spike instead."

Except... no one ever acknowledges the fact that men can be rape victims. If a man rapes a man, it's still a badGUY doing it, and the man who's just been raped "should have fought back harder." If a woman rapes a man, well...NOPE, "that absolutely can't be considered rape, because women are ~Incapable~ of raping men." Male rape victims are treated as though they don't exist. Both IRL and in fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

She did rape him, didn't she?

[etazere.livejournal.com]

Just... fuck anyone who says that. I hate people.

[castorochiaro.livejournal.com]

I liked this pairing when it was Spike nursing a stupid, impossible crush on Buffy. This scene legitimately freaks me out, even just thinking about it, for how raw and terrifying it was. The fact anybody could downplay that concerns me greatly.

[fadsforwhatever.livejournal.com]

The vast majority of fans I've interacted with don't downplay it, thankfully. And IA — it physically makes me sick. I've only watched it once. Jfc I'll never forgive Joss for pulling that shit.

[smittenlotus.livejournal.com]

From what I hear Spike's actor said it was the hardest scene he ever had to do. I don't blame him. I think it's disgusting for any fans of the pairing to downplay Spike's attack on Buffy. But I do wish Joss had actually gone into how badly it scared Buffy and hadn't made it all about Spike. That was pretty annoying because it's not as if Buffy had no part in their screwed up relationship in Season 6.

[baby-jeans.livejournal.com]

Have to say, I found it appalling, but I wasn't surprised. It wasn't exactly the first time rape was dismissed on that show. Hell, the very first time was all the way back in season...one? I think it was one or two. Exact same argument, too. Buffy was yelling about how that guy tried to rape her and the swim coach smirked it off and refused to punish him, and the rest of the scoobies acted like Buffy was being ridiculous for being upset about it.

I was like, "Fuck you guys. You realize they're probably also doing that to girls who CAN'T defend themselves, right?" Ugh. And no one ever mentioned in reviews how fucked up that is. So yeah, not surprised that neither the show nor the fandom treated that properly.

[(Anonymous)]

I've never watched this show, and I'd never heard that Spike tried to rape Buffy, and now I'm kinda disturbed that all my friends ship this... how...

[meilinn.livejournal.com]

Point: missed.

[danaphilip.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure those fans would still find ways to be dismissive.

[angary.livejournal.com]

Although I see where you're coming from, I don't think Buffy should've been raped to prove a point. I wish the writers had found some other way to slowly start redeeming Spike, without having it come at Buffy's emotional expense. He could've left after "Entropy", and TPTB could've spent the following eps showing him talking to Clem, calling Buffy and hanging up on her, asking around about the demon, etc.

While the attempted rape still makes me sick, a part of me appreciates that the AR was depicted as brutally and horrifyingly as it was. The scene's tone was well-played, but I agree with other posters that the focus on Spike rather than Buffy soured the act even more.