The other day, I was happily watching the latest episode of ABC’s Once Upon a Time when Zelena/The Wicked Witch, Regina/Evil Queen’s half-sister, was allowed to see the baby she’d recently given birth to. It was supposed to be a sweet scene and as mother and child were reunited, Zelena looked all smiley and glowy. But I couldn’t get that damn nagging voice in my head to shut up, mostly ‘cause it was too right.
That baby is a rape baby. And no one has even whispered this fact.
PREVIOUSLY ON ONCE UPON A TIME…
Marion, through magic and time travel and other fantastical insanity, was brought back from the dead when Emma, the Savior, well, saved her from becoming The Evil Queen’s victim. Or at least she thought that. After Marion and Robin Hood (Regina’s love) ran off together to try and be a happy family, audiences were shocked to discover that Zelena had used magic to fool everyone into thinking she was Marion (who is dead for reals. Maybe. Who knows.) and, while shape-shifted, slept with Robin.
No, wait. She raped Robin.
Not in the “tie him down and stuff him full of Viagra” way that so many foolishly believe is the only way to rape a dude. She lied to him, made him think she was his dead wife and got horizontal. Robin Hood never consented to sex with Zelena. He consented to sex with Marion.
And without consent… c’mon, say it with me… it’s rape.
Yet there she was, holding her baby right in front of Robin. Her victim. And this is being ignored why…?
Storyline? Lame. And lazy. Cause the vics a man? Pathetic and slap-worthy. Maybe they don’t know? Well, that’s just ignorant. And the most obvious choice. So listen, Once Upon a Time writers; I’m gonna break it down just for you.
RAPE, DEFINED
Rape is, in its most basic form, a sex act done without your partner’s consent. Now, consent occurs when your partner agrees to have the sexytime with you. You. Not your cousin or bff or creepy Uncle Joel. You. When you do something like use magic to make your partner think you are someone else (and it’s not some kinky game you two agreed to beforehand), you are not giving your partner the opportunity to make an informed decision and without that, consent cannot be given.
Simple, right? Now, let’s review what you did: you took Zelena, who is not Marion, and had her take Marion’s form without having Robin know. He believed, because of Zelena’s words and actions, that he was with Marion. And they made a baby.
Where in that scenario did Robin consent? If you said “nowhere,” congrats; you’re not a total fucking dumbass.
RAPE CULTURE… FOR MEN
There’s this thing referred to as rape culture and it’s as bad as it sounds. Whenever rape is viewed as something other than what it is – that’d be rape in case you were being ignorant again – that culture becomes bigger and meaner and more dangerous than before. You might think oh, but she didn’t force him so it’s not really rape, but you’d be stupidly wrong, and making rape okay when it’s so not.
Thanks to society’s obsession with toxic masculinity and Real ManTM bullshit, even when a man recognizes he’s been raped, he doesn’t speak up as often as a woman. Why? Well, he’s been told all his life by stupid society that men can’t be raped and if he is, he’s not really a man.
Cause, you know, reasons. That suck.
When you have this sort of malarkey on a family show – kiddies watch it – you’re showing those boys in your audience that men have no say in the sex they have. This sort of shit will stay with them – maybe forever – and give them a totally messed up definition of rape.
Hm. I wonder why rape culture is so widespread, even among otherwise intelligent men.
CAN WE FIX IT? YES, WE CAN!
Listen, OUAT, you can fix this. Very easily. Call what Zelena did rape and go from there. Hell, have Robin, a big, strong man, work toward the realization that he was sexually assaulted. Y’all love story arcs; use it.
If boys see a man, a hero, take the steps to understand what happened to him and then have to work through it, Robin Hood becomes a real life hero; someone to inspire the younger generations not too old to relearn this hell. Don’t be stupid like DC or the dude who wrote Faggit.
Become part of the solution instead of the fucking problem.
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