Content warning: This article discusses the TV series Off Campus and sexual assault in a way that may be distressing to some readers.
Spoilers ahead. Much like the rest of the world, I’m fresh off binging Off Campus, the hockey romance show filled with such yearning, it feels like falling in love for the first time all over again. My friends told me to watch the new Prime Video series because it’s a hot, smutty, girly show that would have me giggling and kicking my feet. And they weren’t wrong — the sexual tension between not only main characters Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) and Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli), but also Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) and Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn) is palpable. So when Hannah tells Graham she was sexually assaulted in high school, I was caught off guard.
In Episode 4, “The Breakup,” Hannah asks Garrett to help her orgasm. She says she’s going to tell him “something really heavy, and [he’s] gonna want to dwell on it, but [he] shouldn’t”, then continues to explain to him how she was drugged and raped in high school. You see his expression shift into shock before she stresses that she doesn’t want it to become a big thing. “I’m not fragile. I don’t need your pity. I don’t need you to be my therapist,” she emphasizes.
As someone who has experienced sexual assault, my breath subconsciously hitches, and my body tenses up when I watch scenes that discuss SA. I don’t like to be reminded of what I went through. My heart was racing while I waited for Garrett’s reaction. As he sat there, listening, before finally saying: “Okay, I’ll do it… You’re my friend, and you need me.”
I felt my body melt in relief. What followed was that scene. It might single-handedly be the hottest moment in TV history: when Hannah and Garrett touch themselves in front of each other. But before that, Hannah was struggling to stay present while she and Garrett were making out on his bed. And while she was determined to continue, Garrett stopped them. He was gentle with her. He was kind. He would do anything and everything in that moment to make sure she felt safe, without letting the fact that she experienced sexual assault take over their intimacy. And I’d never seen anything like that before on screen.
When they’re masturbating in front of each other, and Garrett sees Hannah going inside her head, he says one of my favorite quotes throughout the whole show: “Stay here. Stay with me”. Yes, it’s hot and steamy, but it’s more than a swoon-worthy line. Garrett doesn’t just say it to Hannah; it’s a message to the one in three women who will experience sexual assault. And in that moment, I finally felt seen.
I’d never seen anything like that before on screen.
Alyssa Forato on how Off Campus handles Sexual Assault
The main thing that made Off Campus far easier to watch than other shows that also share themes of sexual assault is its lack of detail surrounding the actual event. Yes, Hannah says she was raped, and there are flashbacks to the guy from her high school who assaulted her. But she never relives the worst night of her life on screen and, in turn, doesn’t force the viewer to relive their own experience either. This is where other shows and films get it majorly wrong.
Like Off Campus, when I watched Luckiest Girl Alive, I had no idea there would be themes of sexual assault. I thought it was a go-getter film about an aspiring editor at a New York magazine who had to face her past. Little did I know that it entailed an extremely graphic scene of Ani Fanelli (Mila Kunis) being gang-raped by a group of boys from the same high school. It led me to an anxiety attack: hyperventilating, not wanting to watch, but feeling completely frozen in place. The remote was next to me, but I couldn’t skip the scene. My mind was too busy replaying what had happened to me.
Off Campus also made sure Hannah’s sexual assault didn’t define her. While it contributes to her writer’s block, she doesn’t like drinking at parties and struggles to trust men in sexual situations, the key difference between this show and others is that the writers didn’t make it her entire personality.
She never relives the worst night of her life on screen and, in turn, doesn’t force the viewer to relive their own experience either.
Alyssa Forato on Hannah’s Sexual Assault depiction in Off Campus
For series creator and showrunner Louisa Levy, it was important never to show the trauma-causing events on screen. “We talk about it, but we never show it because we don’t want to give power to those moments,” she told Refinery29 in an interview. “I think being able to tell a story of someone who has dealt with sexual assault and can still have a romance and a healthy sex life is so important.” This doesn’t mean it’s a fluffy depiction of a victim, because Hannah’s healing isn’t linear. She has good days, but she also has bad days. We watch how triggers affect Hannah, with overwhelming anxiety taking over.
But when it comes to the many other shows that depict sexual assault, the victim is exclusively that: a victim. It’s her entire identity. She’s helpless, ruined, and distraught until the perfect person comes along and saves them from the trauma she’s drowning in. Suddenly, they’re okay. They’ve been saved. But for a lot of us, it doesn’t happen like that. It’s never a straight line to healing, and a lot of us never fully heal. And Off Campus doesn’t try to hide that.
If you have experienced sexual violence and need crisis support, call 800.656.HOPE or text HOPE to 64673. If it is an emergency, call 911.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
'Off Campus' Is Steamy & Surprisingly Sensitive
Is Spicy Hockey Series Off Campus Worth Watching?
Everything We Know About Off Campus Season 2
from Refinery29 https://ift.tt/tKECWfv
via IFTTT
