The other film viewed in class, The Accused, exhibits that often in the world of rape cases, that the victims themselves are viewed as suspects within their own cases. That more often than not, these cases play into the man’s point of view, and need a man’s point of view to validate the victims side of the case. The film centers around a woman named Sarah Tobias who isn’t what most would call a model citizen. In fact, she plays into the role of Kimmel’s “bro”. Kimmel describes a “bro” as the following:
“Another way for a girl to avoid being either a babe or a bitch is to become a “bro”. These girls prove their mettle in Guyland through shrinking such “feminine” traits as intimacy, loyalty and openness and appropriating guys’ behavior: sports, …show more content…
With “date rape” normalized, Sarah would have to be a perfect citizen in order for her assailants to be convicted with Rape 1. Instead, her “promiscuity” gets the charges down to an assault crime, meaning that her assailants won’t even be registered as sex offenders. Kimmel himself speaks about how “date rape” is a part of our everyday, normal society. He describes “date rape” as a part of traditional dating culture, that hooking up blurs the boundaries, and to some “date rape” is even a myth. Kimmel even treads upon that many men find that all sex is predefined as consensual. But, Kimmel goes on to state that “Women may be vulnerable to male predation, but only if the men exploit that vulnerability.” (226), and this relates to Sarah Tobias’s case. Although yes, she was drunk making her vulnerable to men, this does not predefine consent. The men who raped her took advantage of the fact she would have little ability to resist and to deny consent. These men who attacked her, and the men who cheered it on feel as if they have a predisposed culture of entitlement: Sarah is just there, so they are entitled to her. She’s drunk, dressed a certain way, and has pot. This makes her easy prey, and they are going to go in for the