Final Exam

Our exam will be next Monday, December 13th. Since we have a night class, the exam will take place during normal class hours.

The exam is designed to take about 90 minutes, but you can have up to two hours to complete it. The format will be part short answer, part short essay.

This is an "open book" exam, and by that I mean, you may use any of your class notes or handouts. No computers or other electronic devices will be permitted, and you may not leave the room once the exam has begun.

The exam will cover material from every unit of study we've completed, and you'll be expected to be familiar with all of the assigned readings. But the main purpose of the exam is to evaluate your understanding of the ideas, viewpoints and concepts introduced and their relation to the texts we viewed in class.

Music

While I was completing my Critical essay I ventured through YouTube as a I often do to break up the tension of an essay. I looked up the song "Whip My Hair" by Willow Smith, daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkitt-Smith. If one observes her style in fashion and hair you can view a more "mature" appearance. Keep in mind Willow is age 10. Watching the music video I found myself surprised. It's almost devoid of sexuality minus 5-8 seconds of one female dancer in red pants. Also for the most part all depicted int he video, minus again the female dancer in red pants, were rather conservatively dressed. I know, she's 10, but that's still not the norm for the rap/Hip-Hop music video scene from my observations.

Here's a link to the video if anyone is interested. "Whip My Hair" by Willow Smith

I heard "Statistics" by Lyfe Jennings song a while back and liked it. To be honest I have yet to view the video. I'm curious of everyone's reactions to the video and lyrics. "Statistics" by Lyfe Jennings

No Need to Yell Fire?

The big controversy is is it rape or rough sex. The writers of the show claimed it wasn't meant to be portrayed as so and this would incline me to think that it was intended as just a rough sex scene. In being true to playing Devil's Advocate one could question did they only say that to cover their butts? The truth to that could surely only be found in the original script and notations. Good luck with that one.

Janet's comments and actions:
"What are you doing?" - Surprise or anger?
"Get off me." - Annoyance or disbelief?
Phyical retaliation - play or defence?

Pleasure in and of itself is not an indicator of acceptance of sexual intercourse. Evebn durign forces intercourse one can experience pleasurable sensation; this in turn may often be a major part fo the shame victims often feel. (No one should feel shame for the viloent actions of another)

I tried looking for the clip to observe body movement on janets parts after the physical retalion ended. I was unsuccesful in finding a clip but I think if viewable, movements of the lower body would be key to identifying the true nature of the scene.

One could see the after actions either way - Shock and shame or shoack and acceptance.

I'd like to believe for the sake of the reason and sanity that the scene was not a depiction of the acceptance and/or justification of rape. That would be truely disgusting.

Rescue Me Rape Scene

I'm not really sure if the Rescue Me episode from Monday showed rape or not, but if I find myself leaning towards, yes, that it is rape. After all, Janet did say no to Tommy and she punched him in the face at the start. Yet, it wasn't until it was over that I really began to think it was rape. The way she acted, with all the awkwardness and stiff manners makes me inclined to say rape. Something about the aftermath made it seem really wrong, not necessarily because she was cheating on Tommy's brother, but more that it shouldn't have happened that way in the first place. He shouldn't have continued once she said no and especially not after she punched him in the face.

Rescue Me, rape me

I think it is very hard to pin this scene down (*pun*) to rape or violent sex. As stated in class on Monday, I feel that the scene shown in Rescue Me was a rape scene.
Why do I feel this way?:

• Janet said "what are you doing?" and "get off me!"
• Janet kicked and tried to fight Tommy off her
• Janet did not say "okay let's do this!"
  

Yes, this could display violent sex, but I don't think so. Janet stopped fighting Tommy off and let him rape her. I think she felt helpless after only giving Tommy a bloody nose and not being able to do much more. If Tommy jumped on top of Janet, kissed her, and she didn't fight back, then I would think it was violent sex. I think Grace and I share the same view that just because your body may feel physical pleasure from sex, it can still be rape. This scene demonstrates that when most rape occurs, it isn't done by a stranger, but by someone you know and possibly love.

Rescue Me was it rape? scene

I was excited to finally watch this episode of the show and see this scene. It wasn't quite what I had expected thinking back to my previous thoughts. The violence really caught my attention. There's a lot of "buts..." and "what if's" but I think my overall conclusion and opinion is that it was not rape. It draws a lot of fine lines about rape. What exactly is defined as rape and is it the same in all circumstances? There are different kinds of rape. There is violent rape and then there is also rape that is conscentual sex and only defined as rape because of the age of the participants.

Did Janet want it? I don't think it was on her mind as soon as it was on Tommy's, but I think once she realized that that is what he wanted she liked the fact that he wanted her bad enough to do that. It's part of their relationship, a factor I don't think many people who talked in some of the articles realized who viewed this scene as rape.

From the first shove and the first hand Tommy laid on Janet I think anyone in her position would be caught off guard, confused, and defensive. However, once she realized he meant it in a more playful, vicious sort of sexual manner, she played along too. She definitely got pleasure out of the experience, but I don't think that alone is a fair argument to why it wasn't really rape. Not all situations like that are the same. Even if someone doesn't want the sex and loudly vocalizes that fact, they could still feel pleasure but this could still be rape. Janet didn't ever say "no stop" she just asked what he was doing. I think the fact that she stopped pushing him off and acting like she was rejecting him (which was only when he was being violent) is a sign that she wanted it as well.

My opinions on Rescue Me

Before I get into the question of whether or not the scene we saw was rape, I just wanted to mention a few of the online articles linked to the blog post. First, I find it highly amusing and also disturbing that the firefighters were weighing in so enthusiastically on Shiela or Janet (or as many said, both). However, a lot of the blog posts and other forums seemed to put a lot more thought into the complexities and motivations behind each character, as well as the creator's reactions to the huge fan blowup in regards to the rape scene. It all made me wonder just who the creators were writing the show for, if they seem so offended and upset that the internet got so passionate about that one scene.

Speaking of which, after a lot of thought, I do not think that the Tommy/Janet scene was rape. I think that it was more along the lines of angry and spontaneous sex, like as Madalyn suggested. Also, I think that Tommy initiated the sex as an assertion of power (much like a rapist would), because just prior to that scene they were splitting up their assets and possessions. Tommy noted to Janet that after running into burning buildings and working really hard, all he got out of the marriage was a used and unwanted dining table set. HOWEVER, what he also got out of the marriage was her, so in light of the fact that she was also seeing his brother, I think Tommy did what he did because he wanted to feel like he got something out of the marriage, and that he 'had' Janet first, and always would. Most are probably thinking 'doesn't this then mean that Tommy raped Janet?' Perhaps. But I think that maybe this was meant as a final 'I'm still angry with you but goodbye' sex moment between the two, and also a demonstration that Tommy was still worth something to make his ex-wife feel pleasure.

I guess my thoughts still aren't finalized clearly, but I do not think that it was rape, but rather Tommy's own weaknesses and need to prove his self-worth--to show that however many years they were married was not for nothing. He still wanted to see if he "had it," even though Janet initially showed a lot of displeasure at the sudden sex.