Been binging a lot of SVU lately and something that always irked me (besides Fin being GOP, Benson being a basket case, Intimidation Game, and the writing in general going down the shitter), they never had anyone on the main squad who was emotionally healthy or had a stable relationship with sex. Anyone who wasn't into just basic missionary and had the slightest inkling of a kink or fetish was seen as some depraved monster who was, at best, deserving of derision, scorn, mockery, and/ or ostracization, no matter how consenting the parties were. "Oh, they're into bondage, so they must be some depraved lunatic who gets off on inflicting pain to helpless victims. Oh, they're into feet, so they've gotta be an antisocial loner who wants to cut people's limbs off."
The show exists in stigma, and if it weren't for the fact that it started in the late 90s when attitudes towards sex and the LGBTQ+ movement were still very much more conservative than they are now, it likely wouldn't be made today. One episode had a character who was a lesbian (later revealed to be bi) who was basically EVERY single GOP stereotype rolled into one for lesbian women; loud, annoying, hostile, aggressive and confrontational, man-hating. She's a walking punchline, and yet her willingness to accept all those under the pride banner is seen as some moment of personal growth, despite the fact she was just as exclusionary as the businesses and facilities she took umbrage with. Which comes after a misunderstanding that leads to her lover being accused as the villain of the week.
Something even more irritating about her character is, at the end of the episode, following things turning out alright, she forcefully kisses Stabler (who by then is either separated or still married) after having been antagonistic to him and the squad all episode like a "test" of her bisexuality. Putting aside how fucked ul THAT is, they hated each other, and she just sexually assaulted him IN SVU in plain view of dozens of other cops. But no, it's fine because it's "funny," it's "all's well that ends well," right? You shouldn't have to because it really doesn't matter, but flip the sexes and it's fucked up. Just once I would've loved to have seen an episode where there was someone who joined the squad who had no emotional baggage or compromising issues. Someone who was into various things and
could be seen as a sort of reference for various kinks, fetishes, and paraphernalia, and owned it and was proud of who they were, who didn't act like they had to he ashamed of being into perfectly legal and consensual acts of gratification. But the show isn't interested in that. Like I said before, it lives in stigma. It thrives on othering, using people that aren't "normal" as jokes or villains or cautionary tales, people that don't deserve the barest modicum of human decency. Which I think is a failure of the writers ethically and skillfully.
Early morning thoughts on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit from someone who's so fucking tired of the show yet at the same time is addicted to the shindig~
#tdewriting #lao #laosvu #svu
